I requested access to this ARC through NetGalley, based on my previous enjoyment of TJ Klune's writing, in exchange for an honest review.

I struggled with this one. I enjoyed Victor and his found family of robots with personality. I thought the interactions with Nurse Ratched and Rambo the vacuum were fun and funny and I could have happily spent time with them just existing as a family in the forrest.

The plot.......... did not capture me. And when I realized this was playing with Pinocchio and would hit certain story points, I basically lost interest. BUT I had invested so much time at that point that I did decide to finish it, just to watch the characters interact with each other.

Would I recommend this? Depends on how Pinocchio-ed out you are based on the abundance of Pinocchio-related content that's come out in 2022-2023.

“You are finite. Your time is already slipping through your fingers. It creates an urgency within you. To do all that you can. To make things right. I wonder what it must feel like, to have a sense of true motivation… There must be no greater feeling in the world than to know that this isn’t forever.”

In the Lives of Puppets is a modern retelling of Pinocchio with a sci-fi spin. Victor is the sole human living with his family of robots (his father, Gio, and Nurse Ratched and Rambo). One day he finds and fixes a decommissioned robot that he names “Hap”. When Hap inadvertently alerts robots to his father’s whereabouts, Gio is captured and taken to the City of Electric Dreams. Vic and his found-family must journey to the city to rescue his father.

Reading a book by T.J. Klune always feels like wrapping up in a cozy blanket with a hot cup of tea on a rainy day. I absolutely loved The House in the Cerulean Sea and Under the Whispering Door and was so excited to read In the Lives of Puppets. Klune’s stories are filled with so much warmth and beauty and they always stick with me for a long while. Puppets has so many wonderful messages about what it means to be a human (even though the book is filled mostly with robots) and how we love the people we choose as our family. If you loved Klune’s other books, you’re going to love this one too!

Thank you to NetGalley and Tor Publishing Group for the ARC in exchange for my honest review!

TJ Klune, the writer that you are. How do you write book after book after book, and still have stories with such humor and deep emotions?!? Everything Klune writes blows me away.

In this story, Klune combines emotion, humor, and poignancy to weave a wonderfully weird tale of funny robots, adorable puppets, and a hero with a heart of gold. This book is a new take on the "hero's journey" trope. All of the main characters in this book aren't human, and each of them of have their own personal journey to go on (emotionally-speaking, I mean). I can't even begin to pick a favorite character---ok, well, if forced to, I love the Roomba named Rambo. How. Absolutely. Adorable.

I don't want to give too much away, so I'll just say this: if you love Klune's other works, you'll adore this one. He is the master of the "found family" trope.

**A huge thank-you to NetGalley and Tor Books for a copy of this ARC to read and review.**

Review:

If you're familiar with a Klune book, you know that they're worth the read. This is the third book in his "kindness" series of stand-alone novels, including *The House in the Cerulean Sea* and *Under the Whispering Door*; *Cerulean Sea* is about being kind to others; *Under the Whispering Door* is about being kind to yourself; and *In the Lives of Puppets* is about being kind even to those who do not deserve it. "He said f-forgiving others could be difficult, but f-forgiving yourself c-can sometimes feel impossible."

Unlike the other two books in this series, this one is very different. Klune's humor is more apparent in this book, and it can go off the rails at times, which is pretty normal if you're used to this author. Enter Nurse Ratched, who takes on this role very often throughout this book. Of course, these books also have heart, and even though there is a relationship that develops throughout this book, the little character of Rambo, a little Roomba vacuum cleaner, provides heart throughout the book and is without a doubt my favorite character. "Sometimes, it’s the smallest things that can change everything when you least expect it."

I wish there had been more to the ending—it didn't feel as complete as I would have liked; I did like, however, that it went in a different direction than I originally thought, although it was predictable at times.

Overall, any Klune book is a book worth reading.

Thank you Tor Books and NetGalley for the advance copy.

I have to give TJ Klune credit. His imagination, creativity and ability to tell a story is absolutely amazing. He creates such heartwarming, lovable characters in his books. In The Lives of Puppets is no different. Gio, Vic, Rambo, Nurse Ratched and Hap are perfect examples (especially Nurse Ratched).

And yet, I find myself having difficulty rating it. The plot took too long to grab my attention. I almost DNFed twice. And the ending felt abrupt.

Would I recommend it? Yes. Absolutely. Although it didn’t altogether work for me, it may for others. I honestly cannot wait for his next book.

3.5 stars rounded up.

This story was beautiful and sweet. I laughed and cried. One of my favorites for the year. Thank you for the arc netgalley.

