Stray Cat Strut ⁠— A Young Lady's Journey to Becoming a Pop-Up Samurai

Well, this isn't what I expected to stumble over, but I have to admit I'm more than a little enthused about it. The setting is a distinctly cyberpunk future, with malware packed into even official programs and large corporations slapping their name on anything and everything for advertisements. Seven chapters in, and it's already a pretty significant departure from stories like Cinnamon Bun or Love Crafted, but it hits the ground running. The protagonist being a crippled orphan who picked up responsibility for the rest of the poor forgotten kids at the orphanage, and who's best friend cheerfully navigates around on crutches, builds an instant sense of misfit status and a (true to authorial form) oddly endearing little community. There's also a very immediate sense that even in a world with incredibly advanced technology, they've been swept under the rug and forgotten. Oh, and terrifying aliens are regularly falling out of the sky. That's an important factor too.

Honestly, there isn't too much material to directly review at this point, but if you take the time to read the first few chapters I doubt that you'll be disappointed. The protagonist falls right into the 'Jaded but good-hearted' box, without the slightest bit of manufactured tone, and it meshes with the cyberpunk setting perfectly. Not to mention, there's a single chapter with action, and it charges headfirst into desperate brutality. It's a bit of a leap from the innocent monstrosity of Love Crafted, or earnest effort of Cinnamon Bun, but like I've already said, perfect for the current setting.

So, this may rather early in the story's life cycle to write much of a review, but considering the quality of writing that RavensDagger has already put up on this website, I feel pretty confident in recommending the story off of nothing more than the currently posted chapters.

Pretty good twist on the normal System plot, by an author whose already proven he has great writing skills. Can't recommend more.

If you like any other RavensDagger works, stop reading reviews and just read the story! It has a great cast of characters and riveting action scenes right off the bat. Every chapter leaves me wanting to read more.

Cyberpunk action? Hell yeah!

Family-oriented mc kickin' alien ass.

Word count isn't too high so far but what's been put down sets up an intriguing powerset, primary conflict and sociopolitical setting. Cast seems faceted and reasonable so far - traumatized does not mean unreasonable, authoritarian does not mean inflexible, this sort of thing.

Great start!

I'm not usually a fan of cyberpunk-esque stories,  but there's something about this one.

Well written,  great style,  few to no errors,  still too early for better info on the characters,  but seems solid,  if a little but cliche.

Love the offhand criticism on privacy and invasive advertisements, as well as terms and conditions for everything.

My biggest issue with this story is quite simple:  there's not enough of it.

Ravens, do us a favor and stop wasting time sleeping,  your story needs you.

P.s.: it's a joke,  take care of yourself.

This isn't our birdy boy's usual fare, though his previous influences are still apparent.

No, this one is much, much more serious... in the background. The story front and centre is good old wholesome monster-cuteness, with a spot of life-and-death situations for flavour. Soo, same old, same old. Still, the new, funky environment and societal commentary is a nice change of pace, and I eagerly await what our kitty Cat does next.

Although, I feel RavensDagger may have ruined me not just for other authors, but for himself! I keep expecting the Antithesis to have a hidden good side, even though they're pretty clearly meant to be Nazi-level mass-murderable antagonists.

I love the character and setting for this story. I hope the MC continues to be a cripple(lost eye and arm) and she has to find ways to overcome her limitations. Maybe have the AI give extra benefits for fighting with disabilities and how her disability emboldens other people to try harder.

 I remember another story where a wheelchair-bound cripple fixed his legs within the first 20 chapters. The story then devolved into a typical fight story and lost all of it's charm.

.

RD has truly outdone himself once again. Out of all of his stories on this site, Stray Cat Strut pulls me in like I'm reading a New York Times Bestseller. I eagerly await more.

Now for the Devil, I mean the details. 

Style: This is by far the best cyberpunk genre story I've read in recent times.  It really pulls you into the world, the author's writing style is simply one of the best on this website.

Story: Stray Cat Strut is not only a novel with a phenomenal title, but the story is deeply interesting. It fulfills a need for classic Cyberpunk while doing something new to it with the inclusion of a System and a terrifying Alien Invasion. The story could easily be more Grimdark, and I for one am glad it is not. It balances the darkness, humor, and inherent funness of a Cyberpunk world and a System story very well. I am excited for the future of this story!

Grammar: As always, the grammar is impeccable and never feels out of place or despite the low amount of chapters, out of character. Spelling mistakes are basically nonexistent and the flow of the story and structure of sentences and paragraphs is top tier, equivalent or better than many hit physical books.

Character: The Characters feel real. We may be early in the story, but I feel like I already know the characters well enough to predict future actions of theirs. They read like a familiar friend who you know well but haven't seen in awhile. Simply just great. 

I look forward to future chapters in this series more than any other novel by the author or currently on the website at time of writing.

If Cyberpunk and a system novel had a child you'd get this masterpiece. Except CDPR made it everything Pay to win. Not even 11ch in and I love it. 

Ok, I'm loving the story thus far, but I have one issue.  Cat is an orphan missing an arm and an eye, yet thus far no stranger she has encountered (other than a bot) has reacted at all to her disability.  Disabilities tend to draw some sort of reactions from strangers, and it often makes others uncomfortable or draws their attention.  Yet thus far entire story has had every other human encountered treating her like any other child.  It would likely be something she was self conscious about, or sensitive to the stares of others.  Also, things like opening doors with a pistol in hand would be very awkard, and having to put the pistol away every time she does so would make her much more susceptible to an ambush.

 Please go back and tweak at least a few of the encounters with strangers.  It's not very realistic to have everyone sanguine in the face of a disability.  Either strangers will think she's less capable and question her ability to handle the weapon she has, or they will be prone to sympathizing and try to coddle her.  Writing a few encounters in like that will give Cat's character more of a justification for the wariness she shows.  As it is, nobody has batted an eye that she is a young girl carrying a pistol and missing an arm and an eye.  It's like the missing arm and eye are a vanity set applied to a video game character that has zero impact on actual gameplay.

Heck, maybe this is a sixth sense type twist and we discover later that the missing arm and missing eye are just in her head, not actually real.  That would actually make more sense than not a single human (other than friends) reacting in any way shape or form to her disability as of chapter 18.

Edit: Someone acknowledged her lack of arm/eye on chapter 25.