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Stray Cat Strut #1
Stray Cat Strut 1
In the year 2057, the world has become a corporate-run utopia for the super-rich, and a hellhole for all the rest.
Catherine 'Cat' Leblanc is an orphan that is about as far from super-rich as one can be. When the Incursion alarms start blaring and the sky starts raining hungry xenos, it's just another blemish on an already piss-poor afternoon.
A cyberpunk magical-girl alien-invasion LitRPG.
It’s exactly as wild as it sounds.
Catherine 'Cat' Leblanc is an orphan that is about as far from super-rich as one can be. When the Incursion alarms start blaring and the sky starts raining hungry xenos, it's just another blemish on an already piss-poor afternoon.
A cyberpunk magical-girl alien-invasion LitRPG.
It’s exactly as wild as it sounds.
395 pages, Kindle Edition
First published April 12, 2021
156 people are currently reading
545 people want to read
About the author
RavensDagger
49 books209 followersA bird that likes comfy and happy things, and also knives. Once ate a god’s eye and awakened the ability to see all that is good in the world. Known to steal shiny ideas and baubles. Currently forbidden from writing his own bios.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 77 reviews
November 7, 2024
I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book*. Cat is a crippled orphan visiting a newly opened museum. An alien apocalypse has been slowly playing out for decades (we're thirty plus years in the future) with a hive/horde invading in random places and Earth's forces have to fight back to eliminate them. Only there's also friendly aliens who select certain people from Earth to enhance with an AI and opportunities to open up equipment and modifications to help them fight the invasion. Cat has a moment of extreme heroism and self-sacrifice that ends with her receiving the alien assistance that marks her as one of these select "Samurai".
So there is lots of fighting and a stupidly (in a good way) fast pace with Cat earning "points" and spending them nearly as fast to get the means to blow up the bad guys. Intrinsic to this working so well for me are two elements that worked very well together to make this a great ride.
First, Cat cares in all the right ways. She is protecting the helpless and saving those unable to save themselves. She pushes through extreme adversity, including her pre-existing handicap (having lost an eye and arm to an unspecified tragedy in her past). She is an orphan (from that same tragedy) but focuses on the things she can do rather than those she can't. This is admirable and makes her a great, strong protagonist.
Second, Cat's AI, Myalis, is a snarky hoot acting as part support, part temptress to help Cat embrace her inner need to make things go boom. Their interactions are all sorts of fun and act as a needed leavening for the desperate circumstances they are in. Myalis states outright that her personality (including explicit gender identity) is geared towards matching Cat's personality which makes their banter all the more fun knowing that Cat simply accepts that manipulation as a starting point and permission to snark freely.
So this is an action-packed pseudo system apocalypse with a great protagonist, a ton of humor, and a fast pace. This is an easy five star read and I'm glad I stumbled onto it.
* I didn't actually read the book. I picked this up free on Royal Road. The thorough enjoyment holds, but reading there robbed me of my usual joy in publishing the highlights. This is a true tragedy as the snarky humor is outstanding and I hate that I can't share examples.
A note about Chaste: Cat is separated from her girlfriend throughout. We are told that they are intimate and we see their connection. But they are in public when they aren't in deadly peril so there are no shenanigans in the story. There are some minor intimate touches, but nothing I would call steamy. So this is fairly chaste. The author states that there will be steam in following books. But I can verify that there is none in this one.
So there is lots of fighting and a stupidly (in a good way) fast pace with Cat earning "points" and spending them nearly as fast to get the means to blow up the bad guys. Intrinsic to this working so well for me are two elements that worked very well together to make this a great ride.
First, Cat cares in all the right ways. She is protecting the helpless and saving those unable to save themselves. She pushes through extreme adversity, including her pre-existing handicap (having lost an eye and arm to an unspecified tragedy in her past). She is an orphan (from that same tragedy) but focuses on the things she can do rather than those she can't. This is admirable and makes her a great, strong protagonist.
Second, Cat's AI, Myalis, is a snarky hoot acting as part support, part temptress to help Cat embrace her inner need to make things go boom. Their interactions are all sorts of fun and act as a needed leavening for the desperate circumstances they are in. Myalis states outright that her personality (including explicit gender identity) is geared towards matching Cat's personality which makes their banter all the more fun knowing that Cat simply accepts that manipulation as a starting point and permission to snark freely.
So this is an action-packed pseudo system apocalypse with a great protagonist, a ton of humor, and a fast pace. This is an easy five star read and I'm glad I stumbled onto it.
* I didn't actually read the book. I picked this up free on Royal Road. The thorough enjoyment holds, but reading there robbed me of my usual joy in publishing the highlights. This is a true tragedy as the snarky humor is outstanding and I hate that I can't share examples.
A note about Chaste: Cat is separated from her girlfriend throughout. We are told that they are intimate and we see their connection. But they are in public when they aren't in deadly peril so there are no shenanigans in the story. There are some minor intimate touches, but nothing I would call steamy. So this is fairly chaste. The author states that there will be steam in following books. But I can verify that there is none in this one.
June 8, 2021
The fourth book I've read by this author.
This one is set in the future, I'm not sure if the exact date is given in the book, though the book description says 2057. The star of the show, the only POV, is a young woman named Cat, who is about to turn 18 when the book opens. She's also missing a hand, an eye, and parents.
Book opens with her and another young woman, Lucy, who is slightly older, leading a group of orphans to a museum. A field trip.
There are hints dropped throughout the book that indicate that Lucy & Cat are more than good friends, if you catch my drift, but it is not explored in this book ().
Right, where was I. Right. So, a group of orphans, along with other groups of kids roughly the same age, visit a museum in the year 2057. While they are exploring, a rip in the sky occurs and aliens fall out and start blowing things up. Everyone screams and runs for safety. "Alien Incursions", though not yet mentioned, appear to be a common element of this future, one that has been occurring since . . . either 2021 or 2020.
Cat and her group get into the "safe space", but they are missing two kids. Cat goes off to find, and quickly comes across one of the two at the entrance (the safe space is supposed to be something like a well protected panic room with a nice secure door. I keep using "" because the room they were directed to has cheep thin plating on the walls that fall off easily, and has no door . . . like, none, not even a flimsy excuse of a door, just . . none). Cat continues deeper into the museum to find her lost stray charge.
I mention all this so I can mention that Cat found the stray kid trapped under clothing, frees them, and both of them are trapped by prowling aliens. Cat offers herself as a distraction to save the other. Thereby dying.
The end.
Wow, that was a short book, eh?
There's a moment near the beginning of the book when the kids enter the museum and Cat's augmented tech stuff in her head asked her stuff. Which I mention now because that acted a base for what happened next: Cat lying on the ground with a pole stuck into her (other end stuck in an alien, it's a long story) bleeding to death. The augmented tech thingie tells her she has moments to live. Also that Cat's actions have turned her into a samurai and if she does certain things, she can keep living longer and fight and stuff.
The samurai here is not a samurai like in Japan. It's the name chosen by civilians for this specific type of superhero. Basically, alien tech in Cat's brain activated, and now Cat's a superhero. Which can get her certain things, like guns. Though she has to "purchase them" and stuff. They purchase stuff using points and stuff through killing and saving lives.
Right, remember how we are in the middle of an alien incursion? Well the book follows this alien invasion of Montreal (yes, we are in Montreal, where it apparently rains 99% of the time) on a non-stop kind of action type thing. Is fun, and stuff.
Is action/science fiction/cyberpunk book. Not romance.
