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A review by thewallflower00
Chaos on CatNet by Naomi Kritzer
3.0
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.
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.