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roseandwheel's review
1.0
I thought it was abusive to the cat and heartbreaking for its young owner. Other cats die.
ireadwhatuwrite's review
3.0
2.5 Stars
This was almost a very good book.
The premise and the basic story actually are very good and well thought out. Unfortunately, while the subject matter is best suited to the fourteen and up crowd, it reads like an early grade chapter book especially during the cat trials and during much-needed descriptions of what was happening near Saturn. I also couldn’t tell if the social commentary was supposed to be humor, satire, or completely serious. However, I did feel like it wasn’t completely necessary. Interesting backstory ranging to the 21st century hinted at world-building that never quite reached the mark and was lost in the cold war aspects of the story, where the exposition was often jumbled and confusing. Are they allies? Why are they not?
Jelly along with Jamie and his mother are wonderful warm-blooded characters that immediately engendered emotional investment. Very few of any of the other major characters seemed worth my time and the bad guys read more like elementary schoolyard bullies than adult international spies.
Finally, the copy I ended up with could have used another edit as the book’s title “Infinity Claws” and a major plot point the “Infinity Clause” seemed to be used interchangeably at several points. That along with other minor spelling issues (typos), sadly, made reading this to the end a bit of chore. I couldn’t even finish the interview questions at the end because of them.
This series has so much potential this book just doesn’t live up to.
This was almost a very good book.
The premise and the basic story actually are very good and well thought out. Unfortunately, while the subject matter is best suited to the fourteen and up crowd, it reads like an early grade chapter book especially during the cat trials and during much-needed descriptions of what was happening near Saturn. I also couldn’t tell if the social commentary was supposed to be humor, satire, or completely serious. However, I did feel like it wasn’t completely necessary. Interesting backstory ranging to the 21st century hinted at world-building that never quite reached the mark and was lost in the cold war aspects of the story, where the exposition was often jumbled and confusing. Are they allies? Why are they not?
Jelly along with Jamie and his mother are wonderful warm-blooded characters that immediately engendered emotional investment. Very few of any of the other major characters seemed worth my time and the bad guys read more like elementary schoolyard bullies than adult international spies.
Finally, the copy I ended up with could have used another edit as the book’s title “Infinity Claws” and a major plot point the “Infinity Clause” seemed to be used interchangeably at several points. That along with other minor spelling issues (typos), sadly, made reading this to the end a bit of chore. I couldn’t even finish the interview questions at the end because of them.
This series has so much potential this book just doesn’t live up to.
bookishchef's review
4.0
I didn't expect to enjoy this book. I bought it because it was cheap and the concept sounded so incredibly stupid that it almost seemed good.
This book is about Jelly the Cat. A Cat that goes into space and gets subjected to horrible amounts of animal cruelty during the process. Sometimes, this was hard to read. Especially since none of the human characters seemed to be all too concerned about Jelly. They didn't seem to care that this cat was in constant pain and distress.
However, the story was interesting enough to keep me reading. I really enjoyed this book until 85%. It kind of lost me after that.
The animal cruelty and the weird last few chapters make me reward this book with 3,5 stars, rounded up to four.
This book is about Jelly the Cat. A Cat that goes into space and gets subjected to horrible amounts of animal cruelty during the process. Sometimes, this was hard to read. Especially since none of the human characters seemed to be all too concerned about Jelly. They didn't seem to care that this cat was in constant pain and distress.
However, the story was interesting enough to keep me reading. I really enjoyed this book until 85%. It kind of lost me after that.
The animal cruelty and the weird last few chapters make me reward this book with 3,5 stars, rounded up to four.
masha_and_the_cat's review
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
1.0
This book starts out promising an easy, fun read about a cat being sent on a space mission, and quickly becomes anything but that. There's a cat in space, but that's about it.
The competition to select the perfect candidate for the mission is basically animal Hunger Games. One of the competitors is maimed while her human family watches on, and dies as a result of her injuries and mistreatment. The violence contributes nothing to the plot, and is handwaved away without the author acknowledging the animals' or the humans' trauma. Meanwhile, the people protesting the brutal treatment of the cats are described as "animal rights terrorists".
Furthermore, the way the scientists in the novel talk about the procedure of the cat's natural claws being replaced with titanium ones is uncomfortably reminiscent of the way many American veterinarians still talk about declawing - "it's painless", "she'll get used to it", "it's for her own benefit" (none of which is true, by the way - if you're considering declawing your cat, please visit The Paw Project's website for more information on why you should not, both for the cat's sake and your own). Ugh. Generally speaking, throughout the story, the humans show very little concern for the cat's wellbeing - the "animal lovers" among them mostly don't go further in their displays of affection than saying "Who's a pretty kitty?".
As for the human characters themselves, their names, for a start, reflect a JKRowling-like tendency to cover up a complete lack of interest in or respect for other cultures with the thinnest possible coating of superficial diversity. Why specify that a character is Iranian and then name them, literally, "Wool"? Was "Gagarin" really the only surname the author could think of for a Russian character in a space-themed story?
Their personalites are barely even two-dimensional, I couldn't care less about any of them other than the boy pining for his cat. Also, a scene where an adult character shows the boy her prosthetic leg and he glances between her legs comes across as unnecessarily sexualised. The boy is five years old, children at that age are naturally curious about the human body, and implying a sexual or romantic connotation to a child looking in the general direction of someone's genitals is pretty gross.
I got the prequel and 5 of the 6 full-length books free through various promotions, but I won't be bothering with this series anymore. Waste of time.
The competition to select the perfect candidate for the mission is basically animal Hunger Games. One of the competitors is maimed while her human family watches on, and dies as a result of her injuries and mistreatment. The violence contributes nothing to the plot, and is handwaved away without the author acknowledging the animals' or the humans' trauma. Meanwhile, the people protesting the brutal treatment of the cats are described as "animal rights terrorists".
Furthermore, the way the scientists in the novel talk about the procedure of the cat's natural claws being replaced with titanium ones is uncomfortably reminiscent of the way many American veterinarians still talk about declawing - "it's painless", "she'll get used to it", "it's for her own benefit" (none of which is true, by the way - if you're considering declawing your cat, please visit The Paw Project's website for more information on why you should not, both for the cat's sake and your own). Ugh. Generally speaking, throughout the story, the humans show very little concern for the cat's wellbeing - the "animal lovers" among them mostly don't go further in their displays of affection than saying "Who's a pretty kitty?".
As for the human characters themselves, their names, for a start, reflect a JKRowling-like tendency to cover up a complete lack of interest in or respect for other cultures with the thinnest possible coating of superficial diversity. Why specify that a character is Iranian and then name them, literally, "Wool"? Was "Gagarin" really the only surname the author could think of for a Russian character in a space-themed story?
Their personalites are barely even two-dimensional, I couldn't care less about any of them other than the boy pining for his cat. Also, a scene where an adult character shows the boy her prosthetic leg and he glances between her legs comes across as unnecessarily sexualised. The boy is five years old, children at that age are naturally curious about the human body, and implying a sexual or romantic connotation to a child looking in the general direction of someone's genitals is pretty gross.
I got the prequel and 5 of the 6 full-length books free through various promotions, but I won't be bothering with this series anymore. Waste of time.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Animal death and Animal cruelty
anatoli's review
4.0
This is a short story introduction to the series which lays out the origins, the premise and some of the characters for the series. It was a quick read and did peak my interest into the next book of the series. There isn't much to hint at the different sets of character's relationships which makes it a "I might get to it some day" series for me.
falconheights's review
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.0
Silly book.
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