Thank you to NetGalley UK and the publisher for providing me with an e-ARC in exchange for a review.

5⭐️

My goodness. I didn’t know what to expect from this book other than I knew how much I loved TJK’s The House in the Cerulean Sea - I thought surely a book could not affect me the same way as that one ??? I was wrong.

This book is about robots, but mostly it’s about humanity. Victor Lawson is a human raised by humanoid robot Giovanni Lawson. The other members of his family are Nurse Ratched - a nursing machine who has slight sociopathic tendencies, and Rambo - a vacuum who has an abundance of hope and also anxiety. They happen upon who they come to know as Hap (Hysterically Angry Puppet) and become determined to fix him, make him part of their family - despite Gio’s fears of Hap’s origins.

"What was I made for?"
"You were made to bring happiness. You are alive in ways we are not. You are soft and fragile. But you are complex and disturbing and sometimes, foolishly brilliant.”


In the Lives of Puppets made me cry as many times as it made me laugh - and it made me laugh a lot. TJK’s character work is incredible. Nurse Ratched’s dry wit and not at all veiled threats, especially, had me laughing over and over. On the other side of that coin, despite all her threats to little Rambo especially, she showed so much compassion and care, was so quick to defend him and Victor at the first sign of danger - it had me in tears many, many times.

“I must not be as sociopathic as I believed, because I am filled with sorrow."


When Giovanni is taken and his memory wiped, his family are determined to find him and bring him back to what’s left of their home. Their journey is full of hope, grief, love, family, and choosing who you want to be. It cracked my heart and warmed it over and over. Absolutely wonderful.

“And above all else, be brave.”


tldr; perfect for if you want to laugh and cry in equal measures

This is such a beautifully written story about friendship and found family. There is a very loose connection to the story of Pinocchio, but not massively, only that our protagonist is set on locating the blue fairy for help to rescue his father from the clutches of an organisation.

The story is set in a world where humans no longer exist and machines have taken over. Inventor, android Giovanni, builds a house in the middle of the woods and after sometime feels lonely and wanting companionship. One day, he agrees to help a fleeing human family by agreeing to take care of their baby.

Fast-forward and Vic is all grown-up and wants for nothing, he has friendship in the form of a pleasantly sadistic nurse machine, and a small vacuum desperate for love and attention. Everything seems to be perfect until one day Vic salvages and repairs an unfamiliar android labelled "HAP," he learns of a shared dark past between Hap and Gio-a past spent hunting humans.

When Hap unwittingly alerts robots from Gio's former life to their whereabouts, the family is no longer hidden and safe. Gio is captured and taken back to his old laboratory in the City of Electric Dreams.

The characters are all so loveable, and I was absolutely addicted to this book. It will take you on an emotional rollercoaster, but I would highly recommend

When I first saw that this was a Pinocchio retelling I didn’t have very high hopes, fairytale retellings have never been my thing and Pinocchio has been redone a million times over now so I wasn’t sure where this was going to go. However T.J. Klune is one of those authors whose books I will buy as soon as they come out, so I was going to give this a go too, and I’m so glad I did.

This is such a unique story and it’s unlike any other Pinocchio retelling you will ever see or read. I thoroughly enjoyed this from beginning to end.

This is much more action than in his other two books ‘The House in the Cerulean Sea’ and ‘Under the Whispering Door’ but it still felt cosy, and still has all of the heartfelt moments added in that T.J. Klune is so good at.

This book has the heart and humour from ‘House in the Cerulean Sea’ mixed with the insightfulness from ‘Under the Whispering Door’ and together it makes for a magical combination.

The way he writes his characters is like no other and I’ve never loved characters as much as I’ve loved every single character he’s written.

This book made me both laugh and cry. Especially with everything going on in the world at the moment, it was so refreshing reading something that focused on the good in humanity rather than all the evil and awfulness. Even though the majority of the characters in this are robots, it gives you hope in humanity again. I can’t wait to get my hands on a physical copy.

Thank you to Pan MacMillan and NetGalley for providing me with this e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

This was a slow starter but once it going I was blown away, TJ Klune's writing takes you through every emotion with a heart-warming, touching story about found family, friendship and learning to love. I was sceptical at first knowing this was a light retelling of Pinocchio but this was amazing with sweet messages about learning about emotions and overcoming being a 'reject' and broken' and finding love in each other. I just loved the overall message of this although it wasn't a fully light-hearted book it made me feel good and happy reading and it will definitely be a reread.

A beautiful story about what it means to be human, love, forgiveness and acceptance. It was funny and charming, a delight to read.

