Books › In the Lives of Puppets
In the Lives of Puppets
480 pages
A quirky, big-hearted road trip through a ruined world, fueled by robot banter and profound questions about what makes us human.
What it feels like
This novel wraps you in a warm, slightly eccentric embrace before taking you on a deeply emotional road trip. The pacing is steady, driven less by breakneck action and more by the hilarious, often chaotic banter of a deeply lovable found family of misfit robots and their human center. It feels like a cozy, sun-dappled fairy tale layered over a post-apocalyptic landscape, balancing laugh-out-loud absurdity with a tender, aching exploration of love, forgiveness, and what it means to have a soul. The prose is conversational and earnest, wearing its big heart proudly on its sleeve. It is a perfect read for anyone who delights in queer romance, cozy sci-fi, and stories that will make you snort-laugh on one page and tear up on the next.
- Mood
- whimsical
- cozy
- bittersweet
- atmospheric
- Tone
- earnest
- humorous
- quirky
- tender
- wry
- Pace
- steady
- Themes
- found family · nature of humanity · forgiveness · queer romance · artificial intelligence
- The writing
- Warm, conversational, and heavily dialogue-driven, balancing laugh-out-loud absurdity with deep emotional sincerity.
- The arc
- Moves from a sheltered, quirky coziness through a perilous, emotionally fraught journey to a bittersweet but hopeful resolution.
- Who it's for
- Readers who love found family tropes, cozy sci-fi, and stories that make them laugh and cry in equal measure.
Content notes
- kidnapping
- memory loss
- grief
- mild violence
About the book
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?
Description from Open Library.
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