Loved this book! TJ Klune writes like no other. I know I'm going to love it when I see it is written by him. This book was so entertaining. I laughed SO much while reading this book. The characters were my favorite part of the book although the storyline was fresh and engaging. He can be counted on to provide a book that will keep your attention. Guaranteed!!

TJ Klune has done it again! Once I get started, I can never put his books down. In the Lives of Puppets is a lovely, adventurous scifi-meets-fantasy that will give you all the warm feelings like all of Klune's previous works, I loved the characters and their banter, and the incredible world-building!

Thanks to NetGalley for the advanced copy of TJ Klune's newest book 'In the Lives of Puppets'. The following review is reflective of my own thoughts and opinions.

All in all this was a good book. It didn't elicit the same emotional response I experienced with 'House in the Cerulean Sea' or 'Under the Whispering Door', the latter left me a squinting at the final pages as tears blurred my vision - but in a good way, that book got me right in the feels. The book is set in a future where all of humanity has been wiped out by robots who see humans as the main cause of the deterioration of Earth. In this world one robot escapes his reality/programming and set up home in a forest, constructing an intricate series of buildings in a treehouse style setup. In this environment he raises a human child - Victor - who becomes an inventor/creator like his adoptive father.

The book follows Victor and his robot companions as the set out to rescue his father, Gio, after he is kidnapped. With the help of a new friend, HAP, they set off to the City of Electric Dreams and seek the help of the Blue Fairy, Along the way they are also kidnapped and encounter numerous obstacles.

My one criticism of this book is that it is strongly reminiscent in style and plot to Stephen King's 'The Gunslinger' series and was therefore in some chapters predictable and unexciting. I would still recommend this book to TJ Klune fans and those looking for LGBTQ+ science fiction/fantasy standalone reads.

What a fantastic book. This is my first book by the author, so I am a little late to the party, but I have already purchased one of his other books.

So why do I recommend this?
Simply, I fell in love with the characters. Despite being a hoover an Android a human and a very sarcastic robotic nurse, they were so real. My favourite was Nurse. You know when someone says a book is funny and you have these expectations, well this was funny. The Nurse was so quick witted but not at all forced, and combined with her little sidekick, Rambo, the humour was natural and lasting. She is probably one if the most consistent characters I have read lately.

The plot was also masterful. There were definitely AI vibes and I don't know if that was intentional, but it wasn't too much that I felt one was copying the other, more inspired by. I have to say the links to Pinocchio were less obvious but that could be because I haven't read the original. But there were definitely lessons being taught through the characters.

Overall I lived this book and devoured it in 2 days.

TJ Klune has a magical ability to write books that both make my heart soar and break my heart - all at the same time. This queer reimagining of Pinnochio is brilliant, with amazing, well developed characters (fun aside: in my head Nurse Ratched had the voice of Bea Arthur).

My Rating: 5+/5⭐️s
TJ Klune has forever changed me as a reader.

If you enjoyed The House in the Cerulean Sea and Under the Whispering Door you will love In the Lives of Puppets. Go ahead and put this book on your TBR list for 2023!

This book was everything I wanted and needed it to be: a wonderfully magical story about love, friendship, and family with a dash of suspense and adventure!

Vic, Hap, and Gio were some of the best developed characters I’ve encountered. But Rambo, the vacuum robot, with his enthusiastic love for every…single…thing, and Nurse Ratched, with her demented sarcasm, are my favorite book characters of all time! I thoroughly enjoyed their banter and literally laughed out loud several times while reading.

If you are an audiobook fan- I just know this one would be great to listen to!

Thanks to NetGalley Tor Publishing for the opportunity to read and review this treasure of a book!

*I received an ARC via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Thanks for the free book!*

"In the Lives of Puppets" is a Pinocchio retelling set in a dystopian future where machines and not humans rule. Victor, a foundling, is raised by a robot named Gio, a creator transformed into a loving, caring and quite wonderful father. Vic grows up very isolated, his best friends are Nurse Ratched (a sociopath medbot unless the Empathy programme is activated) and Rambo (a Roomba with anxiety) and he only knows the forest and the scrap yard. As Vic is afraid that his father will die if his battery runs out, he has built a heart just to be safe - key ingredient is a drop of his blood. When Vic, Rambo, and Nurse Ratched check the scrap yard for spare parts one day, they find a discarded but yet somewhat still alive robot. Vic takes him in and gives Hap, as he calls himself, his heart. But not everything is as it seems and Vic will need to learn a lot about himself, his father, and the world they're living in.

