Reviews tagging 'Child death'

In the Lives of Puppets by TJ Klune

22 reviews

angelfireeast24's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Genocide, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Panic attacks/disorders, Kidnapping, and Violence

Moderate: Murder, Child death, Animal death, Blood, Death of parent, and Sexual content

Minor: Classism

oliverreeds's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Violence, Animal death, Child death, Fire/Fire injury, Confinement, Death, Hate crime, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Genocide, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, and Grief

kelseyr713's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful lighthearted mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Beautiful in many ways, a little grating in a few others. Overall an enjoyable adventure, although Nurse Ratchet and Rambo are definitely an acquired taste. I would be curious to read the original vision TJ Klune had for the book that he alludes to in the acknowledgements.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Genocide, Bullying, Death, Grief, Murder, Sexual content, Violence, Medical content, Child death, and Confinement

Minor: Self harm, Blood, and Animal death

hayleyvharrington's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Kidnapping, Child death, Genocide, Animal death, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Abandonment, Acephobia/Arophobia, Confinement, Dementia, and Fire/Fire injury

pey333's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny hopeful sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Genocide, Grief, and Violence

Moderate: Death, Murder, and Blood

Minor: Sexual content, Panic attacks/disorders, Child death, Animal death, and Cursing

mrsvanders21's review

4.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child death and Death of parent

Minor: Cursing, Sexual content, Child death, Animal cruelty, and Animal death

sarrie's review against another edition

emotional funny lighthearted sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

 

In the Lives of Puppets by TJ Klune is the strangest reimagining of a fairy tale I think I’ve ever read, and honestly? I’m not sure if it completely works, which makes me a bit sad. The story sets up Victor who is the son of a robot named Gio. They live in a forest with Rambo, a little vacuum unit who is the fluffiest of cinnamon rolls, and Nurse Ratched who is off her treads. The family finds another robot in the Scrap Yards and put in back together only to have things go badly from there. 

The characters in this, for the most part, are fantastic. TJ Klune’s strongest skill is characters and their dialogue. I found myself laughing out loud at a lot of lines, and I still swear Rambo must be protected at all costs. That was the strongest part for me, the other parts falling apart. 

The setting felt barely sketched in. We know they live in the forest and we see a few other settings, but none of them felt very clear. The characters and dialogue seemed to be the only thing carrying this forward as he attempted to grasp at his themes. Forgiveness, humanity, worth, personhood, etc were all things the story hinted at. Sadly it didn’t feel like anything clear was stated, and if we followed some of the ideas he set before us to their ultimate conclusion… it got a little uncomfortable. 

I think the breaking point for me was the point at which we’re expected to believe the romance between Victor and one of his robot companions, who we see in a flashback murder an untold amount of people, followed by a scene of him descending on a mother and her child. Victor wrestles with the idea of forgiving HAP (he has after all broken his programing in a way and no longer does these things) and ultimately still chooses him. This could entirely be me - I’ve lost children, I grapple with grief on a daily basis. I’m not sure if the imagery chosen could have been different and the idea conveyed better or if it this was just poorly constructed overall, but it fell apart. I also wonder at this idea of blanket forgiveness and how Klune has come under some fire in the recent past for his use of historical events for fictional story inspiration. 

Not a winner for me, clearly. I did enjoy parts of this, and if you want to read it for the characters and dialogue I would 100% recommend it. Perhaps however don’t read too deeply in or it will fall apart. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders and Mental illness

Minor: Blood, Child death, Confinement, and Murder

steffany's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Minor: Child death

hocuscrocus's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

From the very first chapter of this book, I knew I was in trouble. By the time I finished it, I was a sobbing mess.
I'll keep it brief, but what a BOOK. It's a funny, sweet, love letter to the human condition (and the not-so-human condition). I imagine I will be thinking about this book for a long, long time.
Also! If you, like me, are interested in books with really positive queer representation, read this. It was so refreshing to see some accurate ace representation in here.
It's a wonderful book and I look forward to inhaling everything else TJ Klune has to offer.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief and Blood

Moderate: Genocide, Dementia, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Child death

kimtazo's review

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Minor: Murder, Slavery, Genocide, Gaslighting, Violence, Child death, Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Grief