In the Lives of Puppets by TJ Klune is a retelling of Pinocchio involving robots and AI. The main character, Victor, is human and has grown up with his adoptive father Gio (a robot who appears human), Nurse Ratchet ( a robot with a sadistic side), and a sweet vacuum robot named Rambo. When Victor finds a robot in a scrapyard that he is able to “bring back to life” their safety is compromised, Gio is captured and their home is destroyed. Now Victor, Nurse Ratchet, Rambo, and their new robot friend HAP must try to rescue him. The story is about love, what it means to be family and what makes us human. It really makes you think about the current world we live in and the dangers of artificial intelligence 4.5⭐️

There’s a sweetness to TJ Klune books that I absolutely adore. While this wasn’t my favorite of his titles, it was still an awesome, thoughtful read about love, accept, grief, and guilt. A little bit Pinocchio, a little bit terrifying robots who destroy humanity, and a little bit The Brave Little Toaster all wrapped into one book.

Thank you so much, NetGalley, Tor Publishing Group and Tor Books, for the chance to read this book in exchange of an honest review.

In a peculiar little home built into the branches of a grove of tree, lives the inventor Giovanni, an android, an anxious vacuum, Rambo and Nurse Ratched (registered automato to care, heal, educate and drill) and a human and inventor, Victor. When Victor one day salvages and repair an unfamiliar android, labelled HAP, he and his family will discover dark secrets about Giovanni and when, HAP, unwittingly, alerts robots of Giovanni's whereabouts and he's kidnapped, they embark into a journey in order to save him and make him remember his life with them. If that means, journey into an unforgiving world where humanity is all but gone. And during this journey, something will change between Victor and HAP. Will they able to save their own family and themselves?

Inspired by Carlo Collodi's The adventures of Pinocchio, In the lives of puppets is a wonderful, thrilling and moving standalone fantasy, set in a post-apocalyptic world, populated by robots and with humanity gone. Telling this book broke me in so many pieces and then healed me back together is absolutely true. It's one of the best book I've read in a very long time and, as a fan of Pinocchio, it was such a pleasure finding references to the book. In the lives of puppets is a book about a gorgeous and peculiar found family, who fit together marvellously and fought back to be together again and in peace. It's a book about love and hearts, about being brave and fighting to do the right things, about evolving, and choosing your own destiny,
I loved the asexual representation and how the author was able to write about anxiety and panic attack. How it talks about a genocide and the importance of fighting against an authority wanting to control everything. It's a story about past, present and future, about fixing's one's wrongs and evolving, being better, becoming a different person.
It's a book with a sociopathic nurse and a talkative and anxious vacuum, about a father's love, siblings' love and all kind of love and how they are equally important.
It's a book I won't forget so easily. Amazing, moving and important.

A delightful sort of post-apocalyptic fairytale. It's sort of like if you put Pinocchio, The Wizard of Oz, Wall-E, and The Brave Little Toaster in a blender, aged it up to an adult story, sprinkled in queer and asexual representation, and spiced it up with some offbeat humor. The finishing touch is a generous dose of the same wholesome and heartwarming vibes that T.J. Klune brought to [book:The House in the Cerulean Sea|45047384].

The sociopathic-but-not-really Nurse Ratched consistently had me giggling and Rambo was the cutest robot sidekick imaginable. But the real heart of the story was in its exploration of what it means to be human, as seen through the main character of Vic and his complex relationships with Gio, his father, and Hap, an android he restores to working condition after finding him discarded in a trash heap near his home. A story that manages to be hopeful and heartwarming without becoming sappy, and one of my new favorites.

Thanks to Tor and NetGalley for the ARC!

Wie wundervoll! Wenn es derzeit einen Autor gibt, der es beherrscht, queere Fantasybücher herzuzaubern, dann ist es TJ Klune. Seine Bücher sind immer gespickt mit viel Fantastischem und diesem Fall sogar mit Science Fiction. Er entführt uns in eine Zukunft, in der es keine Menschen mehr gibt und das mit den Gefühlen irgendwie aus der Mode ist. Dennoch schafft es ein einziger menschlicher Junge so viel Liebe in diese Welt voller Roboter zu bringen, dass es auch dem Leser von der ersten bis zur letzten Seite einfach nur warm ums Herz wird. Klare Leseempfehlung! Habe das Buch geradezu verschlungen!

This was my first book by TJ Klune, and it won’t be my last. Recommended for fans of science fiction and dystopian novels.

