Tell me a story... about life - real and artificial
In the Lives of Puppets by T.J. Klune
Publication date: April 25, 2023
Date read: January 29, 2023
In a strange little home built into the branches of a grove of trees, live three robots--fatherly inventor android Giovanni Lawson, a pleasantly sadistic nurse machine, and a small vacuum desperate for love and attention. Victor Lawson, a human, lives there too. They're a family, hidden and safe.
The 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. So together, the rest of Vic's assembled family must journey across an unforgiving and otherworldly country to rescue Gio from decommission, or worse, reprogramming.
I put off writing a review of this book for a while, because I’m still having a difficult time figuring out how I feel about it. I first want to say that I love The House in the Cerulean Sea (one of my all-time favorite books) and Under the Whispering Door. So I wanted to love this book more than I actually did.
There is a lot to like about this book. The side characters - especially Nurse Rached and Rambo - were wonderful and really funny. I just didn’t mesh with our lead characters at all. I really liked Vic, but unlike in Klune’s previous books, I just didn’t connect with him in a way that would make this book resonate with me like the others did.
I thought the setting was really interesting, and the idea of a world made up almost completely of robots was a really fun concept. Klune’s books are always completely unique in their premise, which I do appreciate. I also love his writing style, and in that sense this book did not disappoint.
I honestly just think that maybe it was the wrong time for me to read this book. There was a lot I enjoyed, but at the same time it just dragged for me. I can’t completely reconcile the idea that I can like a book and also that it takes me forever to read, which made it really difficult to rate
In the end, if you like Klune’s previous books I would still recommend this one. It didn’t completely work for me, but I also can’t find a lot of fault in it - it just didn’t affect me like I was hoping it would.
Content warning: child abandonment, fire, violent murder.
Note: sexual humor and talk of masturbation.
Rating: 3.5/5
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced copy of this book
