Reviews tagging 'Kidnapping'

Catfishing on CatNet by Naomi Kritzer

13 reviews

ritabriar's review

adventurous dark hopeful tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

I adored this book and many of its characters! (And abhorred one) This was a very tense read, and yet it's also sweet and heartwarming.
This story manages to follow a clear pursuit-style plot and also be completely character-driven.  Characters make mistakes, so they're not perfect, but these mistakes come from their limitations, not any particular flaws. Everyone does what they do because they care (or in one notable case, don't care) about each other. Kritzer also manages to make each character unique, with their own voice. Everyone's motives are understandable, especially considering their various ages and levels of experience with the world. The setting is almost just like the corresponding US locations today, but with more robots and one more AI (and just as many large language models). 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Stalking

Moderate: Mental illness, Gun violence, Kidnapping, Domestic abuse, and Panic attacks/disorders

Minor: Car accident, Violence, Torture, Death, Outing, Bullying, Child abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Medical content, Suicide, Gaslighting, Confinement, and Homophobia

bethebluebook's review

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Car accident, Kidnapping, and Gun violence

Minor: Animal death

taque's review

adventurous fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.0

I wanted to like this book, but kept feeling like the real reason it was written was to instruct high schoolers about things like sex ed and other topics they "should" know about. It felt preachy. Also, the characters are supposed to be juniors in high school, but they felt like middle schoolers. It was an odd feeling. 

the shift to a violent  controlling father was a bit of a harsh turn that didn't fit with the rest of the writimg that felt concerned with juvenile characters.

Finally, for all the concern and teaching in the book, it was odd, and felt irresponsible to completely ignore the dangers of online chat rooms and easily trusting people from them.

I mean, how many online chat rooms are likely to have a benevolent overlord who only looks out for the care and safety of others?

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Kidnapping

Minor: Torture, Gun violence, Violence, and Suicide

eslsilver's review

dark emotional informative mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

AI

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Stalking, and Kidnapping

Moderate: Car accident and Murder

Minor: Suicide

essjay's review

4.0

Genuinely did not expect to get sucked into this as deeply as I did, but my reader says I finished it in just over 4h. The pacing and characterization were excellent, and omg so delightfully captured the awkweirdness of meeting online friends IRL for the first time. Checked the second one out of the library before I'd even finished this and will be starting it immediately. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Kidnapping

tangleroot_eli's review

adventurous mysterious tense fast-paced

A fast-paced whirl of a book with sharply realized characters and plenty of adventure.

I felt a little disappointment when I realized that Steph's creepy dad was after them because he wanted her mom's super-duper decryption key and not just because he was an abusive sociopath, but I think that might just mean that I need to take a break from sf set in "our" world.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Stalking, and Domestic abuse

Moderate: Bullying, Car accident, Kidnapping, Racism, Violence, and Medical content

Minor: Transphobia and Fire/Fire injury

efratmaor's review against another edition

adventurous hopeful inspiring mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship and Kidnapping

Minor: Gun violence, Car accident, Medical content, Domestic abuse, and Torture

grimdark_dad's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny informative mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Abandonment, Car accident, Gaslighting, Bullying, Domestic abuse, Torture, Emotional abuse, Medical trauma, Violence, Gun violence, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Physical abuse, and Stalking

kat_mayerovitch's review

adventurous emotional hopeful tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

This was a fun, quick read! While not strictly necessary, I'd suggest adult readers read the award-winning story about the origins of CatNet first, which you can read for free in Clarkesworld: https://clarkesworldmagazine.com/kritzer_01_15/. It'll give you a little more context and make the world a bit more satisfying. If you're one of the YA readers for which these books a really written, though, feel free to skip it, because the most important thing is the characters and the relationships between them. 

It's a book about an online found family of teenage weirdos ... who happen to be brought together by a powerful artificial intelligence that's doing its best to navigate the ethics of getting involved in the human world. Maybe that means bringing people together who will gel socially. Maybe that means helping them hack the robot that's teaching them terrible sex ed so that it actually answers their questions instead. Or maybe that could potentially put lives at risk. Ultimately, it's a book about people trying to help one another. That means teens, adults, and sentient beings on the internet. And a few cats.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Domestic abuse and Kidnapping

Minor: Gun violence

bengines's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful lighthearted fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Stalking, Kidnapping, Suicide, and Torture

Minor: Trafficking, Transphobia, and Vomit