“His chest ached once more, but it was for entirely different reasons. Giovanni didn’t need to calculate what he felt now. He knew what it was.
It was love.”

This book. THIS FREAKING BOOK. Look, I’m a TJ Klune fan. House on the Cerulean Sea made me laugh, Under the Whispering Door made me cry, and yet somehow this one made me laugh and cry in unison, like little cogs in a machine clinking together.

I’ve been processing this book since I finished it a few days ago, and it’s safe to say I haven’t stopped thinking about it. a beautiful and touching tale about love and humanity and family that hits all the heartstrings. I fell in love with Victor and his little family (especially Rambo, who holds a special place in my heart) and I never wanted to leave them. I found myself putting off reading because every page read was one page closer to the end. It’s safe to say I loved this book with my whole heart. Even if my heart was mechanical, it would still be true.

This book takes you along the journey of an alternate reality. It seems a little slow to start, but the character and their complexities are more than worth picking up this book to read. It’s a charming book that encourages you to consider what you have, what you want, and what it is that you decide you need. Things definitely aren’t always what you thought they were or what they seem, but you get to decide their worth and importance to you. Whether you are human, robot, or something else, you make the choice… are you going to accept the love that is offered you, even if it isn’t just what you remembered or hoped for?

Book Review
In the Lives of Puppets by TJKlune

Tropes
Dystopian
Robots vs humans
Biological creation vs innovation and technology
Pinocchio retelling
Found family
LGBTQIAP+ relationships

Characters
Hap (Pinocchio)
Gio (Gepetto)
Rambo (Roomba)
Victor
Nurse Ratched
Blue Fairy

Thoughts
Klune consistently explores the idea of home and humanity, this features in each of his books (Under the Whispering Door, House on the Cerulean Sea). Every character (MC and secondaries) have a connection to their house/home. A place of belonging. A place to be themselves. A place to surround yourself with Love and acceptance. A connection, To yourself, To each other
He also delves into the existential question of life…. Why are we here? To what end? What makes us human? What is a soul?
These complex philosophical questions are deeply embedded in this book. Gio, Victor, Hap, The Coachman, the Blue Fairy- all of them have a different perspective but a shared need to understand. To connect. To know.

Full of questions and no easy answers this book will incite great discussion and debate amongst its readers. Perfect for school reading and book clubs.

Thank you to @netgalley and @torbooks for my digital ARC in return fir an honest review. Opinions expressed are my own.

f you approach this book as a light-hearted retelling of Pinocchio featuring robots, including an anxious talking Roomba, you won't be disappointed.

In the Lives of Puppets is full of the same whimsical setting, endearing characters and uplifting messages that made me fall in love with Klune's stories in the first place.

Unfortunately, this one's messages didn't resonate with me quite as deeply as those in his other novels. However, I still adored it for what it was. In fact, this one has my absolute favorite cast of characters out of all of his books. I mean you have Rambo, an anxiety ridden, naïve and absolutely hilarious vacuum cleaner, Nurse Ratched a blunt and emotionally unaware medical robot, and Hap, who was programmed to hunt and kill humans but now only wants to belong. Their dynamics were absolutely hilarious and I adored every interaction between the three of them, Vic and Gio.

In the Lives of Puppets is a must-read for fans of whimsical SFF stories with messages meant to sooth the soul.

Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for providing me with a copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

"I don't know how not to be weird. That's like asking the birds to stop flying."

A story with characters as charming as The House in the Cerulean Sea! Each of the robots in this Pinocchio inspired tale have their own unique adorable quirks that you'll find yourself falling in love with each of them. There was just something so relaxing and cozy about this story. While cozy, it still brought some profound moments surrounded in innocence.

"Forgiving others could be difficult, but forgiving yourself can sometimes feel impossible."

Thanks to NetGalley and Tor Publishing for the eARC.

I haven't read a book that made me feel like this in a very long time. In the Lives of Puppets is a gorgeously written, haunting, devastating, beautiful story that forces you to confront what it means to be human in a world where machines have become the dominant species.
Victor, a human that lives in a pacific northwest forest tree house with his android father Giovanni (Gio), his anxious robot vacuum Rambo, and Nurse Ratched - a nursing robot with a sense of humor that left me cackling, lives an isolated, simple life where he is free to explore and invent free from any outside influence. Victor's exploration of the Scrap Yards is what led him to find and repair Rambo and Nurse Ratched, but his final find from the Scrap Yards is what turns his life upside down and sends him on the adventure of a lifetime. Victor finds and repairs Hap, or as he is affectionately known by Rambo and Nurse Ratched Hysterically Angry Puppet, a decommissioned android with no memory of who he is or where he comes from. Using a combination of spare parts, wood, and a mechanical heart enhanced by Victor's blood, Hap comes back to life and through Hap we confront what it means to make choices for our future despite what we have in our past and the simple, but powerful effect free will can have on a life.
The choices that Victor, Hap, Giovanni, Rambo, and Nurse Ratched make to change and break the world they live in after The Authority comes calling in their slice of the world is an exploration of emotion and choice and how they shape who we are. T.J. Klune mixes humor and romance with adventure, soul searching, and reflection in a masterful way that both left me wholly satisfied, but also shattered in the end.

