"In the Lives of Puppets" is a "Project Hail Mary" for kids. The story follows Victor Lawson, a human who grew up in a dystopian world run by robots. When Vic's father, Giovanni Lawson, gets abducted, Vic finds himself and his robot posse on a journey to retrieve Gio.
I would love to put his books in the "Young Adult" category and have that be an explanation for why I don't resonate with them, but I find that Klune makes some sexual jokes in his novels that keep them out of this category. Meanwhile, the "messages" of his books (i.e. equality, love is love, belonging, etc.) are so outward that they feel young adult when you're reading them. I think the book would be improved if these themes were less spelled out and allow his readers to get to them on their own. We're smart--we can do it.
I've been a fan of T.J. Klune since "The House in the Cerulean Sea." But, unfortunately, none of his other books have lived up to to it. Maybe it's becuase I read his best one first, but I keep reading all his books in hopes that they will. After reading this, I've decided to remove him as an auto-buy/auto-read author.
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