I am a big TJ Klune fan. His writing is witty and his stories always reveal humanity in such a relatable way. In The Lives of Puppets is no exception. Gio and Victor gripped my heart from the very first page. The story was equal parts exciting, hilarious (looking at you Rambo and Nurse Ratched), and heartbreakingly beautiful. It’s such a SMART story, and I highly recommend it.


Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for an eARC of this delightful book. Opinions are my own.

This ARC was provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This title publishes April 25, 2023.

This book had potential and a strong first half which was ultimately hindered by its second half and disappointingly did not have as much of a compelling emotional core as Klune’s previous two adult releases.

Summary: Victor is a human living with his robot father and two other robots. The first half of the book centers on bringing a new robot back to life, and the second half of the book is a quest. Explores themes of what it means to be human and have a heart.

What worked
-Whimsical setting describing the forest and house
-Fun quick banter among the group
-Asexual representation
-Each character had their own unique dialogue which added to their characterization and helped to tell them apart
-Fun scenes in the first half had an emotional core and had me invested at first
-Potential of where the story was going had me hooked for the first half

What didn’t
-Hit all the same beats as his other two recent adult books (The House in the Cerulean Sea and Under the Whispering Door)
-Second half turned into a quest book and I didn’t care about the quest nor did it have the emotional impact it promised (based on the emotional impact in his previous two books and the foundation he set up in the first half)
-The reason for the second half quest wasn’t compelling enough based on what was established in the first half
-Two secondary characters introduced in the second half of the book were given lots of page time but were a nuisance to read about and they seemed like they were just included to give them something to do on the quest

The book overall was just fine albeit disappointing considering this was one of my most anticipated releases of the year.

ENGAGING EMPATHY PROTOCOL

<i>”To love something meant loving the ghost inside, to be haunted by it.”</i>

Well I’ll be damned. TJ Klune has managed to do it again. However before I dive into my review, let me tell you that it would be absolutely CRIMINAL, downright OFFENSIVE, and an abuse of the acutest kind, not to read this (at least in part) through Daniel Henning’s masterful audiobook narration.

Every single voice (and there is <i>quite</i> the cast, this is a TJK book after all) is so absolutely perfect and distinct. From Rambo’s quirky, chirpy, anxiety induced manic voice, to Nurse Ratched’s calm, cool, and collected sociopath voice, to Hap’s stutter and scowling that you can just <i>hear</i> come across, this was absolutely genius. It truly made this feel like it was coming to life off the page for me and had me in a chokehold. You can tell Daniel really took each and every character and made them his whole world, every single one of them was important to him and he nailed all of them. Their quirks,their personalities — these are robots!, all felt so real and authentic. None of them bled into the other and the way in which the audiobook seamlessly moves from one character to another in quick succession is mind-bending, it brings the dialogue to life, it brings the emotions to the fore front, it makes the jokes funnier.

As someone who listens to audiobooks near daily and probably over 70 every year, this is one of the best. Daniel’s talent is simply top tier, and it certainly helps that he’s been a narrator for some of TJK’s other books, including Cerulean Sea and Whispering Door, so that intimacy, that innate <i>knowing</i> of just how these characters should sound, their cadences, their pitch and pauses, it all renders perfectly to faithfully capture and render Klune’s words. My eternal gratitude to MacMillan for my complimentary audiobook of this. It truly MADE my reading experience and I turned through the pages following along.

Phew— ok, now for the actual book review itself…

If you consider this within the context of TJ Klune’s most recent adult books, House in the Cerulean Sea and Under the Whispering Door, this will feel more like Cerulean Sea, in terms of the warm fuzzies. Whispering Door tackled death and grief, regrets and what comes after, and while some of that bleeds into In the Lives of Puppets, this feels on the whole more uplifting than the somber tones in Whispering Door. That said, when I think about Puppets, I like to think of it as its own thing, so I add the comparison above only in case its helpful in deciding how you may want to approach this and perhaps what to expect emotionally.

<b>“Absolutely nothing to it. I would be impressed except I do not find idiocy impressive. If I did, I would flirt with you.” </b>

In the Lives of Puppets sees Klune really lean into his sharp humor, bringing us the absolutely wondrous sociopathic nurse robot, Nurse Ratched, and the anxiety filled yet perennial golden retriever-esque roomba, Rambo. The comedic relief and sheer joy these characters brought me was insane.

<b>“You need to tell him the truth. I want to watch as you stare at the floor and give him flimsy excuses. ‘You’re supposed to be on <i>my</i> side.’ I know, I am a traitor. I feel terrible about it. I cannot wait.”</b>

I couldn’t stop actually laughing out loud at their exchanges and I would truly trade all of humanity for Nurse Ratched, my lady knows her worth & does not settle! Infusing such charm and personality into robots that still feel like robot friends is something I never knew i needed but man does it work so well here. You never forget that they’re robots, but you definitely come to see them as family, which is a feat Klune pulls off.

