In The Lives of Puppets (out on Tuesday, 4/25!)

⭐️⭐️⭐️.5

I was so excited to see a new TJ Clune out this year! He does humor + hope = heartwarming so well.

Victor lives with his father Gio deep in the forest with their two beloved robots that they fixed up from the scrap pile — Rambo & Nurse Ratched. Vic’s sense of adventure leads him to keep exploring further and further into the junk piles, until on one expedition he finds a robot that is still ‘alive’ and moving. He brings the machine back to his treehouse lab; they name him HAP. HAP’s arrival into the little family turns everything upside down. When the city officials sense HAP is awake and come to find him, Vic and his little gang embark on an epic journey to put their family back together.

This one is “Wizard of Oz” meets “Pinocchio” meets “West World.” Like all of Clune’s novels I’ve read, there is magic, but this one brings in sci-fi / dystopian elements too.

My favorite part of this book was the dialogue between Nurse Ratched and Rambo. I thought the second half of the book (the “hero’s journey”) was a liittttleee long for my taste, but I was still invested in what was going to happen. Clune’s books are so refreshing to me because the worlds and plots are so different from what I typically read that it’s a treat.

In addition to TJ Clune’s LGBTQ storyline which we ofc love to see, there were also themes of loss, memory, chosen family, and what it means to love / be human. “The House in the Cerulean Sea” is still my favorite of his for sure, but I think I’d rank this one next just given how unique it was. LMK if you’ve read how you think this stacks up to his others!

Title: In the Lives of Puppets
Author: T.J. Klune
Source: Netgalley. I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Genre: Sci-Fi
Explicit? No.
Trigger Warnings: The terrifying inevitable control our robot overlords will one day have.
Summary:

In a strange little home built into the branches of a grove of trees, live three robots--fatherly inventor android Giovanni Lawson, a pleasantly sadistic nurse machine, and a small vacuum desperate for love and attention. Victor Lawson, a human, lives there too. They're a family, hidden and safe.

The day Vic salvages and repairs an unfamiliar 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 and taken back to his old laboratory in the City of Electric Dreams. 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.

Along the way to save Gio, amid conflicted feelings of betrayal and affection for Hap, Vic must decide for himself: Can he accept love with strings attached?

If you ever need to fall in love with a cast of characters who are misfits, and then care so much about them you'll end up having a good healthy cry, you should pick up a novel by TJ Klune. You will get all that and more, trust me.

This book has a wonderful cast of characters, such as Vic (Pinocchio's stand-in), Gio (Gepetto), and their wonderful, hilarious, amazing, intimidating found family, Rambo, Nurse Ratched and Hap (Hysterically Angry Puppet), all of whom I love.

The settings of this world are so vividly described I could close my eyes ad picture both The Forest and the City of Electric Dreams (formerly Vegas) easily, both holding their secrets and threats.

This book takes place post-humanity but is so filled with heart you'll find yourself wishing you could walk alongside the bots that exist in it, and protect Vic for yourself. Though there is coldness when it comes to those outside the inner circle, it is more than matched by the warmth provided by Vic, Hap, Gio, Ratched and Rambo (and oh how I love Rambo).

This book contains love, and wonderment, and it made me so happy to read.

I am not a big fan of Pinocchio, it's freaked me out since I was a child, but this version? This version is one I will re-read again and again.

Because all beings deserve a change to find out what life could be when they don't have to serve others.
Klune, TJ. In the Lives of Puppets.

This novel was beautifully written, as are all of Klune’s novels. Full of hope, loss, heartbreak, and an humor, this work is perfect for SciFi fans.

Once upon a time, there was a boy living in a forest. His companions consisted of his father, GIO, nurse RATCHED, and a vacuum named RAMBO.

One day, an android labelled HAP is found in the scrap yard, triggering a sequence of events that leads to the kidnapping of GIO, and the subsequent rescue mission. With characters such as “The Blue Fairy” and references to pop culture, this stunning tale imagines a world bordering the line of artificial intelligence and humanity, and a story of the transformative power of love. The audiobook narrator performed exceptionally well, and I recommend that version to anyone wanting an immersive experience in this novel.

