This may be a reimagining of Pinocchio, but after reading this with friends I can’t stop comparing it to the wizard of oz. You have an odd and quirky foursome who go on an adventure to the big city to rescue their dad/inventor. To steal what my reading buddies said, this story is both light and heavy at the same time. It’s a light whimsical story with funny characters, but it centres around a heavy concept: what makes us human / alive.

I liked it, but I didn’t love it. The characters were fun, but I wanted more depth from them. I know, most of them are robots…but still. We got a taste of romance and then it was over. A taste of this and that but never enough to really satiate. I’d recommend it as a quick light read, but if you loved cerulean sea, I’d say the protagonist is a bit less compelling in this one.

A lot of people love T. J. Klune for his cozy, emotional writing & stories. This has that beloved writing style and the added (relatively quirky) advantage of being a pinnochio retelling, which is something that I haven’t seen a lot of. It’s not really objectively better or worse than his other novels. I think people will definitely have a favorite of his books or be able to genuinely relate or feel emotions for one more than others. It’s got all of his typical sweet, cozy, and heart-warming writing techniques = everything Klune typically enjoys embedding into his writing. I could see a ton of people absolutely falling in love with this one just as much as they did The House in the Cerulean Sea.

Vic is the 22 year old human son of Gio (a robot), and has only known the woods, his father, and the salvage yard where all the robot scraps end up. Over the years, he has pieced together and repaired two other robots, Nurse RATCHED and Rambo, who are his best friends. One morning, when searching the scrap heap for parts to repair his father's mechanical heart, they come across a robot who is not quite dead and decide to take him home. They repair him and name him HAP because those are the letters still visible from his markings. HAP is not just any robot: He was created to find and kill humans. Vic's well-intended rescue begins a domino effect that will change his life forever. Gio is taken by the robot police back to their capital, Electric City, and Vic and his friends set out to bring him back home.

If you enjoy TJ Klune's other books, this one is a little different but it has the same heart. It's more sci-fi, and that might put some people off. I love the found family theme that Klune's books have, and while this doesn't have as many warm fuzzies as, say The House in the Cerulean Sea, I still enjoyed it.

I received this ARC courtesy of Goodreads in return for my honest opinion.

In The Lives of Puppets by TJ Klune is a beautiful and heartwarming queer retelling of the classic story of Pinocchio. The book follows a young man and his robot family as they are forced to leave their home and embark on a journey to rediscover themselves and what it means to be a family. The story is filled with humor, wit, and plenty of heart, and Klune's writing is as poignant and engaging as ever.

One of the standout features of the book is the way in which Klune explores themes of identity and self-discovery through the lens of the robot characters. Their struggles to understand themselves and their place in the world will resonate with readers of all backgrounds and orientations, and the book's emphasis on found family is both uplifting and inspiring.

Overall, In The Lives of Puppets is a beautiful and uplifting story that is sure to touch the hearts of readers. Klune's writing is as sharp and engaging as ever, and the book's combination of humor, heart, and social commentary make it a standout addition to the world of queer literature. Highly recommended for fans of LGBTQ+ fiction and anyone who loves a good story filled with heart and hope.

TJ Klune has a way with words! In his Pinocchio inspired book, we follow Vic and his band of misfits as they race to save his father. This dystopian novel is unlike any you have ever read before and will remind you that you ALWASY have the choice of who you show up to the world as!

4/5 stars.

In the Lives of Puppets is cozy fantasy with deep and complex themes dealt with in an amazing way. TJ Klune has a unique way of capturing grief, that speaks so well to a wide variety of people, myself included. I think different from Under the Whispering Door though this is the grief of dealing with major change in life and mourning a life you could've lived. A life that is upended and now you need to find a new stasis, a new normal as it were. I think this book is especially relevant for the world in a post-pandemic/new normal space.

This book is lighter on the romance aspects than a lot of Klune's previous works and that is due to the MC identifying as asexual, which is great representation. You can expect to find the found family trope which is something I've come to expect and love in Klune's works, and this family is a motley bunch indeed.

Overall, I'd highly recommend picking up In the Lives of Puppets, out April 25th.

Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC of In the Lives of Puppets.

I'm not a big fan of science fiction, I don't read much of it, but I will read outside my usual genre if I find a premise intriguing like I did with In the Lives of Puppets.