Rating: 4.43
June 7 2021
This one is set in the future, I'm not sure if the exact date is given in the book, though the book description says 2057. The star of the show, the only POV, is a young woman named Cat, who is about to turn 18 when the book opens. She's also missing a hand, an eye, and parents.
Book opens with her and another young woman, Lucy, who is slightly older, leading a group of orphans to a museum. A field trip.
There are hints dropped throughout the book that indicate that Lucy & Cat are more than good friends, if you catch my drift, but it is not explored in this book ().
Right, where was I. Right. So, a group of orphans, along with other groups of kids roughly the same age, visit a museum in the year 2057. While they are exploring, a rip in the sky occurs and aliens fall out and start blowing things up. Everyone screams and runs for safety. "Alien Incursions", though not yet mentioned, appear to be a common element of this future, one that has been occurring since . . . either 2021 or 2020.
Cat and her group get into the "safe space", but they are missing two kids. Cat goes off to find, and quickly comes across one of the two at the entrance (the safe space is supposed to be something like a well protected panic room with a nice secure door. I keep using "" because the room they were directed to has cheep thin plating on the walls that fall off easily, and has no door . . . like, none, not even a flimsy excuse of a door, just . . none). Cat continues deeper into the museum to find her lost stray charge.
I mention all this so I can mention that Cat found the stray kid trapped under clothing, frees them, and both of them are trapped by prowling aliens. Cat offers herself as a distraction to save the other. Thereby dying.
The end.
Wow, that was a short book, eh?
There's a moment near the beginning of the book when the kids enter the museum and Cat's augmented tech stuff in her head asked her stuff. Which I mention now because that acted a base for what happened next: Cat lying on the ground with a pole stuck into her (other end stuck in an alien, it's a long story) bleeding to death. The augmented tech thingie tells her she has moments to live. Also that Cat's actions have turned her into a samurai and if she does certain things, she can keep living longer and fight and stuff.
The samurai here is not a samurai like in Japan. It's the name chosen by civilians for this specific type of superhero. Basically, alien tech in Cat's brain activated, and now Cat's a superhero. Which can get her certain things, like guns. Though she has to "purchase them" and stuff. They purchase stuff using points and stuff through killing and saving lives.
Right, remember how we are in the middle of an alien incursion? Well the book follows this alien invasion of Montreal (yes, we are in Montreal, where it apparently rains 99% of the time) on a non-stop kind of action type thing. Is fun, and stuff.
Is action/science fiction/cyberpunk book. Not romance.
Rating: 4.43
June 7 2021
July 18, 2025
Catherine is an orphan in what at first appears to be a fairly typical Cyberpunk world in the near future. She and her fellow orphans are visiting a museum as part of PR stunt when the alarms are sounded. An alien incursion disrupts the otherwise pleasant outing, but Cat refuses to let herself or her charges (the Kittens) be murdered by those aliens. After killing a few monsters in self-defence, she suddenly finds herself in a position where she actually has a chance to fight. She joined the ranks of the samurai, humanities defenders by having gained an alien AI that allows her to earn points by killing aliens and rescuing humans, and to use those points to buy whatever is necessary. Now she just has to make sure the Kittens and herself get out alive.
The story is a high-paced entertaining Cyberpunk action flick with a sassy female protagonist and her equally sassy AI. She has no experience as a fighter (and it shows), but she does have a love for style and explosions. The world building is interesting, Cat is not the first samurai by a long shot. The first incursion took place decades earlier, and the world is dealing reasonably well with it which is a nice twist to the post-apocalyptic litRPG (lite) genre. No game system, but there is a shop and experience of sorts. No long deliberations or builds. The sass is dealt with well too, not everybody reacts to it as if it is normal.
The chapters felt a bit short (the book length itself is fine), which in itself was not bad, but each chapter starts with a piece of text about the world, snippets of interviews, news, blog posts and the like. It probably works for the web-novel version, but in the book, it felt a bit distracting. I am not a big fan of it, maybe if the chapters are longer, it works better.
Still, a minor gripe. I enjoyed the story, and I am curious about the next volume.
The story is a high-paced entertaining Cyberpunk action flick with a sassy female protagonist and her equally sassy AI. She has no experience as a fighter (and it shows), but she does have a love for style and explosions. The world building is interesting, Cat is not the first samurai by a long shot. The first incursion took place decades earlier, and the world is dealing reasonably well with it which is a nice twist to the post-apocalyptic litRPG (lite) genre. No game system, but there is a shop and experience of sorts. No long deliberations or builds. The sass is dealt with well too, not everybody reacts to it as if it is normal.
The chapters felt a bit short (the book length itself is fine), which in itself was not bad, but each chapter starts with a piece of text about the world, snippets of interviews, news, blog posts and the like. It probably works for the web-novel version, but in the book, it felt a bit distracting. I am not a big fan of it, maybe if the chapters are longer, it works better.
Still, a minor gripe. I enjoyed the story, and I am curious about the next volume.
August 10, 2022
"Read" via audible. I normally save the 5 star ratings for literary classics but this was just an all around fun and entertaining book. Holly Jackson once again did a wonderful job with the narration. I was a little worried about a second reader and I have had a couple of books do this and I found it rather distracting and in the long run not very good for the story. But this one was great. Having a second narrator for the asides at the start of each chapter made it fun. It is a fast paced action fill snark-fest of a story. The addition of a Thagomizer is what tipped it into the 5 star range for me. I think I squeed a little bit at that part. I hope there is a second on soon!
December 5, 2022
Цялото действие на този кратичък фантастичен роман се развива само в 1 ден. Сравнително интересно е, но клони към прекалено разточване на описанията, действията и диалозите. Натрапва се отново и тук характерната за съвременните млади автори на фантастика тенденция да се грижат за всичко и всеки, като в Stray Cat Strut това е дори както основната мотивация, така и основата на действието на главната героиня. Всички тия тенденции продължават и само се засилват (особено дължината на диалозите) във втората част, която се принудих, поради това, да оставя недочетена.
November 4, 2024
Easily my favourite
So this is easily my favourite LitRPG. I actually own all of the series so far on Audible but decided to pick them up on kindle too. Honestly I'm not sure how to describe how much I enjoy this series. The humour is great, the characters are fun and Cat never feels too overpowered, sure she gets through some situations with ease but she's clearly show as being lower on the rankings than the many older samurai she meets. It's a great series and I 100% recommend it.
So this is easily my favourite LitRPG. I actually own all of the series so far on Audible but decided to pick them up on kindle too. Honestly I'm not sure how to describe how much I enjoy this series. The humour is great, the characters are fun and Cat never feels too overpowered, sure she gets through some situations with ease but she's clearly show as being lower on the rankings than the many older samurai she meets. It's a great series and I 100% recommend it.
February 8, 2022
Fast paced YA Sci-Fi RPG
January 28, 2022
It's a cyberpunk action flick with a mouthy MC and a sassy AI. What's not to like?
It fits the year. The world is very... relatable?--especially if you work in healthcare.
Smartest part of the book is the little news blurbs, historical accounts, and interviews that explain the world at the start of every chapter. Rolls the world out at the perfect pace while giving you a little breadcrumb or hint on what maybe going on in the chapter.
It fits the year. The world is very... relatable?--especially if you work in healthcare.
Smartest part of the book is the little news blurbs, historical accounts, and interviews that explain the world at the start of every chapter. Rolls the world out at the perfect pace while giving you a little breadcrumb or hint on what maybe going on in the chapter.
