★★☆☆☆ Naively preachy, but with some fun characters

In the Lives of Puppets

T.J. Klune

I finished T.J. Klune's In the Lives of Puppets with a deep sense of satisfaction -- "Thank God, that's over!" I picked up the book because someone reviewed it as deeply weird, and I like books that weird me out. (This one did not.) Also, I noticed that it had been nominated for a whole bunch of Fantasy and Science Fiction awards.

In the Lives of Puppets is a completely unbelievable novel set in a postapocalyptic world that will strain your suspension of disbelief muscles to the breaking point. (Or, at least, it did mine.) It seemed obvious to me that Klune has no intention of being believed, not even in the way one might believe The Lord of the Rings. The characters are there to teach you lessons about humanity and love. That doesn't sound so bad, but the lessons are naive and the presentation clumsy.

There was one thing I liked -- well, two things. As is common in stories of this type, our hero Vic has two comic-relief sidekicks. They are robots called Rambo and Nurse Ratched, and they are actually delightful -- sometimes. Especially Nurse Ratched.

Nurse Ratched and Rambo are fun. Nothing else in this book struck me as fun or insightful.

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