In the Lives of Puppets

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Or from his unexpected feelings that he started to nurture for HAP - drawn to him, for comfort, for understanding, for that one connection of semblance he had to human features. Their love was so organic - so very honest - full of hope and desire to just be accepted as you were - as you are - no matter who you are - man or machine. ❤️‍🩹❤️‍🩹 I felt it all - I lived it all - and how my heart ached, when all is said and done, when worldwide catastrophe has been averted, but the wound to the heart is the freshest of all --- This is one of the most charming stories I’ve ever read in my entire life 🥺, full of whimsy & fantastical, & full of whimsy world building, characters, & one incredible quest! Giovanni thinks this little boy is consultation price of universe for his loneliness so he raises him as his son and calls him Victor. I can now say with the utmost confidence that T.J. Klune has the gift of making me feel too many feels with his heart-wrenching and moving prose - In the Lives of Puppets is no exception and the certified proof of that. An homage to Pinocchio, a testament to humanity and all the possibilities that we have yet to overcome and achieve - this book was so very gripping, so lush with detail, so intimate in its character development, so very profound in making me think. experience many, many, strange, wonderful, & frightening new things as they travel to the City of Electric Dreams to save Vic’s tinkerer robot father, GIO! Boy was this a ride! Truly, this was so filled to the brim with heart, bravery, & love, I can’t say that enough…

There is a very Wizard of Oz feel to the story as Vic and his friends progress through the countryside on their way to the City of Electric Dreams. The characters they meet went a bit beyond my imaginative capabilities, especially the Blue Fairy. Eventually though the little band of travelers reach their destination and achieve a satisfactory conclusion. In the Lives of Puppets by T.J. Klune ( The House in the Cerulean Sea) is a retelling of Carlo Collodi’s The Adventures of Pinocchio set in a vague, post-apocalyptic future where the puppets are robots, the whale is a giant airship, and the Blue Fairy is…best experienced on your own. While Klune may have used Pinocchio as a starting point, you can see bits of other works in here as well. There are elements of Swiss Family Robinson, Wall-E,and The Wizard of Oz, among others. It’s a nice mish-mash of familiar tropes. Now on to the reasons why I still say I loved this book, as I do believe it’s greater than the sum of its parts. While I can’t say it’s perfect, when it wants to be serious, there’s a gorgeous picture painted here. I can honestly say that I teared up several times throughout the story. It must be T.J. Klune’s signature whimsical charm! Any story that’s about fighting fate, I’m there, I’m seated! Anyway, so normally the books I read remind me of a few other things (like a song or a movie), and I know this is a loose retelling of Pinocchio, but I was reminded me of about a million other stories! It constantly had me like, “hey, this is like that thing from that one thing!” So instead of peppering them around evenly like a normal person, I think I’ll just list them all here so I don’t seem like I’m trying to brag as if I’m Mr. Pop Culture or whatever. When reading this, I couldn’t help but see constant shades of: WALL-E, Mass Effect 3, Terminator 2, Blade Runner, Fallout 4, and finally… The Iron Giant! Phew, that’s a lot of things! All of which have similar themes nature vs. nurture, and questions whether or not a machine can move past its programing and become something more, maybe even something human. And like many of those stories, the answer given is a resounding “yes!” ...There are no strings on me. All in all, I just think that this story has a really lovely message that it’s never too late to become a better person, and that any person, human or machine, is never too far gone. What else is there to say? This book is flawed, messy, and sometimes even inconsistent. Yet it remains beautiful and poignant all the same. I think that’s enough. Can’t expect an #OwnVoices work to go wrong with the rep! The Queer rep in this book is spot on, with one asexual character and one gay relationship. Victor was the one who fixed Nurse Ratched and Rambo and he is always on the lookout for another machine he can reactivate. So when he finds an android who for a minute was still "alive" before his battery stops, he knows he will do anything to fix the android who he names HAP (Hysterically Angry Puppet). At first, he hides him from GIO until HAP is fully operational. Without realizing by saving HAP, Victor has put his life in danger. Next thing he knows, androids are surrounding his home and GIO is taken prisoner to the City of Electric Dreams. Gio has left a message not to try to find him but Victor can't stop himself but embark on a trip to save the only father he has ever known.While Victor was growing up, he fixed two other robots that were relegated to the scrap pile long ago—the hilariously abrupt Nurse Ratched, who doles out one-liners that will leave you chortling, and the happily eager Rambo, a Roomba-esque vacuum cleaner who loves nothing more than cleaning up anything and everything. Life is good for Victor and his family as they live in the isolated cocoon of the forest. But the world he lives in is a grim one, where sentient robots have turned against their human creators and decidedly eradicated the species from the planet. Victor has never seen another human in his 19 years alive (or any working robots besides Gio, Ratchet and Rambo, for that matter), and for all he knows he could be the last human left. 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.

Have you ever read a book that is so mixed? That you have just as many good things to say about it as bad things, so you never really know how you feel about it because it was good!! But also it wasn't!! But also I enjoyed it!! But also it was annoying!! But still fun?? This is that book for me. Nonetheless, Vic and Hap’s tentative exploration of something that is brand-new for the both of them is very charming.I will still count this as a win for ace representation because Vic is at least portrayed as having emotions, which a lot of ace characters are not. I didn’t expect to emotionally identify with robots, but I found myself weeping as I read the last few chapters. (Although, really, are you surprised?) The ending is bittersweet, but hopeful enough to be somewhat satisfying. I will admit that this isn’t my favorite book of Klune’s. But I do think it’s an enjoyable read.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 Then Vic salvages an unfamiliar android labelled ‘HAP’. He learns that Hap and Gio share a dark past, where they hunted humans. And Hap unwittingly gives away Gio’s location. Before they know it, robots from Gio’s former life arrive – to capture and return the android to his old laboratory in the City of Electric Dreams.