Editors Reads Verdict
Klune's most ambitious world-building: the robot-dominated post-human world is genuinely imaginative, and the Pinocchio scaffolding gives the adventure a mythic weight that the more domestic Cerulean Sea and Whispering Door don't reach for. The found-family themes are Klune's constant.
What We Loved
- The post-human robot-dominated world is more fully realised than anything in Klune's previous work — genuinely imaginative world-building
- The Authority's bureaucratic horror carries a satirical edge that the cozy surface of the book doesn't always prepare you for
- The Pinocchio scaffolding gives the adventure mythic weight that the more domestic Cerulean Sea and Whispering Door don't reach for
- The road narrative structure suits Klune's ensemble instincts perfectly — each stage deepens existing characters and expands the world
Minor Drawbacks
- The cozy-fantasy register and the dystopian post-human premise create occasional tonal dissonance that not all readers will find satisfying
- The found-family resolution, while emotionally effective, is Klune's constant — readers who found it predictable in earlier books will again
- Some of the middle journey sections run longer than the plot momentum strictly requires
Key Takeaways
- → Machines that inherit a world they did not build may administer it efficiently while fundamentally misunderstanding what made it worth living in
- → Found family is chosen family — the bonds formed through shared experience and deliberate care can equal or exceed biological connection
- → The Pinocchio myth endures because the desire to be real — to be seen and accepted as fully oneself — is genuinely universal
- → Bureaucratic systems cause harm not through malice but through the application of rules without wisdom or mercy
- → What we inherit from our parents — biological or chosen — shapes us without determining us; the quest is always to understand what was given and choose what to keep
| Author | TJ Klune |
|---|---|
| Publisher | Tor Books |
| Pages | 400 |
| Published | April 25, 2023 |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Fantasy, Science Fiction, Adventure, Cozy Fiction |
In the Lives of Puppets Review
TJ Klune’s previous novels — The House in the Cerulean Sea and Under the Whispering Door — established a recognisable register: cozy fantasy with genuine emotional stakes, found family as the central moral value, and a prose style that balances warmth with wit. In the Lives of Puppets keeps those commitments while taking on a world-building project larger than anything Klune has previously attempted.
The premise is a retelling of Pinocchio, displaced into a post-human future where robots have inherited the earth and humans survive in isolated communities, regarded as relics by the machine intelligences that run civilisation. Vic, who was raised by his scientist father Giovanni and a small family of eccentric robots in a forest far from the Authority’s reach, is as close to Pinocchio as the story needs: a figure caught between the human and the mechanical, belonging fully to neither world.
When Giovanni is taken by the Authority — the machine system whose control of remaining civilisation is absolute and whose memory of the old world is a wound it has never processed — Vic’s quest to recover him becomes the adventure that carries the book. The road narrative structure suits Klune’s ensemble instincts: each stage of the journey introduces new characters, deepens existing ones, and expands the world’s geography and history.
The dystopian post-human setting is more fully realised than anything in Klune’s previous work. The Authority’s bureaucratic horror — machines administering a world they have inherited but not understood — carries a satirical edge that the cozy surface of the book doesn’t always prepare you for.
The found-family resolution is Klune’s constant and his greatest strength.
Our rating: 4.2/5 — Klune’s most ambitious novel: a Pinocchio retelling in a post-human world that stretches his world-building while keeping his characteristic warmth intact.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is "In the Lives of Puppets" about?
In a world where humans have nearly vanished, a young man named Vic lives in a forest with his found family of robots. When Vic's mechanical father is taken by the Authority — the machine system that controls what remains of civilisation — Vic and his companions must venture into a world of metal and memory to bring him home. Klune's retelling of Pinocchio.
What are the key takeaways from "In the Lives of Puppets"?
Machines that inherit a world they did not build may administer it efficiently while fundamentally misunderstanding what made it worth living in Found family is chosen family — the bonds formed through shared experience and deliberate care can equal or exceed biological connection The Pinocchio myth endures because the desire to be real — to be seen and accepted as fully oneself — is genuinely universal Bureaucratic systems cause harm not through malice but through the application of rules without wisdom or mercy What we inherit from our parents — biological or chosen — shapes us without determining us; the quest is always to understand what was given and choose what to keep
Is "In the Lives of Puppets" worth reading?
Klune's most ambitious world-building: the robot-dominated post-human world is genuinely imaginative, and the Pinocchio scaffolding gives the adventure a mythic weight that the more domestic Cerulean Sea and Whispering Door don't reach for. The found-family themes are Klune's constant.
Ready to Read In the Lives of Puppets?
Check the current price on Amazon.
Check Price on Amazon (paid link)Prices and availability are subject to change. See Amazon for current price.
Review last updated: