In the Lives of Puppets

by TJ Klune

Publisher: Tor Books
Ginasbookreport Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Genre: Fantasy / LGBT
Read This If You Love: The House in the Cerulean Sea, Under the Whispering Door, Once Upon a Time (tv show), Alix E. Harrow books

“It is as Gio said. Searching for a connection. Making something out of nothing so the spaces between us do not seem so far.”—Nurse Ratched

Another stunning fantastical novel from TJ Klune—master of wit and emotional writing! I absolutely love Klune’s writing style and the larger messages of found families, love, and connection that all of his books convey. This time around, In the Lives of Puppets takes us on a fairy tale retelling to tackle themes of loneliness, fitting in, and family and friendship. 

Victor is an inventor who lives in the forest with his father Gio and his two rebuilt robot friends, Nurse Ratched and Rambo (the Roomba). As Victor sets about building his latest piece of work, he stumbles upon an android in the Scrap Yard and decides to offer it a second chance at life. This act of compassion sets Victor on a collision course to the reality of the world around him. 

Side Note Here…I always try to give my reviews and book club prompts without any spoilers. This novel is so amazing and I enjoyed the spoiler-free nature of reading it. So, the book club prompts below and the text above is all spoiler free. However, the remainder of my comments and discussion will appear AFTER the book club prompts and WILL contain spoilers. Come back to read them after you finish the book.

SPOILER SECTION

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“…there is a beauty in their dissonant design.” —said about humanity.

There were two major themes and messages that I took away from In the Lives of Puppets. First and foremost, it is a story of love, connection, and the desire not to be alone. We are at our best when we have others around us and that would perhaps be true for artificial intelligence, as well, after they gained sentience. Through Giovanni’s creation of Victor and Victor’s rebuilding of Nurse Ratched, Rambo, and HAP, we see the deep desire to combat loneliness. Subsequently, through the trials and tribulations that the group experiences when the truth of GIO and HARP are revealed, we can see the desire for love, memory, and forgiveness to overcome fear. Be BRAVE! 

Those are all the emotional topics that Klune covers so well in all of his fantasy novels. However, in this book, I also felt that there were messages about the current state of our world. As humans we can be foolish and cruel and we can, indeed, destroy as pointed out by the characters in the book. Most of us though, as was also stated, are good and “full of light.” As creators of AI, do we inherently embed our own design into them and is that why so often the plot of books, movies, and television cover the topic of the singularity? I find it so fascinating that time after time, these pieces of entertainment all come to the conclusion that the downfall of AI would be the same as humanity, but with the ability to begin again. 

“…everything deserves a chance.”