This book is a unique retelling of Pinocchio, and though there are some similarities, the Blue Fairy, the Stromboli-like character, the author weaves a unique and fascinating tale filled with good world-building and memorable characters.

The story transcends genres; it's science fiction, but it's also about love, family, loyalty, forgiveness, respect, and so much more.

It's a testament to the author's way with words that I found Rambo, Nurse Ratched, and Gio more compelling characters than Vic, and he's the human.

A few days after I finished reading In the Lives of Puppets, I think of Rambo's exuberant, sincere exclamations about being brave and Nurse Ratched's employing her Empathy Protocol, which is how I feel when my friends and family are rambling about a topic I could care less about.

I need to remind myself that friends and family listen to their friends and family, whether or not the topic is interesting or inane.

I loved Rambo, though Nurse Ratched's personality and humor is more in line with my own. You do need an optimistic person in your group of friends to balance everyone else out.

The only thing I didn't like was Vic and Hap's romance; I'm still not sure why they like each other nor did I find it necessary to the narrative.

As I've said before, a romance is not essential in books regardless of genre. Why can't they just be BFFs?

I'd love to read a story featuring Rambo and Nurse Ratched on an adventure of their own.

They remind me of two of the three robots in one of the shorts on NetFlix's Love, Death and Robots.

In the Lives of Puppets would make a great miniseries on the streaming site, too.

All alone, deep in a forest, lives an unusual family. There’s Gio, the inventor android, Rambo, a cleaning robot, and Nurse Ratched, a medical bot. There’s also Victor, a young human man raised by Gio who’s never seen another of his kind. They all live peacefully until one day, Victor brings home an android from the scrap yards named Hap. Repairing Hap sets off a chain of events that reveals secrets and leads to Gio being captured by strange and ominous looking robots. While Victor grapples with revelations, he knows one thing for sure: he’s going to journey to the city where Gio was taken and get his father back.

IN THE LIVES OF PUPPETS is a book with a charming premise that unfortunately becomes a bit muddled by the end. I really liked the first half of this story. It’s got a wonderful set-up, and I enjoyed meeting the robots, particularly Rambo, the very nervous cleaning bot. It was a comfort to settle into their day-to-day lives and to experience the inevitable heartbreak. There’s also some genuinely humorous dialogue (Nurse Ratched’s deadpan delivery alongside contrasting images on her monitor was a delight).

There’s been a lot of emphasis in the marketing for this book that this tale was inspired by Pinocchio, and I can definitely see those influences in the story. However, there is just as much inspiration taken from THE WIZARD OF OZ. You need look no further than Victor’s three companions: a robot who can’t remember things, one that lacks empathy, and one that’s not very brave. It’s a true fusion of these two tropes that stops it from being completely predictable, as you can’t tell from which story the author is going to pull from next.

Overall, this was a fine adventure, but there were two elements that stopped the story from being a solid home run from me. The first is the most subjective: there was a significant amount of humor that wasn’t to my taste. Much as I liked Nurse Ratched’s deadpan commentary, many of her jokes have to do with her nonchalant discussion of genitalia and sex (meant to embarrass Victor like any kid whose parent starts talking about such things) and whether or not Victor is feeling aroused by another character. While I could have tolerated a couple of jokes in this vein, there is a LOT of that humor throughout the book, and I just got tired of it.

The other part where the book felt flat was I wasn’t sure what the thematic point was by the end. Was it about free will and choosing your own path? Was it about forgiveness? Human connection? The one given most weight is certainly about forgiveness, particularly who has the “right” to forgive, but not even that theme landed in an impactful way. And the moment where the title of the book came up, I was left utterly perplexed by what the character was trying to convey in the context of the full sentence. Perhaps I just didn’t “get” it, but the ending felt a bit rushed and left me underwhelmed.

IN THE LIVES OF PUPPETS had the makings of a tale I was ready to fully enjoy. I’ve gotten a lot out of the author’s past books, and did like getting to meet the characters he created for this outing. Unfortunately, I didn’t quite connect with the final act of the story. While I did like a number of things about the overall story, this feeling of lack of payoff took away from some of the emotional punch of the finale for me personally. Others without my humor hang-ups will undoubtedly like it more, but for me, the biggest takeaway is that Rambo must be protected at all costs.

