Name: In the Lives of Puppets
ISBN: 9781250217448

T.J. Klune

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. In a strange little home built into the branches of a grove of trees, live three robots—fatherly inventor android Giovanni Lawson, a pleasantly sadistic nurse machine, and a small vacuum desperate for love and attention. Victor Lawson, a human, lives there too. They’re a family, hidden and safe. The day Vic salvages and repairs an unfamiliar android labelled “HAP,” he learns of a shared dark past between Hap and Gio–a past spent hunting humans. When Hap unwittingly alerts robots from Gio’s former life to their whereabouts, the family is no longer hidden and safe. Gio is captured and taken back to his old laboratory in the City of Electric Dreams. So together, the rest of Vic’s assembled family must journey across an unforgiving and otherworldly country to rescue Gio from decommission, or worse, reprogramming. Along the way to save Gio, amid conflicted feelings of betrayal and affection for Hap, Vic must decide for himself: Can he accept love with strings attached? Inspired by Carlo Collodi's The Adventures of Pinocchio, and like Swiss Family Robinson meets Wall-E, In the Lives of Puppets is a masterful stand-alone fantasy adventure from the beloved author who brought you The House in the Cerulean Sea and Under the Whispering Door.

In the Lives of Puppets

I’m sorry but this is a hate annotation. Why do men write things like this? Saying you can’t take no for an answer because you’re “an idiot” is the same as saying “boys will be boys” to absolve yourself of any responsibility for your choices. This line is made even more stupid when you think about the men Nurse Ratched has known up to this point. Gio, Vic, and even Hap are not chauvinists. Why would she make a generalization like this if not to stroke the author’s ego?

Cloudface

"Interesting," Nurse Ratched said. "Why is it that males do not accept no for an answer?"

"Yes. You are." She continued on down the road.

Lindsay

No civilization can survive indifference. It spreads like a poison, turning fire into apathy, a dire infection whose cure requires more than most are willing to give.

Memory, ever-present, a reminder of what was and what could be, if only one was brave enough to reach for it.

Annabelle Gauthier

What you are feeling now might be considered happiness." 

"It's terrible," Hap said. “I want to p-punch something." And with that, he turned and began to punch the metal walls of the bunker.

"This is so nice," Rambo said to no one at all.

Molly Sheerer

"Womp womp," Nurse Ratched said as the screen went darkened. "That is exactly what happened. Please do not hold your applause. I need validation."

Julia Rutgers

Vic squirmed, trying to keep his thoughts in order, but they were on the wings of butterflies, floating up around him, just out of reach.

[ . . . ] next to a creek where the water chuckled as it flowed over rocks.

Emma Hak-Kovacs

“What if I wish for impossible things?”

“Then you're doing it right. It always seems impossible when you first start.”

She said it wasn’t unheard of for people to identify as asexual, meaning those who were "ace" didn’t experience attraction in the same way others did. Sex-positive or sex-repulsed, there was no wrong way to be.

"So I’m not malfunctioning?" Vic asked nervously, mulling the word "asexual" over in his mind.

"You are not," Nurse Ratched had replied. "I also do not experience sexual attraction, and I am perfect. The same could arguably be said about you.”

“You seem to be suffering from an intense anxiety disorder. But that is fine. We are all unique. Victor is asexual. Giovanni is old. And I have sociophatic tendecies that manifest themselves in dangerous situations."

When one door closes, you can still bust it down.

“Of course we will succeed. We have a flimsy plan with no real resolution in place, but I am sure we will overcome the odds.“

Cassidy Nolan

In an old and lonely forest, far away from almost everything, sat a curious dwelling.

“If there was ever perfection in this world, it would be you.”

Nurse Registered Automaton To Care, Heal, Educate, and Drill (Nurse Ratched for short) was not impressed with the vacuum.

A beat of silence. Then, “I think he is a MILF.”

Victor had never heard of that before. “What’s that mean?”

“You were made to bring happiness. You are alive in ways we are not. You are soft and fragile. But you are complex and disturbing and sometimes foolishly brilliant.”

“Because all beings deserve a chance to find out what life could be when they don’t have to serve others.”

“That’s okay. I like me. Gio says that self-worth isn’t measured by what others think, but what you think about yourself.”

“You wonderful boy,” Dad whispered. “You foolish, lovely boy.”

TJ Klune always writes with heart, emotion and quiet beauty, and this book is no exception. 

Jessie Amber

Stas

at this point Klune is my go to when I’m in a slump. Dystopian future that looks at robot take overs and the meaning of humanity.

Abigail F

Absolutely loved this book! Great writing, great packing and really really witty! I LOLed more than a few times! 

Hamed Khalidi

What a profound exploration of what it means to be human.

