Like many people, I came to know Matt Dinniman as a huge fan of the Dungeon Crawler Carl series. While I can’t always completely understand what is happening in those books, I find reading them to be tremendously enjoyable. I’m not a big gamer nor am I a fantasy reader, but I love Princess Donut and Carl’s adventures.
This book, Operation Bounce House, has wonderfully developed characters that remind me a lot of Carl. While the supporting cast isn’t as absurd or whimsical, the story is engaging and it is so much easier for me to visualize and understand. Yay for Dinniman getting an editor!!
Oliver is a farmer with a steady girl and a garage band. He is the third or fourth generation on a planet called New Sonora. Earth hasn’t made contact with them for 100 years, when the planet was colonized by a handful of scientists and criminals. They are fully independent from earth. But the tables are turned with earth’s government decides to evict the settlers and take back control of the planet via AI android types that are controlled by earth gamers.
So they now become part of a video game that Earth people are charged to play to completely get rid of the citizens of Sonora, called Operation Bounce House.
This one is more speculative fiction and sci fi than fantasy, and has some thinly veiled warnings about late stage capitalism and AI. I found it to be very adventurous and fun. There is some humor, but mostly this is just action packed.
Thanks to NetGalley and Ace Publishing/ Berkeley for the ARC. Book to be published 2/9/26.
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