Scan barcode
berodatheelf's review
emotional
funny
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? Yes
5.0
This book made me sob fully on public transport... Twice! It's funny and sweet with heart wrenching moments. The characters were fantastic and very creative and the romance made me squeal so loudly. This is my first TJ Klune book and I look forward to reading more.
(Extra bonus points for writing a queer Retelling of pinocchio!)
(Extra bonus points for writing a queer Retelling of pinocchio!)
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death of parent, Blood, Confinement, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, and Medical content
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
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
exlibrisabigaillee's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
reflective
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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death of parent and Fire/Fire injury
Moderate: Blood and War
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:
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.
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
foxwish'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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Genocide, and Fire/Fire injury
Moderate: Abandonment, Confinement, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Blood, and Kidnapping
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!
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!
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