A review by thaliareads
In the Lives of Puppets by TJ Klune

adventurous challenging emotional funny hopeful inspiring 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

5.0

 Thank you to Tor Books and NetGalley for the ARC! 

Boy meets robot in this simultaneously heartwarming and heart-wrenching novel by TJ Klune. While in some ways this novel is a reimagining of the Adventures of Pinocchio, and you can see the mirroring of themes and even motifs from the original novel, the science fiction setting sets it apart as a tale of its own. 

When Victor finds an android hanging on to life in the salvage yard he knows he has to help, but little does he know the chain of events that this will set off. Before he knows it, Victor is forced to trek across a land completely unfamiliar to him in order to bring his family back together. Luckily, he has his rag-tag group of robot friends to protect him from and guide him through a world that wants humans gone. Will he be able to reunite with his captured family? What will be the cost, and will things ever go back to how they were before? 

Need I say WOW! This was another huge hit for me from TJ Klune. The amount of wit and humor spread throughout the otherwise high-stakes story helps to balance the tone and make this a book I would have read in one sitting if I had the time. In a way, this is a coming-of-age story because Victor has been living in seclusion since childhood and has a lot to learn about the world if he’s going to succeed in navigating it. He also has a lot to learn about love and romance, and how that looks for him knowing he identifies as asexual. Overall, this book has an engaging cast of characters and an interesting and dynamic world and lore. While I didn’t see the ending coming, I think it was very fitting to the lessons learned by the characters throughout their journey. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Cursing, Violence, and Blood

Moderate: Torture, Kidnapping, Death, Sexual content, and Confinement

Minor: Animal death, Self harm, and Genocide

I put "blood" in graphic because blood and bleeding are frequent topics as they would alert everyone to Victor's existence. Victor does prick his finger which could be seen as self harm since it is intentional, however, it is not due to depression or suicidal ideologies. Victor does have to hunt for food, but it is not described in detail. One of his family members also frequently curses or does the equivalent of cursing and profanity. However, it typically is done to ease tension and add comedy rather than in a way that feels trashy or rude. It does come up that robots have basically commited a mass genocide of the human population, however it is not described in a lot of detail. There are a few scenes with very specific and clearly defined violence, but it is all in support of revealing important information about our main characters. There is a brief period where the main character feels confined and is experiencing massive guilt about not being able to help his family. His family member is kidnapped and torture is implied. Death is interesting in this book, because for androids what is defined as death? Either way, they do contemplate Victor's mortality multiple times throughout the book.