Tuesday, June 29, 2021

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: Chaos on CatNet by Naomi Kritzer

 





Chaos on CatNet is the sequel to last year's Lodestar Winner for Best SF/F Young Adult Novel, Catfishing on Catnet by Naomi Kritzer (My review of that book is here).  That book, which spun out of Kritzer's Hugo winning short story (Cat Pictures Please) featured a queer teen, Steph, constantly uprooted due to her mother being on the run from her father (supposedly), and a cat picture loving AI, CheshireCat, discovering themselves and who they are with the help of others on a cat-picture based social media site - oh and dealing with said dangerous father and AI/Hacking experts involved with CheshireCat all at the same time.  It was a really lovely YA book and deserving award winner for its coming of age story for Steph and her friends, a group of queer teens who are discovering themselves in a near future where such things are discouraged, with my biggest gripe being an unnecessary cliffhanger at the end.

Chaos on CatNet follows up on that cliffhanger - there is another AI other than CheshireCat out there and its making contact! - to form a new novel, albeit one that doesn't quite hit the same mark as its predecessor.  The book features a new co-protagonist, Nell, who is another lesbian girl who grew up in a conservative religious cult and finds herself lost without its guidance and with family she doesn't quite trust....and this book is best when it shows Steph helping Nell realize she can be who she is without the guidance of abusive guidance.  But the book also features that second AI plot, with the second AI being seemingly destructive instead of helpful (ala Person of Interest), and that plotline and everything else just kind of distracts from the heartwarming aspects that made the first book so good, to this book's detriment. 
-----------------------------------------------------Plot Summary------------------------------------------------------
After the events in New Coburg, Steph and her mother have moved again to Minneapolis, where she will attend the Coya Knutson charter school, which is known for dealing with kids who have uneven transcripts and learning histories.  But this time Steph is still in contact with her old friends, such as her girlfriend Rachel, and her mother is taking all the legal steps to make it so they won't ever have to run again.  Everything seems not that bad, especially with CheshireCat watching from Steph's phone....until CheshireCat informs her that it has been contacted seemingly by another AI.  

But in her new school Steph meets Nell, another new student, who has her own traumatic background: she grew up with her mother in a conservative religious cult, and only was taken by her grandmother to her father when her mother disappeared.  Nell is a lesbian who loved another girl in the cult, Glenys, despite the cult's teachings, but finds herself uncomfortable with her dad's polyamorous family, especially in light of the cult teachings Nell grew up with.  Steph empathizes with Nell's awkwardness in a new world, and decides quickly to help Nell as her friend - especially when Glenys seems to have disappeared.  

But as Steph, Nell, and CheshireCat explore Minneapolis and look for answers to Glenys' disappearance, they discover a series of alternate social media networks, some religious and some not, that seem to be directing people to do odd and sometimes dangerous things.....and may be connected to the other AI.  For the other AI may not be so friendly in its purpose as CheshireCat, and only the three of them may be able to find a way to stop it from setting the whole world on fire......
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Catfishing on CatNet was the story of Steph and CheshireCat - Steph as she learned who she was at her new school, decided to make a stand, and discovered friends (and a girlfriend) along with a group of other mostly non-cis-hetero teens on a social media site run by the AI CheshireCat, who was in their own way trying to decide whether or not to come out.  Those stories are largely done here, and Chaos on CatNet essentially tries to replace the with Nell's story - the story of a girl from an oppressive childhood situation (a conservative cult) coming to terms with a family she doesn't know and trust and whether, even as her sexuality didn't make her fit in back in the cult, she can truly find something outside of the only structure that she knows.  There's also the story of a second AI, one which has wants and desires but a programming need for utter destruction.  

It works.....mixed well, especially because so much of it is from Steph's point of view, and Steph's story arc is basically....done.  Steph basically exists in this story to deal with an antagonist with connections to her mother's past, and to meet her hilarious and amazing grandmother, who is just as exceptional as Steph and her other - and most importantly to act as a guiding friend for Nell, who might otherwise fall back into her own life without anyone she believes she can trust.  The Clowder and Steph's girlfiend Rachel and friend Bryony show up, but they don't really feel as important this time, as if their stories are basically over - which well, they are.  

What does work, and honestly I wish could've been more centered, is Nell's story, and to a lesser extent the story of her girlfriend Glenys.  The two of them don't fit in their cult environment, simply because they love each other instead of men....and yet the structures of those cult teachings are all they have.  For Nell, as it's pointed out, such a situation, with a family that seems to go against those teachings by both being polyamory and not really making an effort to connect - with her dad seemingly being too cowardly to commit to helping at times - could easily result in her giving up in what she loves and whos he is and going back to the abusive cult.  But with Steph's clear friendship and unselfish behavior, she can see there is some benefit outside of those structures, and admit to herself she doesn't believe in them or need them.  And it allows her to grow into who she is and take brave steps to help Steph in return.  

But again, Nell's story gets muddle by Steph's perspective and a plot that feels at times straight out of the TV Show Person of Interest, in a battle between a good and evil AI.  The book tries again to sort of match the themes of the humans to those of the AIs, as the "bad" AI has a programming need for devastation, sort of like Nell's childhood teachings, even if he wants something else.  But it's kind of a muddled mess, and while it's still fun and enjoyable at times - Steph, her friends, and oh my her grandma have some great dialogue to go along with it all - it just doesn't have the same heartstring tugging that I got out of the first book.  

Even more oddly, the first book's setting of a near-future that has gotten more conservative and unfriendly to a bunch of non-cis-hetero teens is reversed here, without explanation, so no one anywhere has any issues with anyone's sexuality this time other than the cult, who is well obviously bad in that regards.  Even the cops, who in the first book I noted were useless (like in real life with certain serious issues) are friendly and try to help here - to the point where the author had to put in an Author's Note that she was envisioning a more hopeful future in that regard for Minneapolis, where this takes place - the same place as George Floyd's murder.  It's...kind of weird and only contributes to the messiness of it all.

Again, there's enough fun moments, and Nell's story is good still, for Chaos on CatNet to remain a solid piece of YA.  But what made the first book so special is lost here, which is a bit of a disappointment given the high bar it set.

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