Book cover of Heir Apparent

Book description

In Heir Apparent there are as many ways to win as there are to get killed. "A stylish tale [that] addresses both fantasy gaming and censorship." (New York Times Book Review)

From Edgar Award–winning author Vivian Vande Velde comes a rollicking story that puts a high-tech twist on the classic…

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Why read it?

2 authors picked Heir Apparent as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

I first read this book back in 2004 when I was spending way too much time with MMO games. This YA novel is certainly a product of a time where the tech of today was within sight but social media and smartphones didn't exist as we know them now. But the story more than makes up for this unfortunate timing with its witty characters, a structure reminiscent of the old Choose Your Own Adventure books and a fantasy game setting that leads this book to cross genres. I’m a big fan of sci-fi stories that follow the “Groundhog Day” structure…

Heir Apparent is the perfect mixture of fantasy taking place in the future! Some might argue that it being set in the future makes it more sci-fi but I would disagree as the majority of the story takes place in a medieval fantasy realm that the main character is not actually from. Highly entertaining, this first-person writing has high levels of sarcasm (which I enjoy as I, too, am sarcastic) and, even though it takes place in a video game, there is more than losing a game on the line.

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On locked ward 5C4, Josh, a patient with many similarities to Jesus, is hospitalized concurrently with Nick, a patient with many similarities to Santa. The two argue…

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