Victor Lawson is a human who was raised by Giovanni, an android, deep in the forest in a home built in the trees. Victor refurbished two others androids, Rambo and Nurse Ratched, and the four of them are happy. Then Victor finds another android in a scrap heap and they call him Hap. Shortly after Gio is taken and Victor and team go on a mission to save Gio and bring him home.
It took me a little bit to get into this book but once I did I flew through it. It is original and creative and a joyful found family story filled with gentle conversations and silly quips (which admittedly I found a bit tiresome after a bit). Overall a wonderful story that emphasizes what it means to be human and being true to who you are.

6 stars

This book…this book is the one I have been waiting for from Klune. It is simply outstanding! Nurse Ratched is by far my favorite character. She is a sociopath (self diagnosed) and I spent the first 20% or so of the book just giggling at everything she said (watch out squirrels!). But then the serious times came, and the fear and uncertainty. And it was wonderfully done, with showing what it means to be a human, but more importantly what it means to be a family. Without giving too much away I think the ending was perfect. A lot of writers will solve the conflict by tying a neat and tidy bow in it. But here that bow is a little frayed, and loose, and you have to keep working at it. Ugh, it’s just perfection.

Seriously people, check out this book, you’ll be happy you did ❤️

Thank you to NetGalley & Tor Publishing Group for this advance reader copy. All opinions are my own.

This is going to be a difficult one for me to write without giving anything away and just letting the reader pick it up and explore their own emotions.

The story begins with 0 buildups. Perhaps that was quite intentional as the 'big bang theory'. Nothing before and bam, right into the world of robots. Or rather robots, androids, and a human. A little boy who was dropped off in the woods by fearful parents and a male android who took him in. Kind of the flip idea of Geppeto and Pinocchio.

The world of fantasy building is something that the author does well. Hidden behind each and every chapter is a nugget of information or wisdom he wanted to share with the reader...whether it's about life; gratitude; forgiveness or even just spreading more light around LGBTQ+ characters. He did it when he hooked me with his book "the house in the Cerulean Sea' and again "behind the whispering door'. I really do believe that his books are beautifully written that could be dissected by a book club with each and every reader picking up or enjoying another little piece.

That said, this wasn't my favourite of his. I enjoyed it, I was entertained, I highlighted sentences that I loved, but there was just something missing for me. I was there for the journey but the heart of the book didn't connect me in the same way as his other books have.

But

"engaging Empathy Protocol"...
Rambo: gosh how I loved Rambo. He reminded me of Olaf, the cute, funny sidekick that is there to keep it light and make you smile.
Nurse Ratched who I pictured as the robot from the Jetsons. She was equally bossy and informative; helpful and annoying. I just found myself loving her.
HAP: the hysterically angry puppet that finds out that sometimes even when we are created with evil, love always pulls ahead.
Victor: sweet, gullible, kind-hearted victor. I loved watching him grow.
Gio: I still picture him as Gepetto. The demanor and the way he was created just had my brain constantly going back to him.

*disengaging empathy protocol"....

While I understand WHY it was used, I didn't need the sexual pieces of this book. I felt like it cheapened the relationships. That could be a "me" thing but I just didn't think it was needed. It overshadowed the simplicity of love.

3.75 starts rolled into 4. Not my fav but still entertaining

TJ Klune is a master. His story telling is amazing and stories give you all the feels. This family story of robots does not disappoint. A queer retelling of Carlo Collodi's The Adventures of Pinocchio! What more could you want?!

I loved Under The Whispering Door and was excited to read another book by this extremely talented author. The writing is so descriptive and vivid. Unfortunately I am not very into robots /AI or I would have enjoyed this one more. It just wasn't for me. That being said, i was impressed with the creativity and wit throughout this one.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

𝙉𝙚𝙬 𝙔𝙤𝙧𝙠 𝙏𝙞𝙢𝙚𝙨 𝙗𝙚𝙨𝙩𝙨𝙚𝙡𝙡𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙖𝙪𝙩𝙝𝙤𝙧 𝙏𝙅 𝙆𝙡𝙪𝙣𝙚 𝙞𝙣𝙫𝙞𝙩𝙚𝙨 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙙𝙚𝙚𝙥 𝙞𝙣𝙩𝙤 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙝𝙚𝙖𝙧𝙩 𝙤𝙛 𝙖 𝙥𝙚𝙘𝙪𝙡𝙞𝙖𝙧 𝙛𝙤𝙧𝙚𝙨𝙩 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙤𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙚𝙭𝙩𝙧𝙖𝙤𝙧𝙙𝙞𝙣𝙖𝙧𝙮 𝙟𝙤𝙪𝙧𝙣𝙚𝙮 𝙤𝙛 𝙖 𝙛𝙖𝙢𝙞𝙡𝙮 𝙖𝙨𝙨𝙚𝙢𝙗𝙡𝙚𝙙 𝙛𝙧𝙤𝙢 𝙨𝙥𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝙥𝙖𝙧𝙩𝙨.

