Much of my review of the first one stands for the second. It picks up where the last one left off, but in this one, they’re exploring a few new social issues. (Which is already a mark in the plus column. A lot of sequels just repeat the same thing as if the hero didn’t learn anything in the first one.) In the first, we had this YA girl having to move towns a lot because her father was stalking her and her mom. That’s done, but now we’re exploring how the girl lives her new life. Plus we have a new character who’s part of a cult. Haven’t seen that old chestnut for a long time–cults kinda went out of fashion in the nineties where instead of the funny Hari Krishna banging tambourines at the airport they turned out to be Waco and Heaven’s Gate and sexual/child abuse colonies.

Much like the first, it’s an action ride, but more people are holding the idiot ball in this one to drive the plot forward. For instance, as soon as it’s discovered that the new friend’s other friend has been kidnapped and locked in a cabin with no food NO ONE CALLS THE POLICE. Instead, the kids handle everything because that keeps the plot moving. Even the most independent child would say “we need to call the cops so we can get all these people arrested and thrown in jail.” I don’t care if “time is of the essence”–this is not the time to be a superhero. Even Batman would call the GCPD once in a while.

Another thing is that everyone’s sexuality is full and forefront. For some reason, the author seems to think that I need to know if every character is a lesbian or ace-aro or still questioning. And stuff that SHOULD be explored more fully, like the fact that the new friend’s father is part of a polyamorous unit (read one male and three females), which SHOULD have some issues of jealousy and negotiation come up, doesn’t. This is what conservatives point to when they say everything is “woke”. It feels like the author posted up flags that said “this is a progressive book because I have representation” even if it has nothing to do with the story.

So bottom line, I didn’t like this one as much as the first. Whether I read the third (if there’s a third) probably depends on what the given plotline for that one is, whether it contains any tropes that I find interesting, if they concentrate more on the AI character and less on the YA part. ( )

Everyone's favorite cat pic-loving AI is back! Since the events of the previous novel, Steph's life has calmed down. Her father is in prison, she and her mom are now settled (ostensibly permanently?) in Minneapolis, and she's starting at a new school. There, she meets another new student, Nell, who's living with her father, her stepmother, her father's girlfriend, and her stepmother's girlfriend (it's complicated) after her mother disappeared. Oh, and she and her mother have been part of a doomsday cult for several years, so normal high school is a bit of an adjustment for Nell. On her first day of school, Steph gets added to a new phone game by one of the other students -- but something seems off. The game seems to know way more about her than it should, and since Steph has ample experience with sentient AIs, she puts CheshireCat on the case to investigate. As CheshireCat digs for details, they find that this phone game is much more sinister than it seems.

I loved Catfishing on CatNet, and I loved this book too. Both have an urgent quality that kept me reading past my bedtime, and will make you consider the permissions you give the apps on your phone. I probably liked this entry slightly less than the first one, but it was still really fun and I'd gladly read more in this universe. I also appreciated that the author took the opportunity to explore what a reformed police force might look like in this book based directly on the discussions surrounding the Minneapolis police following the 2020 George Floyd protests. 4.25 stars. ( )

Lovely sequel set in a near future Minneapolis. The other AI has contacted Cat, who hasn't decided yet how to respond. Steph and her mother have stopped running and come out of hiding. Steph juggles her girlfriend, her new friend Nell, hanging out with the Clowder on CatNet, and playing some location-based apps. The game tasks seem innocuous, yet they keep triggering Steph's paranoia.

Book contains lots of robots, cults, and unconventional families. Has a definite WarGames vibe. ( )

This is a follow-up to a previous Lodestar finalist, 2020's Catfishing on CatNet. Like that book, it's a cute, clever, sometimes tense near-future sf novel. This time Steph makes a new friend who's been raised by a Christian doomsday cult, and it seems like someone is using the Internet to manipulate them both. I really enjoyed it, and it even did one thing I thought was going to happen in Catfishing that that novel didn't do. My main complaint is that one of the funnest parts of Catfishing was Steph's fellow CatNet users, and they are much less prominent in this novel.

https://fromtheheartofeurope.eu/chaos-on-catnet-by-naomi-kritzer/

Sequel to the very entertaining Catfishing on CatNet, which won the 2020 Lodestar Award. Takes the story and most of the same characters in quite a new direction with a second rather less cute AI, a riff on Pokemon Go, and a slightly divergent timeline where Minneapolis and St Paul have successfully reformed their police as demanded by Black Lives Matter. Lots of good stuff, plenty for YA readers, and older readers, to chew on. ( )