I've enjoyed TJ Klune's other books, but this one wasn't for me. I'm not really a science fiction fan, so that's not a big surprise. I'll still recommend this to those who do enjoy science fiction.

I really enjoy the worlds that TJ Klune transports me to. A world full of lovable characters and scenes close enough to home that you can picture yourself in. Unfortunately, I didn’t experience that with In The Lives of Puppets. While I enjoyed the characters and had some laugh out loud moments, I didn’t feel particularly connected to any of them or invested in the plot. Looking forward to reading any future releases from Klune but this one didn’t do it for me

This book is great, love this author. Would definitely recommend. Thanks so much to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

A heartwarming adventure very much in T.J. Klune's style. The characters were very distinct, if sometimes cliche, and made for an exciting read. The twists felt as though they fit very well and did keep me on the edge of my seat, but I knew everything would work out it the end despite hardships. In all, this reworking of fairytale with hints of Rick Riordan's Percy Jackson held my attention with its gullible Rambo, harsh Nurse Ratched, and heart grabbing Vic, on their venture of discovery and family with Hap.

2.5 stars.. I am so sad that this this didn't work out for me. I loved The House in the Cerulean Sea and Under the Whispering Door but this one was hard to finish. I think I am the problem since it has more sci-fi and I am usually not a sci-fi reader so I can see how others may enjoy this one more than I did.
The story felt chaotic and it was very slow paced. While I tried to not compare it to his other books it was hard as his characters were replicas of his characters in THICS but in this one it was harder to connect with them.
I appreciated the Pinocchio references and even felt that there was a "Wizard of Oz" element to it. Nonetheless I will continue to purchase his books.
The overall plot was intriguing and unique in my opinion. I would recommend this title to the right reader.

TJ Klune warms this beating heart (pun intended!) once more in his new novel In the Lives of the Puppets. In a robotic world not too unlike our own, he takes the reader on an adventure with Vic, a young human man, as he searches for the things that matter most in our world: Love, relationships, and connection. With his trademark humor (In this novel, served up via the banter of Rambo and Nurse Ratched, two robot-friends of Vic), the reader is immersed in this dystopian family story. This was a wonderful, cheery read, for fans of Klune and Fredrik Backman, and I highly suggest reading this.

“Once upon a time, humanity dreamed of machines, wonders made of metal and wires and plastic, capable of doing things they could not—or would not—do. Machines for everyday life, machines for war, star-bound machines containing golden records filled with music and language and math. And in each of these machines—regardless of what they were made of or what their purpose was—humans instilled bits and pieces of themselves. But that is the way of creation: it requires sacrifice, sometimes in blood.”


This novel is more timely than ever, with the rapid development of AI technology and the discussions we are having about the increasing role that tech is having in our lives.

This novel asks us to consider what makes us human and what our responsibility is towards what we create. I found myself crying and then laughing within the same chapters. This is a story I’ll “hap-pily” treasure for years to come.

Thank you to Net Galley and the publisher for providing this arc. My opinions are entirely my own.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for my copy of this book!

This was my favorite of any Klune novel I read! I already pre-ordered the audiobook because I want to hear the story told to me as well. This was so good. I loved the characters, and I think everyone else will too.

In The Lives of Puppets is an introspective and warm-hearted story of found family and what it means to be human. TJ Klune crafts a story that is well-paced with bright and vibrant characters. Vic and his family of robots had me smiling and they were the heart of this story for me.

While I adored the characters, the plot of this book lost me a little bit. I enjoyed the initial setup, but once the action began, it fell. a bit flat for me. I was ready to be swept away in fantasy and instead just ended up feeling a bit dull and empty. I also felt disappointed when we finally got to meet the infamous blue fairy. I guess the author was going for a morally grey kind of character here, but it felt underdeveloped and forced to me. I also found the ending to be very abrupt and bitter-sweet. To me, personally, I felt like the characters were worse off than when the book began.

Overall, this is a charming story with vivid main characters in a unique setting. Unfortunately, the storyline and overall takeaways didn't work for me due to personal preferences. I've been a big fan of TJ Klune's other works and will continue to read his future releases but this one was a bit of a disappointment for me.

