I knew I was in for an emotional roller coaster when I requested this book (without reading the description, this is an author I know I’ll love), but I could not have imagined this particular ride. It is dystopian fiction done to the utmost. The characters were all so alive and full of emotion which was amazing since most were machines. I listened to the audiobook and the narrator did an excellent job making each character come to life. I felt right along with these machines as they explore and figure out what family really means. I cried…often…in this story so beware I’m not joking about the feels. Victor is an inventor like his father Giovani. Victor has always understood that Gio was not his biological father because Gio is a machine. Vic’s friends are also machines that he has found in the scrapyard and fixed. Victor and his family live in a special home in the woods and in this story he is about to learn just how protected that home has kept him.

Thanks to MacMillan Audio, NetGalley, and TJ Klune for this advanced copy of In the Lives of Puppets.

TJ Klune has done it again; they've taken a series of tired tropes, turned them on their heads, and written a riveting narrative full of fun adventures, subversion of expectations, and a heart rending climax. The characters are unique, the setting imaginative, and the humor rampant. If you watched "Love, Death & Robots," imagine taking the episode "Three Robots," expanding it into a full novel and adding a hero's journey and you're halfway to In the Lives of Puppets.

The narrator was consistent in his voices for each character, but often felt as though he were narrating a novel for your children with short attention spans rather than a work of this magnitude. While I enjoyed the novel thoroughly, these extreme and childish voices often pulled me out of the story

This is my first TJ Klune book. I enjoyed the audio performance. The different character voices were portrayed with such emotion that it enhanced the story for me! Initially, I thought this was just a retelling of Pinocchio, but it felt like much more. The fantasy world Klune created will stick with me for a bit. Now, I want to go read his backlist!

This was an interesting take on Pinocchio.

(Spoiler) I love that Gio was able to create human life (still not sure exactly how he did it) and that Vic had to spend his life hiding from the robots that annihilated the human race.

I love nurse RATCHED and Rambo. Rambo is slightly neurotic and nurse RATCHED is slightly demented but together they provide some great comic relief.

The book was a little slow at times but was a great read overall.

Daniel Henning did a great job narrating this novel. You could easily tell which character was speaking, Rambo sounded exactly how you would imagine he would.

I really wanted to love this book because I loved House in the Cerulean Sea. In fact, I rave about how TJ Klune was so inclusive in that book.

I started getting negative vibes pretty early on during this book. I understand that most of the humor was based on robots being very literal due to "their programing. " However, as someone with Autism who often gets laughed at for taking things literally, the humor in this book was more offensive than funny. In fact, I couldn't make it past the 50% part of this book. And honestly, I should've stopped way sooner. I just got more offended as it went along. Every "joke" in the book was either making fun of characters who take things too literally or making fun of those without accurate sexual knowledge.

I think that plot of this book was unique and attests to TJ Klune's creative side. However, I can't get past the fact that this book seems to target autism and constantly pokes fun at characters who interpret their world very literally.

I received this book for free from the publisher through netgalley.com. I am leaving this review voluntarily.

This was one of the most entertaining audio books I have listened to in a while. The narration was excellent. The voices and personalities of the different characters shone through. I found myself smiling and laughing throughout.

This was an amazing retelling of Pinnochio. Vincent is human, probably the only living human in the world. The world is inhabited by robots, and most are tied to a collective consciousness (if you are a Trek fan think Borg). Vincents father built a house in the woods and along with a few friends that they have salvaged and fixed up they live in relative peace. When Vincent find another robot, who he names HAP things start to go wrong and his father is taken and Vincent and his friends start off on a quest to rescue him. This book is about what it means to be human, to have a heart. To have a conscious and forgiveness. The characters are unforgettable and beautiful in their quirky ways. The neurotic vacuum and the sadistic nursing robot made me laugh out loud several times. I laughed, I cried and ultimately this book made me think. What is it that makes us human? What sets us apart? It's sometimes hard to tell these days in this world so divided but kindness, love, forgiveness and compassion for others are what set us apart. If you are looking for a book that makes you feel this author has it down.

TJ Klune knows how to captivate me within minutes of beginning one of his books. This book was incredible from beginning to end. The character development of both human and android was impeccable. The last 80 pages of the book left me SOBBING and not wanting it to end. I would (and have) highly recommend this book!

IN THE LIVES OF PUPPETS by TJ Klune is available now! What to expect when you read a Klune book: a creative whimsical world, witty banter, and the most lovable characters. In this one, he creates such endearing and funny characters that you will be laughing out loud and giving them your own heart by the end.

