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mattiedancer's review against another edition
adventurous
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
4.5
Please Note: TJ Klune’s “The House in the Cerulean Sea” novel greatly affected my reading of “In the Lives of Puppets.” THitCS uses the residential school system in Canada, as well as the Sixties Scoop (a genocidal event where Indigenous children were ripped from their homes and sent to white families and/or residential schools in an effort to destroy Indigenous families and culture), as a base for a light-hearted fantasy story. While I understand that inspiration can come from a number of points, this simplification is dangerous and ignorant of the ongoing generational trauma caused to Indigenous peoples. He has mentioned that this is where he got his inspiration, and to make that connection explicit and known, compares the books to the events, thus connecting the book’s theme of “children needing love” to these disgusting and traumatic real-life events.
Writing: 4.25⭐️/5
Klune is a good writer. While many parts of this book seemed to oversimplify and overexplain certain obvious plot points, the overall writing and pacing of the story was extremely well-done. I enjoyed reading it.
Characters: 5⭐️/5
The characters are extremely cool. Listen, I wanted to not like the book, but the characters were incredibly well-written. I loved Nurse Ratched. I loved Rambo. And I really did love Victor and his unique perspective on the world. Personally, I really enjoyed that he seemed to be Autistic-coded, without making direct reference to him being a person with autism. I also really did enjoy the love interest, Hap, and his slow way of discovering his personality and humanity.
Note: After some digging about Klune’s desire to make Victor’s autism named and more significant to the theme, I really think that the sensitivity reader who pushed back against that version did a good favour.
Plot: 5⭐️/5
Oh, I really did love the plot. The Pinocchio-inspired story really worked well, and I enjoyed the references to the story without it seeming too heavy-handed, or at least not too heavy-handed for my tastes. I also adore a good slow start to a story, where it all builds to a great and final unspiralling of all the events we built up. Really well-paced and earned.
World 4.75⭐️/5
The world is cool. There’s a believability about how the robots remove humans to save the world. I loved the world the robots created, and their attempts to mimic humanity more perfectly – but they naturally misunderstand it a bit. The world felt clear and vibrant, though I would have loved a bit more clarity around the city.
Who Should Read This Book?
- As someone who does not intend to read Klune again, I will not be recommending it to anyone.
Content Warnings?
Murder, death of parent, death, grief, violence, gun violence, gore, blood, injury, injury detail,
Post-Reading Rating: 4.5⭐️/5
I did really enjoy the book. I also really liked the ending.
Final Rating: 4.5⭐️/5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death of parent, Violence, Genocide, Death, Panic attacks/disorders, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Bullying, Dementia, Gaslighting, Grief, and Gun violence
caidyn's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
God this was so good and cute. Omg it was just great. I kept finding myself laughing because the characters in this were so much fun. It's very different than some of his other books, but I loved this latest one.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief
Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders and Genocide
Minor: Acephobia/Arophobia
handful_of_frogs's review against another edition
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.0
A huge disappointment, Klune seems to be regressing as a writer- this is coming from someone who loved Under the Whispering Door and The House in the Cerulean Sea. If he wants to write an asexual character accurately maybe he should find a premise for them that doesn't involve being attracted to androids. This entire book is a mix of material stolen from Spielberg's AI film, Pinocchio (of course), and a bland d&d campaign. The most interesting character is an anxious Roomba but even a quipping vacuum can't make this novel worth the time it took to read it.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Death of parent, Dysphoria, Excrement, Fire/Fire injury, Genocide, Gore, Grief, Police brutality, War, Violence, Bullying, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Panic attacks/disorders, and Sexual content
starsnstitchin's review against another edition
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
slow-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
2.5
This book was different than his other books, and had more (for lack of ability to think of a more clear word choice) "adult content," talking about genitals, pooping, and sex more than expected (and more than necessary or comfortable). The world building didn't make sense in some parts, which made it hard to get immersed in the story. It's painfully clear that the ace character was written from the perspective of a non-ace author. It's not the worst rep I've read, but it didn't feel like an actually ace character. The whole book was a bit of a let down, and the ending feels a bit loose and lacks a lot of desired closure, with some story elements that had been built up left hanging and anticlimatically unaddressed. It felt like the story was building up around something, but the something never arrived or got explained. The acknowledgements at the end by the author sounded very bitter, but made me wonder if the slightly out of tune feel to the book as well as the loose ending was because there's supposed to be something more to the book than we're given. Not his best work, but it did make me laugh at times, and it was enjoyable in parts.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Confinement, Genocide, Grief, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Panic attacks/disorders, and Abandonment
