I love Klune’s writing. There is just something so beautiful about it and I’m always pulled in from the very first page. I find myself rereading lines as there is just this deep eloquence. In the Lives of Puppets was no different.

It has a dystopian feel to it. I’ve read my fair share of dystopian novels and really enjoyed this one. It was heartbreaking but yet very hopeful. The characters were all very well developed and I felt like I personally knew them all. I enjoyed the humor Nurse Ratched and Rambo added to the story. I loved the meaning of friends and family and what you would do to save them.

There were a few things I didn’t like about this novel. It felt too long and I think some sections could have been pared down quite a bit. Also, the human-machine romance was a bit awkward for me but I do feel like it was heartfelt.

Overall I loved the story and the writing and definitely recommend this book!

Don't start here with Klune books unless you're already a huge fan. I'm 50/50 on likeability, I just keep seeing rave reviews about his work and then am a little disappointed when I read them.

Potential spoilers ahead!

In the Lives of Puppets was a slow start for me with not enough character delving. I would have liked to know more about Rambo and Ratched. It bothered me that their names were already characters that existed in the human world but the current world destroyed all humans and their memorabilia, so why are these two named what they are? I get Ratched, at least that's a book that could still exist but Rambo just seemed random. Also, why was Ratched so pervy? Where in the heck did she pick up that learned behavior, especially if Victor is asexual allegedly?

The book didn't pick up for me until they met the Blue Fairy. I did appreciate the ending, not super syrupy and tied in a bow - a little ambiguous and bittersweet. Overall a little too clunky for me, a Pinocchio retelling with Wizard of Oz vibes.

TJ Klune is a brilliant writer. Poignant storytelling that's well written, thought provoking, and heartfelt. The Lives of Puppets is unlike anything I've read before, emotional and engaging

This story reminds us of the power of hope, the necessity to look beyond the surface for the humanity of others, and that we can create and choose our family. A modern retelling of Pinocchio, this novel takes readers on twists and turns that will both feel like the story you know and nudge you to think about it in new ways. The cast of characters is sweet, funny, flawed, and lovable. You’ll be cheering for them throughout their adventure!

A lovely adventure into AI territory. Klune’s mastery of storytelling kept me reading until the end. Another book of his I will be handing out to folk.

DNF at 48%. I've been trying to get through this book for a few weeks. Putting it down and coming back to it hoping I will feel differently and have a change of heart. Unfortunately, I feel it's best I move on, because it isn't getting any better for me.

I fell in love with TJ Klune's Cerulean Sea book, thought the Whispering Door was okay, but this book fell flat for me, and I couldn't find near as much love or attachment to these characters. This book reminded me of The Wizard of Oz and I was excited about the Sci fi aspect with the dystopian world and robots. However, the writing felt too cheesy and almost too whimsical for me. Of the two books I mentioned plus this book, the general theme is kindness, which I love. Cerulean Sea was the warm hug we needed in 2020, but I don't know if it is just too played out and we need to shake things up with a different theme or what. I just found myself bored and disinterested while reading this book,sadly, and I decided to not force myself to finish reading it.

**Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for allowing me an advanced copy of this book and in return I am submitting my unbiased and voluntary review and opinion. I am posting this review to my Goodreads account immediately and will post it to my Amazon & Instagram accounts upon publication.

This book was everything lovers of Klune’s prior works will enjoy while being diverse in terms of plot, themes, and especially characters. This was an absolutely fantastic read that was both genuinely heartfelt and cataclysmically heartbreaking. I would recommend this book to anyone.

"We have a purpose, beyond our original programming. Perhaps it could be the same for him, though I highly doubt it."

In a strange home built into the branches of a grove of trees, live three robots--fatherly inventor android Giovanni, a pleasantly sadistic nurse machine, and a vacuum desperate for attention. Victor, a human, lives there too. The day Vic salvages and repairs an android labelled "HAP," he learns of a shared dark past between Hap and Gio-a past spent hunting humans. When Hap unwittingly alerts robots from Gio's former life to their whereabouts, the family is no longer hidden and safe. Gio is captured. So together, the rest of Vic's assembled family must journey across an unforgiving and otherworldly country to rescue Gio from decommission, or worse, reprogramming.

*sighs* Fine I guess let's talk about In the Lives of Puppets.

Have you ever read a book that is so mixed? That you have just as many good things to say about it as bad things, so you never really know how you feel about it because it was good!! But also it wasn't!! But also I enjoyed it!! But also it was annoying!! But still fun?? This is that book for me.