Throughout this adventurous story, you’ll meet the last human on earth, an anxious vacuum, a historically angry puppet learning to love, and a snarky nurse robot. Nurse Ratched is one of my most favorite characters of all time and found this slightly psychotic robot to be the most relatable. Maybe because I’m a nurse or maybe because I have to engage my own empathy protocol on a regular basis. 😂 I love how fierce she is and how she is loving and loyal to her found family.

In the Lives of Puppets is a Pinocchio retelling of a human, Vic, and his built robots and wooden heart. I got Wizard of Oz vibes as Vic and the rest of the gang set off to find Vic’s father. This is very much a story of how to love and be loved, friendships, and courage. I highly recommend all of TJ Klune’s books if you love your heart to feel warm and happy and you love to laugh and cry and have all the feels.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

Thank you to Macmillan Audio for an ELC and to Tor Books for sending a finished copy for @mystery.book.club!

I absolutely loved this book. I could not listen to it fast enough. I loved the voices for the characters and found myself falling in love with each of the characters and each of their imperfect quirks. The underlying themes of humanity are hard to miss. Highly recommended for anyone looking to read between the lines for what’s beneath the surface of the story.

✨ Review ✨ In the Lives of Puppets by TJ Klune; Narrated by Daniel Henning

A queer retelling of Pinocchio, also with lots of Wizard of Oz, Swiss Family Robinson, Wall-E, and A Wrinkle in Time connections as well, that is guaranteed to make you laugh out loud!

The audio brings SO much to this book. Even though it had just a single narrator, had a full-cast feel. The audio made it so much more fun, and it really brought the robots to life! Nurse Rached and Rambo, two of the robots, particularly brought the laughs to this book!

In this book, Victor is the only human (a flip on Pinocchio as the only puppet among a cast of "real-life" characters), and his "dad" Gio is a robot, bringing a fun twist to this classic story.

The book did drag a little in the second half, and the travel adventure part of the book feels like it could have been tightened up a bit.

Overall, a super fun read, one that you won't regret listening to!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (3.75 stars)
Genre: sci-fi/fantasy, queer retelling
Setting: fantasy, dystopian world
Reminds me of: Pinocchio, Wizard of Oz, Swiss Family Robinson, Wall-E, and A Wrinkle in Time
Pub Date: out now

Read this if you like:
⭕️ hilarious robots in dystopian worlds
⭕️ queer retellings of classic stories
⭕️ excellent audio narration

Thanks to Tor Books, Macmillan Audio and #netgalley for advanced e-copies of this book!

TJ Klune, you wizard.

I LOVED this story so much. I’ve enjoyed Klune’s other books (especially Under the Whispering Door) and this absolutely did not disappoint. I was tearful at multiple points throughout, and the audio of this book was absolutely wonderful and captured every character perfectly. It’s hilarious, sad, heartwarming, heartBREAKING, and hopeful at different times and often all at once.

I also think this topic was particularly apt, in a day and age where we’re starting to look more closely at the ethics & morality of AI. This reality cast this story in a much more severe light that made it feel much more real and threatening, but somehow in true TJ Klune fashion, the severity of this doesn’t detract from the humor, antics and coziness of this story.

I could go on about each character forever, but more than anything I will say: every member of this cast stole my heart, and left me aching for the reality of their situation by the end. It has a happy ending, but not one without a realistic swatch of sadness & grief. I just adored every single moment. Thank you so much to Macmillan Audio & Netgalley for the early audiobook copy of this title!

Man creates AI. AI realizes man must be eradicated to save the planet. AI destroys man.

In an Oregon forest in this dystopian future, a role-reversed Pinocchio retelling begins. All of Klune's usual themes are present: LGBTQ themes, meaning of life, what it means to be human, the nature of love, the family you make versus the one you are born to, etc. If you were a fan of "The House in the Cerulean Sea," you'll love this too.

The characters are your new best friends after only a few chapters. Rambo the Rumba, Nurse Ratchet the healthcare droid, HAP a mysterious junk yard find they nickname "hysterically angry puppet," Gio the inventor and Vic the real boy. They are a misfit gang of robots who make a life and family together outside of AI society.

It's a buddy comedy, an adventure, a love story and a high stakes rescue mission. It's a warm hug of a book.

I was listening to this book while driving my kids to school and my 16-year-old daughter asked for a copy of the book after hearing just 20 minutes. It gives you all the feels even if you don't like Pinocchio (like me.) The audiobook narrator is PHENOMENAL! Highly recommend for a road trip listen.

**There are a handful of sexual references/discussions/situations that may not be appropriate for young children.

CW: fire, kidnapping, blood/gore, murder

Happy publication week!

