[Subdue] In the Lives of Puppets, by T.J.Klune, 3 + stars

[NancyJ]

This book is ultimately a quest story, and it’s filled with friendship. It’s Pinocchio meets Terminator, voiced by Comedy Central, with music from Top Hat. Characters include a snarky Nurse Ratched, an anxious robot named Rambo, and someone who gets a heart. This book has references for every generation (and many book prompts). The main character is asexual, and there is no graphic sex, but there are tired sexual innuendos and adolescent penis and gay humor.

The audio voices were really tough on me, and reminded me of the loud Comedy Central shows I had to hear in a house of men. If it wasn’t a book club pick, I would have DNFd it when the ebook wasn’t available. I was lucky when my book club bumped it to November, giving me a long break before I tried again. When I let go of the idea that robots should act like robots, and not cartoon monsters, I liked it a lot more. By the end I really loved the story overall. But it was too long and I suffered through many sections, so I can’t get the rating up to 4 stars. Many other people loved it.

[NancyJ]

Added. This story is a retelling of the original Pinocchio, set in a future where the robots killed most of the humans. The characters are flipped in interesting ways, and of course, there is a gay romance. It’s NOT like not the Disney version. Some of the weirder episodes in this book are inspired by the original novel Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi. I’ll be reading that next for the book club discussion.

I also enjoyed the subtle Oz references.