Synopsis:
All colonist Oliver Lewis ever wanted to do is run the family ranch with his sister, maybe play a gig or two with his band, and keep his family’s aging fleet of intelligent agriculture bots ticking as long as possible. As a fan of Earth television and culture, he figures it will be a good thing when the transfer gate finally opens all the way and restores instant travel and full communication between Earth and his planet, New Sonora. But there’s a complication.
Even though the settlers were promised they’d be left in peace, Earth’s government now has other plans. The colossal Apex Corporation is hired to commence an “eviction action.” But maximizing profits will always be Apex’s number one priority. Why spend money printing and deploying their own AI soldiers when they can turn it into a game? Why not charge bored Earthers for the opportunity to design their own war machines and remotely pilot them from the comfort of their own homes?
The game is called Operation Bounce House.
Oliver and his friends soon find themselves fighting for their lives against machines piloted by gamers who’ve paid a premium for the privilege. With the help of an old book from his grandfather and a bucket of rusty parts, Oliver is determined to defend the only home he’s ever known.
Review:
In Operation Bounce House, Matt DInniman’s latest, as well as his last few Dungeon Crawler Carl books, he has proven that he is quickly becoming a master of pairing cruelty and callousness with absurdity and caustic humor. Throughout Operation Bounce House, I found myself desperate to plunge deeper and deeper into Oliver’s story, yet the brutality that showed up on his doorstep painted a picture that I recognize from my newsfeed a little too often these days.
Obvious question — is this just a reheated Dungeon Crawler Carl?
NO!
Sure, there are some familiar hallmarks to Dinniman’s writing, but I don’t think our protagonist, Oliver, would last nearly as long as Carl and Donut do in the post-apocalyptic dungeon of Carl’s life. Instead, we see a man who just wants to eek out a living as a farmer on a distant planet only for the worst of Earth to show up, ready to commit genocide in an effort to wipe his planet clean. Oliver Lewis, his sister Lulu, and their small band of friends must last five days against a foe that is both juvenile and stupid as well as fearsome and terrifying.
There are going to be a lot of comparisons to Dinniman’s runaway success, and rightly so. You have a futuristic society with advanced A.I. dealing with enemies that seem inhuman both in how they present and their attitudes towards death. In DCC, there is a clear disconnect that occurs between the crawlers and those who watch the “sport” with Dinniman cleverly showing the savagery present when a screen comes between people. Here that is definitely a theme as well to a different degree, but still very present. However, I think a major influence was Ernest Cline’s Ready Player One, and I’m not even sure I can put my finger on exactly why. I just know as I read, it had that feel to it, especially as Oliver and friends faced their final stand against Apex. Perhaps it was the video game player taunts and the way they prepped against a foe that wasn’t really there, but ultimately in Dinniman’s novel, the stakes are vastly higher than in Cline’s book.
While DCC has hit the mainstream even with the blue humor dripping off every page, Operation Bounce House is much more accessible to mainstream audiences to a certain degree. However, I’m sure for some people, they may feel as though the author was “handcuffed” a bit while writing this. The humor is definitely crass and biting, but it never feels like it goes over the top in the same way Carl and Donut do in their adventures. For me, I thought it worked really well and frankly would love to see more non-DCC novels from Dinniman. If I had a drawback to Operation Bounce House, it felt like Dinniman perhaps spent a bit too long world-building and info dumping in the first quarter of the book while the action was light. Believe me — he more than made up for it later, but there was still a little slowness in the early going.
Dinniman explores some fascinating topics throughout the book from A.I. and the role it may still play in our lives, the impact our words and actions have from behind a keyboard, and the role that misinformation plays as it molds our lives whether intentionally or not.
This book definitely deviates from Dinniman’s other works so far in that it strays from the LitRPG genre, but due to the video game-ness of a lot of the action, Dinniman was able to keep a little familiarity in this new world. In the end, I would gladly recommend Operation Bounce House to anyone, whether they’ve read Dungeon Crawler Carl or not.
Also, a note: I haven’t had the privilege of hearing the audiobook yet, but the listing on Audible includes BOTH Jeff Hays and Travis Baldree as narrators for this book, an outstanding duo that will presumably make for a fantastic listen.
Operation Bounce House will be released on Feb. 10, 2026.
Thank you to Berkley Publishing Group for providing this book for review consideration via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.
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