Kirkus Reviews

The Great Feline Empire has been at war with the Robot Empire for centuries; now a technological breakthrough in the Wengrod family lab puts Earth at the center of the conflict.Pounce de Leon has learned from Earth cat operative OB_1_Catno_B (nicknamed "Obi") that a computer chip has been developed on Earth that could extend cat lives beyond nine. Sir Beeps-a-Lot has heard reports of something similar from a mole in Earth company GloboTech; it can also offer infinite power to robots. Both empires want that chip. Meanwhile, fraternal twins Min Wengrod and her cat-loving brother, Max, are preparing for a robot battle and a video game-design contest, respectively. While their scientist parents are in China, their GloboTech-created household AI attempts to use the family's helper robots to steal the chip while Obi enlists Stu and Scout, Max's rescue kittens, to do the same. It's a creative premise for a series opener, but it comes to naught thanks to multiple plot holes and flat, stock characters. (One exception to the latter is Latinx cousin and babysitter Javi, whose nonbinary gender identification is used as a message-y plot device. The Wengrods are otherwise ethnically undefined.) The alternation of perspective between robots and cats results in a great deal of repetition, and the nonsensical central conflict (cats like naps and don't follow rules; robots love rules) is a flimsy nail on which to hang a too-lengthy novel, let alone a series.Skip. (Science fiction. 8-11)

Publishers Weekly (Fri Oct 06 00:00:00 CDT 2023)

This madcap caper featuring an amusing crew of human, feline, and robotic characters launches the Cats vs. Robots series by the craftily matched Stohl (Beautiful Creatures) and Peterson (a game developer and robot builder). The premise is grounded in the feud between two intergalactic rivals: the disorganized Great Feline Empire, where naps are frequent and rules are followed -only if you felt like it,- and the goal-oriented Robot Federation, whose residents are -constantly trying (and failing) to invade and bring order to feline society.- When a microchip is created on Earth that can extend the lives of cats beyond nine and keep robots perpetually charged, the race is on to procure the device. Wryly named enemies Pounce de Leon and Sir Beeps-a-Lot are sent on missions to Earth, where allies of both empires are at work, including an elderly cat, Obi (-OB_1_Cat_noB- in robot-speak), and a bumbling assemblage of outdated computer prototypes residing in the home of the microchip-s inventors and their precocious kids. The authors sustain sharp comedic irony throughout, interjecting unanticipated plot twists and doses of emotion likely to engage readers. Ages 8-12. (Sept.)

ALA Booklist (Fri Jun 01 00:00:00 CDT 2018)

An ages-old conflict heats up when Chairman Miaow of the Great Feline Empire sends special agent Pounce de Leon to wrest an immortality-conferring computer chip from its earthly two-legged makers before it can fall into the pincers of the digital Binars of the Robotic Federation. No sooner are the chip's inventors, parents of unsuspecting human twins Max and Min, called away than a surreptitious struggle commences between their house's Binars-hacked AI and a pair of easily distracted, wildly destructive stray kittens recruited by Pounce's resourceful feline ally Obi_1_Cat_NoB. The twins' nonbinary older cousin (nonbinary is defined in an inserted Q&A) and a household drone further enrich the motley supporting cast. While comically contrasting the vast gulf between the mentalities of machines and cats, and (plainly) having great fun with names, the authors also work in significant gulf-bridging elements and developments. By the end, the war remains far from over, as readers who see it enacted daily between their own cats and Roombas will be pleased but unsurprised to learn. HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: Stohl topped best-seller lists as a coauthor of the Beautiful Creatures series for YA; now she and her game-developer husband tackle MG with a STEM-friendly, high-interest adventure.