November 6, 2024
It is decently paced and has a good amount of snark, but I don’t really know if I actually like the LitRPG genre. At least in this take, all problems are just a matter of spending points. To get even more points. At some point, what is the point?
November 13, 2024
System Apocalypse goes cyberpunk
This whole book takes place in one day. but what a day. When killer aliens invade your city and try to establish a hive that converts organic matter into bio-weapons. It's times like that when a girl might want to spend some points on cybernetic modifications, recon drones, and bigger guns.
one big shoot-em-up with alien monsters and lots of explosions. Fast loud fun.
This whole book takes place in one day. but what a day. When killer aliens invade your city and try to establish a hive that converts organic matter into bio-weapons. It's times like that when a girl might want to spend some points on cybernetic modifications, recon drones, and bigger guns.
one big shoot-em-up with alien monsters and lots of explosions. Fast loud fun.
February 21, 2024
Stray Cat Strut: A Young Lady's Journey to Becoming a Pop-Up Samurai by Ravens Dagger:
Stray Cat Strut: A Young Lady's Journey to Becoming a Pop-Up Samurai by Ravens Dagger promises readers an unconventional blend of samurai culture, pop-up book mechanics, and adventure. While the premise holds potential for a unique and imaginative story, the execution in this particular novel falls short, resulting in a narrative that struggles to find its identity and engage its audience.
Dagger's writing style is experimental, with attempts to merge traditional samurai tropes with the whimsical mechanics of pop-up books. However, the execution feels disjointed and lacks coherence, leaving the reader feeling disconnected from the story.
In this book, readers follow the journey of a young lady as she navigates the complexities of samurai training and battles enemies using pop-up book techniques. While the concept is certainly novel, the plot feels contrived and lacks depth, with little in the way of meaningful character development or narrative progression.
The world-building in this installment is minimal, with little explanation of the rules and mechanics governing the samurai society or the larger setting in which the story takes place. This lack of depth hampers the reader's immersion in the world and detracts from the overall experience.
Moreover, the character development in Stray Cat Strut feels lacking, with the protagonist and supporting cast failing to undergo significant growth or evolution throughout the narrative. The relationships between characters also feel underdeveloped, robbing the story of emotional depth and resonance.
Rating: ⭐⭐ (2/5)
Stray Cat Strut: A Young Lady's Journey to Becoming a Pop-Up Samurai struggles to live up to the potential of its premise, offering a disjointed and uninspired narrative that fails to engage its audience. While it may offer some novelty, it ultimately lacks the depth and substance needed to leave a lasting impression.
September 29, 2024
This was way better than I expected. The humor was the highight for me in this series.
I hadn't noticed how far my standards for decent humor have fallen over time until I read this.
The MC is wonderfully sarcastic and the humor is self-aware and chalk-full of concentrated internet culture in an acutally funny way that almost never induced cringing. It's just so on point in how it captures and subtly pokes at all the ideosyncracies of humanity and not so subtly points out the fucked-up-ness of uncontrolled capitalism. At the same time it is not preachy in the way the finer points of moral questions and ethics are discussed just like a good cyberpunk novel should.
There was one big flaw I was continuously annoyed by in the later books which wasn't really present in the first one and that is the fan-service. The lesbian relationship is very much written for men. The main character might as well be a man and it would make no difference to her as a character or how she interacts with anyone else. Yes, in lots of lesbian relationships there seems to be a tendency for one parter to play a more masculine role but this felt very different than that. She is a women just because lesbians are hot or something which I found incredibly annoying.
There is a lot of sexual innuendo that is part of the humor by being teasing or crass which was totally fine. I am not proposing this kind of story should be prudish about sexuality. That would be a terrible idea! But there also is a lot of the other kind that just felt porn-like.
The author is capable of describing real intimacy in a romantic and lovely way as well so its not all bad. But most of the the erotic parts felt like reading lesbian porn for men.
From the reviews I deduced that these sections apparently are optional in the original Royal Road publications. But lots of later dialogue directly references these sex scenes which would make no sense if you skip over these "optional" parts. So I get why the decision was made to include them in the audiobooks but its just not ideal.
It's not really an issue with the smut sections in particular but more generally with how the main character is just fundamentally partly a hot lesbian male wishfulfilment fantasy which just rubbed me the wrong way. I always hated all kinds of fan-service, be it in anime, manga, light-novels, or anywhere else, and I dislike it as a general concept because it always compromises immersion, believability, and consistency of characters for a bit of sexual titilation which just seems like a bad tradeoff to make. If I really want some fan-service I can go look up some doujin or something...
To get back to more positive things, the wold-building is amazing. For a long time I was annoyed by the very short chapters and how each chapter starts with a short paragraph of world-building. It felt like it was interrupting the story flow a lot. But on the other hand, now that I have read the first 5 books, I can apprechiate how much more depth the world-building has gained through these sections. I still think that the chapter sections could have been chosen more carefully to not be as jarring to the pacing though.
You would expect such a wild setting to require lots of willing suspension of disbelief and just accepting an absurd premise, but no! The author managed to motivate the overall premise so robustly that I couldn't find fault even when trying.
The details about how the "game mechanics" work are less consistent and some of it gets retconned in later books sadly. To give a few examples, the first book immediately introduces digital aiming through her augmented vision even for cheap low-tech guns which shows you where your gun will shoot which means you can kind of hold guns however. But the author completely drops this entire thing in favor of making a joke out of her not being able to aim which felt not like it was worth it for a lame running-gag. Another example is how the point costs seem to inflate somehow over time even for simple things. Nanobot meds for example were like 5-10 points in the first book but later on she can only get simple bandages for that price. This happens for lots of things, is never explained, and it increasingly feels like the author himself isn't actually keeping track of how much things cost but is instead just making prices up by gut feeling or something.
I would liked a bit more of the MC choosing the right tools for the job. Most of the time she just spawns random ammo or grenades that sound cool without ever even considering point efficiency of different types for example. Feels like a missed oportunity to make the MC interesting.
This leads to a related point about the MC not actually being very special at all.
She is just able to solve all her problems essentially by using points. Ok, this is not entirely fair, she is extremely good under fire. She doesn't freeze up or suffer decision paralysis which is actually a rare quality of a sort. She has an incredible amount of mental endurance overall. It feels like the sarcastic version of the always-get-back-up trope common on shonen.
But the story is already partly a wish-fulfillment fantasy of a sort. So having her be a little smarter in how she uses the the tools available to her or at least learn to do so over time beyond just always picking whatever her AI recommends to her would have been amazing. This is of course not trivial to do without it hurting the pacing but I think it would be very much doable.
The rule of cool takes too big of a role imo especially later on.
This then leads to my last point of criticism I already kind of mentioned above as well. Everything feels too easy. The world is really quite gritty and dark. It's a worthy cyberpunk setting. But for the MC in particular everything feels too easy. Everything just always works out every single time with very minor temporary setbacks at best. This essentially removes all suspense from otherwise tense situations. And by being able to essentially heal any injury almost immediately there isn't even any real risk of injury without death.
I find myself only criticizing the series yet again without giving the amount of praise it deservs at least based on my personal enjoyment. I really enjoyed this and devoured the first 5 books essentially in one go. The first one is still my favorite but the others all range from decent to really good as well.
If you like yourself a sarcastic and cutting MC that is kind and lovely underneath her rough exterior and are into internet culture I think you will probably have an awesome time with this series.