First of all, and maybe this is a me thing, but I don't think a post-apocalyptic book with evils robots ruling the world is ✨cozy✨

I enjoy post-apocalyptic stories and stories that question what it means to be human. What is humanity, and what makes someone human or not? But I guess I like them darker and more intense. Because this book was so filled with hopefulness and optimism that it bothered me.

I think I like T.J. Klune's writing more when it's filled with angst. Green Creek continues to be one of my favorite series of all time, and to this day, I haven't finished rereading it because it makes me sob every book.

To that point, and I feel like this is a very unpopular opinion, but I'm getting tired of these soft, SFF books that TJ is writing. Under the Whispering Door was my favorite of the "trilogy" but they all have such similar themes, characters, and romances that three books in, it just gets a little tiring instead of new and exciting.

Oh, and also, this did not hit for me emotionally. At all. I could tell from the writing that I probably should be sad and cry. But I didn't 🫣 In fact, I was annoyed. I rolled my eyes so hard I saw my brain.

That being said!! I still liked some of the book!

In typical Klune fashion, the found family and the humor were top-tier. The characters are all super charming. I don't think it's possible to read this book and not fall in love with Rambo, the vacuum cleaner with anxiety who loves hugs, and Nurse Ratched, the slightly psychopathic nurse that is secretly a softie.

I loved the way this retold Pinocchio. I'm not the biggest fan of the original story and its many versions, but I think this worked so well as a retelling!! It's familiar enough so you can recognize some of the points of the story, but it's different enough that it feels completely new and not just 'Pinocchio but Sci-Fi'. Also, I really enjoyed some of the Wizard of Oz elements which I didn't expect.

The queer rep was fantastic. We have an asexual main character who doesn't fall into the "ace robot" stereotype that Sci-Fi stories tend to have.

I'm excited for it to come out bc I'm desperately hoping that it's not only me that feels this way about it 🧍‍♂️

3.5 stars rounded up. This book was a good book, but not a book really for me. I enjoyed parts of it, but the main plot didn't grab me. T.J. Klune is very hit-or-miss for me (and when he hits, he hits hard), but strangely this was somewhere in the middle. It has a plot that sounds super cool when you explain it, but it took me a long time to finish it since I didn't quite care.

I did absolutely LOVE the side characters. Rambo and Nurse Ratchet made me laugh and love them. This is where the author's trademark humor shines through. I would read a whole book of just their shinaigans. Vic and HAP, on the other hand, were fine, just fine. Nothing really stood out to me about either of them or their relationship.

Maybe this book was a bit too sci-fi for me or something, but it was good, not great. The writing was as good as his previous books, but overall it wasn't for me.

In the middle of a forest lives a man who is not really a man, a robotic nurse with a sadistic steak, an eager to please vacuum, and a real boy name Victor. This odd compilation is a happy family full of their own understanding of love. When Vic rescues a new android to repair, it sparks a series of events which leads to adventure, questions of morality among machines, and the ever present feelings of love.

This was my first Klune novel, and I loved the whimsical nature of the story that felt both cozy and mysterious! Even with many nods to the story of Pinocchio, In The Lives of Puppets has a unique storyline and I really didn’t have any predictions for where the ending might lead.

Thank you to NetGalley, Tor Books, and the author for the opportunity to read and review this book!

How does TJ Klune do it? How does he create these characters that you become so attached to, that you miss them when the book is over? There is a want of updates and check-ins. There is the wonder of how these characters are doing, what are they up to now? And for Klune to do it this time with ROBOTS? Come on.

TJ Klune is a unique voice of love and acceptance that the world needs and craves right now. His books feel like home and a grilled cheese cut diagonally. In the Lives of Robots is phenomenal. Nurse Ratched is a queen.

This was a lovely story, filled with the sort of kindness and tenderness that TJ Klune is known for. The allegory of Pinocchio is an interesting juxtaposition with the futuristic world in the novel. The themes of love and loss and what it means to be human permeate the story, which has good pacing and a satisfying end. Well done.

was very happy to receive an ARC of Klune's new book from NetGalley. I loved his last two books, The House in the Cerulean Sea and Under the Whispering Door. I didn't like this one quite as much, but the bar was really high, and I enjoyed the mix of humor, adventure, and heart. This felt pretty different from the last two, in that's it's got more science fiction and adventure.

