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The telepathic orphan and future punk Cat is kidnapped, taken to Earth, and forced to protect those he hates most, the taMings, until he discovers that he is not a bodyguard, he is the bait.Tags
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I picked this book up before realizing it was book #2 of a series, stopped midway to read "Psion," then finished this last night--at 5am. In this addictive series, Vinge shows deep character growth for Cat. "Catspaw" offers a Cat who is less angry and more focused on carving out a life for himself. But his awareness that the world is willing to grind him under a boot heel is never far from his thoughts.
There is more political intrigue in this novel--plots within plots, and Cat has to learn to navigate them to keep himself and others alive. What keeps it compelling, though, is that everything is filtered through Cat's emotional and psychological struggles. Violence is not simply an action piece; it's insight into Cat's social status and show more his efforts to put his past--and his overwhelming feelings of helplessness--behind him. Even the sexual encounters are not there for the sake of titillation or overwrought romance--they're about power, loneliness, and fear.
"Psion" is more of a coming-of-age SF adventure story, with Cat as an anti-hero. "Catspaw" is dominated by political intrigue with elements of cyberpunk. Also, "Catspaw," shows a Cat who has grown emotionally, and is a more sympathetic character. I recommend both, but "Catspaw can be read as a stand-alone book. The events of "Psion" are integrated into "Catspaw" as a rich backstory. These two books have guaranteed that I'll check out every novel Vinge has written--sadly, far too few. show less
There is more political intrigue in this novel--plots within plots, and Cat has to learn to navigate them to keep himself and others alive. What keeps it compelling, though, is that everything is filtered through Cat's emotional and psychological struggles. Violence is not simply an action piece; it's insight into Cat's social status and show more his efforts to put his past--and his overwhelming feelings of helplessness--behind him. Even the sexual encounters are not there for the sake of titillation or overwrought romance--they're about power, loneliness, and fear.
"Psion" is more of a coming-of-age SF adventure story, with Cat as an anti-hero. "Catspaw" is dominated by political intrigue with elements of cyberpunk. Also, "Catspaw," shows a Cat who has grown emotionally, and is a more sympathetic character. I recommend both, but "Catspaw can be read as a stand-alone book. The events of "Psion" are integrated into "Catspaw" as a rich backstory. These two books have guaranteed that I'll check out every novel Vinge has written--sadly, far too few. show less
The second of Vinge's books about Cat, and probably my favorite. This draws more heavily on the psiberpunk elements than either of the others, though the plot (revolving around a democratic election) gives it a slightly less jaded tone. Cat's abilities give the reader a chance to see a wonderful cast of new characters shine; Cat himself, thrown into a snake pit with only his wits to rely on, comes into his own. There's a fair bit of sex and sexual violence here, but I found it extremely well done, relevant, damaging, and also hot.
I read parts of Catspaw years ago, and went back to reread it in full, recently. I'm glad I never finished it as a teen. Catspaw experiences wonderful worldbuilding and wordsmithing. However, the series is a tale of a hero who exists for the purposes of experiencing pain and suffering. The story as written is abusive soup.
There are no wins in the book. There is no hope. There is only the trauma of surviving in a world run by corporations.
Content tags for the series: assault, rape, dystopia, abuse, psychological trauma
There are no wins in the book. There is no hope. There is only the trauma of surviving in a world run by corporations.
Content tags for the series: assault, rape, dystopia, abuse, psychological trauma
Cat is half Psion and half human, an outcast who used to have telepathic powers until he lost them in a battle to the death. Now he's been dragged into a dangerous game of high level corporate intrigue when he is kidnapped by the powerful taMing clan, given drugs that bring back his ability, and set as a bodyguard against assassins.
Cat doesn't want the job, but he is asked to help by a friend. Before long, he's pulled deep into the web of lies, love and deceit that reaches beyond the corporate control into the highest levels of government. He's never been trained for this kind of work. He doesn't understand the culture, and the people he is protecting don't trust him. It's a combination that is bound to lead to disaster.
This is a show more fascinating, and fast-paced, science fiction tale that weaves an unlikely character into a believable future. Catspaw is the middle book of a trilogy -- Psion, Catspaw, Dreamfall . It is also something that is very rare, the best of all three. Usually a middle book suffers from being neither the start nor the end of a story. However, because so many years fell between the writing of Psion and Catspaw, Joan D. Vinge's storytelling abilities had matured, and the book has an incredible depth of character development and cultural worldbuilding. Cat is the kind of character a reader can understand -- the outsider who finds his courage and his morals challenged, and shows himself better than many of the people he is now forced to work for.
Filled with thrills, this book gets my highest recommendation for straight out excitement and fun. This is a truly timeless science fiction tale that can be read with as much pleasure today as it was when first published. show less
Cat doesn't want the job, but he is asked to help by a friend. Before long, he's pulled deep into the web of lies, love and deceit that reaches beyond the corporate control into the highest levels of government. He's never been trained for this kind of work. He doesn't understand the culture, and the people he is protecting don't trust him. It's a combination that is bound to lead to disaster.
This is a show more fascinating, and fast-paced, science fiction tale that weaves an unlikely character into a believable future. Catspaw is the middle book of a trilogy -- Psion, Catspaw, Dreamfall . It is also something that is very rare, the best of all three. Usually a middle book suffers from being neither the start nor the end of a story. However, because so many years fell between the writing of Psion and Catspaw, Joan D. Vinge's storytelling abilities had matured, and the book has an incredible depth of character development and cultural worldbuilding. Cat is the kind of character a reader can understand -- the outsider who finds his courage and his morals challenged, and shows himself better than many of the people he is now forced to work for.