In the Lives of Puppets is a Pinocchio meets The Wizard of Oz tale about the human experience. Starring a found family of sentient robots including: Gio, a benevolent inventor; Nurse Ratchet, a sadistic and sarcastic nurse robot; Rambo, a neurotic Roomba desperate for love; and Victor, the lone ACE human.
As always, Klune deftly balances subtle-laugh-out-loud humor with an incredibly keen eye for the human condition. Puppets is a beautiful meditation on what it means to be human and to live in the moment. How do we process things like overwhelming grief, anger, love and forgiveness in the incredible finite amount of time we have here?
This cast of characters is top tier. Nurse Ratchet, the sadistic and sarcastic nurse robot, is wonderfully salty. I live for her running commentary. Rambo, the neurotic Roomba, was too cute for words. His naivety and enthusiasm were a bright spot in all the dark moments. Together they steal the show, the salty and sweet found family you love to see.
Victor is an incredibly unique male MC. As a human lost and overwhelmed in a machine’s world, how does he maintain his humanity? How does he help teach it to the androids around him? This is the first book I’ve read with an ACE MC. With book trends these days being decidedly on the spicier side (no judgement), it was exciting seeing value placed on different ways to express love and connection. Vic and Hap’s relationship was powerful and inspiring.
I will say that for me, the book lost its focus a little bit in the last quarter. Conversations and plot felt repetitive and the humor dried up. Victor’s character seemed to plateau just as the plot was reaching its crescendo. He didn’t quite rise to the occasion. But then, I also felt he was a true representation of a character who was more analytical and introverted. He challenged my ideas of strength and expression.
This one is for anyone who feels overwhelmed in an overstimulated world. Anyone who wants to contemplate their finite experience here on earth. And of course, anyone looking for a book featuring sadistic nurse robots and romantic vacuums.

A wonderfully touching story of family and loyalty and love. Familiar enough to be reassuring and comforting and different enough to be engaging and exciting. The characters are relatable and positive (mainly) and often very funny. A cross between Pinochio and Terminator, and an absolute delight.

In the Lives of Puppets by TJ Klune 🤖 🌈

A heart-warming sci-fi / light fantasy retelling of Pinocchio. Victor is the human ‘son’ of a decommissioned inventor robot, Gio, living up high in a tree top workshop - scavenging parts and repairing scraped robots. Humankind has been overrun and extinguished by sentient robots. Victor and his father have lived peacefully deep in the woods until one day, Victor salvages an android, HAP, that had been programmed to kill humans. Unfortunately, HAP inadvertently alerts the robot overlords to Gio and Victor’s existence and puts them both in danger.

Ultimately, a story of love and what it means to be human - experiencing love, paternal & fraternal as well as romantic love, value of memory and free will. ‘Humanity’ is not the preserve of humans - but can be found in a hybrid family of rejects, spare parts and left overs. As with Klune’s earlier work, the beautiful, The House in the Cerulean Sea, it is centred on a slow burn romance of the MMCs, but the humour and sense of fun really comes from the diverse cast of supporting characters including a sociopathic robot medic Nurse Ratchet and a romantic vacuum-bot called Rambo.

A truly joyful read.

TJ Klune has a brilliant talent for writing heart warming fantasy. And this is no exception! It's a sweet story, full of tender moments between characters.

I would say it's weaker then his some of his previous books but it is still extremely enjoyable.

A retelling of Pinocchio but with robots instead of puppets. Victor lives in the forest with his father, Giovanni, and his robot friends Rambo and Nurse Ratched. One day while searching the nearest scrap heap for anything useful Victor and his friends find a robot that was supposed to be decommissioned, they bring the robot home and reboot him, but he doesn’t remember who he is or what his original function was. Giovanni does know the new robot, and this robot has ties to Giovanni’s previous life, and soon that life comes looking for Giovanni and they take him back to the City of Electric Dreams. Victor and his friends set out to rescue his father and bring him home, along the way they will find out about themselves and Giovanni’s previous life.
I loved this, and I will confess that when I got the email from NetGalley approving me for an arc I did squeal with excitement.

For a book that's almost.entirely inhabited by machines this is probably the most human book I've read. TJ Klune always makes you FEEL all the emotions and this one was no different. This was such an interesting read, I can't wait to see what he brings out next.

Another absolute beauty! Not that I’m surprised

TJ Klune strikes again with another incredible collection of characters. Rambo and Nurse Ratched are truly two of my favourite characters ever written, I laughed so much at all of their interaction.
I loved the plot but the characters were the biggest draw for me in this one.

When I started reading this one I wasn’t sure, but then the story got going and wow, T.J. Klune has done it again! This is a story about being able to choose who we want to be, love, family and hope, and what a masterpiece it is!

Well, T. J. Klune does it again! I defy anyone to read this book and not be massively emotionally invested by the end.