I was Wowed right from the beginning!
The affection you can develop for characters crafted with imagination, ink, and paper is astounding. This book left me with a sentimental book hangover. I am unbelievably grateful to have read this ARC.

Summary: Vic and his robot friends find an android in a scrap yard, bring it home, and repair it. Thus putting this story into action. Vic discovers that the android, Hap, and his father have a dark past. I don't want to give too much away but Vic and his friends go on an adventure to save his father in the City of Electric Dreams. The emotions, the new found feelings, self discovery, and the character attachments bloom in such a profound way.

This story comes to life, with a pulse that makes your heart beat in sync.

The decadence of detail in this fantasy novel makes you sigh with satisfaction. This immersive world had me thinking of Swiss Family Robinson if it had robots.
The tree house would give Walt Disney a run for his money. I re-read some of the story just to relive the treehouse description.

The friendship between flesh and blood and metal robots becomes so comfortable in an inspiring in a way. The interactions were fun, heartwarming, and simply priceless. The "Found Family" trope was beautifully crafted.


The humor was a hit after hit of laughs. I haven't laughed this much while reading a book in so long. The anxiety ridden vacuum named Rambo. What a character!You can't help but love him.

This is a book that gracefully entered into my head and heart leaving its footprints for years to come. A definite Adventure that I will read again.

I love me a book with a quirky, friendly robot and In The Lives of Puppets delivers an entire found family of them (plus one human)! I really enjoyed this book! The world building is amazing, I saw everything vividly in my mind like I was watching a movie. And that rarely happens for me when I read. I also really loved how unique each of the characters was. I have to say, Nurse Ratched, a sociopathic nursing robot, was my favorite. She had me cracking up and eagerly awaiting whatever she was about to say whenever I saw the words “initiating empathy mode.”

In The Lives Of Puppets has the characters on a dangerous Wizard of Oz style quest. It’s ultimately about love, loyalty, friendship, one’s purpose, and the power to choose your future.

A cozy scifi that is heartfelt and humorous, I definitely recommend you read this!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

In The Lives of Puppets will be out 4/25.

Thank you to Tor Publishing and NetGalley for the eARC.

I received an electronic ARC from Tor Publishing Group through NetGalley.
Though this book is set in a world of androids and robots, Klune continues to make readers think about being human. What is free will? What makes us feeling beings? We meet a father (Giovanni) and son (Victor) along with two robot friends who live alone in the woods. Both are inventors and have created an entire life for themselves. One day, Victor brings home another android and sets in motion several near catastrophic events. His father is taken by the authorities, and Vic, Nurse Ratched, Rambo and their newest friend, Hap set off to find him. Much of the book is the story of this journey and how it molds and changes them all. Klune does offer a peaceful ending though not a happily ever after one.
I appreciate this author challenging readers to think about government, community and interactions with others. How much life has stayed the same even though androids run the world. We still find echoes of Orwell's 1984 and Huxley's Brave New World along with more modern offerings. Utopia always has a hidden side and a cost to be paid.

There is no denying this is strange book - I expect it won’t be for everyone - but I think I am exactly the kind of weirdo it was written for and if you have cried over a space rover, you might be too.

I wouldn’t call it spicy - there’s discussions of Things but the ace MC doesn’t want to mess with all that - but I wouldn’t call it “clean” either. It is, sometimes hilariously, blunt and irreverent.
The banter between the characters is top notch, probably my favorite thing in the book. I about lost it each time Nurse Ratched switched Empathy Protocol on and off.

Situations swing from funny to devastating and back again on a whim, expected for a Klune book. I did make it remarkable far for one without crying though. That said, he did get me at 90% in, damnit. My heart was full of sad garbage.

I don’t always want them, but I feel like this book needed an epilogue. It does have a solid ending, but personally I would have appreciated additional closure to wrap it up.

Thanks to NetGalley and Tor Publishing for the ARC!

Thanks to Tor for the free copy.
TJ Klune's books are always some of my most anticipated of the year, and this one did not disappoint. I'll preface this with I haven't seen/read any of the comps, so I went in with no expectations and I was blown away. This story is so unique in plot, setting, and character, yet, I was fully invested from beginning to end. Nurse Ratched was my favorite. But I love how Klune is able to create such distinct characters that leave me feeling warm and fuzzy and also laughing. I can't wait to get a copy of this for my shelves, and I hope it is beloved by lots of readers.

In the Lives of Puppets is a fun, queer Pinocchio inspired adventure tale that will sweep its reader away in a sci-fi-ish world of imagination. As like the other Klune books that I have read thus far, this one has a found family element that will tug at your heart strings. All of that being said, I don’t think that this was quite what I was expecting it to be. I think I was looking for it to reach The House In The Cerulean Sea levels of enjoyment and this one just didn’t reach that level for me. The story felt a little too long for what it was and the themes were very on the nose in my opinion. A good read overall and definitely worth it if you enjoy Klune’s writing.