I am not as sure how fun this might be if you think 4chan humor is unacceptable and disgusting. The humor is very edgy.
I hadn't noticed how far my standards for decent humor have fallen over time until I read this.
The MC is wonderfully sarcastic and the humor is self-aware and chalk-full of concentrated internet culture in an acutally funny way that almost never induced cringing. It's just so on point in how it captures and subtly pokes at all the ideosyncracies of humanity and not so subtly points out the fucked-up-ness of uncontrolled capitalism. At the same time it is not preachy in the way the finer points of moral questions and ethics are discussed just like a good cyberpunk novel should.
There was one big flaw I was continuously annoyed by in the later books which wasn't really present in the first one and that is the fan-service. The lesbian relationship is very much written for men. The main character might as well be a man and it would make no difference to her as a character or how she interacts with anyone else. Yes, in lots of lesbian relationships there seems to be a tendency for one parter to play a more masculine role but this felt very different than that. She is a women just because lesbians are hot or something which I found incredibly annoying.
There is a lot of sexual innuendo that is part of the humor by being teasing or crass which was totally fine. I am not proposing this kind of story should be prudish about sexuality. That would be a terrible idea! But there also is a lot of the other kind that just felt porn-like.
The author is capable of describing real intimacy in a romantic and lovely way as well so its not all bad. But most of the the erotic parts felt like reading lesbian porn for men.
From the reviews I deduced that these sections apparently are optional in the original Royal Road publications. But lots of later dialogue directly references these sex scenes which would make no sense if you skip over these "optional" parts. So I get why the decision was made to include them in the audiobooks but its just not ideal.
It's not really an issue with the smut sections in particular but more generally with how the main character is just fundamentally partly a hot lesbian male wishfulfilment fantasy which just rubbed me the wrong way. I always hated all kinds of fan-service, be it in anime, manga, light-novels, or anywhere else, and I dislike it as a general concept because it always compromises immersion, believability, and consistency of characters for a bit of sexual titilation which just seems like a bad tradeoff to make. If I really want some fan-service I can go look up some doujin or something...
To get back to more positive things, the wold-building is amazing. For a long time I was annoyed by the very short chapters and how each chapter starts with a short paragraph of world-building. It felt like it was interrupting the story flow a lot. But on the other hand, now that I have read the first 5 books, I can apprechiate how much more depth the world-building has gained through these sections. I still think that the chapter sections could have been chosen more carefully to not be as jarring to the pacing though.
You would expect such a wild setting to require lots of willing suspension of disbelief and just accepting an absurd premise, but no! The author managed to motivate the overall premise so robustly that I couldn't find fault even when trying.
The details about how the "game mechanics" work are less consistent and some of it gets retconned in later books sadly. To give a few examples, the first book immediately introduces digital aiming through her augmented vision even for cheap low-tech guns which shows you where your gun will shoot which means you can kind of hold guns however. But the author completely drops this entire thing in favor of making a joke out of her not being able to aim which felt not like it was worth it for a lame running-gag. Another example is how the point costs seem to inflate somehow over time even for simple things. Nanobot meds for example were like 5-10 points in the first book but later on she can only get simple bandages for that price. This happens for lots of things, is never explained, and it increasingly feels like the author himself isn't actually keeping track of how much things cost but is instead just making prices up by gut feeling or something.
I would liked a bit more of the MC choosing the right tools for the job. Most of the time she just spawns random ammo or grenades that sound cool without ever even considering point efficiency of different types for example. Feels like a missed oportunity to make the MC interesting.
This leads to a related point about the MC not actually being very special at all.
She is just able to solve all her problems essentially by using points. Ok, this is not entirely fair, she is extremely good under fire. She doesn't freeze up or suffer decision paralysis which is actually a rare quality of a sort. She has an incredible amount of mental endurance overall. It feels like the sarcastic version of the always-get-back-up trope common on shonen.
But the story is already partly a wish-fulfillment fantasy of a sort. So having her be a little smarter in how she uses the the tools available to her or at least learn to do so over time beyond just always picking whatever her AI recommends to her would have been amazing. This is of course not trivial to do without it hurting the pacing but I think it would be very much doable.
The rule of cool takes too big of a role imo especially later on.
This then leads to my last point of criticism I already kind of mentioned above as well. Everything feels too easy. The world is really quite gritty and dark. It's a worthy cyberpunk setting. But for the MC in particular everything feels too easy. Everything just always works out every single time with very minor temporary setbacks at best. This essentially removes all suspense from otherwise tense situations. And by being able to essentially heal any injury almost immediately there isn't even any real risk of injury without death.
I find myself only criticizing the series yet again without giving the amount of praise it deservs at least based on my personal enjoyment. I really enjoyed this and devoured the first 5 books essentially in one go. The first one is still my favorite but the others all range from decent to really good as well.
If you like yourself a sarcastic and cutting MC that is kind and lovely underneath her rough exterior and are into internet culture I think you will probably have an awesome time with this series.
I am not as sure how fun this might be if you think 4chan humor is unacceptable and disgusting. The humor is very edgy.
November 6, 2023
By the end of book two, I'm done.
I found it uncomfortable to read a story written by a guy about a sex obsessed teenage lesbian having explicit sex with her teenage girlfriend whenever she isn't fighting aliens. The book in general felt like what a guy would want a lesbian to say and do.
The pace was weird, Day one: alien invasion, she gets powers, Day two: hey, rescue this girl and murder some mercanaries and corp assholes, Day three: spend $300,000,000 on a place to live, Day four: go to a small town to fight more aliens. Whenever you're not doing those things, have sex and send as many sexual innuendos as you can at every girl you meet. There could have been implied weeks in between each of these days and it would have made it more believable as far as how everyone is psychologically dealing with murdering people and aliens.
Anyways, action parts were fine, I think the world and concept of the type of aliens was cool. Otherwise, not worth it.
I found it uncomfortable to read a story written by a guy about a sex obsessed teenage lesbian having explicit sex with her teenage girlfriend whenever she isn't fighting aliens. The book in general felt like what a guy would want a lesbian to say and do.
The pace was weird, Day one: alien invasion, she gets powers, Day two: hey, rescue this girl and murder some mercanaries and corp assholes, Day three: spend $300,000,000 on a place to live, Day four: go to a small town to fight more aliens. Whenever you're not doing those things, have sex and send as many sexual innuendos as you can at every girl you meet. There could have been implied weeks in between each of these days and it would have made it more believable as far as how everyone is psychologically dealing with murdering people and aliens.
Anyways, action parts were fine, I think the world and concept of the type of aliens was cool. Otherwise, not worth it.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 30, 2024
STRAY CAT STRUT by Raven's Dagger is a cyberpunk progression fantasy LitRPG. It's a Royal Road published web serial that has since made the transition to ebook and paperback. It is the story of Catherine "Cat" Leblanc as she lives in a cyberpunk dystopia where the world is regularly invaded by the Antithesis, a bunch of Zerg-like aliens that consume biomass and turn them into horrifying monsters.
Thankfully, for humanity, the humans have the patronage of a race of aliens called the Protectors. The Protectors have a very strange way of trying to help humanity. Rather than just evacuating the planet or arming humanity with technology capable of protecting them, they instead come up with an elaborate scheme to arm humans with technology they can download off a catalog with "points." They only get these points for killing aliens.
Only a small handful of individuals get chosen to be able to kill for points but they rapidly become the richest, most powerful people in the world. Furthermore, they are able fo generate technology that can transform human society. Fortunately, these individuals, called "Samurai" are mostly selfless sorts who want to make the world a better place. Unfortunately, they're also people with the morality of violent video game protagonists. They kill aliens just fine but aren't very good at solving Earth's many social ills.
