Inspired by Carlo Collodi's The Adventures of Pinocchio, In the Lives of Puppets is a masterful standalone fantasy adventure from the author who brought you The House in the Cerulean Sea and Under the Whispering Door. An epic quest of rescue and discovery [with] the author's trademark charm, heart, and bittersweetness. When Hap unwittingly alerts robots from Gio's former life to their whereabouts, the family is no longer hidden and safe. The 103 third parties who use cookies on this service do so for their purposes of displaying and measuring personalized ads, generating audience insights, and developing and improving products. And I’ll just go ahead and throw this out there: In the Lives of Puppets is better than Under the Whispering Door and as good as (if not a teensy bit better than) The House in the Cerulean Sea.

The shriek he’d let out at the bone protruding wetly from his arm had been louder than any sound he’d made before. His father wasn’t happy about it, telling him that a twelve-year-old had no reason to be in the Scrap Yards. Sadly, he's the least developed character, so his inner turmoil isn't as impactful as it could've been. Nurse Ratched and Rambo alone are worth this read, but I loved Victor and Hap’s dynamic and Gio as well! Inspired by Carlo Collodi’s The Adventures of Pinocchio , In the Lives of Puppets is a masterful standalone fantasy adventure from the beloved author who brought you The House in the Cerulean Sea and Under the Whispering Door .Readers who loved Klune’s previous works will find plenty of the author’s trademark charm, heart, and bittersweet. Many characters struggle with their guilt, and the journey through the pages also becomes that of acceptance and absolution. There’s Gio, a fatherly inventor droid, Nurse Ratched and Rambo, a sociopathic nurse machine and a lovable robot vacuum (respectively), and Victor, a human. The hatch on her lower right side slid up, and one of her tentacle-like arms extended, patting the top of Rambo’s casing.

When Hap unwittingly alerts robots from Gio’s former life to their whereabouts, the family is no longer hidden and safe.Being human is so much more than being made of flesh and blood, and this story is a great way of knowing what humaneness is all about. Overall it’s still an entertaining read, and maybe I was expecting more having connected with the other books so well, but it was a pretty standard story, albeit an unusual premise. While it has some sweet moments and some funny ones, I don't think this book will stick with me like some of his other work.

Another imaginative and compassionate novel from the bestselling author of Under the Whispering Door, In the Lives of Puppets centres on a group of robots and their human companion, and what happens when old enmities threaten to engulf their fragile happiness. I did find it was more “wizard of oz” than “Pinocchio” and found Victor and Hap’s blossoming relationship to be forced and quite unbelievable - jumping from nothing, to a sudden ‘lay down your life for them’ connection. A tiny vacuum robot screamed as it spun in concentric circles, spindly arms that ended in pincers waving wildly in the air. Often with speculative fiction, either we don't get enough explanation and so the whole thing feels vague, or we get too much explanation and you get mired in the how's and why's.It also highlights how easy it is to forgive the ones we love but we need to be open about our mistakes and forgive ourselves too. It's because reading them makes me feel like a kid again, stepping into a magical world where you can cheer on the good guys as they triumph over the forces of evil.

About halfway through the story, it changed from the peaceful, yet intriguing house in the woods to a quest. From classic tales such as ‘Swiss Family Robinson’, ‘The Wizard of Oz’, and ‘One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest’ to even modern movies such as ‘Real Steel’ and ‘Wall-E’, the content is a treasure trove of Easter Eggs for fiction fans. The human sphincter is a muscle, and upon death, it relaxes, allowing waste to vacate the body in a spectacular fashion, especially if there is impact trauma. It's familiar enough so you can recognize some of the points of the story, but it's different enough that it feels completely new and not just 'Pinocchio but Sci-Fi'.The day Vic salvages and repairs an android labelled "HAP," he learns of a shared dark past between Hap and Gio-a past spent hunting humans. But not only is the journey about rescuing Gio – Victor must also learn to love and forgive, even when there are strings attached. You know a book is exceptional when it’s capable of making your heart hurt in the most wonderful way, all the way through! I'm tearing up writing it - because it's not cheesy, it's not corny - it's love - and if I'm anything, it's I'm a romantic at heart.