The novel was wonderful and heartbreaking, it was wholesome and the take on forgiveness and second beginnings was wonderful. I also liked the tentative romance in it and I loved that Vic is asexual. I also loved all the nods to Pinocchio and other literature about androids / robots, e.g. "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep". Yes, parts were quite predictable, but this was just quite wonderful.

5 Stars Thank you so so much for this ARC!

People really messed up the world, so robots set out to kill all humans. Yikes! But are the robots' better stewards of earth than people were? The AI can invent, but they have nothing that made humans loveable, no joy, no sense of humor

Except...

Nurse Rached and Rambo the vacuum cleaner are the two funniest robots I ever encountered. At first, I thought those two would get on my nerves. Instead, I found myself laughing out loud at the things they said and did.

In the Lives of Puppets is a little more violent and more dystopian than TJ Klune's other books, but, like the other books, gentleness, education, and bonds amongst a created family win the day. That and a shared enjoyment of the Fred Astaire-Ginger Rogers movie Top Hat. I grew to love the little family and I'm not the sentimental kind at all, except I too really love Top Hat. As Rambo the robot would say, "Heaven, I'm in Heaven..."

Thanks to Tor and Netgalley for allowing me to read and review In the Lives of Puppets.

What a heartwarming read of a new interpretation/inspiration of Pinocchio about a group of misfit robots and one real boy who go on an adventure to save their dad, Giovanni (Gepetto). TJ Klune writes wonderful stories full
of heart and with great characters. A great, quick read.

Themes: 🤖 ⚡️🔋💡👨‍👦‍👦💗💖

My feelings: 😀🥹😍🥰🥳

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There are very few authors who can get me invested in a story about robots; there are even fewer who can have me in tears reading about said robots. TJ Klune is that rare story teller who is able cultivate so much empathy and compassion for the most unlikely characters. Klune’s ability to create a world that draws in readers so completely is why I was already looking forward to his newest novel months in advance.

In the Lives of Puppets is Klune’s newest release and it has all the magic and heart warming moments that we’ve grown to expect with Klune’s books. I immediately fell in love with the characters in this novel and could not stop laughing at the banter between Nurse Ratched and Rambo. These may be two of my favorite characters and I loved every bit of dialogue between them.

I also enjoyed the complicated dynamics between Victor Lawson, Gio and Hap. There were so many touching moments sprinkled throughout, but the journey for Victor from the beginning to the end of the novel was emotional and powerful. It was a story of perseverance, friendship and familial bonds, and I loved every minute of it.

In the Lives of Puppets is a beautiful story and it’s one to look out for in 2023!

As a huge fan of TJ Klune I was ecstatic when I was approved for this book, but I found myself uninterested. Being familiar with Klune's works I pressed on but found myself losing interest. It was written well, had the cozy feel I've grown to expect from his works, and his characters were as charming as ever. I think, for me, it was just a matter of theme. I will recommend this book, though, because I believe anyone who likes his books or post apocalyptic reading in general would enjoy it.

My absolute, freaking heart with this one. I wasn't sure what to make of a "Pinocchio" retelling but we trust in our Book Daddy TJ Klune. It had all the elements we know and love: found family, captivating characters, strong emotions, and a handful of inappropriate dick jokes.

The pacing of Puppets is surprisingly slow, or maybe better to say, the pacing of Puppets wasn't what I had anticipated it would be. We spend a lot of time just getting to know Vic, Rambo, and Nurse Ratched and forming those ties between these three very different but loyal characters. We are also tying in Gio (Vic's father) and Hap (a new robot Vic found) into their inner circle. Being a bit longer of a book (400+ pages) it did allow for us to have this time to really bring out the characters individually and as a unit so when Gio is taken from them we can feel it just as deeply as our characters. I felt so much more emotionally engaged in this story than I might otherwise have felt. Klune is, obviously, quite talented at pulling at our heartstrings and was really able to execute this wonderfully.

I also really appreciated some of the ideas and themes that arose around humanity, the world, greed, and corruption. The good and the bad of being human and all the messy, inconvenient emotions we have. I definitely teared up on more than one occasion (read: a lot of occasions) and even needed to sit with that ending for a bit because it wasn't exactly what I hoped for but felt right.

