Reviews tagging 'Abandonment'

In the Lives of Puppets by TJ Klune

18 reviews

20sidedbi's review

adventurous challenging emotional funny hopeful mysterious reflective sad 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Genocide, and Murder

Moderate: Kidnapping, Fire/Fire injury, and Abandonment

yvo_about_books's review against another edition

4.75

Finished reading: January 14th 2024

"Sometimes, it's the smallest things that can change everything when you least expect it."

This book was one of my most anticipated releases last year, because there is something about the way T.J. Klune writes his stories that makes it SO easy to fall in love with both the characters and the writing. I admit that I was a bit worried that some people didn't seem to enjoy In The Lives Of Puppets as much as some of his previous releases... But thankfully I didn't end up being one of them. I knew that I was going to end up giving this story a high rating almost as soon as I started reading it. There is just something about the writing style that just works for me, and the author always does such a fantastic job creating the most wonderful, flawed and quirky characters... The cast in In The Lives Of Puppets is no different, and I loved spending more time with them. Rambo and Nurse Ratched are absolutely hilarious with their banter! It's true that there isn't really much happening in especially the first half, and I was expecting to have more worldbuilding with this strange world the story is set in. This is without a doubt a character-driven story, but somehow I didn't really mind the slightly weaker plot and lack of details. I think this has a lot to do with the fact that I was completely charmed by both the writing and characters, and I was more than happy to just soak everything up and treasure every moment spent in their company. I could have done without the sexual innuendos and references, but as a whole I liked what the connection between Vic and Hap added to the plot. This story is pretty obviously a retelling of both Pinoccio and other classics, and I personally enjoyed spotting the different references. All in all, while In The Lives Of Puppets isn't my absolute favorite T.J. Klune book, I still had a fantastic time reading this story. These characters will stay with me for a long time! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Grief, Death, Blood, Panic attacks/disorders, Dementia, Fire/Fire injury, Murder, Abandonment, Animal death, Death of parent, Genocide, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Sexual content, and Violence

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.

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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

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

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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.

aloevera's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional 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

4.5

Such a good concept and executed so well. I love everything Klune writes and this was no exception! Coming of age story with a lot of strong themes around learning to rely on the people who love you and also accept their faults. Also the world building never feels too drawn out but by the end it all feels familiar which is really impressive.  There’s also asexual representation that’s done in quite a good way which I appreciated. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Abandonment, War, and Violence

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

fatfrog's review against another edition

Too boring and weird 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment

Moderate: Sexual content

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

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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

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