However, the story itself was not for me. This was a robot-SciFi-Pinocchio with a dash of romance, and while I loved the characters individually, the story itself didn’t resonate with me – likely due to my own aversion towards robot-human-romance and Pinocchio than with the author.

Many thanks to my friends at @torbooks and @macmillan.audio for the #gifted copies of this book.

Fantastical. Thought-provoking.

When inanimate objects teach the most poignant lessons on humanity, you know their creator boasts talent. Oh! To have the sharp-edged imagination of TJ Klune.

In an old and lonely forest… that’s where we meet this most unlikely yet devoted little family. Tinkering, exploring, creating. Gio and Victor lived a contented life alongside their robots, Rambo and Nurse Rached. But when a new android is brought into the fold, danger lurks close behind ready to challenge everything they’ve known about connection and love.

Written as an homage to Collodi’s Pinocchio, this new adventure of a creation breaking free has notes of nostalgia while also being something wholly original. I actually found nods to one of my favorite childhood reads, A Wrinkle In Time, stronger than that of Pinocchio.

As I’ve come to expect from Klune, his latest foray boasts vivid storytelling and distinct characters. But it’s always the warmth with which he writes that endears me and ultimately breaks my heart a bit. Thankfully, the abundant sarcasm and dark humor didn’t leave me dejected for long.

While I enjoyed the overall execution, there were times the story lagged, which felt antithetical to adventure. And I have to admit that the ending left me wanting. The quick wrap-up (after such a lengthy investment in the characters) didn’t fulfill. I would’ve greatly appreciated an epilogue that entrusted me with a bit of their future.

🎧 Hands-down… the *very* best format for ingesting this book… the audiobook. Narrator @danielhenningla is a one man “full cast” experience. His execution radiates the quirkiness of each personality in a way that made me start to believe the actual robots were in my phone. I won’t be surprised if this isn’t an Audie Award winner for him.

My first novel by TJ Klune (despite owning at least one of them in my home library, ack) - thank you for Tor for this eARC and for this opportunity! I love magical realism and have been trying to get into more fantasy reads/series in general, so "In the Lives of Puppets" seemed like a great place to start! I thoroughly enjoy Klune's style of writing - it feels very lyrical and fluid to me - and so I truly did enjoy this book a lot. I would definitely recommend it out to others and am excited to continue reading more of her backlist and upcoming works!

3.5 rounded down to 3 stars.

Of the three T.J. Klune books I have read, this was perhaps my least favorite. While I was unaware that this was considered a retelling of Carlo Collodi's Pinocchio, Klune has created a story that is very much his own. (If anything, I picked up more on the nods to The Wizard of Oz and Swiss Family Robinson.) In the Lives of Puppets is a story of creation, discovery and journey. That the majority of the characters are robots (and not, in fact, puppets) shows the reader that our abilities can be developed into what we want them to be.

As always, I appreciate Klune's subtle queer representation that is organic to the plot instead of being on a checklist for diversity. However, and unlike Klune's other novels, this story failed to hook me in. I wonder if the overuse of dialogue is due to the majority of the characters being robots or because of the thinness of the plot; regardless, the story itself was much too long (with a very slow beginning) and would not be the first Klune book I'd recommend to a new reader.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I recently discovered TJ Klune and I'm SO GLAD I DID!!

His books give me all the feelings - warm & fuzzy, sad, sentimental, but most of all hopeful. This book was no different. I just loved it.

Klune's take on Pinocchio is fantastic and the characters are all so lovable. If you haven't read Klune, you are in for a treat!!

Thanks so much to NetGalley and Tor Publishing Group for the ARC!