There are a ton of literary references in this book, which at times I enjoyed and at times felt distracting.  Besides the references to Pinocchio, there are also references to Frankenstein (Victor brings robot Hap to life in his lab), One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (Nurse Ratched), The Wizard of Oz (robots with artificial hearts, and four friends traveling to the Electric City), and Wall-E (a cute robot who loves an old-time romantic movie). There were also elements that reminded me of Wrinkle in Time and Howl's Moving Castle. 

The story begins with Gio, a robot inventor on the run from civilization, who builds a home in the forest and is handed a baby, Victor, to raise.  Victor grows up knowing only his life in the forest with Gio and the robot friends they bring to life, until Gio's past catches up with him. Victor is forced to set out with robots Hap, Rambo and Nurse Ratched on a nearly impossible quest. There's part of the book that takes place in a creepy flying museum, and that was easily the most vivid and terrifying part of the story.

It's a science fiction novel about a future where robots have destroyed humanity, before humans can destroy the planet. As with most dystopian stories, the robots aren't any better at running things than the humans were, though I found it pretty hard to sympathize with the humans. It's also a story of Victor's coming of age, discovering who he is and what it means to be human and to love. What resonated with me was the theme of overcoming one's programming and forgiving yourself for your past.

Klune is never subtle, but he does bring the heart you'd expect to this story. However, I struggled a little with the pacing - it felt long, and I think he relies a little too much on the Rambo and Nurse Ratched humor, which was clever and funny at first but felt a little tired after a while. I think some editing was needed.  I did enjoy the development of Victor and Hap's friendship, and Victor's relationship with his father, but I also thought Hap and Gio needed more development beyond their guilt and their devotion to Vic.

So I had mixed feelings about this book, mainly because I loved Klune's last two so much. I enjoyed the reminders of other favorite stories and the world Klune creates in which robots have taken over. But some of the humor and dialogue felt quite repetitive, leaving me feeling the book was a bit slow compared to his others. Klune remains a must-read author for me though.

Note: I received a complimentary review copy from NetGalley and publisher Tor Books. This book published April 25, 2023.

TJ Klune has done it again with another magical and engrossing queer read. "In the Lives of Puppets" is sci-fi meets Pinocchio with an Ace lead.

Ever since I read The House in the Cerulean Sea, I have been a fan of TJ Klune. In the Lives of Puppets carries a lot of the same themes as Klune's recent previous books - love, acceptance, inclusivity, overcoming challenges, forgiveness - but the plot and characters were a lot harder for me to connect with in this book. While it was entertaining, and again, the overarching themes in the book were excellent, I did not enjoy the plot or setting as much as I had hoped.

TJ Klune has a masterful imagination and it shines in this post-AI apocalyptic world. He does what seems impossible, by humanizing artificial intelligence both for good and for evil. I appreciated the humor, especially from RAMBO and Nurse RATCHED. I always leave his books feeling like there's hope in a dark world.

What another great book from TJ Klune! I’ve read previous books from this author and really enjoyed them. I was pleasantly surprised to see that this was just as good as those. I enjoyed the story and the characters were very well written.

It pains me to not absolutely adore a Klune book, especially one with an asexual MC and ROBOTS. I was so damn excited. But unfortunately, the story didn’t grab my attention and I didn’t care about what happened to any of the characters. I made it to about 1/3 of the way through before giving up.

Review: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/🫑
This is an adult novel but written in the fairytale style like The House in the Cerulean Sea and Under the Whispering Door. It’s adult in that they talk about sexual pleasure, genitalia, and sexuality, but no 🌶️.

It’s like a mix of Pinocchio meets Wall-E meets Wizard of Oz with a heavy emphasis on Wall-E.

In the beginning I had a little hard time with the “romance”; it felt a little taboo and some of the adult elements felt forced and just icky. But I guess if you look at it as a mild “monster romance”, then why not robots?! The first 1/3rd is a little mundane in the daily activities. Around 30% it started to get good, then the plot took a twist around halfway through. So if you get bored at first, stick with it.

In the end it was a good heartfelt story and I teared up. If you liked Wall-E, you may like this. Especially if you also liked House in the Cerulean Sea and Under the Whispering Door.

Found family, sentient artificial intelligence, dystopian society, forgiveness, starting over. Oh, and it’s kind of funny, too.

I love TJ Klune. He is great at writing characters and describing emotions, human or otherwise. So far this is only my second TJ Klune book, but I will make sure to check out more of his work.