📍 Read if you like:
• The Adventures Of Pinocchio
• Robots/Machines
• Journeys
• Incredible Characters

Am I giving another TJ Klune book five stars? Absolutely!! While I didn’t love it as much as Cerulean Sea or Whispering Door, I still really enjoyed it and it’s well deserving of a five-star.

I can’t explain how much I connected with this queer retelling of 𝘾𝙖𝙧𝙡𝙤 𝘾𝙤𝙡𝙡𝙤𝙞𝙙’𝙨 𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝘼𝙙𝙫𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙪𝙧𝙚𝙨 𝙊𝙛 𝙋𝙞𝙣𝙤𝙘𝙘𝙝𝙞𝙤. The characters were a-freaking-amazing! Chauncey is still my favorite from Cerulean Sea, but I have to admit, Rambo is now my second favorite character from Klune’s stories!

I’m not a fantasy or sci-fi reader, but something about this masterpiece book took me to a different world.

Klune Klune Klune - I don’t know what it is about your stories, but I always feel so emerged in the writing style. It doesn’t even feel like I’m reading them, it feels more like a beautiful real-world story.

Giovanni, Nurse Ratched, Rambo, Victor, and HAP… all characters that had me laughing and tearing up throughout the full 400+ page book.

I would highly recommend taking this journey with these lovable characters through an adventure full of emotions AND if you have yet to read a Klune book… please do!

In The Lives Of Puppets was a Beautiful Story!

My third Klune, and unfortunately, my least favorite. Though I consider a three-star rating a good solid read, and this book deserves a 3+, when it ended, my mood was off. I started out in love with the book, and had already started recommending it to a couple people, but when I got about halfway through, I pulled back my recommendations. For me, the journey part of the story bogged down what started as a lovely, creative, "fairy tale" style book.

Yes, it's dystopian and futuristic, and you have to suspend disbelief - which I can do. However, after feeling I was crawling through the middle of the book, the ending felt rushed and unsatisfying. I did appreciate the themes of found/created families, and love-is-love.

I loved the robot banter, particularly of Nurse Ratched.

I adored this. Loved all of it, Klune has done it again. This warmed my heart. Of course I’m laughing and crying and all the feels with this one. Pinocchio is my least favourite Disney movie (ironically one of my sons favs lol) but this retelling was perfect. I loved how it was more Sci Fi, my FAVOURITE Genre 🥹. Perfectly imperfect characters, that you can’t help but admire. A charming setting, well I wouldn’t want to live anywhere near the City of Electric Dreams, sign me up for a treehouse in the middle of the forest.
All that being said, this didn’t top House in the Cerulean Sea, one of my all time favourite books e v e r

This is my second book by Klune. The writing in this latest book reminds me of the writing style of Douglas Adams and his use of humor and wit - only make it lewd. This book had a focus on tolerance, found family, and defeating the bureaucratic system.

The prologue was easy to read and peeked my interest right away, then chapter one left me feeling confused and grasping at straws. What was happening? What am I reading? What am I supposed to be seeing in my mind? After a slower start I cought up to the world Klune created and the ending had a beauty to it.

Overall this book wasn't for me.
There was a lot of robot banter.
A lot of lewd banter.

This was an absolutely delightful futuristic sci fi Pinocchio retelling full of all the charm and wit that I have come to associate with TJ Klune.

In the Lives of Puppets by TJ Klune: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Format: ebook courtesy of Tor Publishing Group & NetGalley
Pub date: April 25, 2023

In a fantastic blend of Pinocchio, Wall-E, and The Swiss Family Robinson, TJ Klune grips our heartstrings and forces us in front of a mirror in his latest novel, In the Lives of Puppets. This book masterfully blends together subgenres: dystopian science-fiction & magical realism, humor, LGBT YA romance. The result is a story that is just... magic.