Once again, TJ Klune has proven he can write the most whimsical, adorable books ever. I rarely dip into genres not based in reality, but here I was, having a splendid time reading about anxious, sassy, and grumpy robots. I bounced between the ebook and audiobook, and the audiobook is truly special. I would have initially thought that listening to someone make robot voices for over 15 hours would be painful, but the narrator's distinct, amusing voices added to the charm.

In the Lives of Puppets is based loosely on The Adventures of Pinocchio, and I loved the creativity and world-building in this universe where humans are effectively nonexistent. Even though I thought the book went on a little longer than it needed to and at times it was a little bit too cutesy for my tastes, I can't fault it for putting a smile on my face and making me laugh.

TJ Klune continues to nail it! This was a delightful and feel good story, just as I have come to expect. I have already pre-ordered the hardcover book and plan to purchase a copy for our library as well.

Are you looking for an easily accessible fantasy book that will give you all the feels?
Robots - This world is filled with robots, of all types and shapes and functions. Here we following Gio, an aware robot that creates things.
Human - Humans are forbidden in this world, mostly because the robots do not want to be controlled. But Gio is lonely, so he creates a son, Victor.
Taken - Due to a snafu, the robots figure out there is a human among them, so they take Gio and wipe him.
Found Family - Victor must travel to the place where all the robots live in order to rescue his dad, along with his found family of “puppets”.

So in this book, some of the robots are called puppets which can be confusing until you read why. The robot characters are extremely fun, and as such I highly recommend the audio book because the voices really made the book for me. Victor’s found family are Rambo, a vacuum who likes the Fred Astair movie Top Hat, and Nurse Ratched who is the health robot who makes really funny double entendre statements. This book is a solid found family trope that TJ Klune is famous for, and I loved the story. However, this book is not my fav of his, mostly because of the fact that robots are just not my thing. But like I said, the audio book will entertain you!

In the Lives of Puppets was not the story I expected or thought it would be. I knew it was inspired by Pinocchio, knew it was going to be Sci-Fi/Dystopian. However, it was very different from what I anticipated. First, I will say, that TJ Klune knows how to write. He wasn't shy making connections to Pinocchio throughout the story-very close to a retelling in my opinion. It was engaging from the very first page with very loveable characters-Rambo being my favorite. I was entertained through the entirety of the book but it felt long and I continued to count pages until the book was done. This book touches on some real world problems and the future of AI. Really thought provoking themes.

Victor Lawson (human) lives in the woods with his dad (Giovanni) and friends (Rambo and Nurse Ratched) which are all robots/androids. Giovanni, was built to invent. Victor and his friends dig through the scrapyards looking for parts to construct new things. Their life is simple, free from dangers that lurk beyond the deep forest. The adventure really begins when Victor discovers a decommissioned bot with a mean attitude and their world changes overnight.

Although I am not a huge fan of this book-I am now a fan of TJ Klune and have several other books in my TBR written by this author. The clever writing and world building has me addicted to read more.

This was equal parts quirky and beautiful. One of Klune's talents is the way his stories burrow themselves into your heart and you smile thinking of them. It is magic to write unconventional that resonates like this story has.

Thanks to NetGalley for the DRC of this book! T.J. Klune's newest is a sci-fi reimagining of Pinocchio, in a future where machines and androids have taken over. The cast of characters is overwhelmingly lovable: A roomba with anxiety, a nurse robot a la Baymax, except she has murderous tendencies, a human named Victor who likes to invent and tinker, a rebuilt android who speaks almost exclusively in threats, and their paternal figure Giovanni, an android who built a home for them all in the forest away from the machine cities. I've found myself thinking of a Wall-E type of setting at times. Like Klune's previous work, the theme of found family is strong. His style of writing is exceptionally "animated". He portrays vibes better than any author I've read thus far. Everything is in vivid technicolor and scenes are cinematically orchestrated, which is remarkable because this is a book, with words, and it's all in my head. Anyways, definitely grab this one, it's another gem, TJ Klune never disappoints, blah blah blah.

Anyone who knows me knows I'm a huge fan of TJ Klune. I preorder his books as soon as I hear about them and then camp out on Netgalley to request when they are available. When I finally got this approval, I was so excited! Due to some family emergencies this Spring, I was a little delayed in starting this, but it worked out well, as I read it at a time when I needed a definite pick me. This book brought me peace and joy and hope, and I'm happy to say it may be tied as one of my favorite Klune works (tied with Cerulean Sea).

