Stunning photo by @lonely_reader!
Hey fairies!
Welcome back to day 4 of our readalong of In The Lives of Puppets! Let’s get comfy, and get reading!
Today we’re reading from Chapter 18 to the end of Chapter 21.
Please be warned, the following section will include spoilers for In The Lives of Puppets by TJ Klune, from chapters 18 to 21. Please only read on if you’ve finished this section!
-!SPOILERS!-
The Coachman and Vic have a heart to heart, he’s helping Vic because he’s given him hope. I really can’t decide if I like him or not?
Hap comes to ask if Vic is ok, and Vic can see that Hap has something on his mind. He’s worried, about HARP. He thinks they’re the same. Vic assures him they aren’t, because he has something the machine will never have, Vic, Nurse Ratched and Rambo. Found family at its best.
The Coachman helps them get to the City of Electric Dreams, but he doesn’t know where to help them from here. They need to find the Blue Fairy.
The Coachman gives them all of the tips he can in preparation for them entering the city, and then they’re on their own. To reach the Blue Fairy, they need to be transported by crate to Heaven… unnerving.
Trapped in their crate, hopefully on their way to the Blue Fairy, Hap coaxes Vic into speaking, he makes him tell him about the heart, why he uses wood, what it does etc, to calm him down. I’m feeling emotional. Hap has come so far and has such an understanding of what Vic needs. It’s amazing to see!
Eventually, Vic falls asleep and wakes up to Rambo and Nurse Ratched opening their crate. They made it.
They’re almost caught, but they make it to the Doorman. The Doorman seems to know that Gio was planning on making a child, and with that, he agrees to take them to the Blue Fairy.
The Blue Fairy is very weary of them, they don’t understand Hap’s loyalty to a human, or the loyalty Vic, Nurse Ratched and Rambo have given Hap in return.
They show Vic his father on a screen, it’s live. Gio is in the Benevolent Tower, of his own will, he has no memories of all he left behind.
The Blue Fairy accesses Hap’s memories, they show us the moment Gio gave Hap his designation. Not only do we see the destruction Hap wrought, but Vic sees the extent of it now too. Two hundred and twenty-four lives and counting.
They also see Gio questioning his creation, wondering if there’s more. He tells Hap he wants to be different, better. Is this the moment Gio decided to leave?
They see the moment Hap was decommissioned, the moment he was sent to the scrap yard and also the moment Vic, Nurse Ratched and Rambo discovered him. After that, they see only Vic.
Vic, Nurse Ratched and Rambo pull Hap away, disconnecting him. The Blue Fairy warns them they shouldn’t have done that and Hap charges forward, hands around Vic’s neck… until Vic kisses him.
A barely there brush of lips is all it takes to bring Hap back to himself. He collects Vic, rocking him as he apologises. And then, the Blue Fairy shows themselves.
Did you expect any romance to blossom between Vic and Hap?
What do you think will happen when they reach the Benevolent Tower?
Do you think Gio will remember Vic, or is he gone for good?
I am SO incredibly nervous to find out how this story will end tomorrow! ? See you there, bring tissues!
Love,
Shannon
I’ve actually finished the book now as I couldn’t put it down so I’m trying to forget the last section to answer these questions!
I definitely suspected romance between Hap and Vic! I see it a lot in books like this where one of the characters is lost and becomes really attached to the character that found them. It was either going to be a romance or a father son relationship, but I guessed romance due to Vic’s comments on Hap’s appearance when they found him.
I can’t answer the last two questions as I’ve already finished the book! But I can say I wish I’d known to get tissues!
I thought that would happen [there were some hints early on that I thought /might/ behind romance], but this is not exactly how I expected it to progress! ?
We haven’t really experienced any LOSS in this story yet, so I’m expecting SOMETHING to be lost, though I don’t know what form it’ll take. [Because, yes, we “lost” Gio and their home, but it’s all potentionally salvageable/able to be rebuilt/recreated, but no permanent loss Vic has veen forced to confront/get over that can’t be “undone”.]