Victor Lawson lives a most peculiar existence. Physically, he is human, raised in the care of a loving and creative adopted father, with a quirky neat-freak and a sociopathic nurse for company, in their deep, lush forest homestead. Charming on its face, right? But its quickly revealed that Vic is the last survivor of an extinct species- humans- and all of his companions are androids- sentient, loyal, loving robots.

The adventure of Vic's lifetime begins when he and his friends stumble on a humanoid, showing faint signs of life but hiding a mysterious past. When the droid reanimates at last, it sets off a chain reaction of events that rip Vic's only known way of life out from under him. To put the pieces of his found family back together and breathe a new life into a peaceful future, Vic and his friends must summon their courage, journey across a dystopic landscape, and fight tooth, nail, and screw to reclaim their happiness and their beloved patriarch.

Reading the blurb for this story, I was skeptical about how much I could truly connect with a cast of characters that are largely inhuman. But TJ Klune does a magnificent job of endearing each and every character to the readers, organic and mechanical alike. This story of family ties and the love we hold for our closest friends can resonate with anyone.

When we think of love stories, most conjure an image of romantic, passionate infatuation. In the Lives of Puppets offers different takes on a love story- different, but no less strong; the love between a parent and child, and its reflection in the devotion of a child to its parent; a love between friends that demonstrates that unconditional acceptance and loyalty doesn't require a blood connection; and a romantic love that blooms slowly between two people separated by space and species, that somehow survives against all odds. In the Lives of Puppets is a story about forgiveness, and how true, unconditional love cannot exist without it- choosing to forgive those that you love, and choosing to forgive yourself.

The language in Klune's novel is simply beautiful- I highlighted countless passages in this book. I particularly enjoyed finding a few references to the real world and to prior Klune novels in this book too! In the Lives of Puppets made me laugh out loud, and brought tears to my eyes. It brings joy, reflection, grief, and hope to the reader. I will absolutely be purchasing a physical copy of this book when it is released (April 25th), and look forward to adding it to my collection and reading it again and again.

Special thanks to TJ Klune, Tor Publishing Group, and Netgalley for the digital ARC of this amazing book in exchange for my honest review

⭐️: 3.5/5

In a home built into the branches of a forest lives inventor and android Giovanni, as well as his son, human Victor, and their family, consisting of a sadistic nurse robot and a small, friendly vacuum. When one day, Victor finds an old, decommissioned android named Hap and repairs him, Giovanni is confronted with his own dark past. When other robots from Giovanni’s former life are alerted to their location, they capture him and take him back to his old life, leaving Victor and the rest of his found family no choice but the brave the outside world to try to rescue him.

The House in the Cerulean Sea by the same author was one of the most heartwarming books I read last year, even if I did have to be in a pretty specific mood to really enjoy it. TJ Klune certainly has a distinct writing style, as well as several character types he (based on my relatively small sample size of two books so far) includes in his books. He makes it easy too root for the characters, and is able to humanize all sorts of different types of characters who may or may not actually be human, drawing parallels to real life social issues that many marginalized groups face. Where I did have some issues with this book was the pacing. It felt like it took a long time to get to the meat of the story, like maybe even until about 50%, and while I was getting there, I found it hard to be excited to go back and continue to read this book. Thematically, I also don’t particularly enjoy stories about AI “coming to life” and attempting to eradicate all of humanity, just from a place of being a computer engineer and having to deal with all sorts of uneducated or uninformed people using the concept of AI as a fear mongering tactic, and to reassure non-technologically inclined family members that there’s a difference between reality and science fiction. Overall though, the message of this book was so lovely, and the resolution was wonderfully bittersweet.

Thank you to @netgalley and @torbooks for this eARC in exchange for my honest review!

I don’t even know where to begin. I guess I’ll start with, I loved this book. It’s was sweet, gentle, and funny. Like all of TJ Klune’s books, it reached into my soul and camped out, probably never to leave. I tend to read very fast, but I really made myself slow down to savor every word, because I didn’t want to leave these special characters. (Also, sociopathic nurse robots, and brave little vacuums are now my favorite things ever.) Thank you to TJ Klune, Tor Publishing and Net Galley for letting me read an advance copy, in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you NetGalley and Tor Publishing group for the digital ARC of one of my most anticipated reads of the year.