<b>”It’s going to be a bloodbath, I’ll have to try to clean up VIc’s remains. At least he’ll always be a part of me then. I love you, Vic, even when you’re in pieces, your flesh hanging from the ceiling—“</b>

Victor, our quiet human heart keeping them all connected is both a delicate, precious puppy I want to cuddle and also shows tremendous emotional resilience, maturity, and quiet strength that blew me away at parts. He added the balance needed from our rambunctious robotic duo above, and feels like someone the audience can slip themselves into.

Gio and Hap are in many ways very similar and in others so different. Without going into spoilers, I’ll just say that I loved their interactions because they always pushed each of them in different ways. Hap’s journey was hard fought and I couldn’t have been a bigger cheerleader for him. He’s grumpy, he’s gloomy, he’s confused and maybe a Hysterically Angry Puppet, but he’s OUR Hysterically Angry Puppet and I love him. Gio, ugh my heart broke for him in some moments, then in others I struggled to want to forgive him, and ultimately I think that’s the complicated point Klune is trying to tackle. What does our past say about ourselves and can people love the versions of ourselves we become later? Should they? While the conclusion on this front may perhaps feel unfinished, I think it’s fair and something Klune would have us determine for ourselves instead of through Victor.

<b>”’Stick together!’
‘Run if we have to.’
No dallying!’
No drilloing, though I will amend that proclamation should the need arise.’
And a-above all else, b-be brave.’”</b>

From the beginning through to the end you can feel the inspirations Klune had, Pinocchio, The Robinson’s, and the Wizard of Oz, and those inspirations and feels translate perfectly to make this feel like an enchanting adventure. While at times dark, this retains its air of whimsy, of a beloved rag tag crew just trying to save their friend and go back home. It will feel familiar in a comforting way that really just brought back all the childhood warm fuzzies.

<b>”’You’re my surviving family.’
‘Oh. Well. Engaging Empathy Protocol. That was very nice of you to say. You are wonderful. Disengaging Empathy Protocol. Idiot. I am going to sleep now. Do not bother me unless you are on fire. Even the, I will do little to help you.’”</b>

It might feel simple, it might not <b>feel</b> groundbreaking or revolutionary, and maybe it’s not in some ways— in it’s message, in some of the tropes and storytelling components or inspirations, but the ability to bring this all together adeptly, to create a story that sucks you in and holds you until the end, a story full of vibrant characters who are LITERALLY robots— even the roomba we all have and stupidly name, a story that is so wonderfully queer and normalizes that, that gives you the positive, loving HEAs you want, I think is shows true talent and is just as important and needed. This still blew me away and it’s a story I know I’ll return to again and again, a story I know I’ll want to share with friends.

“<b>” You g-gave me life. You gave me friends. You gave me p-purpose. My strings have b-been cut, and it’s because of you.”</b>

Thank you so much Tor and TJ Klune for my ARC and galley, this is everything I didn’t know I needed and more.

TJ Klune has become an author whose adult books are an auto-buy for me. The cover art draws me in and I honestly have a hard time starting them because I so badly want them to be amazing. Then once I get into the book, I fall in love with the characters so much. This books does this just as well as Under the Whispering Door and House in the Cerulean Sea even though the plot itself is so unique. Klune's inclusion of some of the more fringe personalities and character types is so wholesome and never for shock value or ticking off boxes of what's trendy. I relate so much to this character and it's so nice to feel seen.

The plot itself is interesting and fun. It has the same drama but heartwarming vibes that you see in his other books. I really don't have much to say other than I once again am left with a little hole in my heart where I wish this book could stay for longer.

Why does TJ Klune do this to me? In the Lives of Puppets is funny, sweet, adventurous, melancholy, and so emotional. It's about family, choice, and the power of love. Victor was perfectly messy and complicated, Rambo delightfully happy and innocent, Hap curmudgeonly but determined, and Nurse Ratched self-confident and sociopathic.

Nurse Ratched just might be my hero.

I've seen some mixed reviews, but I honestly enjoyed this book immensely. I love the way the inversion of the Pinocchio tale helps delve into what it means to be human, and the City of Electric Dreams was fascinating. I feel like there was a bit of Animal Farm themes, with the way the Authority ran the city.

The end of this book wrecked me, as I knew it would, while still giving hope. And showing that while things change, people change, we can still choose love. Yes, there were some questions that went unanswered, but I didn't mind them.