Eva Ströberg

TJ Klune - In the live of the puppets
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⭐️⭐️⭐️
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After I finished reading the House in the Cerulean Sea, I borrowed this one from the library. It started very promising, a world when humanity are exctinct and robots/androids take over. Think Blade Runner meet Pinocchio, added with comedy .
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Giovanni Lawson is an inventor, an android inventor, and he raised his human son Victor in a forest in Oregon, far from the “civilization”. They all live happily in tree house, accompanied by Nurse Ratched, a robotic nurse, and Rambo, a vacuum cleaner turned into a service and companion robot. But that peace ended when they found a menacing (but dead) android codenamed Hap that Victor insisted to fix.
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I find this book is too YA for my taste, and too dragging on with the story. I only half enjoy it hence the 3 stars
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#tjklune #inthelivesofpuppets #booksbooksbooks #bookstagram #currentlyreading #2024readingchallenge #2024reads

This was the third book I've read by Klune--I loved 

shares elements of what I'm beginning to recognize as Klune's signature--two somewhat unlikely (and queer) individuals who end up falling in love despite circumstances that might make it difficult in a world with some non-realistic elements. However, this book has much darker undertones than the other two I've read and definitely some more adult scenes/elements. The ending isn't wrapped up quite as neatly or warmly as the others. It is an interesting and compelling read that raises a lot of good questions. 

Allie Horick

This was the third book I've read by Klune--I loved Under the Whispering Door and The House in the Cerulean Sea. The Lives of Puppets shares elements of what I'm beginning to recognize as Klune's signature--two somewhat unlikely (and queer) individuals who end up falling in love despite circumstances that might make it difficult in a world with some non-realistic elements. However, this book has much darker undertones than the other two I've read and definitely some more adult scenes/elements. The ending isn't wrapped up quite as neatly or warmly as the others. It is an interesting and compelling read that raises a lot of good questions. 

Sarah Sammis

TJ Klune is an author whose work I fell in love with immediately when reading "The House in the Cerulean Sea" and then even more so when reading "Under the Whispering Door".

This book wasn't far off from those two in the sense that the book felt very imaginative, but it had more of an adult vibe to it, more so than "Under the Whispering Door" and even more so than "The House in the Cerulean Sea". 

It took me a minute to try and get the picture in my head of what everyone looked like, their voices, and the scenery, but once I got that it was easy to fall right into the story. I love books where I am reading and each word pulls me more and more into the story and I can get lost in the words. It didn't take long for me to feel like I was in the world TJ Klune created and it was all the things he described it to be and more. 

If I closed my eyes, I was there, in the forest, in the ground house, right there. 

This book made me question the way I looked at my heart, think about all the decisions I have made, almost every single one made using my heart. So aware that while my brain does make the decisions, the followthrough is in my heart. Everyone I have ever known and loved is in my heart. My memories, my friends, my family, pets, etc. all there in my heart, always.

TJ Klune never fails to put my right there in his stories and I have loved every adventure I have been on because of his books.

TJ Klune is an author whose work I fell in love with immediately when reading "The House in the Cerulean Sea" and then even more so when reading "Under the Whispering Door".

This book wasn't far off from those two in the sense that the book felt very imaginative, but it had more of an adult vibe to it, more so than "Under the Whispering Door" and even more so than "The House in the Cerulean Sea". 

It took me a minute to try and get the picture in my head of what everyone looked like, their voices, and the scenery, but once I got that it was easy to fall right into the story. I love books where I am reading and each word pulls me more and more into the story and I can get lost in the words. It didn't take long for me to feel like I was in the world TJ Klune created and it was all the things he described it to be and more. 

If I closed my eyes, I was there, in the forest, in the ground house, right there. 

This book made me question the way I looked at my heart, think about all the decisions I have made, almost every single one made using my heart. So aware that while my brain does make the decisions, the followthrough is in my heart. Everyone I have ever known and loved is in my heart. My memories, my friends, my family, pets, etc. all there in my heart, always.

TJ Klune never fails to put my right there in his stories and I have loved every adventure I have been on because of his books.

Wizard of Oz meets Pinocchio with a dash of A.I.

Angela Rodriguez

took like 200 pages to get into but the ace mc helped me push through, enjoyable but preferred his other books:’)

There were rewarding themes throughout the book but it felt like the plot was dragging unnecessarily 

Ali Angco

Cliche but delicious. It took me embarrassingly long to figure out this was a Pinocchio adaptation considering the title page has a quote from the novel

I’ve loved other novels by TJ Klune, so I was not expecting to give this one such a low rating. My biggest problem with it is that it felt like a dumbed down version of his usual writing, like I was reading a novelization of a kids movie. It still had the heart and positivity of his other works, but the humor was way over the top and the message was repeated so many times I got sick of reading the same paragraph over and over. Nothing is left in the subtext in this book so it felt like the author didn’t expect me to have any basic reading comprehension. 

I also really disliked the “sociopath” jokes. It signified a Tiktok-level understanding of psychology. 