Moderate: Self harm, Animal death, Death, Excrement, Police brutality, Cursing, Bullying, Terminal illness, and War
fantasycat's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
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
4.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Kidnapping
Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders
Minor: Blood
throwback682's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
sad
- 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? Yes
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Grief, Gaslighting, Confinement, Blood, Abandonment, Xenophobia, War, Kidnapping, Panic attacks/disorders, Fire/Fire injury, Death of parent, Medical content, Suicide, and Death
Moderate: Child death, Excrement, Sexual content, Dementia, and Animal death
Proceed with caution if you have experience with loved ones with dementia. This book also has a “sociopathic” character and I personally think handles cluster B disorders insensitively.therainbowshelf's review
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
reflective
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? It's complicated
5.0
I rather enjoyed this ridiculous book. It's a fun, imaginative sci-fi that rifs on Pinocchio as we follow a human and his robot found-family on a quest to rescue his father and uncover hard truths about their world along the way. I also always enjoy finding ace mcs and neurodiverse mcs. Highly recommend giving the audiobook a listen as well. The narrator does an excellent job.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Panic attacks/disorders, Child death, Genocide, Death, Murder, and Grief
Moderate: Fire/Fire injury
Family member with memory losskeya_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
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
kaiyakaiyo's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
lighthearted
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.0
I’m gonna be honest, this book bored the hell out of me. I’ve read two other Klune books before this and they were able to hook me from page one,… this one still had me yawning on page 100.
It has none of the heart or whimsy the other books have, and the plot is deeply unimaginative. It leaned way too heavily on Pinocchio and didn’t even do robot apocalypse well to balance it out. It felt like if you put Pinocchio, the Terminator, and WALL·E into a blender and Pinocchio was the banana. The result was an over-Pinnochioed bland machine apocalypse smoothie with a lil iRobot garnish.
To be fair, Pinocchio was boring to me as a kid so i wasn’t expecting to revel in the Easter eggs, but the plot was just unbearably slow to fit in all the details. The entire kidnapping arc was a waste of pages, and clearly just meant to adhere to the Pinocchio bit. The comic relief robots were incessant and their dialogue contrived, the romance dynamic was kinda weird and very rushed enemies to lovers coded, and the side characters weren’t at all interesting. Anything that could have redeemed this book failed to do so. I kinda liked the idea of robots ending up as shadows of the vices the humans that built them had, but Klune made that an afterthought to the shoddy plot.
The Blue Fairy was kinda intriguing, and their master plan was fascinating, but it felt like Klune made them genderqueer for shock value. “look at how the spectrum of human sexuality translates into a robot!” … we get it without seeing them naked. the slot machine genitals seem…. in poor taste.
Anyways, I’m going to go watch The Terminator and WALL·E back to back
It has none of the heart or whimsy the other books have, and the plot is deeply unimaginative. It leaned way too heavily on Pinocchio and didn’t even do robot apocalypse well to balance it out. It felt like if you put Pinocchio, the Terminator, and WALL·E into a blender and Pinocchio was the banana. The result was an over-Pinnochioed bland machine apocalypse smoothie with a lil iRobot garnish.
To be fair, Pinocchio was boring to me as a kid so i wasn’t expecting to revel in the Easter eggs, but the plot was just unbearably slow to fit in all the details. The entire kidnapping arc was a waste of pages, and clearly just meant to adhere to the Pinocchio bit. The comic relief robots were incessant and their dialogue contrived, the romance dynamic was kinda weird and very rushed enemies to lovers coded, and the side characters weren’t at all interesting. Anything that could have redeemed this book failed to do so. I kinda liked the idea of robots ending up as shadows of the vices the humans that built them had, but Klune made that an afterthought to the shoddy plot.
The Blue Fairy was kinda intriguing, and their master plan was fascinating, but it felt like Klune made them genderqueer for shock value. “look at how the spectrum of human sexuality translates into a robot!” … we get it without seeing them naked. the slot machine genitals seem…. in poor taste.
Anyways, I’m going to go watch The Terminator and WALL·E back to back
Content Warnings
Moderate: Genocide, Xenophobia, Violence, Fire/Fire injury, Blood, Medical content, Murder, Kidnapping, and Panic attacks/disorders
kaitlinwarwick's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
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? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death of parent
Moderate: Acephobia/Arophobia, Violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Dementia, War, and Sexual content
Minor: Gun violence and Homophobia