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Start giftingIn the Lives of Puppets
Bookseller recommendation
“Full disclosure: I’m a huge TJ Klune fan and predisposed to love everything he writes! In The Lives of Puppets has his signature humor, charm, and poignancy. At the center of this retelling of Pinocchio is a most lovable motley crew of one human, Victor, and his robot friends Rambo and Nurse Ratched. Klune often writes of themes around found family and misfits, relatable to readers whether or not you’re part of the LGBTQIA community. I’m head over heels in love with hilarious robot Rambo, a little vacuum desperate for love and belonging. Victor sets out on a hero’s quest with his crew and finds love along the way, except there are strings attached (pun intended). ”
— Genevieve • A Great Good Place for Books
Bookseller recommendation
“TJ Klune has never let me down, but I wasn't expecting In The Lives of Puppets to outshine the rest like it has. A Pinocchio retelling with a queer, dystopian setting? This book tore my heart out and then threw it back into my chest three times larger. The descriptions, the characters, the representation!! I cannot recommend this enough. If you're a fan of any of the above: found family, classic lit remakes, Wall-E, and/or commentaries on the supernova that is humanity, read! this!! book!!! ”
— Emma • Quail Ridge Books
"Narrator Daniel Henning demonstrates perfect comedic timing and impressive vocal versatility in this queer/sci-fi retelling of 'Pinocchio.' This laugh-out-loud, emotional audiobook asks listeners to question what it means to be human." - AudioFile Magazine (Earphones Award Winner)
"Narrator Daniel Henning does a phenomenal job capturing Gio’s fatherliness and Vic’s early naivete, and he positively shines as the heartless, bloodthirsty Nurse Ratched and the anxiety-ridden robot vacuum Rambo."- Library Journal
New York Times bestselling author TJ Klune invites you deep into the heart of a peculiar forest and on the extraordinary journey of a family assembled from spare parts.
Most Anticipated from BookPage • Goodreads • The Nerd Daily • Paste Magazine • LitReactor • OverDrive • LGBTQ Reads • Tor.com • more
“An enchanting tale of Pinocchio in the end times.” —P. Djèlí Clark
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.
Along the way to save Gio, amid conflicted feelings of betrayal and affection for Hap, Vic must decide for himself: Can he accept love with strings attached?
Inspired by Carlo Collodi's The Adventures of Pinocchio, and like Swiss Family Robinson meets Wall-E, In the Lives of Puppets is a masterful stand-alone fantasy adventure from the beloved 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.” —Library Journal, starred review
A Macmillan Audio production from Tor Books.
TJ KLUNE is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling, Lambda Literary Award-winning author of The House in the Cerulean Sea, The Extraordinaries, and more. Being queer himself, Klune believes it's important—now more than ever—to have accurate, positive queer representation in stories.