This was my first introduction to tj klune and I was pleasantly impressed. This was a fun and magical ride, I already ordered two copies because I’m that obsessed.

I am huge fan of this author, but this book left me not so impressed. I felt no emotions where I felt I should? The book felt long, and I could not get on board with the pyscho-nurse-robot or "falling in love" with a robot- honestly gave me more Stockholm syndrome than love at first sight?
I still got hooked in the story and wanted to keep reading, but there aren't many people I would think to recommend this to- it would take a distinct taste!

I received an ARC of this book for an honest review. I love the heart in TJ Klune's writing and that shines through in this book. However, I felt like the beginning unfolds for more than half the book then the story has to come to a conclusion so the book rushes to finish. I found the scene in Heaven to be really strange and the ending left me wanting more because I wanted more time with the characters.

The Lives Of Puppets by TJ Klune
I give this book 4.5 stars

In a strange little home live three robots – fatherly inventor android Gio,a pleasantly sadistic nurse machine, and a small vacuum desperate for attention. Victor, a human, lives there too. They’re a family, hidden and safe.
The day Vic salvages and repairs an unfamiliar android labelled ‘HAP’, things start to unravel.Gio is captured and taken back to the City of Electric Dreams. So together, Vic’s assembled family must journey across an unforgiving and otherworldly country on a mission to rescue Gio.

TJ Klune has done it again!
I’m not a huge fan of sci fi but the author has managed to create robots that are such fully developed characters that they feel humanised and you can’t help but love them all. Nurse Ratched and Rambo are absolutely brilliant and the banter is hilarious. A truly quirky found family adventure exploring love and hope that is loosely based on Pinocchio.lve got to mention the world building as it was so vivid I could imagine being there.
With thanks to Netgalley,TJ Klune and Tor Publishing Group for my chance to read and review this book

This was a really interesting modern take on the Pinocchio story, My favorite character was the little robot vacuum with anxiety. The characters were relatable, even in mechanical form, which is always a sign of excellent character building. I liked it a lot, but I pretty much love anything by TJ Klune!

I loved jumping into another book by T.J. Klune. In the Lives of Puppets is another great addition to his catalog of already great books. The descriptions in this book are vivid and I loved the pacing. You get to know and love the characters. Loved following their journey through this forest and world.

4.5 stars
Man, these characters. They had my heart from literally the first page. Especially Nurse Ratched and Rambo. Just the things they came up with had me laughing throughout the entire book. It was so interesting to see how they reacted with Vic since he is the only human and everyone else are robots. It was just so heartwarming that they really tried to understand him and even took on some of his "humanisms."
I think I liked the first part of the book the best, I just loved getting to know the characters and their peaceful life in the woods except when they were at the Scarp Yards salvaging items. When they are found and Gio (Vic's dad/creator) is taken to the City of Electric Dreams, it was an exciting journey and I was really interested to see how if they would be able to get him back. There was an ENDING and there was an ending. The ENDING was so fast paced and exciting and thought provoking. The ending really wrapped everything up nicely. Though it was just snippets for the most part, it painted a fantastic picture of life after the ENDING. It didn't give us a perfectly happy ending, but it gave us a hopeful ending.

I want to be very clear, while this book is not for me, I 100% know that many people will love this book, so please take what I'm saying only so far as one person's review will go. I am not everyone. I am just one person with very specific tastes.

I tried really hard to like this book. And there are some really great things about this book that I did like, but even with those great things, this book just wasn't it for me.

Pros:
The writing itself was great.
Some of the characters were funny, well-written, and enjoyable.

Cons:
At 40% I still didn't exactly know what was the point of the book. It was very slow-paced, and if you've seen any of my other reviews or DNF's. you'll know that just isn't my thing.
The "character flaws" are pointed our so regularly one must assume they are a major point of the book but can it really be a flaw if it is so in your face and called out by name? I'm more of a subtle working through flaws kind of person.

I feel like there were more on both pro & con but that is enough for now to make my points.

In the Lives of Puppets by TJ Klune.

So, this is actually out of my comfort zone and I don't usually read books like this. I wanted to switch it up to see if I would fall in love with fantasy vibes. Well,..... unfortunately, I couldn't connect or get invested in this book at all.

The book was very long and I felt it was a bit repetitive especially in regards to what makes humanity and the importance of humanity.

A lot about kindness and just not my cup of tea at all. I'm a big fan of dark and intense books.

Well... yes so many enjoy this author and I'd give it a try if you're a fan of his.

Thanks so much to Netgalley and the publisher for an arc in exchange for an honest review.

2.5/5 stars

Pub date: 4/25/23
Published to GR: 4/2/23