An interesting and modern book, incredibly timely and useful for issues relating to young adults and the dangers that lurk online. The characters were relatively believable, and the plot was twisty and gripping. I have to say, I was put off by the title, and the cover, but the story was great.

A thriller with an AI, what could go wrong with artificial intelligence and a secret being hidden? I enjoyed this book and will look into the sequel.

This one was good. It talked about important issues and the themes were written really good. Liked it!

TW: kidnapping, spousal abuse, torture, PTSD

I would say this book falls closer to 3.5 than 4. Catfishing on CatNet follows Steph, a teenager whose mother is always on the move. The book also follows an A.I. named CheshireCat, who happens to run Steph's favorite social media platform, CatNet. After someone from Steph's past seeks her out, CheshireCat does what they can to help her escape immediate danger.

The portrayals of teenagers in this book seemed accurate, and the book had some LGBTQ+ representation. One of the book's greatest strengths was the strong friend group that formed on CatNet. The Clowders on CatNet were slightly reminiscent of my Neopets days when people were somewhat "anonymous" on the internet, though people found ways around it. I enjoyed seeing these internet friends work together to help somebody they didn't know in real life. 

Unfortunately, for a thriller, this book wasn't exactly that thrilling. I enjoyed reading it, but the climax scene could have had more details. The book was fairly fast-paced, but the ending fell a little flat for me, aside from the epilogue.

Catfishing on CatNet is a fun, quick read with quirky characters and an interesting look at what could happen with technology in the not-so-distant future.

This was a solid YA novel with a gripping story. This book was an instant buy for my school library.

Fun! Love it so much. Cover is amazing and the story is fantastic! Wish I was able to find more books like this.

The first thing I need to acknowledge is that the title and cover of this book are pretty awful. I would have had ZERO urge to pick this up based on either of those, and they do not really give you any hint of the facts or feeling of the story you're getting into.


Ignore that.

I book talked this one so aggressively at work that all the YA librarians have read it and are spreading the gospel of Naomi Kritzer's Catfishing on CatNet. This is a book for people who love heartwarming stories about finding friends and family who will take care of you when the world gets scary.

You might have heard of Naomi Kritzer recently because she wrote a pandemic story a few years ago that was so prescient it's been getting a lot of notice--"So Much Cooking." But what I first read by her was the story "Cat Pictures Please," which is the story on which this novel is based. Go ahead and read it first, if you want--it doesn't give anything away. It's just about the character; the book introduces a bunch of people and problems.

The main character and heart of the story is a sentient AI that knows all about you. It knows everything about everyone--it is basically comprised of all the information on the internet. Mostly what it loves and wants are cat pictures, so it started a chat room for people to post cute animal pictures. It acts as a mod and calls itself CheshireCat, and it chats with friends, reposts pics, and studies human nature.

One of CheshireCat's friends is Steph, a teenager on the chatroom. Steph and her mom live a life in hiding, running from her scary dad. She's finally making IRL friends in the new town they've come to, though, so she'd really like to not have to run again. But when Steph's problems start getting bigger, the AI and her friends might need to save Steph from IRL dangers that might be over their heads.

Ugh, I'm not a blurb writer. Two big selling points here: one, everyone in this story is lovely. Well, not everyone. There are bad guys. But the big group of online friends and friends at Steph's new school are just all great. The show up for each other, and trust and respect and believe in each other. They roll with each others' weird home situations, changing pronouns, romantic confusions, and new attempts to understand humanity. Some of the bad guys are scary, and those bad guys come after them, but this story is full of people taking good care of each other, without being perfect.

Point two: watching an AI figure out how people work will never not be fun. CheshireCat is sweet and well-meaning, but only knows the internet parts of life--which is a lot, but not everything. Watching it navigate interactions with a combination of expertise and bafflement is just so heartwarming and charming and funny.

I loved this book. And the Amazon page says there will be more CatNet books, about which I am super excited. So please ignore the cover and give it a try.

(Welcome to post 2 of my dreck writing. I apologize. I make no quality promises for at least a month.)

Thank you Netgalley for sending me an advance review copy of this book before it came out months and months ago.

Great book, the most fun read I've had in a while. It gets a little dark (view spoiler), but it stays easy to read at the same time, light and with just the right amount of humor. The hacking of the sex-teacher robot is hilarious.

Based on a Hugo Award-winning short story, Catfishing on CatNet is a thought-provoking and pleasingly diverse YA novel that Sophie really enjoyed and thought was much better than its title. Trigger warnings apply for domestic abuse.

