Book Review: In the Lives of Puppets by T.J. Klune
A charming and thought-provoking queer scifi reimagining
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?
GENRE: Queer Science Fiction Retelling
PURCHASE LINK: Amazon
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: 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.
Review
I really really love this book! I went into this having just released an anthology of scifi fairytale retellings (I wrote a cyberpunk take on Snow White) so I was very much in the mood for futuristic spins to classic tales. This one was just fantastic. It was very creative, with many unexpected twists.
The writing is great — the kind I hope my writing would eventually be! The prose is immersive, the worldbuilding detailed without being overwhelming, and the dialogue delightful. There are so many gems all throughout the book, but this one in particular stood out to me: Death has its usefulness to the living. The moment you were born, you began to die. You are finite. Your time is already slipping through your fingers. It creates an urgency within you. To do all that you can. To make things right.
Really makes you stop and think, huh? I haven't felt this way since the conclusion of the TimeRiders series by Alex Scarrow.
And the characters. Goodness me, the characters! Nurse Ratched and Rambo are a riot, I just can't with them 🤣 I laughed out loud so many times and I don't remember doing that over a book for a while now. And while I'm not queer and thus I can't comment on the accuracy of the portrayal, I appreciated the insights into asexuality.
I also enjoyed the bonus story, Reduce! Reuse! Recycle! That was quite thought-provoking too.
My Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️️⭐️️
---
Now it would be in bad faith for me not to include in this post what my friend shared with me about the author after she found out that I've read one of his books. You can read the full post on Instagram (it's written by an indigenous queer reader) and research some more on the topic for yourself.
---
Hi! I'm Marie, a Filipino SFFH author and book reviewer currently based in the UK. I’m the co-author of The Prophecies of Ragnarok, a Norse myth new adult urban fantasy trilogy, and I also have several short stories published in anthologies and literary journals.
You can find more info about me and my books, and also subscribe to my newsletter for more content, here. And if you like what I do, please also consider supporting me on Ko-fi! 🩷 https://ko-fi.com/mariesinadjan
Also check out my latest release, Among Thorns and Stardust, an anthology of sci-fi fairytale retellings ✨
About the Creator
Marie Sinadjan
Filipino spec fic author and book reviewer based in the UK. https://linktr.ee/mariesinadjan • www.mariesinadjan.com
Keep reading
More stories from Marie Sinadjan and writers in BookClub and other communities.
Audiobook Review: Circle of Magic - Sandry's Book by Tamora Pierce
Set in a different universe than Tortall, The Circle of Magic quartet centers around four unusual young mages. Sandry, a noble whose parents died recently, has power with thread, from spinning and weaving to simple knot-tying. Daja, a Trader, is the only survivor of a shipwreck in which her family drowned. Declared to be bad luck and banned from life with other Traders, she is free to learn to work metals and, through metal, to work magic. Tris, the merchant’s daughter, is no orphan, but her family doesn’t want her. Briar is a street rat, a thief and convict. Only at the temple city of Winding Circle does he learn that his strange love of growing things is more than a need to garden. Brought together in a house inside the temple city’s walls, watched over by the mages Lark, Rosethorn, Frostpine, and Niko, the four struggle to be friends, to exercise their magic, and to survive. Each book centers on one of the four, but make no mistake: they are bound tightly together, and the events that affect each of them also strengthen their connections to one another. Check out the rest of the quartet here and the universe here. --- The Circle of Magic universe has its roots in the medieval Middle East and Central Asia: a crossroads of cultures and peoples, where trade and the pursuit of knowledge bring four ends of a vast continent together. Beginning with Winding Circle Temple in the city of Summersea, four young people from very different walks of life come together for an education. One is a merchant’s daughter who discovers a fantastic magical talent for manipulating the weather. One is the daughter of a people who live by trade alone, the sole survivor of her family’s ship, the possessor of the power to work metal in many ways. The third is a nobleman’s daughter, the great-niece of Summersea’s ruler, whose unladylike preoccupation with sewing, weaving, and the manipulation of anything resembling thread is revealed to be pure magic. And the fourth is a boy, reared on the streets as a thief, rescued from slave labor to discover he has magic with plants and the making of medicines. Taught by mage (wizard) teachers at Winding Circle Temple’s school and beyond, these four grow to adulthood learning about their world, coming under attack by pirates and plague, journeying out to a city beset by fire and a kingdom haunted by strange beings, and learning the ways of the great and powerful in foreign courts. Together or apart, with their beloved teachers or new friends, the four always find new experiences, and new mages with talents even more unusual than their own!
By Marie Sinadjan19 days ago in BookClub
My To Be Read List
I have been taking some time away from writing. I haven't forgotten about Vocal, the truth is I just have been too busy pursuing other things to write online and honestly, my little family and I just had a really hard month between the flu and a weird eye infection/cold circulating our house. I'm currently sipping some warm peppermint tea because my throat is sore.
By Chloe Rose Violet 🌹20 days ago in BookClub
"Aliens Invaded and All I Got Was This Lousy T-Shirt"
It was a quiet Tuesday night in Middletown, USA, when the unexpected happened. The sky was clear, stars twinkled, and the air was crisp. I had just settled down on my porch with a cup of chamomile tea when a bright light flashed across the sky, blinding me momentarily. My heart raced as I squinted, trying to make out the source of the light. It seemed to be descending rapidly, straight toward my backyard.
By Rasel Mahmud2 days ago in BookClub
Vocal Challenges Made Me a Better Writer and Keep Me Writing
For new writers like myself, this article is meant to convey the things I’ve personally learned by participating in the various types of Vocal challenges; things that I think made me a better writer. I’m sure there are many more lessons than what I’ve listed, but these are the ones that brought me “aha!” moments.
By Sara Frederick3 days ago in Writers
Comments (1)
OMG I literally just got this book! I’m excited to start reading it! ♥️❤️