I saw someone online say this is the grown up version of the Brave Little Toaster. And honestly, that’s the perfect way to put it.

Everything about this story made my heart ache, swell, break and feel whole. Which is honestly the norm for how Klune’s books sit with me. Even a year later I still think about them and cling to the story.

Victor experiences so much growth. And the story is so out there yet close to home with the current trends with AI and technology. Rambo and Nurse Ratched are the perfect compliments to his journey. And honestly, to avoid spoilers, I’m not really sure what else to say.

This will make you cry. It’ll make you chuckle. And it will make you hope and pray for an ending that doesn’t break your heart.

If you read anything this year, read this. Honestly not sure how anything else could top this and it sits far above any of my other 5 star reads this year.

This was my most anticipated book of the year and it did not disappoint. It combined all of the best parts of Klune's previous works in this genre: the humor and innocence of The House in the Cerulean Sea and the cozy familial atmosphere of Under the Whispering Door. All of the characters are come alive off the page--I felt like I was walking through the forest with them, laughed with them and cried with them. It hit the perfect balance of sci-fi and fantasy and I simply wanted to live inside this world with the characters. Though I felt like the pacing was slightly off and the plot somewhat meandered, I didn't care. I will forever read Klune simply because of the lives and worlds he crafts,

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this book to review.

I am a HUGE Extraordinaries fangirl, because that is what I love about TJ Klune - quirky, hilarious, queer joy, romance.

I feel like House in the Cerulean Sea really captured those things too. Under the Whispering Door I liked a little less - loved the found family, thought it was hilarious, but I didn't quite feel the romance in it.

Here the romance is between a human and an AI (?/machine), and I think it didn't quite work. I just didn't find myself super invested in the story. I often have difficulty with fantasy/scifi where I can't picture everything that's happening, and that's definitely part of my struggles here.

The story definitely still has the Klune sparkle with wit and plain old sillyness, lovable characters, and a lot of fun. I think it will be a great favorite for many people! It just wasn't super for me.

I absolutely adored TJ Klune's last two novels, and this novel has many of the same hallmarks I love in his books. Found family, queer characters, and so much humor, especially in dialogue. Unfortunately, the story didn't pull me along like his past ones did and the Pinocchio connections were more distracting than enlightening to me. I didn't always connect the source text to the meaning of the book in front of me. LOVE Nurse Ratched (more drilling!) and Rambo especially, but this is a solid 3 stars for me.

In the Lives of Puppets was a wonderful look at what it means to be human. I absolutely loved how TJ Klune presented their world of tree houses. It was masterfully created and made me feel like I was there amongst the trees with Vic, Rambo, and Nurse Ratched. I also loved the relationship between Vic and Gio, the easy familiarity of it that they'd established over Vic's life.

Living close to the Scrap Yard was both dangerous and serendipitous for them - a good source of materials for their creation and tinkering, but also life threatening, and life changing. Vic has the propensity to be right on the line of adventure and death - something I felt that he really did recognize and respect given that he was the only human in their home.

His journey with Hap was also very human. Hiding it from his father, learning about himself and the machine he'd rescued. Learning what it means to have a heart, family, the power of memories. I laughed and cried, felt each revelation of strong emotion right along with Vic. I could not stand the heartbreak of loss, but the way that Vic kept going and decided to move forward was magical. The power of choice, the dire responsibility in it.

In the Lives of Puppets is a MUST read for me this year, make sure to add it to your list and grab it when it comes out on April 24th, 2023!

What a delightful book! This is my third book by TJ Klune and I have loved them all.
This story is about a young man who lives in a forest with his father and two robots . They have had no interactions with anyone for as long as the young man can remember. They go to a nearby scrapyard to get useful things but must avoid the security bots there. Are they the only people left in the world?
How did they end up here? Like the other books by TJ Klune that I’ve read, the story is soooo good and the characters are wonderful and multifaceted. The story has funny moments, adventure, a sense of family and love. I enjoyed the book immensely and highly recommend it, Happy reading!

Thank you, NetGalley, for an e-ARC of TJ Klune's novel, In the Lives of Puppets.
In the Lives of Puppets retells the story of Pinocchio from a futuristic perspective. Written about a time when humans are replaced by robots, one human remains and this is his story. Beautifully written, this novel takes the reader to another time without sacrificing the complexity of human emotion.