In the Lives of Puppets

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A modern fairy tale about learning your true nature and what you love and will protect. It's a beautiful book.” — Charlaine Harris, #1 New York Times bestselling author In a machine-controlled dystopian future, Victor Lawson lives in a treehouse in an Oregon forest with his dad Giovanni. Vic is human, and Gio is an android inventor who raised Vic from infancy. 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. It’s here where it’s worth saying that categorizing In the Lives of Puppets as science fiction or fantasy is an arguable thing. If you’re looking for an answer to that (and you certainly don’t need one to enjoy this book, or any book for that matter), one way to describe In the Lives of Puppets is “sci-fi with fantastical elements.” Another way to describe the novel is “a good book,” if that description is of more interest to you.)

The family is in danger when HAP alerts robots of Gio's whereabouts and he is taken to a factory in the City of Electric Dreams. Gio's small family decides to risk all and go looking for him to save him from decommissioning and/or reprogramming. What ensues is a journey full of risk, sacrifice, heart, and family. Victor (disguised as a robot since his very existence is a death sentence from the androids in charge), Hap, Rambo, and Nurse Ratched face many hardships on their quest to save their father, including a run-in with a robot called the Coachman who wants to display them in a museum(see the aforementioned not about how the book has several nods to Pinocchio). They ultimately, however, make it to the City of Electric Dreams where—with help from the Blue Fairy—they face insurmountable odds to rescue Gio. The fantastical sci-fi plot keeps your brain busy, but through it all the group is also learning who they are and how to hold themselves together, which is relatable no matter what dystopia you live in. In typical Klune fashion, the found family and the humor were top-tier. The characters are all super charming. I don't think it's possible to read this book and not fall in love with Rambo, the vacuum cleaner with anxiety who loves hugs, and Nurse Ratched, the slightly psychopathic nurse that is secretly a softie. About halfway through the story, it changed from the peaceful, yet intriguing house in the woods to a quest. While this was just fine with me at first, I soon began finding myself reluctant to return to the story. Somewhere during that quest I lost my interest. It took me forever to finish because I just kept putting it off. Another reason was because I felt that this tale, (in certain ways), was almost exactly like the previous books of his I've read. Before I even got there, I knew how the story would end and I don't enjoy that when it happens. I like to be surprised. Formulaic stories can be good, but predictable, and that's how I felt about this one. After all, aren’t we just barely cobbled together creatures who experience the terrible joy that comes with loving others? When reading In the Lives of Puppets, I often thought about how a tree grows around a wound it suffers, and how that phenomenon has been used as an analogy for grief. Grief—and the love that it stems from—doesn’t go away; we don’t move on from grief but build around it, making it part of who we are. This analogy came to mind several times when Klune describes Hap’s body, which Victor made whole from wood, metal, and for Hap’s heart, a bit of his human blood mixed in with the wood, the ineffable essence that makes Hap (and Gio, who has the same in his heart) more than the sum of their circuits.

Featured Reviews

For a book that’s almost entirely inhabited by androids and machines, this may be one of the most human books I’ve read in a long time! T.J. Klune has such a creative mind. This book had me thinking of The wizard of Oz and Pinocchio. The characters were off on a journey, one who is timid gains courage, there is a father/son relationship, and there is one who is tough but has a heart. But leave it to Klune to tell a story set in one of the grimmest futures those of us made of flesh and bone could imagine and still tell a tale full of love, hope, and heartache. With love comes pain. But it also brings a life worth living. And in In the Lives of Puppets, love and life continue on, even in a world where humans are all but a memory and the robots who remain are far from living in a just society. I think I should write another book to give all my honest praise! This fascinating and quirky journey is about family you choose and groovy kind of love! Although I do admire what TJ Klune has done here, somehow it doesn’t hook me in as his other books do. It’s too long, the plot is distinctly on the thin side and there’s way too much dialogue for my taste. From time to time some of Nurse Ratched’s references make me cringe, I’m sure that’s the authors intention! The ending is a bit of a let down too.

And I’ll just go ahead and throw this out there: In the Lives of Puppets is better than Under the Whispering Door and as good as (if not a teensy bit better than) The House in the Cerulean Sea. At the beginning of the story, we get to know the hero Victor, a young human living in a secluded home with his adopted father Gio, and two robots, Nurse Ratched and Rambo. Vic, skinny young man, at the age of 22, enjoys salvaging and repairing robots. One day he repairs a strange android named HAP without having any idea about his origins. He realizes Hap shares a dark past with Giovanni. His secret mission to alert the robots about the hiding place of Giovanni destroys the small family and peaceful life they built in the woods. He did,” Dad agreed. “And I won’t take it from you. It is yours for as long as you want it. But be warned, a heart is not like the battery you used to have. It’s strong, but fragile.”Vic is the main character and the only human in the story. His 'father' and his love interest are both machines whose past purpose was to hunt down humans. The rest of the family consisted of Nurse Ratched, a restored medical machine, and Rambo, a vacuum cleaner. The only one I really liked was Nurse Ratched as she provoked most of the humorous dialogue.

I again want to call out the phenomenal narrator Daniel Henning (who also narrated The House in the Cerulean Sea). His voices for each of the characters truly bring them to life in ways that both entertained and enthralled. I believe that the audiobook is the best way to experience this tale, because it is so immersive. I think I like T.J. Klune's writing more when it's filled with angst. Green Creek continues to be one of my favorite series of all time, and to this day, I haven't finished rereading it because it makes me sob every book. I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Rambo said cheerfully as his sensors blinked blue and green. He dropped another piece of metal at the bottom before celebrating and spinning around. How many deadpan jokes of Nurse Ratched - a true Queen in every aspect - can I share with you for you to appreciate the protectiveness, the guidance, the resilience she mastered in supporting her team, and in her own way, loving and nurturing Victor? How can I explain Rambo the vacuum - oh, so innocent, oh so true, oh so determined and friendly and just so full of feelings despite not having any feelings at all? How can I describe Gio - that android who wanted redemption for his actions - who wanted forgiveness for his decisions - who searched for a way out with the Blue Fairy, who “trusted him with my greatest treasure” - who found love and acceptance with his creation, his son - “My great love. My joy. My light”- Victor? 😥😥A wholly charming post-robot-apocalypse retelling of Pinocchio. Speculative fiction readers will fall in love with this whimsical, bittersweet fable." — Shelf Awareness, starred review