OPERATION BOUNCE HOUSE - Matt Dinniman

Oliver Lewis spends his days running his family ranch with his sister, Lulu, on the planet known as New Sonora. The operation of the ranch consists largely of maintaining a series of old bots - one of which has been charged with educating Oliver and Lulu and can only be turned off by their father, who died years ago.

Oliver also plays in a band - The Rhythm Mafia. They haven't place a real gig, but he has dreams of doing so. Lulu also has a side gig, besides working the ranch ... she's a cam girl. And not just any cam girl, but one of the top 100 cam girls in the galaxy. Her income is tied up in banks on Earth, and because Earth and New Sonora don't exactly get along, she can't access it. In the meantime, Lulu will let that money grow and wait for the time when Earth will re-establish a positive relationship.

Life on New Sonora changes dramatically when the planet is invaded and unarmed citizens are slaughtered. 

A mega corporation on Earth wants the New Sonora resources and convinces Earth's gamers to develop their own war machines and take part in a new game called Operation Bounce House. What they don't seem to know is that what they see through the lens of the integrated AI is not a game.

With the help of the out-of-date bots, Oliver and those closest to him will stand up to the invasion in some unusual ways.

I've not read anything by Matt Dinniman prior to this, though I'm aware of a lot of positive chatter surrounding his book, Dungeon Crawler Carl, which is part of what made me want to pick up this newer book. And I'm glad I did.  Dinniman sets up a story extremely well. Like one of my favorite authors, Roger Zelazny, Dinniman drops us into a story that feels a little confusing - "Wait ... what have I missed?" - but lets us catch up as as we go. I love a little early confusion ... as long as it comes clear at some point.

And like classic theatre ("if you introduce an element into a story—such as a gun hanging on the wall in the first act—it must absolutely be used or "go off" later in the play") Dinniman doesn't waste time just creating a world or establishing characters - everything matters.

I have a regular, fairly strict reading regime which I rarely deviate from, but as I got near the end of this book it was such an exciting page-turner that I ignored my self-imposed rules and I read only this book for a couple of days and at different times during the day because I wanted to see what was going to happen next.

The fact that the invasion comes from Earth gamers is made evident pretty early on and I couldn't help but make comparisons to Ender's Game (and the series) by Orson Scott Card. The books and stories are vastly different, but the concept of taking young people who are adept at video games and using them to fight real battles without their knowing it remains the same.

The book has an exciting story with plenty of thrills, and fun characters with just enough oddball traits to make them interesting but not over-the-top. And there's just a pinch of silliness which is reminiscent of John Scalzi (I'm talking about you, chickens) blended together to keep it interesting.

So why not a straight five stars?  There are times I felt that Dinniman went just a little overboard with the 'everything matters' concept I mentioned. We get hit over the proverbial head with some things which got just a little tiring and I really wanted to skip over those passages to get back to the meat of the story. Still, definitely a book worth reading.

Looking for a good book? Operation Bounce House is the latest by Matt Dinniman and it should definitely cement the author as a powerhouse in popular scifi fiction.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

4-1/2 stars

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Operation Bounce House

author: Matt Dinniman

publisher: Ace

ISBN: 9780593820308

hardcover, 448 pages