Cat finds herself struggling to balance the dangers of her new position as a samurai with the responsibilities of her job running an orphanage with her lover, Lucy. Cat is a lesbian and in a committed relationship, which is something that I think is rare enough in fiction that it deserves commentary. She is somewhat undereducated and has to be led by her AI through a lot of the implication of the technology that she finds herself in possession of.
The first book is basically a video game crossed with Die Hard. Cat and her orphans, "The Kittens" are visiting a museum downtown when the city is attacked by the Antithesis. She's empowered by the Protectors as a samurai and has to up her cybernetics, armor, and weapons while trying to keep everyone alive for as long as possible.
Saying this is just brainless fun isn't a good description of the book. There's actually a lot of clever cyberpunk social commentary on the world and some really funny satire too. It is a lot of action and funny jokes, however, like a pyromaniac nun. I don't much care for how the Kindle version of the book is formatted and recommend the audiobook version over it. Still, I had a lot of fun with this book and will be picking up the sequel.
Thankfully, for humanity, the humans have the patronage of a race of aliens called the Protectors. The Protectors have a very strange way of trying to help humanity. Rather than just evacuating the planet or arming humanity with technology capable of protecting them, they instead come up with an elaborate scheme to arm humans with technology they can download off a catalog with "points." They only get these points for killing aliens.
Only a small handful of individuals get chosen to be able to kill for points but they rapidly become the richest, most powerful people in the world. Furthermore, they are able fo generate technology that can transform human society. Fortunately, these individuals, called "Samurai" are mostly selfless sorts who want to make the world a better place. Unfortunately, they're also people with the morality of violent video game protagonists. They kill aliens just fine but aren't very good at solving Earth's many social ills.
Cat finds herself struggling to balance the dangers of her new position as a samurai with the responsibilities of her job running an orphanage with her lover, Lucy. Cat is a lesbian and in a committed relationship, which is something that I think is rare enough in fiction that it deserves commentary. She is somewhat undereducated and has to be led by her AI through a lot of the implication of the technology that she finds herself in possession of.
The first book is basically a video game crossed with Die Hard. Cat and her orphans, "The Kittens" are visiting a museum downtown when the city is attacked by the Antithesis. She's empowered by the Protectors as a samurai and has to up her cybernetics, armor, and weapons while trying to keep everyone alive for as long as possible.
Saying this is just brainless fun isn't a good description of the book. There's actually a lot of clever cyberpunk social commentary on the world and some really funny satire too. It is a lot of action and funny jokes, however, like a pyromaniac nun. I don't much care for how the Kindle version of the book is formatted and recommend the audiobook version over it. Still, I had a lot of fun with this book and will be picking up the sequel.
March 24, 2022
*Audiobook Review*
First off, Ravens Dagger is my favorite author and I love her Cinnamon Bun series. Stray Cat, is not my favorite at all. I gave Stray Cat Strut an actual chance and I painfully experienced the series from start to end.
The story has interesting and innovative concept such as : Interesting plant based aliens that act like ant hives. Or the helpful aliens that supply the “ Samurai” with unique weapons and armor. That is all that is interesting. The rest is just painful and cringe worthy dialog that contained awful flirting, annoying bravado and over the top situations.
The main character is a meat head who hates the world for being a orphan cripple. Her lover and orphans kids is what keeps her grounded; who she is responsible for. On that note, she is 17 going on 18 and she is responsible for kids and in a relationship with one the orphans. Looks like future orphans are overseen by a simple robot and no other humans. Also, the MC has snark. LOTS of snark; to the point where it becomes annoying. She is constantly rolling her eyes and snorting on everything. What is worse is when becomes a Samurai (An alien AI installed in her brain to help her fight invaders) she is automatically responsible for every normal human (which includes private military) . A 17 year old who doesn't know what she is doing just doing whatever that seems right.
I can forgive most thing, but I cannot forgive an MC that doesn't know or understand the different types of aliens that are invading her world. Everyone else, even little kids know of the different types of aliens invading her city but her. The MC might as well been iskeai-ed from an alternative world. The MC is also a reactionary character who walks off aimlessly and buying anything the AI suggests. The worse part is, she pretends to be a veteran Samurai and takes advantage of that information.
I could go on how annoying the other characters are or how there are so many annoying advertisement (that demonstrates how corrupt and corporate the world has become).
My feeling is, the author tries hard to create a more mature and adult series and it came out something that even a late teen would find annoying and cringe worthy. This was not her best work as the series felt rushed and nonsensical. Even the ending, would have have left most people dissatisfied.
I only hope the author uses Cat Strut as a stepping stone for something better in the future; if she wants to start writing for more mature audience.
First off, Ravens Dagger is my favorite author and I love her Cinnamon Bun series. Stray Cat, is not my favorite at all. I gave Stray Cat Strut an actual chance and I painfully experienced the series from start to end.
The story has interesting and innovative concept such as : Interesting plant based aliens that act like ant hives. Or the helpful aliens that supply the “ Samurai” with unique weapons and armor. That is all that is interesting. The rest is just painful and cringe worthy dialog that contained awful flirting, annoying bravado and over the top situations.
The main character is a meat head who hates the world for being a orphan cripple. Her lover and orphans kids is what keeps her grounded; who she is responsible for. On that note, she is 17 going on 18 and she is responsible for kids and in a relationship with one the orphans. Looks like future orphans are overseen by a simple robot and no other humans. Also, the MC has snark. LOTS of snark; to the point where it becomes annoying. She is constantly rolling her eyes and snorting on everything. What is worse is when becomes a Samurai (An alien AI installed in her brain to help her fight invaders) she is automatically responsible for every normal human (which includes private military) . A 17 year old who doesn't know what she is doing just doing whatever that seems right.
I can forgive most thing, but I cannot forgive an MC that doesn't know or understand the different types of aliens that are invading her world. Everyone else, even little kids know of the different types of aliens invading her city but her. The MC might as well been iskeai-ed from an alternative world. The MC is also a reactionary character who walks off aimlessly and buying anything the AI suggests. The worse part is, she pretends to be a veteran Samurai and takes advantage of that information.
I could go on how annoying the other characters are or how there are so many annoying advertisement (that demonstrates how corrupt and corporate the world has become).
My feeling is, the author tries hard to create a more mature and adult series and it came out something that even a late teen would find annoying and cringe worthy. This was not her best work as the series felt rushed and nonsensical. Even the ending, would have have left most people dissatisfied.
I only hope the author uses Cat Strut as a stepping stone for something better in the future; if she wants to start writing for more mature audience.
September 22, 2022
Literally just an RPG game turned into a book
Slight spoilers:
Stray Cat Strut was most of the time, relatively fun to read in the beginning. Catherine has a lot of snark which is also part of her coping mechanism for the situation she suddenly found herself in and every time she calls people out on their stupid or provocative behavior is a joy to read. The action is inspired by alien invasion blockbusters and it doesn't quite sit well with a one-armed, visually impaired teenager.
If this was supposed to just be an action-flick, then it is too repetitive: Characters lay burdens on her shoulders which always results in her needing to go get someone from somewhere and shoot aliens along the way, leaving all her friends and family behind to the point that they barely get mentioned anymore. Some of the action was quite thrilling though, her first chase through the museum and her needing to protect AA guns on top of a buildings-roof were A+ material.