T.J. Klune is known for fantasy novels that have a significant tone of whimsy. Here he has created a dystopian science fiction novel, but the whimsy is still very much intact. Young protagonist Victor Lawson has rescued and restored two robots: Nurse Ratched, a nurse robot who seems to have sociopathic tendencies; and Rambo, a robotic vacuum with a cleanliness obsession and a need to be loved (as well as a motor mouth). When Vic finds and salvages another robot which he names Hap, he triggers memories in his father, an android named Gio.

The family (which is revealed to be one human and several robots) finds a way to be comfortable with the situation. Unfortunately, the Authority (the robotic control group) has become aware of them, and they arrive to retrieve Gio. He is an important android, but having anticipated the situation he programmed the nurse robot to keep the rest of the family safe. The Authority destroys the family's home and takes Gio back to headquarters, the City of Electric Dreams.

The family is united in the desire to rescue Gio, which takes them on an epic adventure. They encounter a robot who is fascinated with human artifacts, and after a rough patch (including kidnapping) he helps them find their way into the City. The rescue is not smooth, but it is ultimately successful. The conclusion eventually finds Gio and Hap mostly restored to their former selves–which was certainly not guaranteed–and the relationship between Vic and Hap also resumes. The conclusion is open-ended, but as usual Klune's gay male couple gets together (even if one of them is an android). Despite the big apocalyptic setting the story is really small and interpersonal. It's about the rebirth of one human, not all of humanity.

Thanks to NetGalley for the advance reader's copy.

Quirky and convoluted, there's a lot of moving parts (forgive the pun) to this story. While there is a positive-ish ending (my opinion) I felt a sense of dread through most of the book. That being said though, the author did not disappoint.

I decided to read In The Lives of Puppets because the summary sounded so odd. It was whimsical and different, so unlike anything I had read before. I hadn’t known it was a Pinocchio retelling at first. In fact, as I read, I thought it might be a Frankenstein retelling. I still stand by that, at least a little bit. I’ll get back to the Pinocchio retelling piece a little later in my review.

I’m going to tell you what I will be telling everyone from now on- if you read the summary and thought this book may not be for you, I encourage you to read it anyway. I say this not because the summary didn’t immediately sell me on it (it did) but I have heard comments like this surrounding the book. Not only did I laugh more than I ever have while reading a book (Nurse Ratched and Rambo’s dialogue had me crying from so much laughter), I connected to these characters immediately.

Without giving too much away, Victor lives with his father, Gio, and his friends Nurse Ratched and Rambo out in the forest. He likes to collect bits and pieces of scrap to build more or improve on the machines and things they have around their treehouse home (take a second to read that again. Yes, a TREEHOUSE HOME). The robots around him are very human in their personalities even though two of them look nothing like us. Nurse Ratched and Rambo can succumb to their original programming at times, which provides for even more funny and heartfelt moments. We’re introduced to a particularly complex android, Hap, that gives wonderful insight into choice and what it means to be human.

A common theme throughout the book is battling loneliness and, linked to that, finding where one fits in the world. Remember what I said about connecting to these characters immediately? I think that’s why. Almost all of us have experienced or are experiencing those feelings. Klune made robots more open to their emotions than almost any human I’ve ever met, and tied them into the beautiful package that is this book.

Hap and Gio are both complicated characters, having pasts that don’t quite align with who they truly are. It begs the question, can we change? Can we improve the future despite our past as a species? An interesting thought.

Regarding the Pinnochio telling, I have only one major critique. I didn’t think it was necessary. This story could have easily stood on its own without any reference to Pinnochio. At times it felt forced, not quite melding into the world, in my opinion. This clearly did not take away from my experience as this is honestly one of the best books I’ve ever read, but it didn’t necessarily add.

I won’t say any more, for fear of spoiling, but just know that the range of emotions I felt while reading this book are unparalleled. I truly did laugh, and cry, and gasp and feel so incredibly happy I was able to read this book. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

A Few Favorite Quotes:

“‘What if I wish for impossible things?’
‘Then you’re doing it right. It always seems impossible when you first start.’”

“Words were a weapon, he knew, one that had taken him a long time to wield. But he was different than he’d been before. He wasn’t that boy. He’d found his voice. This machine– this man– had given it to him.”

“‘Something to it, I think. Maybe I was meant to find you. Before and now.’”

“In his secret heart, hope had flickered like a dying flame.”

“‘My feet hurt,’ Rambo said.
‘You do not have feet.’
‘Oh. Well if I did, they would hurt.’”