This felt strongly on-brand for TJ. I almost feel like it leans a bit more toward "The Lightning-Struck Heart" vibes (best friends on a quest!) and was pleased that like his previous Tor books had a "home" theme that was quite literally a house. There was a lot more movement and adventure in this one.

When I pick up a TJ Klune book, I expect wonder and awe and growth and humanity. I don’t normally expect murderous robotic nurses and sentient vacuums with anxiety disorders, but that just made this one even better.

You know the how Lord of the Rings takes place an age after the world is in its prime? The haunting nostalgia of walking through ruins in the wake of a dead civilization; the last member of a once great household living alone, the only one to remember a history of glory? In the Lives of Puppets inspires that same aching nostalgia, but this time with a hopeful undertone, a chance of the lost world being rebuilt.

This is a lovely and haunting story of hope, growth, and forgiveness, and I hope you’ll enjoy it as much as I did

This was an ARC provided by NetGalley.

Though Not as heartwarming as his other two books, TJ Klune has brought heart (ha - a punny reference to the story) and whimsy into this book about robots and humanoids.

At times, it felt all too convenient - how could they have gotten to the top reaches of the government without being spotted?! But there was humour that helped me to see past the ease of it all.

All rounded off by the fact that the main character is asexual - representation that is not seen enough in fiction.

Overall, I would recommend this book…just don’t think you’re going to get the happy ending that TJ Klune has provided in some of his other books.

A shift from the soft, cozy fantasy to a somewhat soft sci-fi, In the Lives of Puppets is a sweet novel with a found-family at its core.

Honestly, I did not realize that this was a Pinocchio retelling until just now when I looked through other reviews, but it definitely makes sense as one. The story follows Vic, a human inventor living in the wild with his father Gio (an android) and other robot companions, Rambo and Nurse Ratched. They find a decommissioned android in the Scrap Yard one day and Vic repairs him, giving him a new heart and bringing him back to life, as well as giving him a new name, Hap. There's a lot of focus on how Hap reacts and adapts to having a heart, though the plot is also a quest: the Authority have taken Vic's father away to their city and its up to him and his found family to bring him back home. There's a lot of fantastic sci-fi elements in this book, and I liked how the androids and ai were handled. What I liked much less was the frequent (and very unnecessary) sex/dick jokes that were way to prevalent. I've read a few of Klune's other books, and I think I just have to realize that I do not like Klune's sense of humor, I think it detracts from the story and it often made me want to skip over scenes because of it. Otherwise, the characters and story are solid and well-written. Personally, this is a 2 star book for me, but given a lot of my issues are personal preference, i'm bumping my rating up to 3 star.

Unfortunately, this book won't be for me. I wasn't aware of the controversy surrounding The House in the Cerulean Sea until recently, despite reading and loving the book, but is not an author I will be continuing to read at this point. I look forward to hearing more from the author in terms of a dialogue with native peoples in Canada. The author is very talented but I will not be continuing at this point.

"Sometimes, it's the smallest things that can change everything when you least expect it."

Oh the feels. So many feels. I love how TJ Klune can make me fall in love with an anxious vacuum robot, laugh at his gloriously snarky nurse Ratched, cry with Gio, Victor and his Hap, and still be so entirely grateful that he shattered my heart and put it back together again.

"What are the rules?
Stick together.
Run if we have to.
No dallying!
No drilling...
And above all, be brave!"

This book was everything I expected it to be: wonderfully strange and at the same time decidedly not strange (I tried telling my coworkers that I was crying over an adorable, anxious vacuum, they thought it was weird. Weirdos.), with a beautiful message at the center wrapped in a lovely story full of loveable characters that you will be sad to leave so soon. This is such a wonderful story about love and forgiveness, friendship and adventure, humanity and creation and, above all, family. Simply perfect from start to finish!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this novel. I encourage you to check this one out! Wonderful novel.

I will read anything that TJ Klune writes. I didn't even fully read the premise of this book before requesting it. This book had everything I was looking for when I read one of his novels. I didn't know that I needed a retelling o Pinocchio (not that I've read the actual book before) but this was so good. I'm now tempted to read the actual book so I can truly appreciate the differences.

Like with all his other books, I laughed and cried through the whole thing. Obsessed. Only thing I'm sad about is that I read this prior to the publish date meaning I got a long way to go before I get to read his next novel.