first thoughts after finishing:
characters are well constructed but the plot is somehow too big and yet underwhelming? it’s doing too much but because the book can’t fit in all that the plot is doing it ends up not being enough. this one was hard to get into and didn’t really pick up until about 60% of the way through. also from reading the authors note it seems like this book was supposed to be something else but got rewritten for reasons klune didn’t agree with?? i’m curious as to what the original concept was and why things got changed. this was definitely a dark sci fi concept and i think there needed to be more background and world building, but there was a lot going on so i understand why we missed that. character development was more subtle than other books but vic was an interesting mc. wish the ace rep was more explored. overall this one falls flat compared to THITCS and UTWD which are both favorites of mine. 

review:
tj klune is amazing at constructing characters and found families that have so much heart and humor to them. i loved under the whispering door and the house in the cerulean sea, so i was intrigued by in the lives of puppets, which is science fiction/dystopian rather than fantasy. the plot of this is a bit too big for the book and the writing, which results in the story falling flat as it simultaneously does too much and not enough. i would have read about these characters doing anything (honestly, klune's books are more about the characters than the plot for me and i wish this one followed that) and i think a less ambitious plot would have allowed more exploration of certain characters (especially victor's asexuality which felt very much thrown in). as always the writing is lovely and funny, but the story of this one falls flat. also, reading the author's note suggests that klune originally had a different idea for this book but had to rewrite (for reasons that he didn't agree with)? i'm nosy and i wanna know why