In the Lives of Puppets by TJ Klune is a stunning work of fiction that explores themes of identity, family, and the power of storytelling. The novel follows the story of a young boy named Beau, who is living in a world of poverty and hardship with his grandmother. One day, he discovers a strange puppet and becomes obsessed with its mysterious past and the stories it tells.

Klune's writing is exquisite, and he masterfully weaves together different narrative threads to create a rich, layered story. The characters are vividly drawn, and the relationship between Beau and his grandmother is particularly poignant. The story is full of unexpected twists and turns, and the themes of self-discovery and the search for meaning will resonate with readers of all ages.

One of the most striking things about In the Lives of Puppets is the way it explores the power of storytelling to shape our lives and our sense of self. The puppet, with its ability to tell stories from different perspectives and time periods, serves as a metaphor for the power of narrative to help us understand ourselves and our place in the world.

Overall, In the Lives of Puppets is a stunning and deeply moving novel that showcases TJ Klune's talents as a writer. The book is a must-read for anyone who loves thoughtful, character-driven fiction, and is sure to stay with readers long after they've turned the last page.

A heart-warming and fun adventure. I loved the quirky and often strikingly human robots that make up Victor's family. As expected from a TJ Klune novel it will get you right in your heart and have some heartfelt lessons about life along the way.

TJ Klune continues the tradition started with Cerulean Sea, creating lovable characters with flaws that make them more human, more hilarious, more everything. Although this is loosely a Pinocchio retelling, it will appeal even to those who know nothing about Pinocchio or hate the original story. I easily read this book in one sitting, hungry for the warm spirits and happy ending, even while including the bittersweet moments of life that make this book so very real.

Why a fun and whimsical read! After reading TJ Klunes’ The House in the Cerulean Sea, I knew I had to get my hands on this one too!

I loved Nurse Ratched. The things that came out of her mouth, oh my god...hilarious.

The pacing and vibe of this book were all over the place. It started as a fairytale, then was slow and quiet, moved suddenly to ACTION OMG LITERAL FIRE, then was adventure and journeying that stopped and started, then was MORE ACTION ALL AT ONCE, then ended as a drawn-out fairytale.

The part after the climax was too long and wholly unsatisfactory. I'm not sure what point the author was trying to make here, and it overshadowed the rest of the book. There's great growth in Hap up until the climax, so much thematic exploration, and I feel like the post-climax part just killed all of it. It basically did a start-over, starting something new that couldn't be fully fleshed out and left me wanting in a big way.

Up until that point, at least, I really enjoyed the themes of creation, purpose, and choice. The writing and story kept me hooked, and the Pinocchio retelling was flipped well. I just wish the romance had more foundation and that the ending followed what came before, emotion-wise. It's worth a read, but don't expect the same experience as that of The House in the Cerulean Sea or Under the Whispering Door.

4.5/5

I’m not really a big fan of robots and post-apocalyptic settings, but I AM a big fan of TJ Klune, so I’ve been anticipating this read for months! I’ve just finished reading this, and now the tears are starting to dry on my face and I’m wishing this story wasn’t over. <3

I think this is the first Pinocchio-inspired book I’ve ever read, and it was certainly an interesting adaption! The plot itself was very unique (no growing noses here), but I appreciated all the nods to the original story.

Vic was a wonderful and very lovable main character (as are all TJ Klune’s characters), but I was surprised at how I attached I was to the robot characters! Rambo is the cutest little roomba with anxiety you will ever meet. On the other hand, Nurse Ratched is the complete opposite and definitely brings the much-needed humor and lightheartedness to this book.

Overall, if you’re a fan of TJ Klune, you definitely don’t want to miss this book! You will laugh, you will cry, and you will want to drill give each character a big hug!

I can’t say enough about this book! Pinocchio meets the future in this love story like no other. With characters so likable you forget they aren’t real, and a plot line so perfect you’d think it was the original story! This book captures so much humanity for a cast of robots and androids. I finished with a tear in my eye and a full heart. Thanks so much for sharing this advance copy with me. I loved it!

Good ideas, interesting characters, entertaining dialog, nice story pace, good book-length, but one detail frustrated me and kept it my rating at 4 stars vs. 5.