E-ARC generously provided by Tor in exchange for an honest review. Thank you so much!

4.5 stars. One-half Pinocchio, another half The Wizard of Oz, and all signature T.J. Klune, In the Lives of Puppets is a story that wears its fragile human heart on its cybernetic sleeve that brought me to tears several times.

What is free will? What is autonomy? What does it really mean to find yourself?

Klune does is it again in another magnificent work of whimsy. The start of this book has the feel of Star Wars (if it were only about R2D2 and C-3PO - serving the galaxies best banter.)

Victor Lawson and his dad Gio live alone in a secluded forest. They spend their days restoring androids, and enjoying the art and history of a supposedly struggling humanity. This all changes when humanoid androids of the mysterious “authority” show up in search of humans, and leave with Victor’s dad.

Victor is forced to grow up fast as he adjusts to the truth of the world, learns the meaning of forgiveness (and who is responsible for granting it), and tests the bounds of how far one will venture to hold on to the ones they love.

I’m confident that In the Lives of Puppets will debut as one of the most popular novels of 2023. With its insightful but lighthearted writing, phenomenal character arcs and more mature subject matter than some of Klune’s past books, it is sure to capture the hearts of many.

It was amazing to see an Ace protagonist. Particularly because Vic wasn’t tokenized, nor was his sexuality treated as a shocking plot point. Showing us once again that Klune truly cares about meaningful inclusion.

Overall, this book was cleverly written, features hilarious robots, and makes one appreciate the simple everyday luxuries we take for granted.

There was a couple of sections where the dialogue felt forced or where I questioned if a word was being used in the appropriate context (see Nurse Ratched’s graphic line bouncing in a “circadian rhythm”). But overall, In the Lives of Puppets is a highly entertaining and heartwarming read, and offers a new twist on the tried and true AI world domination plot.

I was excited to be approved for this arc because House in the Cerulean Sea was one of my favourite books last year. In the Lives of Puppets is definitely geared to a more adult audience, but would still be appropriate for teens. The dialogue was smart and funny, and the characters incredibly likeable. It was so sweet even though the general premise of the future Vic lives in is depressing as hell. Really enjoyed this one! Solid four star read.

This novel, a loose take on Pinocchio, tells the story of Victor, a human who lives with robots. Their lives change when Victor finds a decommissioned robot in the scrap yards and fixes him up. Hap is a gruff specimen who has completely forgotten his past, but Victor’s dad Gio knows what Hap did in his former life. The scrap yard discovery sets off a chain of events that will topple their whole world. This was a fun adventure story, but while all the other robots were fully developed, Victor felt flat and the story took a while to get going.

I found this book a chore to read. If I wasn't having to write a review about this book, I probably wouldn't have finished it. I found the characters really grating, the plot really slow and at times unbearable. Then when it came to the humour of the book, I found it eye rollingly bad. There wasn't the same charm as I have found in other examples of TJ Klune's work.

I received a digital ARC from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

TJ Klune's books are books that I pick up when I want feel-good speculative fiction (Becky Chambers is another author that fits this category for me). I love knowing that I'm going to get a story with queer representation that's well-written and leaves me with a smile on my face and a warm fuzzy feeling in my heart.

That's not to say that Klune's characters don't experience hard things, because they do. But the worldview that Klune weaves into his novels leaves me feeling better about the world, despite how shitty it can be on a daily basis.

The only reason I didn't give this one 5 stars is that it was a little slow in places. But I loved how clever it was -- there were plenty of laugh-out-loud moments, particularly with Rambo and Nurse Ratched. Obviously there's the Pinocchio story, but there's so much more going on here, with nods to Frankenstein, e.e.cummings, and more.

Giovanni is an android and an inventor who has created a life amongst the trees away from the world. Just as a deep sense of loneliness sets in a pair of humans arrive and leave their baby with him.

Giovanni with his anxiety ridden vacuum and his over protective, almost psychotic robot nurse raise his human son, Victor.

Victor, an inventor himself has an inquisitive mind and adventurous soul. On one journey away from home he finds a broken android, HAP. Brining HAP home threatens their peaceful existence and Victor becomes aware of the android run world.

TJ Klune has written these android characters in such a human way that I kept forgetting they should have no heart and soul. This quirky family and the banter which arises from their unique personalities was so engaging.

Perhaps the most interesting and surprising aspect of this book for me was the writing, perhaps that is due to this being my first experience with TJ Klune’s writing, but I loved the way that they created an atmosphere which I could sit within and completely immerse myself in the vibe of the story.

I love a good fantasy mixed with Sci-fi and this book delivered! Adventure, found family, romance, thought provoking, quirky characters and all the feelings.

Thank you to Netgalley, the author and the publisher for this ARC. I have chosen to write this review and all the words are my own.