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

adventurous funny hopeful reflective sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

Really enjoyed the first half of this book, but I feel the storytelling got confused/sloppy. Per usual, Klune did not go where I expected with the narrative, but this was the first time I wasn't really a fan of what he did. I think there's a lot of potential
to draw comparisons with dementia, caring for a partner/parent, and exploration of what it means to have a soul
, but some of the themes brought up in the middle were just re-explored the same way at the end. There was strange repetition of revelations of the past of two characters that were much less surprising the second time around, for obvious reasons. I like that there isn't a clean cut happy ending, but I am definitely left unsatisfied. 
Can we talk a bit more about how 2 characters kind of committed genocide?
The world building was successful to a point, but I felt like Klune broke his own rules enough that why bother setting them? For example the sexual + toilet humor was entertaining the first few times, but got old by the middle of the book. If these machines learn based on repeated interactions, then why wouldn't they learn after the first 100 times that Vic is embarrassed by these 'private' conversations?
Expand filter menu Content Warnings