Victor is the lone human in a family of robots living away in the woods where their home is built into the trees. Giovanni Lawson is an inventor android and has cared for Victor since infancy. Nurse Ratchet is a medical robot with a sadist streak and Rambo is an anxious little vacuum always in search of validation. They are a family and have been safely hidden away in the woods until one day Victor finds an android in the salvage yard and decides to repair him. They can make out the letters H-A-P on the android and so decide to call him HAP. However, a dark connection between Gio and HAP is revealed, it is a past spent hunting humans. This means Victor may very well be the last of his kind. When robots in the Electric City are accidentally notified of their whereabouts, Gio is taken captive but not before he crushes his mechanical heart and thus his memories. The misfit crew band together to travel to the Electric City in the hopes of rescuing Gio and maybe even restoring his memory. TJ Klune is a master at writing found family and has created a fairytale-like story with this book reminiscent of Pinnochio.

Thank you to TJ Klune, Tor Publishing Group, Tor Books, and Netgalley for this free advanced reader copy of "In the Lives of Puppets" of Puppets for an honest review.

A fan of the earlier 'Sea' text by TJ Klune, I was tempted to try another when I saw it pop up. This is a soft, sweet tale of found family, free will, bravery, cross-species love, asexuality, mental illness, and even Alzheimers. It's a very sweet read, without a whole lot of depth to it, which made it a perfect curl-up book during what was a real hard last month of my life. Anyone looking for a hug in book should definitely go in for this one.

I loved the cover of this book - In the Lives of Puppets by TJ Klune, especially as it drew me in and I just had to open my kindle and start to read it. Wow this book did not disappoint! Epecially as this is the first book I have read by this author, it just took my breath away, it was so beautifully written and from her heart. A book that will be with me for a long time and a book I have to have in hardback in my book case to read again and admire its cover.

I highly recommend this book. It was beautiful from start to finish.

Big Thank you to Tor Books, NetGalley and author TJ Klune for this digital ARC to honestly review.

In the Lives of Puppets takes on the story of Pinocchio, painting it in a subverted light with one real boy in a world of robots. I really enjoyed this heartfelt but humorous book set in a world where humanity has been (almost) eradicated.
I thought that the found family elements of the story were the strongest, unsurprising given Klune's other works, with the respectively homicidal and cowardly Nurse Ratched and Roomba (or something legally distinct from that) taking centre stage and providing a much needed comic relief to balance out some of the angstier elements of the story.
While not (at least in my view) a beat for beat retelling of the original, fans of Pinochhio will doubtless be able to spot references to the original story including the Terrible Dogfish!
I liked this book on the whole, I thought it felt a little bit dragging in places especially compared to some of Klune's previous works but that might be the more quest-like nature of this particular story. I was pleased to see Ace representation - though I am not qualified to comment on the accuracy or sensitivity of such rep myself.
Overall, while In the Lives of Puppets is not my personal favourite of Klune's works (Under the Whispering Door set an incredibly high bar) I do think many will find this a moving and also comforting read.
I received a free digital review copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley - all opinions are my own.

I really wanted to love this book because TJ Klune is amazing and one of my favorites. However, I feel like Victor fell flat as a main character (though I LOVED Rambo. This book is a Sci-Fi cozy get devastating book that I'm sure many will love!

What a world these guys live in! I got a little bit of Altered Carbon, little bit of Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? vibes. Of course with a typical TJ Klune twist in it. Walk into this world and decide for yourself if you can actually survive there.

While everything AI is covering the front pages everywhere, it was bit eye opening to read this story. Could they really match human and/or flesh and blood animals? Isn't there something that makes us different from each other? We are different from one age to another, so it's hard to imagine where machine completely replaces human.

But what if we are not as special as we thought we are? In that case, we TJ Klune to read :)

I previously adored TJ Klune's book, "The House in the Cerulean Sea," and I loved "In the Lives of Puppets" for all the same reasons. Klune absolutely nails the magical element of all of their stories, making them intriguing and enchanting. Additionally, the characters well well-developed and lovable, with Rambo being my favorite. I felt so many emotions while reading this, I was instantly sucked in. I would definitely recommend this to fantasy-lovers and those who enjoy character-focused stories.

I wholeheartedly LOVED this book. The robot characters are hilarious! They added whimsy to a book that has serious themes running through it. This book has EVERYTHING- lols, tears, drama and action. I have loved all of TJ Klune’s book, but this has been my favorite.

