Reading: Catfishing on CatNet (148/365)

Naomi Kritzer's short story Cat Pictures Please, about a sentient AI who likes cat pictures and helping people, won the Best Short Story Hugo in 2016. Her novel, Catfishing on CatNet, is a YA take on the same theme. 16-year-old Steph has spent her life moving from town to town and state to state, never saying in the same place for more than a few months, as her mother tries to stay one step ahead of Steph's father, who is constantly trying to track them down. Her only friends are on the internet, on a social site called CatNet. What Steph and her friends on the site don't know is that one of them is actually a sentient AI who also runs the CatNet site, but when Steph's mother is taken ill right after her new school makes national news when the robot that teaches sex education is hacked to give actual, informative answers, the AI may be only person who can help prevent Steph's father catching up with her.

Catfishing on CatNet is a pacy, entertaining techno-thriller, mostly fairly light although with a few darker moments (content note for mention of domestic abuse) and with a delightful cast of queer, nerdy teens. I loved it, and ended up reading the last 40% or so in a single sitting; there is a sequel, too, which I have already bought.