CatNet is an online social media site where users are automatically bundled into groups with like-minded others. Unlike other social sites, however, it is secretly run entirely by a sentient AI known as CheshireCat who is trying their hardest to understand the world and their place in it, and who happens to really enjoy looking at photographs of cats.

Steph is a teenage girl forever on the run with her mother from her abusive father. Unable to ever settle anywhere or put down roots, her only long-term friends are the members of her group on CatNet, although she is desperate to form friendships in real life too. When CheshireCat experiments with influencing the real world and improving the lives of their human users, just as events also cause Steph to have doubts about the stories her mother has always told, it throws Steph’s life into chaos. With her mother stuck in hospital—allowing their past to catch up—Steph has to rely on her CatNet friends and the new friends she has made in school to help save herself and CheshireCat too.

While Sophie found the first half of the book quite slow going, the latter more than made up for it, turning into a well-paced thrilling adventure she couldn’t put down. The book explores a lot of relevant topics regarding the future of AI, self-driving cars, facial recognition technology, and more, while also introducing likable characters and a constant sense of doubt about everyone’s motivations. If you’re interested in this book, Sophie recommends also checking out the short story it is based on—Cat Pictures Please—-for free on the Clarkesworld Magazine site.

Steph is use to moving around a lot, because of this her online constant is her online community of friends from CatNet. CatNet is run by a sentient A.I. CheshireCat. Now that what Steph and her mom have been running from her whole life has finally caught up with her Steph has to rely on both her online friends and those she has just made in real life to stay safe. All the while CheshireCat has been exposed. 

Catfishing on CatNet was a little outside my normal comfort zone with for books, although I do enjoy the some science fiction. Naomi Kritzer wrote amazing characters in this story that did draw me in quite quickly. I know the story was science fiction, but it felt that you suspend your disbelief a little more than plausible to really make the story work. There was just a little too much of teenagers just running off and doing their own thing for me to really buy it. I did however really love the character both many and side. The representation for LGBTQ+ in this book was amazing, and it brought up a lot of questions and points that I hadn't thought of before and really appreciated having light brought to. 

I would recommend this book to anyone who is looking for a fun science fiction read. You might not be able to take everything seriously in it but it is still fun and the representation is amazing. Or for readers who enjoy a great friendship group. 

Trigger Warnings: Violence, talk of murder. 

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the eArc, all opinions and the review are my own.

Amazing read. The lore in the beginning surrounding Steph’s mother and the moving really drew me in and as it became more and more apparent that Cheshire was developing not only human qualities but the ability to reach out into the real world, I just had to know how it ended. Brilliant. And Naomi is a master of her craft, absolutely beautiful writing.

I went into this book thinking I’d completely hate it, but I was so pleasantly surprised because I kinda ended up really enjoying it? Honestly, the worst part about this book is the title, which, granted, is pretty cheesy.

The novel is set in a not-so-distant future and it’s kind of sci-fi-ey in the broadest sense of the word. It’s something I wouldn’t usually be into but the author has managed to inject a bunch of incredible, likeable, diverse characters into the story, as well as a good ethical debate (and I love an ethical debate).

Catfishing on CatNet has a little bit of an escalation problem, so you have to suspend your disbelief a little when things start getting crazier towards the end. But this escalation problem does mean that the plot is completely unpredictable, you’re literally on your toes until the very end. 

Before you read this book, you need to know that you’re not going to get a lot of in-depth sci-fi information. You’re going to get a couple of robot words here, a couple of internet words there, but you’re going to be able to follow along with it without having to haul an encyclopedia along. Whether that’s your cup of tea or not is up to you. 

The end of the book, whilst pretty satisfying, does set up a good couple of questions for a potential sequel. Whilst I think that a sequel would be pretty interesting for people who get really into the ethics of the plot, I don’t particularly think the novel needs a sequel. Either way, I’ll probably read it if it’s released.

All in all, a solid, easy read with a lovely set of characters and some good representation of POC and LGBTQ characters; this book was pretty cool.

I’ll have to say that I wasn’t too sure about this book at first, but once I started reading it I was hooked. I loved everything about this book. I Steph a lot and her friends on Catnet were the best. It was such an interesting story and trying to figure out what was really going on was fun. AI was one of my favorites. This book made me think that everything that happened in it and the world that it takes place in could eventually happen in real life. There are already so many amazing technologies and I'm sure there will be a lot more in the coming years. I can totally see an AI like the one in this book being used here soon.

I loved following Steph on her journey of making friends and dealing with the life that she had. Having the friends she had on Catnet made everything better. I also really liked the friends she made at her new school. The adventures that they went on were crazy, and the way the whole thing ended was a whirlwind for sure. I definitely recommend it.

