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A review by masha_and_the_cat
Infinity Claws by Andrew Mackay
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