Having all my friends on the internet is a little weird; every now and then, it turns out someone isn’t at all the person you thought they were... [loc. 1177]
Steph and her mother move house frequently, which plays havoc with Steph's schooling and social life. Their itinerant lifestyle is because of Steph's father, who is apparently very dangerous. Steph doesn't understand why they can't just stay put and talk to the police. There's a lot that her mother hasn't told her. Possibly the only thing that keeps Steph sane is CatNet, a social media site that reminded me of the early days of LiveJournal. The currency is cat pictures, the moderator goes by the handle CheshireCat, and Steph (LittleBrownBat) has a supportive group -- a clowder -- of friends, none of whom she has ever met.
Steph and her mother wind up in New Coburg, a small town somewhere in Wisconsin. Steph enrolls in school, discovers she'll have to read The Scarlet Letter for the third time, and befriends (or is befriended by) an artistic girl called Rachel. But her mother falls ill, and Steph needs to run -- and she begins to find out about her mother's past and a very real and present threat. Luckily, CheshireCat and the Clowder are very much on Steph's side ... and CheshireCat is not a human being.
Catfishing on Catnet is sweet and funny, with solid SFnal elements (robo teachers, ubiquitous delivery drones), villainous plots, online friendships (and what happens when you meet in real life), and what defines a person. It's based on Kritzer's Hugo-winning short story 'Cat Pictures Please', which also features an AI trying to help humans while being keenly aware of Asimov's Laws of Robotics. I think I enjoyed the novel more, though: the narration is split between CheshireCat (introduced on the first page as 'AI'), Steph, and the Clowder. While Steph's mostly concerned with the exigencies of her situation, the wider picture -- her mother's past as a hotshot developer, her associates, her ex-husband -- is also fascinating.
I have a couple of criticisms (who feeds the actual cat while Steph's on the road? Maybe the never-seen landlady who lives in the same house?) but they're minor flaws: and I look forward to reading the sequel, Chaos on CatNet, in which I hope to see more of the Clowder and of CheshireCat.
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