Filled with thrills, this book gets my highest recommendation for straight out excitement and fun. This is a truly timeless science fiction tale that can be read with as much pleasure today as it was when first published. show less
A sequel to Psion but a very different book. Though taking placing only a few years after Psion, both the character's maturity, writing, and themes have advanced by decades. I believe this was lumped in with all the other cyberpunk novels that followed Neuromancer in the 1980's. There is an indeed a trip through cyberspace. It's probably the weakest section of the book. But overall it's much closer to cyberpunk's roots in hard-boiled detective fiction. As with such fiction, his client is an incredibly wealthy family with all kinds of secrets, the bad guys have great power, his slum-born habits and attitude cause friction constantly, several beautiful women sleep with him, he gets beaten up pretty badly, and he eventually saves the day. show more Despite checking all the boxes, Vinge manages to make the story's main character unique and sympathetic, and the plot chugs along nicely.
Recommended, even if you weren't fond of Psion. show less
Recommended, even if you weren't fond of Psion. show less
I picked this up on the strength of the Snow Queen, and got quite a bit into it before realizing it was a sequel. I didn't much like it, but out of fairness, I'll bump it up a star. Maybe with the first book there's a better sense of character and setting.
Cat is a psion streetkid in a galaxy that hates psions. Psychically crippled from his last job taking down a terrorist and running out of credits, he's offered a job as a bodyguard for Elnear taMing, a politician and corporate executive one step away from membership in the Federation Security Council. To get there, she needs to survive and win a key vote over drug legalization, with the opposition being spearheaded by a charismatic televangelist.
Cat bounces through intrigues involving show more the very strange taMing family, and the criminal underworld of N'Yurk, still capitol of the Federation. Nothing is as it seems, but this is not 'wheels with wheels', or opaque post-human psychodramas, more like ambitious people who take one edge too far. This book might have been better if I connected with the narrator, but Cat comes off as alternately petulant and out of his depth, with a deus ex machina in the form of his telepathy. His final plan hinges on blackmail, and the lusts of his opponent. The thoughts about political systems and governance in an age of interstellar networks sit uneasily on a story which is very personal in scope. The final result comes to extruded generic scifi product. show less
Cat is a psion streetkid in a galaxy that hates psions. Psychically crippled from his last job taking down a terrorist and running out of credits, he's offered a job as a bodyguard for Elnear taMing, a politician and corporate executive one step away from membership in the Federation Security Council. To get there, she needs to survive and win a key vote over drug legalization, with the opposition being spearheaded by a charismatic televangelist.
Cat bounces through intrigues involving show more the very strange taMing family, and the criminal underworld of N'Yurk, still capitol of the Federation. Nothing is as it seems, but this is not 'wheels with wheels', or opaque post-human psychodramas, more like ambitious people who take one edge too far. This book might have been better if I connected with the narrator, but Cat comes off as alternately petulant and out of his depth, with a deus ex machina in the form of his telepathy. His final plan hinges on blackmail, and the lusts of his opponent. The thoughts about political systems and governance in an age of interstellar networks sit uneasily on a story which is very personal in scope. The final result comes to extruded generic scifi product. show less
While this book is obviously sci-fi, it has enough reality in it to make this world real, something that not all sci-fi books are able to pull off. Joan D Vinge has a talent for making these worlds and characters real, and she does a superb job in this sequel to Psion. The story and characters are fantastic, and the settings and story are richly varied and fun to read. A real page-turner.
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Author Information
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Joan D. Vinge, 1948 - Joan Dennison Vinge was born April 2, 1948 in Baltimore, Maryland to Seymour W. Dennison, an engineer, and Carol Erwin, an executive secretary. Vinge attended San Kiego State University and received a B.A. in anthropology, with highest honors. She was married to author Vernor S. Vinge from 1972-1979. Vinge began writing show more professionally in 1973 and her first story, "Tin Soldier," appeared in Orbit 14 in 1974. Her story, "Eyes of Amber," won the 1977 Hugo Award for Best Science Fiction Novelette. Her novel "The Snow Queen" won the Hugo Award for Best Science Fiction Novel in 1981, "Psion" was named a Best Book for Young Adults by the American Library Association and "Return of the Jedi Storybook" was the #1 bestseller on the New York Times Book Review List for two months. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
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Common Knowledge
- Original title
- Catspaw
- Original publication date
- 1988
- People/Characters
- Cat
- Epigraph
- (With his glared off face glued back into position
A dead man's eyes plugged back into his sockets
A dead man's heart screwed in under his ribs
His tattered guts stitched back into position
His shattered brains co... (show all)vered with a steel cowl)
He comes forward a step,
and a step,
and a step---
---Ted Hughes
We are afraid of truth, afraid of fortune,
afraid of death, and afraid of each other.
---Ralph Waldo Emerson
To understand a cat, you must prealize that he has his own gifts, his own viewpoint, even his own morality.
---Lillian Jackson Braun - Dedication
- This one's for you, kid.
You know who you are. - First words
- Someone was after me.
- Last words
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)We sat together a while longer, like two friends, watching the day come in.
- Original language*
- English
*Some information comes from Common Knowledge in other languages. Click "Edit" for more information.
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