Lovely photo by @rebireads!
Hey fairy friends!
Welcome to our fifth and final day of the In The Lives of Puppets readalong! Grab a snack (or a few!) and letβs dive in and see how Vic and the gang handle things today!
Today weβre reading from Chapter 22 to the end of the book.
Please be warned, the following section will include spoilers for In The Lives of Puppets by TJ Klune, from chapter 22 to the end of the book. Please only read on if youβve finished In The Lives of Puppets!
-!SPOILERS!-
Itβs all starting to make sense. The Blue Fairy took Gio in when he started to develop a conscience. They gave Gio a human egg, a chance, and Gio took it.
The Blue Fairy offers their help, but they want help in return. The authority intends to eradicate free will, and they seem to think Vic and his friends can help stop them.
Once they have time alone, Vic realises Hap isnβt ok. He remembers now, and the guilt of his past self is hitting him hard. He wants to leave, he wants Vic to let him go, but I donβt think he will.
βYouβre not a puppet. Not anymore. Your strings have been cut. Youβre free, Hap.β
Suddenly, Hap remembers that Vic kissed him, and itβs not long before Hap is asking him to do it again. Theyβve chosen each other.
To enter the Benevolent Tower, Hap acts like his old self. Heβs transporting them as prisoners.
Itβs all unraveling! Theyβre caught, the real HARP knows Vic is human, knows Hap is not a HARP but a traitor, and after taking him out our Hap seems to be having a panic attack.
Theyβve found Gio, Vic doesnβt have a heart to give him anymore but surely some part of Gio will remember his life? Failing that, he grew a conscience before, maybe it can happen again!
He doesnβt seem to remember Vic, but thereβs a sense of familiarity there, a sense of dΓ©jΓ vu. One by one, our rag tag team tells Gio all the things they told him. They play him music.
They have resorted to inserting a virus into the Authorityβs system. It was Nurse Ratched job, The Blue Fairy even downloaded her consciousness so that she would lose no memories, no part of herself, but sheβs fallen. Now, it falls on Hap, only they made no back up plans for him. He tells Victor his strings have been cut, because of him.
Iβm fine. Totally perfectly, absolutely fine. Honestly. Not sobbing at all. Nope.
Vic takes them home, but Gio doesnβt remember. They move on and create a new home. Gio and Vic building a friendship.
Rambo, clever little roomba that he is, kept all of the pieces of Gioβs heart and Hapβs too, just in case. Over time, Vic puts them back together.
Iβm sobbing all over again when Vic hugs Gio and Gioβs response is that he liked that a lot and asks to do it again.
Gio is glitchingβ¦ but heβs back. He remembers. Will Hap be the same?
Hap doesnβt remember. He has words and whispers in his head. He seems to have some familiarity with the group, but he doesnβt remember. He dreams though, he says Vic is a ghost in his head. Thereβs hope for him yet I think.
We leave Vic, Hap, Gio, Rambo and Nurse Ratched exactly where they should be, together. At the very last moment of the book, Hap recites to Vic what Nurse Ratched told him about the butterflies⦠and then Hap kisses him.
Did the story end how you expected it to?
Who was your favourite character in the end?
What did you think of the story overall?
I’m such an emotional wreck right now! I sobbed so much in that final section. ?
Thank you so much for joining us for another FairyLoot readalong, and we will see you soon for the next one!
And remember: stick together, run if we have to, no dallying, no drilling and above all else, be brave!
Love,
Shannon
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Ohhh I am totally sobbing? i am glad they are all together at last, but omg the last few chapters were really emotional!
I’m an emotional wreck Rebi! ?
I was a little surprised by the ending. I am super glad it went with Gio having to once again learn his family and break away from his “programming” but to me it was a far better option than “surprise he’s is fixed and remembers everything instantly! The slow reconstruction ending was perfect to me.
I loved Nurse Ratched and really hoped that she would have been the one to make the ultimate sacrifice but I had a feeling Hap would be the one instead because I think it would impact Vic more somehow due to blossoming romance between him and Hap. Also curious what happened to all those robots in the City and if the Blue Fairy succeeded in helping maintain their end of the bargain.
I really enjoyed this book. The found family vibes were perfect, and the comedic relief in Ratched and Rambo added so much personality to me.
I think it ended pretty much as I expected it to. I wasnβt sure if they would successfully rescue Gio but I love that it has a happy ending!
My favourite character ended up being Hap but I still love Nurse Ratched and her sense of humour!
Iβm still not a fan of books about robots but this book is definitely the exception – I loved it! I liked that it had references to Pinocchio like the puppet, inventors, Blue Fairy and the whale but they were quite subtle most of the time so it still felt like its own story!
It didn’t end /exactly/ how I expected, but it’s more or less what I expected for Victor, if that makes sense?
Still a tough call between Nurse and Rambo, though Hap definitely worked his way up that list as the story went.
I really enjoyed it! Glad I pushed through it, since it didn’t grip me at first. My first Pinocchio “retelling”, though!
I love that it’s not a happy happy ending but such a human ending – as in we have much work to do to be really happy again but there’s so much hope and heart and love.
I did not fully understand the concept of the Blue Fairy though, if someone wants to explain.
Overall I loved it. TJ Klune did it again. A book of found family that will live rent free in my head for such a long time
1. Did the story end how you expected it to?
A little bit. I’d expected there to be a sort of sacrifice and then trying to rebuild the lives they had.
2. Who was your favourite character in the end?
I liked Hap the most, although Rambo comes a close second
3. What did you think of the story overall?
It was nice. Overall, I enjoyed and liked it, but I didn’t love it. It was a nice way to tell the story and the asexual rep was really well done and in a believable way. I also like the futuristic take this book had on how technology will continue to grow and develop and might take over
Did the story end how you expected it to? I expected a bit of wholesomeness so yeah I’d say it did.
Who was your favourite character in the end? Nurse Ratched still my favourite!
What did you think of the story overall? I really enjoyed it and is definitely something I would recommend to others and read again!
In a way it ended how I expected. I like that it wasnβt an instant happy ending, that it took time and that Gio didnβt recover at 100%. I loved that him and Hap are slowly remembering their time with Vic, the Nurse and Rambo. I loved Hap but Nurse Ratched comes a close second, her character was so funny and caring. I really enjoyed the book, I loved the found family, the characters and the story in general. I’m really going to recommend this book!!
Those last few chapters were so emotional! Iβm glad it was drawn out and we saw the developments happen over time. If it was rushed because the book was ending, I wouldnβt have liked it as much.
I really enjoyed this read! Itβs outside of my usual genre, so it was a big step for me, but Iβm glad I did it. I wish there was more exploration of the world and further explanation on a couple of the loose ends. But overall, I loved it.
Thank you for hosting this readalong!