I received a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.   Thank you NetGalley.

This book is definitely appropriate to the times considering how often catfishing stilll occurs.     Young adults are a bit more.. ignornat to the concept of internet safety and how quickly something can go wrong from the internet.

This book covers a few different... areas including catfishing, social media, A.I., thrill/suspense, and more. 
It was an unique premise, well-written, and easy to follow.

A tight, gripping story with a lovely friend group at its centre and a truly terrifying antagonist. I didn't want to put it down! There's a romance element but it doesn't take over the whole plot, and the friendships are what absolutely shine in this story - both the online friendships and the meatspace ones feel very true to life, and I love a good robot pal story.

A fantastic and absorbing thriller/mystery full of AI, quirky and believable teenagers, and excellent writing. Highly recommended, especially for readers seeking a relatable (non-depressed!) teenage voice, and for anyone with an interest in Internet privacy and AI.

This is an appropriate book considering the times that we currently live in. If you search or view something on the internet, you almost immediately begin to receive ads for it on other web pages, as well as on social media such as Facebook. This book explores the effects of social media on our daily lives. Although, this book is marketed as a dark thriller, which I guess some consider it to be, I did not find it to be dark and spooky, but rather a sweet story of a girl trying to fit in despite her circumstances. The book is inclusive of gender and sexuality as Stephanie and her friends question or define themselves. I found this to be an enjoyable read which I believe YA will enjoy. Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher and the author for the opportunity to review this book.

Naomi Kritzer’s near-future thriller, Catfishing on Catnet, follows Steph Taylor as she and her mother spend a few months in one small town before hitting the road for another tiny dot on the map, all to keep out of reach of Steph’s evil and violent father.  Because of the constant moves, Steph turns to a social media site called CatNet where her chatroom, or Clowder, is filled with her friends from all across the country who exchange animal pictures and talk about their lives under screennames, such as Steph’s “LittleBrownBat.”  Despite the upheaval of their lives, Steph has fallen into something of a routine, until they come to a new town where her mother falls ill and Steph meets Rachel, a potential friend worth putting down roots "IRL."  Soon, Steph’s father is hot on their tracks, and Steph is turning to her Clowder friends for help to survive, quickly learning that some screennames may represent someone more artificial than human.

The premise of Kritzer’s novel is intriguing: how much does the internet know about us, and how can we determine how much we can trust artificial intelligence?  Ultimately, however, this novel felt unsatisfying.  Characters seemed undeveloped, and relationships, particularly between Steph and her mother, don’t make a lot of sense.  The ending featured characters who seemed thrown together in a haphazard fashion, and the final showdown with Steph’s father felt completely far-fetched.  Finally, there was little resolution regarding the question of AI; whether this was a calculated decision to set up for a sequel or a choice meant to reflect the uncertainty of human/AI ethics, it just felt frustrating to this reader.

Due to its thriller/realistic fiction/sci-fi blend, as well as its representation of a wide array of characters, this book will likely find a readership in many libraries despite its weaknesses.  Thank you to Netgalley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Love the natural tech world building. Clearly someone who knows how to write good sci fi. POV of AI is fascinating, and a very likeable character. Some of the most authentic teen rep. I've seen in YA. A great near-future read.

Catfishing on CatNet by Naomi Kritzer, 304 pages. LGBTQIA+
Macmillan-Tom Doherty Associates, 2019. $18.
Language: PG13 (22 swears, 0 “f”); Mature Content: PG13; Violence: PG13
BUYING ADVISORY: HS - ADVISABLE
AUDIENCE APPEAL: AVERAGE
Sixteen-year-old Steph doesn’t remember a time when she and her mom were not on the run from her dangerous dad. The constant moves makes finding friends difficult, which is why Steph is so grateful for CatNet and her group of online friends. No matter how careful she’s been, though, Steph’s dad is coming for her, and the only help she has is stuck online. What can they do?
While I was caught off guard by the unanticipated turns Steph’s story was making, they were positive pivots to the story I had imagined from the initial description. Each unexpected step that Steph and her friends made fed my desire to see what they would do next. I think the best part is the AI character and the food for thought given to what it means to “come out” -- and how we react to those around us who do so. The mature content rating is for the sex education topics discussed, like genitals and masturbation, beyond most sex education classes' curriculums and mentions of other sexual acts, like oral sex; the violence rating is for mentions of kidnapping and torture as well as gun violence.
Reviewer: Carolina Herdegen