Now the point where all of this lacks depth and makes it subsequently become an RPG game turned into a book instead of the next Gantz (because yes, this and Gantz already have so many similarities that I may not call this story Stray Cat Strut but maybe Stray Copycat).
Cat(-herine) becomes a game-addict within hours, aliens aren't aliens anymore, they are XP she needs in order to level up - wait did i mention that she literally has access to an RPG-style skill tree? - and she already degrades human life, even calling some drones. Dialogue with outsiders basically can be summed up in: "Hello gamer girl kitty, i need you to go to X and fetch person or do a thing."
This doesn't have to be bad, especially since there was a moment where she realizes "Oh sh%t, i literally found myself in an anime-style RPG, nothing of this is my responsibility, especially not when my in-experience endangers people" and she just goes right back to playing heroine... EVEN AFTER doing something significant she still doesn't have enough, after helping her people she thinks of the grind.
The story simply needs more contemporary moments but since it does simply not have those i could accept this story as a blockbuster-style, braindead fun of over-the-top action but as mentioned earlier for that it is too repetitive which just results in a frankly mediocre read of a snarky teenager who forgets about her family.
Slight spoilers:
Stray Cat Strut was most of the time, relatively fun to read in the beginning. Catherine has a lot of snark which is also part of her coping mechanism for the situation she suddenly found herself in and every time she calls people out on their stupid or provocative behavior is a joy to read. The action is inspired by alien invasion blockbusters and it doesn't quite sit well with a one-armed, visually impaired teenager.
If this was supposed to just be an action-flick, then it is too repetitive: Characters lay burdens on her shoulders which always results in her needing to go get someone from somewhere and shoot aliens along the way, leaving all her friends and family behind to the point that they barely get mentioned anymore. Some of the action was quite thrilling though, her first chase through the museum and her needing to protect AA guns on top of a buildings-roof were A+ material.
Now the point where all of this lacks depth and makes it subsequently become an RPG game turned into a book instead of the next Gantz (because yes, this and Gantz already have so many similarities that I may not call this story Stray Cat Strut but maybe Stray Copycat).
Cat(-herine) becomes a game-addict within hours, aliens aren't aliens anymore, they are XP she needs in order to level up - wait did i mention that she literally has access to an RPG-style skill tree? - and she already degrades human life, even calling some drones. Dialogue with outsiders basically can be summed up in: "Hello gamer girl kitty, i need you to go to X and fetch person or do a thing."
This doesn't have to be bad, especially since there was a moment where she realizes "Oh sh%t, i literally found myself in an anime-style RPG, nothing of this is my responsibility, especially not when my in-experience endangers people" and she just goes right back to playing heroine... EVEN AFTER doing something significant she still doesn't have enough, after helping her people she thinks of the grind.
The story simply needs more contemporary moments but since it does simply not have those i could accept this story as a blockbuster-style, braindead fun of over-the-top action but as mentioned earlier for that it is too repetitive which just results in a frankly mediocre read of a snarky teenager who forgets about her family.
March 25, 2023
This delightful novel is a combination of superheroes and cyberpunk with a light dose of LitRPG. Cat LeBlanc is an orphan charged with taking care of other orphans on a field trip when a xeno incursion begins. She very bravely tries to draw the creatures away from her girlfriend and their charges and gets herself mortally injured while killing one of the monsters. This experience causes an alien AI (different aliens) to embed itself in her skull and offer her cybernetic upgrades as a reward for killing xenos and protecting humans. It turns out that these xenos are wrecking a lot of the galaxy and the AI’s parent species wants to protect other species without getting overly involved themselves. Their answer—help worthy humans help themselves by making advanced technology instantly available to them according to a point system. Points are earned by killing monsters and protecting people and they can be spent on guns, biological upgrades, and a host of other things. That’s the light LitRPG element. There are no character sheets, but the reader is constantly barraged with new point totals as monsters are killed, people are saved, and high-tech stuff is purchased.
The result is a pretty fast-moving novel in which Cat learns quickly how to survive the invasion. People like her are called “samurai” and she finds that her new status gives her a great deal of influence in trying to stem the tide of the invasion and make sure that all people—not just the rich—get helped. That helps to introduce the most cyberpunky elements of the story. By the middle of the twenty-first century, corporations have almost completely taken over the country and basically run things. The effect of this is that the rich live pretty well and the poor get stepped on. Cat obviously intends to do something about that now that she has the power to make a difference.
There’s a lot of action in this novel, but also a lot of story. As Cat moves from encounter to encounter, she meets other samurai and together they destroy a lot of xenos. There’s nothing deep here, but if you’re looking for a light tale of super-heroic mayhem, this is a mighty fine book.
The result is a pretty fast-moving novel in which Cat learns quickly how to survive the invasion. People like her are called “samurai” and she finds that her new status gives her a great deal of influence in trying to stem the tide of the invasion and make sure that all people—not just the rich—get helped. That helps to introduce the most cyberpunky elements of the story. By the middle of the twenty-first century, corporations have almost completely taken over the country and basically run things. The effect of this is that the rich live pretty well and the poor get stepped on. Cat obviously intends to do something about that now that she has the power to make a difference.
There’s a lot of action in this novel, but also a lot of story. As Cat moves from encounter to encounter, she meets other samurai and together they destroy a lot of xenos. There’s nothing deep here, but if you’re looking for a light tale of super-heroic mayhem, this is a mighty fine book.
February 7, 2022
3/5
This book is really hard to rate/review.
I went completely blind and picked it up because it was narrated by Pavi Proczko which I really like and there was some really good pros, but a ton of cons.
Starting with the most obvious con to me was the fact that Pavi is a secondary narrator and he barely narrates 5-10% of the book. This was a huge bummer to me, but probably won't matter for most people. (Btw, it is really funny listening to Pavi say "UwU").
The book presents a very interesting pov with a cripple MC living in a world where technology could easily fix everything, but the lack of resources make these "solutions" inaccessible to her and her friends. I really liked this MC, she is funny and is always teasing everyone around her, while not complaining about her shitty situation. Also the system is cool and takes a more direct approach: kill things > spend currency > get stronger. I like this simplicity, no stats, no math, no nothing. More kills, more power, simple as that.
My biggest issue with this story though is the fact that the entire book spans around 8-12hrs, so the audiobook is actually longer than the time passed in the book. This bothers me because this approach would require a TON of books to have any meaningful character development and even more if we hope to know more about Lucy and the kittens.
Overall it was an enjoyable experience and I will probably read/listen the next entry when it is out.
This book is really hard to rate/review.
I went completely blind and picked it up because it was narrated by Pavi Proczko which I really like and there was some really good pros, but a ton of cons.
Starting with the most obvious con to me was the fact that Pavi is a secondary narrator and he barely narrates 5-10% of the book. This was a huge bummer to me, but probably won't matter for most people. (Btw, it is really funny listening to Pavi say "UwU").
The book presents a very interesting pov with a cripple MC living in a world where technology could easily fix everything, but the lack of resources make these "solutions" inaccessible to her and her friends. I really liked this MC, she is funny and is always teasing everyone around her, while not complaining about her shitty situation. Also the system is cool and takes a more direct approach: kill things > spend currency > get stronger. I like this simplicity, no stats, no math, no nothing. More kills, more power, simple as that.
My biggest issue with this story though is the fact that the entire book spans around 8-12hrs, so the audiobook is actually longer than the time passed in the book. This bothers me because this approach would require a TON of books to have any meaningful character development and even more if we hope to know more about Lucy and the kittens.