At the core of the story is a wonderful found family – specifically with two sentient robots, the last living human, and a bearded android. I never thought I would be prepared to fight someone to protect a talking roomba, but here we are!

It’s been a long time since I’ve read a book that has had me in such a grip. I could not put it down, I was so desperate to find out what happens next! The story has so many twists and turns, and each one is filled with emotional impact.

While this book was a big hit for me from the emotion perspective, there were a few things that didn’t quite work for me. Both the exposition and the resolution of the story felt a little clunky, and the Pinocchio aspect took over the story a bit too much for me at some points. This is a tricky book to land – a whimsical tale of found family set after the robot revolution isn’t the most obvious combination – and it was almost there. There were just a couple of stumbling blocks at the book ends of the story.

Despite the structural aspects that I didn’t like so much, this story still has a strong emotional element to it that is full of heart. That’s what I was expecting (and what most readers will expect) when I picked up this book, and I’m so happy that it’s what I got!

I received a free copy for review. All opinions are my own.

This book reads like a child’s fairytale easy to read and well written
It’s quirky with likeable characters
Sci-fi fantasy that was a real page turner
Enjoyable

I have adored all of the TJ Klune books that I have read and this new story - based around the classic Pinocchio - is another smash hit!

So I have adored every book I've read by TJ Klune and I cannot express how excited I was when I got approved to read his latest book, In the Lives of Puppets ..
This sci-fi, fantasy retelling of Carlo Collodi's Pinocchio did not disappoint! Full of insanely loveable characters, you are transported into their world and taken on an adventure with some quirky robots that have a lot of heart and will make you laugh, cry and want to hug every hoover you meet!

This is the first TJ Klune book that I have picked up and I now need to read the others. This book made me laugh, smile, cry and fear. To be clear - there are no puppets in the book, but I think this refers to the way that the Authority controls. My idea. Anyway we have Giovanni who is a creator/inventor and an android who lives in the forest with his human son, Victor. Like his father, Victor is also an inventor and from the scrap heaps, he has rescued and rebuilt Rambo, a vacuum and Nurse Ratched, an android designed to heal. These three then discover on the same scrap heaps a decommissioned and broken android that they name Hap. they take him home to rebuild him but keep him a secret from Giovanni. However, this decision leads to a series of events that has Victor, Hap, Rambo and Nurse Ratched setting out on a perilous journey. In this story AI has taken over, there is no room for humans - we are in a dystopian landscape where to be human was to be hunted. That said, life for androids does not seem to be exactly sweet as the Authority rule with an iron fist and any machine stepping out of line is decommissioned and thrown on the scrap heaps. There are nods to the story of Pinocchio here and also, in my opinion, a nod to the Wizard of Oz as the journey undertaken by Victor and the three machines reminded me of the journey of Dorothy and the three friends. However, Victor's journey was filled with a lot more danger and tension than Dorothy's - at times i was holding my breath. I loved the characterisations. Nurse Ratched is blunt, funny and dangerous with her desire to drill while Rambo is the annoying little kid who can't keep quiet. The relationship between Hap and Victor is sweetly told. This is a story about friendship, loyalty and love. Such a wonderful read.

4.5* Stars

In the Lives of Puppets is so weird and yet so incredibly T.J. Klune.

It's based on Pinnochio (something I've actually never seen or read) but actually also reminded me in parts of The Wizard of Oz.

It was a really cosy read, packed full of interesting and compelling characters. Victor is the main character - he's a human who lives as the last of his kind in a dystopian future ruled by robots and machines. This is my main reason for describing it as weird - at times, it was amazingly bizarre, even for Klune. I really enjoyed that side of it, though sometimes I did struggle to envision some of the things being described to me.

The side-characters were as fabulous as you'd expect - Nurse Ratched was consistently hilarious - sharp-tongued, slightly aggressive, but caring as well. Rambo is an anxiety filled Roomba Vacuum - yes, really. He's just adorable. He's fun, hyperactive, and almost fills the gap as the child of the story.

The story itself is very action driven and at times quite tense. A lot happens, especially when the characters set out on their adventure. It's definitely full of Klune's normal humour, and will leave you smiling from ear to ear at times. Other parts are heart-wrenching. It's a rollercoaster, and one I didn't want to get off as I approached the end!

It's important to note that this is not a romance, there's basically no steam at all - this suits the story really well, though, as Victor is asexual - it's nice this is getting some coverage.

Overall, I'd definitely recommend this, it's a great and entertaining read.

This is a wonderful sci-fi fantasy with it's origins in the Pinocchio story, not the Disney version, it is much, much darker than that. Full of fantastic, quirky characters, as is always the case with T.J. Klune stories, and absolutely amazing storytelling. Another winner.