In the Lives of Puppets is a novel published in 2023 by T.J. Klune. At its most basic level, it is a self-proclaimed “queer” retelling of the story of Pinocchio framed within the generic conventions of science fiction. The Geppetto in this retelling is an android named Giovanni. Pinocchio is a human boy named Victor. It is only at that foundational level that the novel resembles its famous influence as the narrative proceeds to spin out a tale stemming from the unforeseen consequences of Victor mixing his blood into an android named Hap’s mechanical heart he had originally built for his father.
Much of the thematic material within the story arrives courtesy of a group called the Authority which is a few machines controlling all the other machines in the world. Eventually, it is revealed that Giovanni is tasked by the Authority with creating androids to destroy humanity. The nature of Victor’s birth also comes up for questioning. The bulk of the story traces the attempt to rescue an abducted and missing Giovanni by Victor and an odd assortment of androids who confront an assortment of other odd machines.
At the center of this reinvention of the basic Pinocchio story is a collection of artificial hearts built by Victor. Victor mixing his human blood with the heart he built for Hap is mirrored by the revelation that this is exactly his own origin story. It is the blood of both Giovanni and Victor that allows not just the machines to feel love and affection but also the human contributors of the blood.
The significance of the heart should make many readers think not so much of Pinocchio but of another popular fantasy. The long section in which Victor tries to rescue his father is set in the fantastical futuristic City of Electric Dreams. Victor is accompanied by three companions who all suffer from self-esteem issues related to presumed lacking in certain attributes. While one is not very brave, and another is not smart, it is much closer to the mark to say that they all are looking for a heart. By the second half of the book, the reference point has swerved from Pinocchio to The Wizard of Oz.
Just as in that book, the fundamental point being made in this story is that a heart is more essential to humanity than skin and bone. To act out as a human-like machines is to be little more than a puppet. The story concludes on a note of optimistic promise with a kiss between man and machine suggesting that when the heart is involved, all things are possible.
