This was a DNF for me. I couldn't get past the innuendos and silliness. I am not sure if this was meant for middle schoolers or adults. It's a shame, too, because I really loved this author's other books.

Such a sweet, quirky story about some sentient robots and the family that maintains them. TJ Klune is a master at world-building and creating characters that give you the feels.

Deeply captivating, I enjoyed what felt like a retelling of Pinocchio - similar but so different. While not my favorite TJ Klune, I'm am utterly here for all of their books.

Another good TJ Klune novel, my only build is that the story felt like it took a while to get where it was going. A take on Pinocchio, this was an interesting book but probably not my favourite work of his.

I enjoyed this book, though I didn't like it quite as much as The House in the Cerulean Sea, or Under the Whispering Door. That being said, the characters were interesting and the world building was good. It was definitely a little more bleak than his last couple books though.

4.5 rounded up

This is the third book I've read by this author. The human touch the author brings to all of his books has captivated me, but this one was truly different and heartwarming. It starts slowly, and it might take some time to get into the story, but after about 30%, you begin to get hooked. The relationship between the characters was excellent, I loved them all, and reading this book was enjoyable. I highly recommend the audiobook version too.

Love TJ Klune! I feel all of the feelings when reading his books his characters are loveable and be plots are amazing

I was unable to read the book due to it being taken off of netgalley to fast which was a real shame as it looks good.

I was super excited for this book. For one I love this author and two, the premise sounded amazing. While the book is still beautifully written and had some very good moments, it still felt like it was missing something. This one didn’t have the same spark that other Klune books have and thus it la def a little flat. I was expecting to love the characters and feel a million emotions and at time it felt like he was going to deliver only to move much too quickly away from the moment or get a sanitized version of events. I did read his note at the end and wonder how much of those forced changes impacted the quality of this story, but I guess we won’t ever know. Ultimately, I do think that it was a decent book with a thought provoking premise.

TJ Klune always does an exceptional job of making me FEEL for characters I never thought I could (i.e. monsters, robots, the grim reaper himself) and In the Lives of Puppets is some of his strongest storytelling to date.

A good book. Very much in the vein of the author’s other books. Not sure anyone else writes love and loss and heartache and friendship quite so well. You can really deeply feel it. The world building is creative and just enough, though even more would be great(I would love to read a sci-fi horror prequel set in this world, though I think it would need to be by a different author since that isn’t what I want when I’m reading Klune). The characters are great--in some ways they're completely ridiculous, but also they're perfect.

I’m not a big fan of the Pinocchio story in general, but the allusions definitely worked for this book.

I'm sorry but this was so boring and wordy, how did this win an Goodreads award. I really couldn't get into it and I think it put me in a reading slump for about 2 months.

This was unfortunately a DNF for me.

The writing was bland yet confusing. I couldn't really grasp what was happening. It's unfortunate because I loved The House in the Cerulean Sea. I don't have much to say just because I didn't get far enough in the story.

Thank you to NetGalley and Tor Books for the early digital copy in exchange for an honest review.

This one just wasn’t for me. I’m sure it is a lovely TJ Klune winding novel but it didn’t suck me in like the others and I DNFed at around 20%. I just couldn’t get into it like his others.

This was a sweet and kind story. It didn't kick me in the teeth quite as hard as some of TJ's books (meaning I didn't SOB my face off). It was still enjoyable even though I kept turning pages expecting to be gut punched. Nurse Ratched was perfect. No notes.

As I huge fan of TJ Klune writing, I'm so sad to have not loved as much his newest book. I think the sci-fi setting and the robots were not for me. I found it hard to get attached to them and I was just not drawn into the story as much as I would have loved too. I still believe it would be strongly appreciated for many people. Maybe I'll get back to it one day and I will be in the right mood and I'll enjoy it very much!

This was a fun delightful read full of great, well developed characters that I loved! Klune built up a world I wish I could be a part of with this wonderful book.

I love TJ Klune so much. His world feels so big and buoyant and kind and problems carry danger, but there is some kind of love that encompasses his characters and the resolutions as well. Definitely an author I want to share with my kiddos as they get older.

T J Klune has done it again. How every book of his makes me feel like I'm getting a massive hug whilst reading I'll never know, but it's safe to say he has become an insta buy author. If you love queer stories that just fill you with an overwhelming sense of belonging, quirky characters you will fall in love with and stories that break you, but put you back together again, I can't recommend this enough.

Klune delivers a sweet cosy book which straddles the line between fantasy and science fiction with this book. The Pinocchio influences made for fun easter eggs to kind of look for whilst reading this book. I think that fans of cosy stories will have a really fun time with this book. Unfortunately, something that I am only starting to learn about myself is that I am not really the biggest fan of cosy stories. I think this book does what it sets out to do really well but for me I did not find the pacing of the book to be enjoyable. I also, unfortunately, really really did not like the romantic subplot in this story. Despite issues with the pacing and the plotting, the character work was impeccable, Ratched and Rambo were such incredible characters who had real depth and felt well-realised.