Ok, this book made my summer! And my kids' summer.
What's more inimical than cats and robots? Some scenes in this book ring sooo true:
- The kittens chase after the house drone. How many of you spent Christmas morning almost peeing your pants laughing as you kept your drone OUT of your cat's paws? Fess up!
- The cats attacking the Roomba. Caught it on your phone and it was so funny you finally learned how to upload it to YouTube, didn't you?
Add in the fact that all good cat owners know they're really slaves to a great cat conspiracy to keep the finicky felines fed with the freshest, stinkiest wet food on the market, and you have the makings of a hilarious book. (Don't forget to provide nice, warm places to catch the sun and nap.)
It's not much of a stretch to imagine the coming war -- cats vs. robots. In many ways, it's already here.
The book opens not with the main character (what a fresh breath of air! something different!), but the power player (on the cat side) in this upcoming conflict and the power play the book revolves around: humans have invented something (gasp!) that can extend the lives of cats beyond the normal nine, but ALSO could be used as a limitless power source for the robots.
The book is a race to see who will get it first: cats or robots.
The cats have an old agent in place, Obi. Yes, he's named after the Star Wars character, so you kinda KNOW what's going to happen to him, right? But I promise, it's a good thing, just like in Star Wars, but I won't spoil how. In any case, Obi spends most of his days sunning in a baby stroller and letting the main character, Max, give him behind-the-ear rubs.
The robots have turned the house computer code into a spy for the Federation, which tries to turn the Protos, the house robots, into its agents. It convinces them to steal the invention from Max's parents. There are four main Protos: Cy, a four-wheeled robot; Drags, who does the laundry; Tipsy, who falls over a lot but is loved by everyone; and finally Joan, the house drone, a quad-copter.
The house code tricks Max's parents into going on a trip to China, Max rescues two kittens (Stu and Scout) from the river and brings them home (where they promptly pee on Max's twin-sister's robot) and become Obi's agents, kinda like "Lukes" in training, but not. That would be too much effort.
I won't spoil how it ends, just know, the temptation to tears is mitigated by a truly good ending, and not one I saw coming at all.
This is a great way to start the school year!