This is a clever inversion of the classic Pinocchio story, using the human as the unusual character and the mechanical characters as the "normal" ones. (For this review I'll refer to the mechanical characters as "puppets", but be careful as you read the word - they are the ones in-charge!) And the book latches onto many of the important themes in the original, but remakes them in this environment:
- It maintains focus on the life (intellectual and emotional) development of the puppets more so than the human. In fact, the peak achievement of personal development is revealed at the climax of the book.
- The loving relationship between the puppet(s) & human becomes the core motivation for the main character(s) and plot development..
- The quest of the puppets for self-improvement. The fun twist here is a conflict created between the desires of various puppets (and puppet society) to become more, or less like humans.
- The distractions arising from the temptations of candy, toys, etc. from the original book are wonderfully mirrored in the vacuum cleaner puppet, who is a constant source of joy as it wanders off to investigate the next shiny object.

All of this is woven through an exciting story starts with discovery and leads to a quest-slash-rescue-attempt. There is a wonderful breadth of characters, from the loving father puppet, to the other core puppets that are alongside the human in their quest, "bad guy" puppets, "good guy" puppets that assist along the way, and more.

All that is done in wonderful respect to the original. But the inversion of the puppet/human roles - there being one human and many puppets - means that the relationship development has much more freedom to run. The human naturally develops relationships that are familial (e.g. to "father" Gio), fraternal (friends with the supporting cast), and - importantly - romantic ... and (pseudo-)sexual.

It is in that last section where I think the book loses a star, for two reasons. First, the romantic relationship arises out of a savior story line. The human is protected by a strong robot, for which the human develops affection. I couldn't escape shaking my head saying "Don't make me accept a Snow White style affection for a protector as the main foundation for relationship." Yet, there wasn't much more foundation other than protection, care & comfort as the basis for the human/android love.

Second, the author decided to use human pronouns for the robots, and use a mail he/him pronoun for the android that the human loves. Since the human is male, this meant the author had to weave gay relationship development into the story - which was bizarre because the android in question didn't have any genitalia. So I was frustrated that a good book was making me deal with homosexuality in a way that frustrated me, rather than a validating way.

And basically, I would have thought the book would be more groundbreaking if it had tried to create new language for how we would label a romantic and physical relationship between human & machine. If you're going to push boundaries & create new ideas, create new language - don't burden me with old, divisive labels.

So, one star off for poor development of the romantic relationship. It's the one thing that will keep me from recommending this to others.

My rating system:
- Five stars is when you read a book to the end, put it down, take a deep breath, pick it up and start reading it all over again - or you would if you weren't so anxious to read the next book in a multi-book series. Or, it's simply really good.
- Four stars is when you tell yourself : ”This is good, this is well-written, this is full of interesting ideas/characters/plot points”, but you know you will never read it again.
- Three stars is when you read it to the end, put it down and proceed to forget all about it in the next instant.
- Two stars when it's so bad that it makes you laugh, or sigh, and want to write a review, but you can't remember the name of the book or dislike it so much that you don't.
- One star when you can't read past chapter 3, even as penance for your sins.

One star demerit if you write a long book that is obviously a cliffhanger setup to make you read a subsequent book to "finish" the story the first book sets up.

Disclosure: I received an advance copy of this book at now cost. I commit to you, reader, not to let "free" generate a falsely-positive review.

A story of family and friendships in a tale full of robots, androids and one human. As always the writing is superb and the story relatable to current times. Are we heading in the direction where AI takes over our world? Who knows, but with friends like Victor, HAP, Rambo and Nurse Ratched the journey would be interesting.
#InTheLivesOfPuppets#NetGalley#TorBooks

Thanks to Tor and NetGalley for the digital ARC.

A charmingly disturbing retelling of Pinocchio, In the Lives of Puppets will make you wonder which character actually IS Pinocchio. Following themes of found family (already assembled at the beginning), forgiveness, and love, Klune guides his ragtag bunch of robots and androids (and one squishy human) through a vivid landscape of wilderness and city.

With a constant stream of chuckle-inducing commentary by Nurse Ratched (Nurse Registered Automaton to Care, Heal, Educate, and Drill) and Rambo (the Roomba), it’s almost a surprise that there’s anything else to the book. But there is - Victor and Hap face adversaries who become friends, learn truths about the world that are almost too big to handle, and through it all, learn to love.

Appreciated that asexuality was mentioned and explained throughout the book, and also represented well in the main character.

This book was a dang for me. It didn’t really spark my interest and I couldn’t get in to the book. I have loved all his books I’ve read but this one.