In the acknowledgements TJ Klune made more than one comment about how this wasn’t the book he originally wanted to write and “the world wasn’t ready” for his original story, so clearly even he is unhappy with how this book turned out. It shows.

I’ve loved other novels by TJ Klune, so I was not expecting to give this one such a low rating. My biggest problem with it is that it felt like a dumbed down version of his usual writing, like I was reading a novelization of a kids movie. It still had the heart and positivity of his other works, but the humor was way over the top and the message was repeated so many times I got sick of reading the same paragraph over and over. Nothing is left in the subtext in this book so it felt like the author didn’t expect me to have any basic reading comprehension. 

I also really disliked the “sociopath” jokes. It signified a Tiktok-level understanding of psychology. 

In the acknowledgements TJ Klune made more than one comment about how this wasn’t the book he originally wanted to write and “the world wasn’t ready” for his original story, so clearly even he is unhappy with how this book turned out. It shows.

i really liked this book. the way it explored emotions was very good. 

Floor van Heel 

From New York Times bestselling author TJ Klune, In the Lives of Puppets is a queer retelling of the Pinocchio tale, inviting you deep into the heart of a peculiar forest and on the extraordinary journey of a family assembled from spare parts. In a strange little home built into the branches of a grove of trees live three robots – fatherly inventor android Giovanni Lawson, a pleasantly sadistic nurse machine, and a small vacuum desperate for love and attention. Victor Lawson, a human, lives there too. They’re a family, hidden and safe. The day Vic salvages and repairs an unfamiliar android labelled ‘HAP’, he learns of a shared dark past between Hap and Gio – a past spent hunting humans. When Hap unwittingly alerts robots from Gio’s former life to their whereabouts, the family is no longer hidden and safe. Gio is captured and taken back to his old laboratory in the City of Electric Dreams. So together, the rest of Vic’s assembled family must journey across an unforgiving and otherworldly country to rescue Gio from decommission, or worse, reprogramming. Along the way to save Gio, amid conflicted feelings of betrayal and affection for Hap, Vic must decide for himself: can he accept love with strings attached? Inspired by Carlo Collodi’s The Adventures of Pinocchio, In the Lives of Puppets is a masterful standalone fantasy adventure from the author who brought you The House in the Cerulean Sea and Under the Whispering Door.

Joy Bush

Thank you NetGalley and Tor for a copy of this audiobook. All opinions are my own. 

It's even better than House!! Can I give it more than 5 stars? I don't even like retellings but i can barely tell this is one. This book is more mature, more funny, with all the feelings, a genuine masterpiece! How come all my fave books lately have Robots. Using robots to explore themes of humanity is my fave thing. I love these characters so much!
Go read it when this releases in a few days.

You can always count on Klune's books to be brimming with whimsy and charm, and this one was no exception. It felt like being wrapped up in a warm blanket. It's loosely based on Pinocchio, and I liked how Klune kept some of the same themes from the original but made it his own. One of the themes throughout was family, which was my favorite part of the whole thing. The relationship between them all was so tender and sweet. Despite most of them being robots, they still felt love and cared for one another. I also appreciated the humor in this. Nurse Ratched and Rambo were hilarious, and I loved every minute of them. I did have some issues with the pacing, and the romance didn't move me, but overall, I enjoyed it.

Heather Harrington

While I’m not sure if this is my favorite TJ Klune book, it’s still amazing. That man writes the absolute best side characters ever. His protagonists are are great but the side characters always still the show for me. Rambo is my absolute favorite character of his and Nurse Ratched is right up there too. Just the absolute best found family. 

Laura Wilson

this is my third tj klune book and I’ve loved all of them dearly, I think this is my second favorite now! it made me cry and also it was hilarious and witty and honestly the fact that one of the main characters is an sentient roomba with anxiety should make everybody want to read this book. 10/10 would recommend!

fris🐝

This was a book I didnt think I would like, but being TJ Klune I got it and read it and oh my I'm so glad I did. I adored this book with heart and soul.

These characters quickly became indented into my heart forever. This is a queen retelling but so much more than that.

About found family, love and being brave. Machines that carry the burden of a heart. 

This was honestly such a beautiful story 

Samantha King

This was a book I didnt think I would like, but being TJ Klune I got it and read it and oh my I'm so glad I did. I adored this book with heart and soul.

These characters quickly became indented into my heart forever. This is a queen retelling but so much more than that.

About found family, love and being brave. Machines that carry the burden of a heart. 

This was honestly such a beautiful story 

TJ has done it again! He builds these worlds, and within them these characters that you can’t help but love deeply and immediately. While Puppets had a slightly different feel to it than Cerulean Sea and Whispering Door, the messaging and tenderness was still there. Just a great book about loving and forgiving, and being able to see the good in people through their mistakes and flaws. A bleak look at a future world, but a lot of hope and light is woven in. I’m ready for the next one!