I would like to thank NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for providing me with a free audio e-ARC of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Giovanni and Victor Lawson live in the deep forest with their robot companions from the scrapyard, Nurse Ratched and Rambo. When they take in an abandoned robot they call HAP, Victor learns of HAP and Giovanni’s complicated history together during the mass hunting of humans. But after HAP unintentionally alerts Victor’s presence as a human and Giovanni is taken to the City of Electric Dreams, Victor, Nurse Ratched, Rambo, and HAP travel to the city in order to save him from decommission or, worse, reprogramming.

This is the second time I’ve read T.J. Klune’s work (I previously read Under the Whispering Door and absolutely loved it), and I have to say I’m still completely impressed with the talent Klune brings in writing In the Lives of Puppets.

Several components are involved in the writing of In the Lives of Puppets that makes it an exciting and fascinating read. The wit is really something else, and is carried heavily on Nurse Ratched and Rambo. Klune also brings about great character development in the midst of processing of what it means to be truly human in a dystopian world throughout the book. Klune also does a great job with writing an action-filled fantasy that’s not overwhelming to readers who don’t regularly read fantasy.

Yet, the audiobook is really something else and is really the best way to experience In the Lives of Puppets. Being able to comfortably listen to at 1.25x (or at 1.5x if you’re short on time), this is an immersive listening experience just by listening to narrator Daniel Henning’s voice. Henning has a canny ability to create distinct voices between humans and robots throughout the book. Each of the characters’ personalities were brought to life in this audiobook and this makes an enjoyable listening experience.

With Klune’s writing talent, both Klune and Henning are able to play out the writing In the Lives of Puppets in the whimsical fairytale yet industrial modern narration. The only critique I have with the audiobook version of In the Lives of Puppets is that the chapters can be very long (not too big a fan of audiobooks with really long chapters), but I can get over it.

I could go on about the multiple reasons why I enjoyed this book, but those who are familiar with Klune’s work will find themselves very much enjoying Klune’s newest novel.

4.5 stars! I loved In the Lives of Puppets by TJ Klune, narrated by Daniel Henning. Klune and Henning are a match made in heaven. While this tale is technically considered sci-fi, do not let that scareyou away if sci-fi is not your thing. It is also not mine. As with The House on the Cerulean Sea, the characters will make you laugh, smile, tear up and reflect on our fascinating human race. There is Vic, a human young man, the last of his kind, living among his robot friends and family; Gio, Victor's "father, a creative tinker, Nurse Ratched, a sarcastic, hilarious and somewhat sadistic robotic nurse; Rambo, a sweet and simple little robot with a huge heart and HAP, the decommissioned robot the friends find in a trash heap and bring back to "life". Once HAP joins the group, the happy little group in woods lives' get turned upside down and a new adventure begins. I do not want to give too much away!

Some additional praise for Klune: I love that Victor is asexual and that one of the most unique characters, the Blue Fairy is referred to using the pronouns they & them. I love how literally some of the characters take every word and the minimized outward emotion of others. The characters, just as in Klune's other stories are multidimensional and unique. Additional praise for Daniel Henning: I could listen to you read audiobooks all day! You are such a talented performer and you truly bring Klune's amazing characters to life!

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audiobooks for my advance copy in exchange for my honest review.

A great re-telling of the beloved Pinnochio! TJ Klune has done it again, constantly raising the bar, and doing it flawlessly!

TJ Klune's stories have so much heart mixed in with just the right amount of humor. They manage to be both light and profound which is hard balance to get right. The characters are always strange and unique which I find to be helpful because it makes it easier to relate to them in different ways and to see yourself in each of them.

This story of a group of eccentric 'family members' to rescue the person who 'created' them. This is a story about redemption, about found family, about humanity and cruelty, but at its heart, it's a story about love.

with gratitude to netgalley and Macmillan Audio for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review

IN THE LIVES OF PUPPETS by TJ Klume, Publish Date April 25, 2023
Audiobook narrated by Daniel Henning

I have received an advance copy of this audiobook with courtesy of Macmillan Audio and NetGalley. Thank you. My opinion herein is my own.

This is my third TJ Klune book, after the House of Cerulean Sea and Under the Whispering Door. I absolutely adored the House of Cerulean Sea, along with so many other booklovers. It was one of my favorite books published in 2020. Then I was underwhelmed by the Whispering Door unfortunately. With that, I was slightly concerned about this book when I started to listen to it.

And oh, this audiobook! No regrets, I ended up really enjoying this book based on Collodi's Pinocchio (I haven't read this book and now it's on my TBR). Klune is an expert in creating found families and and loveable characters. In this book, the scenario is switched and the father Giovanni is an engineering android, who was entrusted with a human baby Victor. They are joined by a nurse robot with sociopathic tendencies and a naive and neurotic vacuum cleaner. I especially adored the nurse, and laughed out aloud several times while I was listening to this audiobook. The narration by Henning is AMAZING. He has a very wide range, and brings all the character to life.

