In the Lives of Puppets by TJ Klune

In the Lives of Puppets

Author: TJ Klune

Genre: Fiction, maybe Sci-Fi

Format: Digital ARC via NetGalley

Publish Date: April 2023

Read: March 2023

Favorite Quote: Be you man or machine, death awaits us all.

Story Synopsis: Victor Lawson grew up in a remote location with his father, Giovanni. Not too far from their home was a machine scrap yard, and from that scrap yard, Vic found and rebuilt friends: Nurse Ratched, a very sassy and questionably medical robot, and Rambo, a neurotic and charming vacuum. One day, Vic found an android with a bit of life still in it and brought him home to fix him up. But in that excursion, Vic cut himself triggering an alarm to all the machines in the neural network alerting them to the presence of a human.

And while Giovanni was Victor’s father, Giovanni was a machine. Humans had been wiped out decades earlier.

When the machines sought out the human whose blood was in the scrap yard, they found only Gio who they took. Vic decides to go after his dad with Nurse Ratched, Rambo, and his newest friend, Hap.

Why does this book beguile? Having read The House in the Cerulean Sea and Under the Whispering Door, I had high hopes for In the Lives of Puppets. TJ Klune did not disappoint. Set in a dystopian future where humans do not exist, In the Lives of Puppets explores the meaning of family, friendship, love, choice, and free will.

Rating: 5/5

Link*: In the Lives of Puppets by TJ Klune

If you’re interested in this, read*: The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune

Book Club Reading Guide: In the Lives of Puppets by TJ Klune