Overall it was an enjoyable experience and I will probably read/listen the next entry when it is out.
July 21, 2025
This novel was more concerned with appearances than with substance. The protagonist went from powerless to important in the space of one chapter and that was the last character development she experienced. Cat was allergic to saying anything emotionally authentic, preferring to imply things with snark. At no point did she pause and contemplate her situation to develop a plan. Instead, almost all decisions were made out of desperation, urgency, or as a knee-jerk response to a recent injury.
The author hasn't really thought out the worldbuilding. For example, we learn that "store-bought" tech can be shared with normies. Thus Cat could have upgraded her companions and reaped the points as a team. Imagine one Samurai with a team of four super-normies bringing down many times the size and number of beasties. Why wouldn't the world's normies be mobilised in this capacity, greatly multiplying humanity's military power.
These alien incursions have been happening for years, but the citizenry seemed unaware of the process of clearing incursions. Why else would they insist on staying in the zone when the equivalent of a carpet-bombing would inevitably level 20 square miles in one shot.
In short, if you can turn off your critical thinking, there's a fun story here. Otherwise, I recommend skipping it.
The author hasn't really thought out the worldbuilding. For example, we learn that "store-bought" tech can be shared with normies. Thus Cat could have upgraded her companions and reaped the points as a team. Imagine one Samurai with a team of four super-normies bringing down many times the size and number of beasties. Why wouldn't the world's normies be mobilised in this capacity, greatly multiplying humanity's military power.
These alien incursions have been happening for years, but the citizenry seemed unaware of the process of clearing incursions. Why else would they insist on staying in the zone when the equivalent of a carpet-bombing would inevitably level 20 square miles in one shot.
In short, if you can turn off your critical thinking, there's a fun story here. Otherwise, I recommend skipping it.
June 24, 2024
It's been a while since I've read this genre. This is by far one of the best books in the LitRPG genre that I've ever read though. It has all of the trappings of a good LitRPG book, plus it has an actual plot and fleshed out characters. And our MC, Cat doesn't start off OP at all. Plus the fact that it's a queer woman as the MC. Beautiful. The snark from her AI companion, Mayalis is really fun as well. Lots of the reviews I've noticed seem to be reviewing the entire series as a whole, but I'm just going to stick to what I've read in each book separately.
The story is fast paced, with short, bite sized chapters that lead you to zipping through. Because the next chapter is only a few more pages, you'll take a break then...or maybe the chapter after. I certainly couldn't put it down. I'm eagerly anticipating the next installment of the story to find out what happens next as well as to watch Cat's power grow.
There is no romance yet in the story really, though there is a somewhat established relationship involving one of Cat's fellow orphans, Lucy. There is the promise for more romance ahead, and I'm looking forward to it.
The story is fast paced, with short, bite sized chapters that lead you to zipping through. Because the next chapter is only a few more pages, you'll take a break then...or maybe the chapter after. I certainly couldn't put it down. I'm eagerly anticipating the next installment of the story to find out what happens next as well as to watch Cat's power grow.
There is no romance yet in the story really, though there is a somewhat established relationship involving one of Cat's fellow orphans, Lucy. There is the promise for more romance ahead, and I'm looking forward to it.
October 5, 2024
I liked this book, the snarky protagonist, the action, it had a lot going for it. However, it all felt a bit generic. Sarcastic AI, badass orphan, dystopia with incredible tech, etc. etc.
I liked the setting although having looked at the future books by the author it probably isn't as clever as I'd hoped. I thought this might be like Expeditionary Force.
The characters are fine if a bit shallow, everyone seems to gel quite well and conflict is dealt with quickly. There's no real character growth but then the plot only covers about 6-8 hours on a person's life so that makes sense.
The plot was my main issue, we go from late morning to late afternoon and it takes 12 hours of audiobook. That was far too slow. There's an awful lot of nothing happening in between the good scenes. The main character could have spent less time upgrading armour and more time shooting aliens.
I think looking at future book covers the main character becomes a furry too which isn't particularly original.
I liked this book well enough and I laughed out loud a few times. The narration was good too but I probably wouldn't recommend it expect too LitRPG fans.
I liked the setting although having looked at the future books by the author it probably isn't as clever as I'd hoped. I thought this might be like Expeditionary Force.
The characters are fine if a bit shallow, everyone seems to gel quite well and conflict is dealt with quickly. There's no real character growth but then the plot only covers about 6-8 hours on a person's life so that makes sense.
The plot was my main issue, we go from late morning to late afternoon and it takes 12 hours of audiobook. That was far too slow. There's an awful lot of nothing happening in between the good scenes. The main character could have spent less time upgrading armour and more time shooting aliens.
I think looking at future book covers the main character becomes a furry too which isn't particularly original.
I liked this book well enough and I laughed out loud a few times. The narration was good too but I probably wouldn't recommend it expect too LitRPG fans.
March 22, 2023
Rounding up from 3.5 stars. While the adventure was engrossing, there were a few issues that cost it that half star.
Tonally, this felt like a YA novel, but there was quite a bit of swearing and sexual innuendo that felt inappropriate to that classification. It sort of fell into a no man's land between young audiences and older audiences that rubbed me a little wrong.
The story had some litrpg adjacent elements, but they felt very simplified. There were no stats or skills or clever exploits. Just kill aliens and/or save people, get points, buy better gear from basically limitless options, repeat more efficiently. I think it lacked any surprises or gamesmanship to make it more satisfying or compelling.
The snarky, quippy protagonist had little to no character growth. The interpersonal interactions were limited and mostly goal oriented. The fact that all the action in the story happened during a crisis probably caused a lot of this.
I may continue the series, though I hope later books in the series focus a lot more on character development.
Tonally, this felt like a YA novel, but there was quite a bit of swearing and sexual innuendo that felt inappropriate to that classification. It sort of fell into a no man's land between young audiences and older audiences that rubbed me a little wrong.
The story had some litrpg adjacent elements, but they felt very simplified. There were no stats or skills or clever exploits. Just kill aliens and/or save people, get points, buy better gear from basically limitless options, repeat more efficiently. I think it lacked any surprises or gamesmanship to make it more satisfying or compelling.
The snarky, quippy protagonist had little to no character growth. The interpersonal interactions were limited and mostly goal oriented. The fact that all the action in the story happened during a crisis probably caused a lot of this.
I may continue the series, though I hope later books in the series focus a lot more on character development.
March 12, 2024
I love this author's storytelling!
This is my fourth series by Ravensdagger, and I am truly addicted to the masterful storytelling. This series is just as entertaining and full of elaborate world and character building as I have come to expect. That said, I docked a star for the first time ever with this author because this is the first of the author's series I have experienced that contains the rampant and horrifyingly overused profanity of so many authors in this genre. Honestly, it was so disappointing and so prolific in this book that if it hadn't been just an awesome story full of so much depth and entertainment, I would have docked one or two more stars. We simply don't need those virus words constantly infecting, narrowing, and eventually taking over our much broader vocabularies as they do so very often. But the fact that I left 4 stars really does speak to how much I enjoyed the book other than that. I can't wait to start the next one, and I hope it will be as refreshingly free of profanities as this rest of this Ravensdagger's excellent body of work.
