Dragon Ops

One wrong move, and it's game over.

Welcome to DRAGON OPS, the world's first augmented-reality video-game theme park. Set on a once-deserted island, our three beta players-classic gamer geek Ian; his adventure-seeking sister, Lily; and their too-cool-for-gaming cousin, Derek-have been lucky enough to score an invite to play before the fully immersive experience opens to the public.But once inside, they find themselves trapped in a game taken over by a rogue AI dragon called Atreus, and suddenly the stakes go beyond the virtual world. With no cheat codes, guidebooks, save points, or do-overs, they'll need all their cunning and video-game hacks to beat the game? and survive in real life.Action-packed and unputdownable, Dragon Ops will thrill gamers and reluctant readers alike with high-tech adventure and electrifying twists and turns.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Little, Brown Books for Young Readers for a review copy in exchange for an honest, unbiased review. Quotes are taken from an unfinished version and may differ from the final product.

This book was obviously written for me, because it has all the things: rogue AI, dragon, virtual reality gone wrong, dragon, sibling bonds, glorious gamer references, dragon, wonderfully nerdy references. And have I mentioned the dragon?!

Dragon Ops is basically Sword Art Online for young readers, with an exciting virtual world, many challenges for the team to overcome, and enough gamer references to make my nerdy little heart sing.

This definitely felt like a more middle mid-grade read, where the challenges were solved a little too easily to keep the pace moving right along, but despite that, the book was just so much fun to read. And for all you non-gamers out there: don’t worry. Mancusi has your back. The gamer references are low-key explained, so you don’t have to wander through the book completely lost.

Our main character, Ian, is a nerdy pre-teen gamer who tries hard to be cool, but succeeds only in being himself.

Which is why I loved him. I, too, was a nerdy pre-teen gamer once upon a time. I wish I could say I grew out of it, but … y’know.

Ian is super excited about the chance to beta test Dragon Ops before it opens … and who the heck wouldn’t be? I mean, aside from his sister, but that’s a whole other story.

Ian’s narrative voice is fun and funny, and his excitement for the game is infectious. He’s not just a one-dimensional character, though, and I loved how concerned he was for the characters around him.

For me, the main character can really make or break a story, because if I hate the protagonist, it’s hard for me to get through the book. Especially in middle grade. Ian was great, though, and I feel like he’d be easy to relate to, regardless of age and gender.

The secondary characters in this were equally a ton of fun, and they all get their own little arcs.

Ian, I didn’t feel like, had much of an arc. That was mostly reserved for the secondaries, and that’s where the real emotion and meat of this book was, because it’s not all just fun and games.

Lilli is Ian’s older sister, and she’s clearly going through something, because she had a falling out with her game boyfriend and has since refused to touch any sort of online game.

Which is a bummer for Ian, because the two had been really close and always gamed together, and they had especially loved the original Dragon Ops game. He doesn’t understand why his sister is suddenly like this, but he’s doing his best to rekindle the bond they had, and just yes. Sibling bonds is a trope I live for, so seeing them work together in the game was just *chef’s kiss*.

My favorite secondary character, though, has to be Yano, the group’s fearless (and oftentimes sarcastic) guide.

Because not all AIs have to be rogue to be entertaining. Some are just naturally that way. Yano’s purpose is two-fold. Of course he provides lots of in-game advice and information that the characters (and the reader) wouldn’t otherwise have, but he’s also so freaking funny. His parts are just great.

Not gonna lie, rogue AI is my favorite AI, but aside from that, this world is just so freaking fun that I’m low-key angry that it doesn’t exist in real life.

Or, you know, virtual life. That was actually a lie. I am wholeheartedly and utterly disappointed by the lack of this virtual reality game. What are game developers even doing with their lives at this point?!

I don’t want to reveal too much about the world, because it’s something that should be discovered with the book. Needless to say, though, there were a lot of surprises, and so many cool little elements of world-building that I would 100% love playing a Dragon Ops MMORPG. The author is clearly a gamer, and that shines through pretty well. Either that or she’s got a gamer locked in her basement feeding her lines, in which case … I’m also fine with this. You do you. Make it convincing.

The ending wraps up nicely, but also perfectly sets up the potential for a sequel.

It’s not like I’m going to be knocking down Mancusi’s door for a follow-up novel to this, because I thought everything tied up pretty nicely. The very ending, though? Perfect segue for a sequel at some point. Sometimes this annoys me. I’ve been very vocal about that in the past. This was done so well, though, that I didn’t feel like it needed another book to feel complete.

I’d liken it to the ending of the Goosebump books/show, if you’ve ever read those. There’s always some big, spooky thing they finally solve and everything’s back and normal and huzzah! But then in the last 30 seconds of the show, the dog’s eyes glow and you know it’s not really over, but that’s fine because that’s part of the charm, that the cycle somehow continues. That’s pretty much how the ending of this book feels.