Psion

Cat's life is predictable. He lives on the street, steals to eat, and spends much of his gains to buy forgetfulness in the form of chemicals. He's become hardened to a life of want in the slums of the busiest trading port in the Human worlds. But his latest arrest by the authorities changes his

Show More

life: for Cat is a halfbreed: half human and half hydran, a psionic race driven to near-extinction by humanity's colonization drive. Can Cat learn to live with his new-found abilities, or will his street attitude prevent him from learning to live off the street?

Show Less

May11:

It was alright.

Characters: They were there. They were almost complete. But they just were too tainted by the odd world view of the protagonist. Sure, I like Cat, but he just didn't grab me. The villain could have been great, but he was too neglected by the author.

Plot: Again, it was alright.

Show More

Seemed coherent enough really.

Style: A little too young adult, but not in the good way. Didn't go a good job of asking the hard questions.

Show Less

I originally began reading the Cat series by Joan D. Vinge when I was a sophomore in high school. I was instantly hooked by the foul-mouthed, lonely teenager hybrid known as "Cat." From the get-go I was hooked.

At the time, I read the books out of order (I read Catspaw first because the public

Show More

library in the town where I lived didn't have the first book.)

It wasn't until after I read the third book, Dreamfall, that I learned about book #1 and found a copy through inter-library loan and read it..

Now, several years later, after strolling around my new local library, looking for new authors to read, I spotted, Psion, Catspaw and Dreamfall on the shelf. I snatched all three up and excitedly took them home.

I've now finished re-reading Psion and again, I enjoyed the ride. This book makes me feel so many things that trying to put them in words will not even do it justice.

I would HIGHLY recommend this book to any science fiction fan and to YA readers.

Show Less

Psion tells the story of how Cat, a boy from the slums, learns of his telepathic powers and struggles to make his own way in a world where everyone wants to use him.

I really liked this one. The world has cyberpunk elements, but also a morally complex history. The characters are well-drawn and

Show More

sympathetic. The ending was not predictable. I'm looking forward to finding out what happens next!

Show Less

I believed that I may have read this book many years ago as I picked this up but I was happily surprised as I decided that I must have read something similar and then made the connection after I finished and saw the other titles that the author had written, including "Cat's Paw", which I'm certain

Show More

I did read and enjoy. Cat is the protagonist and this book tells the tale of Cat's first adventures with his telepathic powers and coming to terms with his missing parents and mixed race background.

Show Less

Well-done but fairly standard coming of age. Orphan of the streets Cat is a powerful telepath, but doesn't know it, for reasons eventually mostly explained, and doesn't want it, since those with psionic powers of outcasts. He may live in the dark belly under the city where people with a credit line

Show More

live, but it's better than being a freak. But circumstances force him to learn to use his powers and eventually help stop a rogue telepath. There are two more adult sequels.

Recommended

Show Less

His psychic powers are traumatically sealed away, until he's trained to use them to save the current economic system against an evil psychic super-power. Moderately entertaining...but ignores a major premise in the plot: the people with super psychic powers are basically ignored after their initial

Show More

introduction.

Show Less

The idea at its heart (psychics all need hella trauma therapy) is pretty interesting, but then it's cluttered up with much too much unrelated plot. Cat is a remarkably passive character, too: I thought he'd finally made a decision of his own in the fight scene at the end, but no, he was actually

Show More

manipulated into that too. wtf, seriously.

Another very strange decision was to let the question of whether Cat is related to another character just... go unanswered. The only way I can read it is that they both know it's true and really don't want to admit it to themselves? It makes the love triangle something out of a psychoanalytic fever dream. That has to be intentional?! But if it is, why did Vinge let her Freud-in-space crack!fic get so sidetracked with all this nonsense about heists?

Villain is a sinister bisexual sociopath and flirts briefly with the hero while monologuing, so far so 1982. Cat is *such* a twink stereotype however (literally a catboy rentboy) that his shock and horror at being desired by a man and massive crush on a lady are both jarring.

Come to think of it, the vibe Cat gives off is quite [book:Vanyel|28759]. "Oh dear, I just keep getting beaten up, but in a sexy vulnerable subby way." Is there a name for this genre when it's published as a mass market paperback and not as hurt/comfort slashfic? (Vanyel comes 7 years later and turned up to 11, so it's not a completely fair comparison.)

Show Less

Entertaining. I like the setup, with the telepathic group. The main character takes a bit too long to make decisions on his own, instead of just going with the flow and I found some of the telepathic experiences a bit too vague and taking too long, but other than that I liked it.