What worked for me in this one:
- A bit of adventure. This novel had a bit of adventure to it. It felt like a lot happened and it kept me on the edge of my seat. I was invested and excited to pick it up and continue reading it.
- The characters. Klune always writes phenomenal characters, it's one of the many reasons I love his books. He is so good at writing cute but sarcastic characters. But he takes the cake with these. I think this book may hold some of my favorite characters in Nurse Ratched and Rambo. I love them so much! I love their banter! I love Rambo's obliviousness/naivete! I love Nurse Ratched's sarcastic/sociopathic humor! I just love them! Give me a book of just these two and I would swallow it up!
- The emotions. As mentioned, I read this book after a stressful couple months in my life and this was just what I needed to pull me up. This single handedly pulled me out of my reading slump. It brought me hope and joy and made me laugh when I sorely needed it. This book has just a little bit of everything.
- Victor and Gio's relationship. I loved reading the relationship between "father and son". Klune wrote this very well and it brought me such joy to read their interactions.

What didn't work for me:
- Nothing!

As expected, I loved this Klune novel! He's one of my favorite authors, a complete auto-buy for me. I would recommend this novel to anyone and everyone. An easy 5 star read for me. Thank you so much for the review copy! I can't wait to receive my official copy!

Where UNDER THE WHISPERING DOOR felt very much the same type of story as THE HOUSE IN THE CERULEAN SEA, this book felt different from the beginning. Perhaps it’s the sci-fi setting as opposed to the magical realist feel. Perhaps it’s the prevalence of (very middle school-feeling) humor mixed with the very adult themes and language. I don’t know. Something felt off from the beginning, and though it won me over enough to keep reading eventually, it never fully persuaded me.

If Cerulean Sea was a Pixar film, this is more a Spielberg—delightful, yes, but a bit overly sentimental and obviously trying to win the hearts of the Academy. Big themes sometimes very clunkily handled but you don’t mind it because of the charming characters. It creates a whimsical, Portal-esque vibe, but sometimes it felt like the tone didn’t match the story.

I think, in the end, I was most bothered by the plot. It felt like Klune focused so much on the characters and their banter that he forgot to actually develop the world and give the plot enough breathing room to develop in a natural way. It makes for a mixed bag of a book; fun yet a little grating at times, a heavy-handedness creeping in and only getting worse throughout. I actually believe it would’ve worked much better as a middle grade animated tv show. It certainly felt written that way.

Disclaimer: I received an ARC of this in exchange for an honest review.

Klune’s books are full of heart, whimsy and characters that are unforgettable. His newest book is no exception. Vic is a human who lives in the woods with an android and two robots: Gio, Rambo and Nurse Ratched. When they come across a decommissioned “HAP” android (Hysterically Angry Puppet) their lives take a turn and the adventures begin! Only a few rules they all must follow:

“What are the rules?
Stick together
Run, if we have to No dallying
And above all else... Be brave!”

Nurse Ratched is easily one of my favorite characters ever and the banter between her, Rambo and Vic was the highlight of this book.

This book is a little bit Pinnochio (with robots), Wizard of Oz and Star Wars all rolled into one. While I didn’t love this one as much as Cerulean Sea, I still enjoyed the ride, the heartfelt message and the hilarious characters along the way.

I really wanted to enjoy this book, but ultimately I don't think that I was the right reader for it. I loved the world that this book was set it. The worldbuilding was haunting, robot society well-developed, and the overall feel of this book, of living in a world after humanity, really stuck with me, so that I would find myself thinking about the world even when I wasn't reading the book. But while the characters were well-developed and the humor fun, ultimately, the tone of the book didn't mesh well with my expectations.

I don't think that this is a fault of the book, though, because it's written very well. I think that this might just be a matter of taste, which is why I'm still planning on recommending this book to people who enjoy post apocalyptic sci-fi mixed with a bit of comedy.

I really enjoyed this book. It gave me everything that I wanted from a TJ. Klune novel. It was heartwarming, whimsical, and full of loveable characters. It took me a while to get into the book as I initially found the side characters to be a little over the top, but as I grew accustomed to the writing and the plot picked up, I came to love them. It made me laugh out loud, but it was also touching. I thought it had compelling mystery and interesting world-building.

TJ Klune delivers another amazing read! I love a retelling of a classic childhood story and he did Pinocchio justice! His storytelling is captivating and his attention to the smallest detail totally enhanced my reading experience.