Another winner from Klune! This story follows a chosen family that loses one of its most important members into a post-human world controlled by robots. The story starts in the home of Victor and Giovanni Lawson, along with their nursing robot, Nurse Ratched, and a vacuum cleaner named Rambo. During a scavenging excursion, another android, HAP, joins the group. While there is the implication that there are few humans, if any, left, Victor doesn't know how large of a part the members of his chosen family played in their downfall. Due to Victor's insistence on going to a local dumping ground despite Gio's warnings, Gio is captured, and Victor and his crew must rescue him from the City of Electric Dreams. He learns much about himself and the members of his family along the way, and has to wrestle with their past and his future. The love between all the main characters is clear, but navigating love and trying to rescue your father can be difficult. The story changes from idyllic forest life to fast-paced rescue tale early on, and it is thrilling. An excellent choice for those who enjoy Klune's work and snappy comebacks.

This was a sweet, futuristic fairy-tale of a novel. While I have appreciated the whimsy of the previous two TJ Klune novels I have read, In The Lives of Puppets takes that whimsy and sends it into the future. In a society of robots, one boy is looking for human connection.

If I had to convey the gravitas of the book based on just the description, I could not do it justice. I mean around its implausible premise, a story of connection, and forgiveness, love, friendship, acceptance and adventure is forged. And it is frequently beautiful and heart-wrenching, and often even funny. Klune is a master of getting the reader to really feel deeply about the subjects of his books and to think and challenge themselves about how we see others. Occasionally, in his zeal, he gets clumsy in his execution which wrenches me out of the lyricism of the story, but overall, I just believe the author is a genius.

TJ Klune does it again. Taking an abstract idea and forming it into a beautiful story of love. It’s a story about friendship, family, humanity and the desire to find oneself in a scary and crazy world. The beauty of TJK’s writing truly feels like a warm and comforting hug.

The story is a modern queer retelling of Pinocchio, and follows the story of creator Giovanni Lawson. Not a human, but not entirely a robot, he is a lonely being who receives the greatest gift through strange circumstances. A son, Victor. Victor is a human who grows to love nature, his father, his quirky, hilarious and adorable robot friends, and the desire to fix things that deserve a second chance. In fact, the story really starts when Victor repares “HAP”, a robot initially created to kill humanity. When Giovanni gets taken, it is up to Victor, his friends, and HAP to travel to the city of Electric Dreams in order to save the day.

If you can suspend reality, you will come to find that this is truly a beautiful story that is filled with so many anecdotes that will leave a print on your heart!

4.5 ⭐️

Another beautiful, whimsical book from TJ Klune! When I heard this was a Pinocchio retelling, I had my reservations. I haven't even remotely enjoyed a single Pinocchio adaptation....until this book. TJ Klune has a way of writing every character so well, you can't help but feel close to them which is why he's able to pack such an emotional punch time and time again.

What a quirkster this one is! But really, what else can we expect from a TJ Klune book?! In the Lives of Puppets is a welcome addition to Klune's loving batch of hilarious misfits.

Victor is an orphan being raised in the woods by his adopted dad/not quite a man, Gio. With his sidekicks Rambo, a roomba vacuum, and Nurse Ratched, a medical aid robot, he spends his days experiment, exploring a nearby scrap yard, listening to records, and watching Rambo's favorite movie repeatedly. One day the three friends discover a dangerous new robot, Hap, and their lives take an unexpected turn.

Like so many of Klune's books this story centers on chosen family. That is where the magic really is, in the familal bond between these characters and their fierce loyalty when faced with peril. There is also the trademark humor. I could read an entire sequel just with Nurse Ratched's death threats and Rambo's innocent babbling. Their banter is hysterical.

Cons are that it's a bit long and drags more than it needs to. There felt like a lot of filler happening and the potential romance takes a very long time to even maybe start. It's a strange story for sure, but I'm not convinced that's a con. There's so much humor and whimsy and the good kind of weird that makes this book enjoyable .
3.5 stars rounded up!