The Lives Of Puppets by TJ Klune takes you through a story of self discovery and emotions, as well as an action packed adventure to rescue lost family. A robot named Giovanni starts a family in the woods after he escaped the City of Electric Dreams. Gio felt trapped inside his own consciousness and decided to escape so he could feel emotions and have thoughts of his own free will. The book is set in a post-apocalyptic world where robots rule the world and all the humans have been killed. This tight knit family includes 3 robots and a human, they adopt a new member into their family unsure of what it’s to become. A new robot named HAP is introduced into their family, unsure of what's to come, they stay suspicious of the new member, untrusting that the robot will try to harm Victor, the human. Victor is the last of his kind and he struggles with understanding and controlling his own feelings, his robot family is unable to help him because they don't feel as intensely as he does. However, the other robots also try to find purpose and meaning in life, while also finding autonomy outside of their programming and directives. Victor also debates whether he can fall in love with a robot and if it is even possible for a robot to be in and have love. The Lives of Puppets was really good. I enjoyed reading about their adventure and how the relationship between Victor and Hap developed throughout. Rambo the vacuum and Nurse Ratched the nursing machine were very comforting and humorous characters that lightened up the mood despite the serious and philosophical concepts. It reminded me of WALL-E because of how robots are able to experience the nature of the human soul and spirit. This was an amusing and enchanting book with enjoyable characters. I would definitely recommend reading it if you want a good laugh, romance, and some self exploration; all the while during a rescue mission. This book explores what it means to love, and if robots are capable of loving, having emotions and thoughts. It has an important message of embracing who and what you are, as well as how to move past those stereotypes to become something so much more.
Gabrielle Caron
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