This is my fourth series by Ravensdagger, and I am truly addicted to the masterful storytelling. This series is just as entertaining and full of elaborate world and character building as I have come to expect. That said, I docked a star for the first time ever with this author because this is the first of the author's series I have experienced that contains the rampant and horrifyingly overused profanity of so many authors in this genre. Honestly, it was so disappointing and so prolific in this book that if it hadn't been just an awesome story full of so much depth and entertainment, I would have docked one or two more stars. We simply don't need those virus words constantly infecting, narrowing, and eventually taking over our much broader vocabularies as they do so very often. But the fact that I left 4 stars really does speak to how much I enjoyed the book other than that. I can't wait to start the next one, and I hope it will be as refreshingly free of profanities as this rest of this Ravensdagger's excellent body of work.
September 7, 2025
I really enjoyed this book, although at the start I had some doubts, the author seemed to have Hollywood script writer pretensions and just tried too hard to make the banter amusing. However this improved and the relationship between Cat and Myalis became fun.
The one thing about the book that I didn’t really like was every chapter starts with a page of information, the problem is that most of the time this just interrupts the flow of the book for no reason. You could just ignore it, but unfortunately, it is occasionally relevant to the immediate story, or provides useful background info. To start with I read each introduction, but became so irritated I just ignored them, but was then left with the nagging doubt, have I missed something important.
If possible I would have given 4.5 stars
The one thing about the book that I didn’t really like was every chapter starts with a page of information, the problem is that most of the time this just interrupts the flow of the book for no reason. You could just ignore it, but unfortunately, it is occasionally relevant to the immediate story, or provides useful background info. To start with I read each introduction, but became so irritated I just ignored them, but was then left with the nagging doubt, have I missed something important.
If possible I would have given 4.5 stars
February 13, 2023
Surprisingly enjoyable.
I've been on a bit of a LitRPG run recently and seeing it advertised as a cyberpunk style rather than fantasy was intriguing enough to offset the sketchy cover art.
There were a few problems but probably just my personal bugaboos and not anything really bad about the story. For a first story there is a decent balance between setting the scene, action, history and character development. That's a lot to do in just 400ish pages and none if it is done super deep because of the page count.
Still, a basically enjoyable book with some engaging and enjoyable characters and not too much time spent on interface as some others do. Liked it enough to try the second book as I do want to see what comes next.
I've been on a bit of a LitRPG run recently and seeing it advertised as a cyberpunk style rather than fantasy was intriguing enough to offset the sketchy cover art.
There were a few problems but probably just my personal bugaboos and not anything really bad about the story. For a first story there is a decent balance between setting the scene, action, history and character development. That's a lot to do in just 400ish pages and none if it is done super deep because of the page count.
Still, a basically enjoyable book with some engaging and enjoyable characters and not too much time spent on interface as some others do. Liked it enough to try the second book as I do want to see what comes next.
April 7, 2025
So much fun, and such a wild ride! After a little set-up at the beginning, the rest is a roller-coaster ride.
Cat is an orphan in a corporate hellscape. She and her fellow orphans go on a field trip to a museum as a PR stunt. Soon after they get there, an alien incursion starts, and it's up to Cat to save her friends. Cat ends up with an alien AI in her head that lets her buy weapons to protect herself and the city. She is now a Vanguard, one of the few humans on the planet able to wipe out the Antithesis.
I loved the humor, so much snark, along with a few pratfalls. Cat teases, and ribs those around her, but it's all in good fun. The action scenes are well done, and the monsters strange. I'm curious about them, as well as the alien AI that seems to be on the human's side.
Cat is an orphan in a corporate hellscape. She and her fellow orphans go on a field trip to a museum as a PR stunt. Soon after they get there, an alien incursion starts, and it's up to Cat to save her friends. Cat ends up with an alien AI in her head that lets her buy weapons to protect herself and the city. She is now a Vanguard, one of the few humans on the planet able to wipe out the Antithesis.
I loved the humor, so much snark, along with a few pratfalls. Cat teases, and ribs those around her, but it's all in good fun. The action scenes are well done, and the monsters strange. I'm curious about them, as well as the alien AI that seems to be on the human's side.
August 4, 2025
I'm really enjoying this book, but the main character is bitchy, distractible, occasionally dumb, dismissive, and overall frustrating when she's in any kind of social situation. She's also whiny and naive. "I want to save people!" but also "but I just wanna hang out with my girlfriend" and not earn more power. The gamer in me is gnashing it's little teeth at her not spending the "points" with any kind of rhyme or reason. It's a tough listen sometimes. The narrator also pronounces "corps" like "core" instead of "corporation" and it's slightly annoying.
Also she licks her lips every three sentences and I wish she'd stop. Also obsessively uses the word "folk".
Like, I understand Cat is a teenager. But the way she stands around yapping in the middle of an alien invasion with monsters around every corner drives me banana sandwich. By Ch 66, the bitchy/snark attitude is getting a little old.
Also she licks her lips every three sentences and I wish she'd stop. Also obsessively uses the word "folk".
Like, I understand Cat is a teenager. But the way she stands around yapping in the middle of an alien invasion with monsters around every corner drives me banana sandwich. By Ch 66, the bitchy/snark attitude is getting a little old.
June 30, 2021
Great take on the genre
I founs this story on RR and after i got caught up, bought it on Amazon to support the author.
The main character may not be for everyone, but one thing she isnt is OP - which I love. Sometimes authors make their character all powerful, all knowing, ans always right. Not here. Cat is a character of flaws and the story benefits from it.
The setting is unqiue as well, with worldbuilding at the start of eachchapter to flesh out everything about the cyber punk alt future.
Overall a great read qnd worth my time.
Looking forward to the next book on Amazon to support the author even more.
I founs this story on RR and after i got caught up, bought it on Amazon to support the author.
The main character may not be for everyone, but one thing she isnt is OP - which I love. Sometimes authors make their character all powerful, all knowing, ans always right. Not here. Cat is a character of flaws and the story benefits from it.
The setting is unqiue as well, with worldbuilding at the start of eachchapter to flesh out everything about the cyber punk alt future.
Overall a great read qnd worth my time.
Looking forward to the next book on Amazon to support the author even more.
December 17, 2023
If you've played an RPG/MMO video game, this book is basically that, but in text format. If you haven't played a video game, then this will be an amazingly creative work of fiction for you. Overall, it's not bad, the main character has some witty banter once in a while and there's plenty of action to keep things moving along. It just doesn't seem to have much depth; the aliens, environments, characters all feel straight out of a video game for better or worse. Normally, I would stick with a series if it had a fun universe or characters, but while nothing in Stray Cat Strut felt bad, nothing felt exceptional enough to keep me engaged with further volumes.
August 2, 2025
This is so fun!!!
FINALLY a character who knows she isn't the smartest or the best. She's a realistic person with normal strengths and weaknesses and mistakes. She does dumb shit but it's fine. She likes dumb shit, and it's funny. Everything we're told about the character is backed up in her actions and words. It's so refreshing in a world of "heres the character, shes smart and special but also the whole plot is because she failed to plan effectively and does dumb things"
I don't have a critical rating for this because it's exactly what it said it was. Fun, light, funny, fast-paced, not stressful.
FINALLY a character who knows she isn't the smartest or the best. She's a realistic person with normal strengths and weaknesses and mistakes. She does dumb shit but it's fine. She likes dumb shit, and it's funny. Everything we're told about the character is backed up in her actions and words. It's so refreshing in a world of "heres the character, shes smart and special but also the whole plot is because she failed to plan effectively and does dumb things"
I don't have a critical rating for this because it's exactly what it said it was. Fun, light, funny, fast-paced, not stressful.
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