I love it when retellings retain the essence of the original without copying it entirely in format but giving it an innovative twist. He wasn’t heavy, but he had to be careful, his father’s voice a constant in his head, even if he worried too much. This could have been quite a dark fantasy being set in the apocalyptic world and dealing with tough topics. Was it Victor - the lone human in a world of machines created by a lonely android who just wanted redemption - someone to love after he grew a conscience over the atrocities he had committed? We have Nurse Ratched, (a robot designed to care for humans), Rambo, (originally a vacuum), Gio and his new "son", Vic.

It's the story of a journey, of invention and discovery, of finding who you are and what you are made of. There is so much to enjoy in Under the Whispering Door, but what I cherish the most is its compassion for the little things—a touch, a glance, a precious piece of dialogue—healing me, telling me that for all the strangenesses I hold, I am valued, valid—and maybe even worthy of love. J. Klune has the gift of making me feel too many feels with his heart-wrenching and moving prose - In the Lives of Puppets is no exception and the certified proof of that. He’d found the little thing years before, repairing it himself with metal and care until the machine had come back to life, demanding to be allowed to clean—it needed to clean because if it didn’t, it had no purpose, it had nothing. A cozy fantasy retelling of Pinocchio, in the lives of puppets is about a human named Vic who is raised by robots.

Nurse Ratched and Rambo alone are worth this read, but I loved Victor and Hap’s dynamic and Gio as well! There is so much to enjoy in Under the Whispering Door , but what I cherish the most is its compassion for the little things--a touch, a glance, a precious piece of dialogue--healing me, telling me that for all the strangenesses I hold, I am valued, valid--and maybe even worthy of love.

These are a pleasantly sadistic nurse machine, a small vacuum desperate for love and attention, and a fatherly inventor-android named Giovanni Lawson. Carlo Collodi's ‘The Adventures of Pinocchio’ serves as the foundation of this retelling, so if you know this classic children’s fairy tale, you will be able to understand just how faithful and innovative this retelling is. Controversy aside, what I absolutely couldn't stand about THITCS was its saccharine sweetness, which we get some of here as well, but wayyy toned down. Now Vic has to save his father who is sent yo his old laboratory in the City of Electric Dreams and he also has to confront feelings about Hap.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.

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.

A tiny vacuum robot screamed as it spun in concentric circles, spindly arms that ended in pincers waving wildly in the air. Y HAP, mi favorito, que lucha con su pasado y aún con su personalidad huraña nos muestra que uno puede decidir lo que quiere ser y no estamos definidos por el lugar de donde venimos. There was one scene, a flashback to what Hap did in the past, that finally put me off finishing this book.