“He felt it, then, something foreign, sticky, all-consuming. Its tendrils whipped up around him, pulling him down, down, and as he gasped for air, he recognized it for what it was though he’d never experienced it before in his life. A word flitted through the static as if stuck to the wing of a butterfly. Grief. This was grief.”

I could quote almost the entire book, so I’ll make myself stop there!

TJ Klune’s books are always so sweet, and this was no exception!! I loved the characters and had such a great time with this one

TJ Klune's books are always a warm hug that manage to make me cry, laugh, and feel all the emotions. A story that I didn't think I would initially love but once again am pleasantly surprised.

I read this novel after reading Isaac Asmiov's "I, Robot" and that leant a wonderful perspective to what TJ Klune was doing with his characters. The different robots and their emotions/options were entertaining at times, but at some points felt over the top. Overall this was a strong work from Klune but did not have the heart of his other adult novels. It felt like it had a lot more of the YA slant to it.

Mood: You're looking for Wizard of Oz adventure--a human accompanied by three fantastical friends, a touch of sci-fi with robots who you might fall in love with more so than people, banter to make you smile, and of course queer representation. You want a book that isn't "just a story" but a work of art on discovering who you are and what you're made of when characteristic are nurtured regardless of background. You want a story about "found family."

This is the story to satisfy such a mood and what more can I say than this will make you put your hand to your heart and look at your robots (Alexa? Rumba?) a little more fondly.

This book was all around a fairly solid book. The characters were strong and not to mention hilarious. I highlighted A LOT of nurse ratched quotes. I think she is the one that made this book good in my opinion. I enjoyed the story well enough but I unfortunately felt a large disconnect. Anytime I picked it up, I would place it down after a chapter and would take a couple days before reading the next chapter. I was able to get the audiobook (which I absolutely recommend as a format for this book) and finished it in a more timely manner. Once I started on the audiobook, I enjoyed the pacing and the world better. All around great character development and story building, just a disconnect on the execution. 3.5 stars rounded up.

In the Lives of Puppets was such a heartwarming book!! The found family and relationships in this book were top tier.

Also, this book was freaking hilarious. Rambo and Nurse Ratchet together were so funny and made me love this book 100 times more!!

T.J. Klune is definitely an auto buy author for me because whenever I’m having a rough day, his books always cheer me up and make me smile. I can’t wait to see what he comes out with next!

This story left me with a serious book hangover. Vic and his ridiculous but fantastic pals are perfection. Gio and the development of his story is heart wrenching. What do machines do when there’re no humans? The story left me aching for more.

The world-building in this tale is phenomenal. I’ve been a TJ Klune fan since some of his very first published books and it’s been a privilege to watch his writing evolve. His recent work has moved into such an elevated place. I love his romantic comedies as well but his current work is prizewinning quality, and I hope he gets his flowers!

TJ Kline is the king of found family. This booo captured my heart and attention from the first chapter in this unique sci-fi/dystopian about a human boy growing up in a world run by robots.

The characters in this book hold a special place in my heart and I loved how unique and special each character was. I flipped back and forth between these characters and who I could call my favorite because they each had amazing aspects that were incorporated into the story beautifully.

The plot flowed naturally and I still have a couple lingering questions regarding the city and the robots living there but overall it was a captivating and beautiful story about what it means to be human

Another amazing read from TJ! As a big fan, I'd heard both good and bad reviews of this book but I can honestly say I loved it! Definitely a different direction for him, but I really loved all the characters, the robots personalities were so funny and witty and the pinocchio themes throughout tied the story together!

TJ Klune has done it again! In the Lives of Puppets is a great novel centering around the trope of found family. This was also the case in Klune's previous novels, only this time, the family consists of multiple robots and one human - the last human on earth. I loved reading about the Lawson family and how they interacted with each other. You could tell that they all really love each other. I especially enjoyed reading about Rambo and Nurse Ratched. A very wholesome read!

Thanks to NetGalley for this book in exchange for an honest review!


TJ Klune will never disappoint! The humor of this book felt like a combination of House in the Cerulean Sea and the Extraordinaries. Which was truly perfect. I was laughing out loud multiple times with this book.

I especially recommend the audiobook because the narration for the various robots is such a fun touch.

My only issue with the book was the robot and human romance. It works out but also, I wasn’t a huge fan. I was thinking since this is a Pinocchio retelling. I didn’t enjoy the human and a robot romance and kept thinking it would go somewhere else and was hopeful right up until the very end. I would say it’s still worth the read, but be prepared for a unique romantic relationship to say the least.