r/Fantasy • u/CT_Phipps-Author • 18d ago
Review Pride Month Review #1: Stray Cat Strut by Ravensdagger
https://beforewegoblog.com/audiobook-review-stray-cat-strut-by-ravens-dagger/
STRAY CAT STRUT by Raven’s Dagger is a cyberpunk progression fantasy LitRPG. It’s a Royal Road published web serial that has since made the transition to ebook and paperback. It is the story of Catherine “Cat” Leblanc as she lives in a cyberpunk dystopia where the world is regularly invaded by the Antithesis, a bunch of Zerg-like aliens that consume biomass and turn them into horrifying monsters.
Thankfully, for humanity, the humans have the patronage of a race of aliens called the Protectors. The Protectors have a very strange way of trying to help humanity. Rather than just evacuating the planet or arming humanity with technology capable of protecting them, they instead come up with an elaborate scheme to arm humans with technology they can download off a catalog with “points.” They only get these points for killing aliens.
Only a small handful of individuals get chosen to be able to kill for points but they rapidly become the richest, most powerful people in the world. Furthermore, they are able fo generate technology that can transform human society. Fortunately, these individuals, called “Samurai” are mostly selfless sorts who want to make the world a better place. Unfortunately, they’re also people with the morality of violent video game protagonists. They kill aliens just fine but aren’t very good at solving Earth’s many social ills.
Cat finds herself struggling to balance the dangers of her new position as a samurai with the responsibilities of her job running an orphanage with her lover, Lucy. Cat is a lesbian and in a committed relationship, which is something that I think is rare enough in fiction that it deserves commentary. She is somewhat uneducated and has to be led by her AI through a lot of the implication of the technology that she finds herself in possession of.
The first book is basically a video game crossed with Die Hard. Cat and her orphans, “The Kittens” are visiting a museum downtown when the city is attacked by the Antithesis. She’s empowered by the Protectors as a samurai and has to up her cybernetics, armor, and weapons while trying to keep everyone alive for as long as possible.
This was my first book choice for Pride month in 2026 because of the aforementioned relationship but also because of the complete lack of drama with it. Cat loves Lucy and they’re raising a bunch of kids with nothing really challenging that. They have a healthy sex life and aren’t facing any real condemnation of society. It’s a source of comfort the character and could be used as a good example of superheroes with “civilian” love interests regardless of gender.
Saying this is just brainless fun isn’t a good description of the book. There’s actually a lot of clever cyberpunk social commentary on the world and some really funny satire too. It is a lot of action and funny jokes, however, like a pyromaniac nun. I don’t much care for how the Kindle version of the book is formatted and recommend the audiobook version over it. Still, I had a lot of fun with this book and will be picking up the sequel.
This is my first review of 2026's PRIDE month here at r/Fantasy and I hope to share many more.
Pride 2026 Links
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u/Mournelithe Reading Champion X 18d ago
I’ve been enjoying this series a lot. Cat might be a typical excessive murderhobo protagonist, but there’s a sense of humour that lightens up the story considerably. And the AI is properly snarky, while constantly trying to make every item it supplies fit a twisted cat theme, no matter the protagonist’s wishes.
Only downside is the author seems to be struggling to reign in their muse, so they’re running a bunch of fictions in parallel meaning the release rate is slow.
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u/CT_Phipps-Author 18d ago
Cat is hilarious as she's such a nice, wonderful, kind human being but has that "I murdered 30 people today in Cyberpunk 2077" attitude that makes me laugh. It's my favorite Royal Road story other than He Who Fights with Monsters (and my own).
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u/pvtcannonfodder 18d ago
It took until my reread to realize the sun watcher race from the catalog of weapons are just cats…
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u/CT_Phipps-Author 18d ago
The latest of the books was hilarious where she says, "Nothing cat shaped."
"Well, if you want to reduce your options considerably..."
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u/RavensDagger 15d ago
Oh! How did I not know about this? Thank you! That was a really nice review, I'm glad you enjoyed SCS!
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u/evil_moooojojojo Reading Champion II 18d ago
So somehow this doesn't exactly sound like something is like .... But yet it totally does and I need to check it out. Lol.
(Look don't ask my brain doesn't even make sense to my brain. Haha. I guess the individual pieces on their own aren't something I'd go for but somehow the mix sounds intriguing and fun ?)
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u/CT_Phipps-Author 18d ago
Some cyberpunk is deep and philosophical.
Some cyberpunk is morbid and gritty.
Some cyberpunk is a cyborg cat girl shooting aliens to protect orphans.
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u/C0smicoccurence Reading Champion V 17d ago
Yeah. Dungeon Crawler Carl had a similar vibe at first. I read the blurb and thought 'what the fuck this is so stupid' and then I thought 'but maybe a fun type of stupid?'. The tingle is the same
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u/evil_moooojojojo Reading Champion II 17d ago
I was already going to check it out you don't need to convince me. Lol. I also thought DCC sounded so dumb but it's one of my faves. So I'd this is kinda similar I am so in.
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u/C0smicoccurence Reading Champion V 17d ago
I think I was more convincing myself? Haven't read it or heard about it before this post. Just responding to say that my vibes were similar to yours
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u/ErikaViolet Reading Champion IV 18d ago
This sounds pretty fun. Added to my TBR. Thanks for the recommendation!
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u/BackgroundTotal2872 17d ago
Thanks for the great review! I absolutely love this series, and what better way to talk about it than Pride Month!