I’m thinking that might be the loss. That he’ll lose his childhood/past lifetime with Gio, but that, perhaps, he’s able to begin again with him, to sort of return the favor so to speak. That’d be a nice ending.
I think there is definitely a romance (and romance only) developing between Hap and Vic and I’m here for it. It’s what I assumed from the beginning and I love them just finding comfort in one another.
I am guessing there will be complications in getting Gio back and it might echo the “Vic getting Hap back to himself” moment but require an extra step or two. I am anxious because I’ve read other Klune books and I feel like parents often get Disney movie mother treatment ?
Anyway: I suspect they’ll have to use Hap’s former Harp designation to get them into the Benevolent Tower but I don’t know if Rambo can stay quiet that long ?
I agree, Rambo does have an incessant need to spill secrets and yell about things ?
I think they’ll find Gio but he is going to forget everyone and be focused on his original designation.
There is definitely still time for some plot shenanigans but I ultimately hope it is that Gio can be saved but he will have to relearn everything.
1. Did you expect any romance to blossom between Vic and Hap?
I did expect it. I also like how innocent it is and how it slowly progressed
2. What do you think will happen when they reach the Benevolent Tower?
Something big and heartbreaking!
3. Do you think Gio will remember Vic, or is he gone for good?
I think he’ll remember in the end. It might take some time, but it’ll happen. Hap had seemed to forget Vic for a little while, seeing him as a human only and they’ve been together for a very short time compared to Gio and Vic. I believe Vic can make Gio remember again.
Did you expect any romance to blossom between Vic and Hap? I did a wee bit, you could tell they had some connectioned that Vic/Hap didn’t share with any of the others. Although I’m not convinced Hap’s focus on Vic is from a romance place, I think it’s more his original programming shining through.
What do you think will happen when they reach the Benevolent Tower? I don’t think it’ll go well, they will probably find Gio but might have to leave him behind :((
Do you think Gio will remember Vic, or is he gone for good? I don’t think Gio will remember Vic, if he does then I think that means there is a chance Hap will remember his original programming.
Did you expect any romance to blossom between Vic and Hap?
No, but I am adoring it. ?
What do you think will happen when they reach the Benevolent Tower?
I think they will face the authority. For some reason I have a feeling the authority or the Blue fairy is human.
Do you think Gio will remember Vic, or is he gone for good?
I think he will come back but it will take an act of love to do it.
I did expect a romance between Vic and Hap and I loved how is progressing. They’re so innocent and adorable. I don’t think it’ll go well when they reach the Benevolent Tower. I’m pretty sure they will find Gio but something is going to happen to one of them. I don’t think Gio will remember Vic immediately, it might take some time, but it’ll happen.
I fully expected the romance between Hap and Vic. It was there from the very beginning, pure and sweet, even though neither was aware of it. I love how as simple-minded as Rambo is, even he saw their love for what it was before they realized it themselves.
I suspect that the Gio we know and love is gone for good. I think Vic will give him a new heart, but that he’ll have to learn and grow all over again and may not recover his memories of his life with his son.
I’m so excited to finish this book! I really love it so far, even though it is pretty far outside my usual genres.
I definitely expected there to be romance between Vic and Hap, and it makes me want a live action version only so I can see the montage of Vic projected on the screen and see the embarrassment in Vic’s face as he watches, it’s classic rom com and I LOVE IT!
I am a little leary of the video that the Blue Fairy showed of Gio that was supposed to be live video, I think there is either something we are not seeing or it was not real. I think Gio will remember Vic, something about the way he has programmed everything makes me think there is more too it.
I am scared for them to reach the Tower but I think that there is something Gio did that will allow them to move through/escape without being killed, but I am curious about what their escape will look like!
I also want to find out more about what the “problems” with HAP were, I think he didn’t kill the child but we didn’t see that part and that is why he heard Gio’s secrets, but I also think Gio programmed something in them, either consciously or not, that means they can override their own programming like HAP did.