Reviews tagging 'Confinement'

In the Lives of Puppets by TJ Klune

42 reviews

keya_caivalur's review

adventurous challenging emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted mysterious reflective relaxing sad tense fast-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: Panic attacks/disorders, Fire/Fire injury, Blood, Death of parent, Violence, Xenophobia, Grief, Dementia, and Murder

Moderate: War, Slavery, Abandonment, and Animal death

Minor: Police brutality, Cancer, Dysphoria, Sexual content, Death, Genocide, Chronic illness, Confinement, Torture, Excrement, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, and Self harm

spootilious's review against another edition

dark emotional funny lighthearted medium-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

3.0

 

Read: September 11, 2023
 Title: In the Lives of Puppets
 Author: T.J. Klune
 Genre: Adult LGBT Fiction
 Rating: 3/5
 Review: 

I wanted to love this book so very much, however, I’m afraid that I simply liked it. The novel is cute with an edge of darkness to it but overall, a decent read.  The characters are lovable and unique and the storyline, while predictable, was entertaining. 

I suppose it fell a bit short for me for a number of reasons. The foremost being that Klune as shown us he can write better than this. While, House on the Cerulean Sea comes to mind, even the less fantastic novel Under the Whispering Door felt more enticing. That, of course, isn’t to say that this book was bad but rather not as good. 

Much of the storyline felt forced, trying to fit into the Pinocchio retelling, and some of the dialog seems a bit clunky (and not due to the robots). This isn’t to mention the strange obsession these robots had with sex… but that last bit might just be a me thing…. Not sure. 

Regardless, an overall decent book, though not one I’d read again and not one of Klune’s best. 

 

 Quotes: 

“Forgiving others could be difficult, but forgiving yourself can sometimes feel impossible.” 

 

 

TW: Blood and Violence, Minor TW: Abandonment, Animal death, Body shaming, confinement, Death of a parent, Death, Dementia, Fire/Fire injure, Genocide, Grief, Sexual Content, Torture. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Blood and Violence

Minor: Animal death, Body shaming, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Genocide, Dementia, Confinement, Death, Grief, Sexual content, Abandonment, and Torture

wishbea's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny lighthearted medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Genocide, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Abandonment, Confinement, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Blood, and Kidnapping

kal517's review

adventurous emotional funny hopeful 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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Genocide, Grief, and Violence

Moderate: Blood, Death, and Confinement

Minor: Panic attacks/disorders and Sexual content

gen_wolfhailstorm's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful informative mysterious reflective sad tense slow-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

Reading vlogs:
Part 1 -
Part 2 -

Thank you to Black Crow PR and Tor for a physical early copy. All opinions remain my own.

This was a fantastic reimagining of Pinnoccio (I liked the inital turning the concept on its head that Victor was already a 'real boy', but boy, was it more than that). I think it taking the more science fiction, dystopian route enabled the story to develop into a much wider discussion of humanity, 'playing god' with AI and the very real potential for what we're so desperate to create (and surpass every other nation in the science for) usurping us and running things...better? ...Maybe. (you can talk amongst yourselves on that one.. )

The romance was very, very slow burn and I loved it. It wasn't the main thread of narration but it somehow felt integral to the plot and was meaningful and impactful too.

The family relationships were absolutely beautiful. The love that this miss-match of loveable characters had for each other was so heartfelt and powerful and I adored reading about the lengths that each and every one of them would go to, in order to keep the others safe. I couldn't help but think that this is what family should aspire to be, and I think this thought is made even more poignant when the reader takes a step back and recalls that the majority of the cast are robot's, machines and AI of some description. If they can do it so profoundly, it makes you really wonder about humanity.

There is so much I could say about all the characters but I'll just stick to Victor. Being the potentially last of his kind, he was even more of a unique individual. His devotion to his loved ones was admirable and his determination to overcome his internal battles was just as inspiring. He made for a complex, challenging and a (learning to be) emotionally aware protagonist that I loved to read about.

I'm sure I've expressed more feeling here and there within my (multitude of) reading vlog(s) already so do feel free to check those out, if you'd like. For now, I will leave this review with this: I loved this book!

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Dementia, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Forced institutionalization, Slavery, Self harm, Outing, Violence, War, Torture, Panic attacks/disorders, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Genocide, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, Confinement, and Blood

nevermoregothic's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective tense 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Blood, and Murder

Moderate: Animal death, Grief, and Confinement

Minor: Child death

anni_swanilda's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny hopeful mysterious 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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief

Moderate: Confinement, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Murder, Violence, Blood, Death, and Genocide

Minor: Animal death and Child death

akirokis's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful medium-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Confinement and Panic attacks/disorders

lastsilversunset's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny hopeful medium-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Excrement, Fire/Fire injury, and Grief

Minor: Confinement and Medical content

traa's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny hopeful 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Abandonment, Fire/Fire injury, and Murder

Moderate: Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Violence, Dementia, Panic attacks/disorders, Blood, Child death, Confinement, Death, and Genocide

Minor: Injury/Injury detail, Animal death, Death of parent, Fatphobia, Mental illness, Medical content, Drug use, and Sexual content