The audiobook is over 15 hours long which felt a bit long for me - especially the last chapter is can be edited down and still have the same effect I felt. I also felt that some of the topics in this book can be edited out (trying not to be too specific to avoid spoilers, even though I feel it can be obvious). Other than that, I felt the book was highly imaginative and enjoyable. 4.3 stars out of 5. Thank you so much!!

🌳 In The Lives of Puppets - TJ Klune

4 ⭐️- Pinocchio meets The Wizard of Oz meets Westworld. This book was such a fun, exciting ride. TJ Klune truly knows how to write a magical story with lovable, spunky characters. If you’ve read Klune’s other books, I definitely recommend this one.

In a strange home built in the branches, there lives 3 robots - Giovanni Lawson, a fatherly inventor, a sadistic nursing robot, and a small vacuum searching for love an attention. Victor Lawson, a human lives there too. When Victor salvages an old android, he finds out about a dark past between “Hap” and Gio. When Hap alerts robots from Gio’s past about his, and his family’s, whereabouts, they are no longer safe. When Gio is taken back to where he originated, Vic and his friends set out on a journey to find and save him.

This is such a sweet story. It reminds me of Pinocchio with its inventor/inventions and hiding from the bad guys. It reminds me of The Wizard of Oz because of the fun filled journey Victor and his friends take. It reminds me of Westworld because of its robots and their desire to take over. (does AI scare anyone else right now?) This is a story of unlikely friendship turned family, growth, adventure, and finding what’s important in life. I love the way TJ Klune tells a magical adventure story and I love all of his quirky fun characters. I definitely recommend this, The House in the Cerulean Sea, and Under the Whispering Door if you haven’t read them. HIGHLY recommend all of these on audio!

Thank you Netgalley and Macmillan Audio for the early listener audio!

🤖 A L C • R E V I E W 🤖
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Title: In The Lives Of Puppets
Author: TJ Klune
Rating: 2.5/5 Stars ⭐️⭐️✨(Rounded up to 3 stars on goodreads/netgalley)
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Ugh, I wanted so hard to love this one just like I love House In The Cerulean Sea, but this just did not do it for me and ended up being just okay for me.
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Alright first let me start off by saying, in the beginning of this I was hooked to the story. It really was a cool little Pinocchio retelling and I was vining with it. Then the story started to drag and I found myself hating the commentary and just wishing it would be over. It was very much at that point a Wizard of Oz retelling, which makes me sad, because it was just not that good, and I love that movie. The ending was pretty good, but I thought it could be better.
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I could see a lot of similarities in the characters in this one and House In The Cerulean Sea - Vic/Linus, Nurse Ratched/Talia, HAP/Lucy, Rambo/Sal. Not necessarily a bad thing, I literally loved Nurse Ratched - she was the best; and as a nurse I really appreciated that dark humor. HAP was pretty cool, I liked his character, he cracked me up. But Rambo, oh my he annoyed the ever living hell out of me, sorry not sorry. I even feel like the storyline was similar in the sense of accepting oneself, accepting others and how far you’d go for the ones you love. Great concepts, I just dont want to read the same book with different characters or setting if you catch my drift.
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I listened to this via audio - Daniel Henning was incredible, he gave each character a distinguished voice which made this one really come to life. Maybe it was the voice he gave Rambo that made the character drive me nuts. I’m happy to have had the audio because otherwise I think I would have had to DNF this one, but I highly recommend the audio if your planning to read this one.
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Overall, concept was cool - last human loving among a bunch of machines that want to end all humans?! Execution however was not my favorite. Huge thank you to @netgalley and @macmill for the ALC in exchange for my honest review. In The Lives of Puppets was just released on Tuesday!
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#netgalley #netgalleyreview #twoandahalfstarreview #macmillinaudio #netgalleyalc #advancedlistenerscopy #pinocchioretelling #wizardofozretelling #similarcharacters #sameconceptdifferentbook #notmyfavorite #annoyingcharacter #nurseratched #hap #hystericallyangrypuppet #rambo #vic #harp #pinocchioretrlling #wizardofozelements #similartohouseintheceruleansea #notmyfavorite #nursehumor #inthelivesofpuppets #tjklune

My best descriptors are if Pinocchio and The Wild Robot had a queer, social justice, sexuality curious, humanitarian love child. That would be this book. It’s really thoughtful and touches on so much while keeping humor and kindness and love on the forefront. I really enjoyed this read.