Operation Bounce House

Bestseller Dinniman (the Dungeon Crawler Carl series) creatively tweaks sci-fi tropes in this addictive war story. Two-hundred years after human colonists left Earth to settle New Sonora, the planet’s residents are considered “subhuman” by those back on Earth because of the minor, invisible genetic alterations they needed to survive. With the aid of advanced robots, the New Sonorans have established a peaceful agrarian society, but this achievement is threatened by propaganda, manufactured by the powerful Apex Industries, falsely labeling New Sonorans terrorists. Apex launches Operation Bounce House, a video game in which Earthers pay to remotely pilot war machines that attack New Sonoran settlers. The resistance to this onslaught is recounted from the perspective of Oliver Lewis, a rancher and musician, who chooses to fight the overwhelming forces, despite the absence of any planetary defense systems. The stakes are sky-high, and the Ender’s Game–esque plot moves at a rapid clip, but Dinniman still makes space for character development (partly through excerpted interviews with Oliver’s band) and manages to inject the tale with his signature humor. Fans will not be disappointed. (Feb.)