Giannine is give a gift certificate by her absent father for the Rasmussen Gaming Center, an arcade for virtual reality immersion gaming. She chooses a game called Heir Apparent. When protesters outside damage the servers, Giannine finds that she is stuck in the game and in the position of having to win the game before she has been immersed too long to live. The game is full of intrigue and she must manage the politics of the court, live for 3 days, and claim her place as rightful heir to the throne. ( )

Vande Velde creates endless scenarios for her character to endure and learn from. Told from first person point of view, the strong protagonist tells her tale of real-life woes of strained familial relationships while playing the game. She finds parallels within each world that help her to find alternate pathways to successfully completing the game. Creative chapter titles add humor to the almost never-ending demise of Giannine. As for the suspension of disbelief, the setting is futuristic with a bus talking to Giannine helping to direct her to a safe, alternate destination. Thus, the total immersion virtual reality game appears credible and a natural part of the future---along with the parent protestors who advocate for non-violent, scary, or supernatural. ( )

This book was very enjoyable. It was written in solid prose, and I enjoyed the story. One couldn't call it "complex," and in the end, that's why I've only given it three stars. The best children's fiction (young adult fiction? - I'll stick with 'children's,' although I suspect that it's intended for young adults) tells a deeper story than that which a child can comprehend. As an adult reading it, I was frequently frustrated - not because the story that Giannine has to navigate through was difficult to puzzle out (although the solution wasn't nearly as obvious to me as it ought to have been) but because I kept seeing the ways that the book could have become more edgy and adult and it kept turning directly away from them. I was also frustrated by the way that the love interest was neatly tied up at the end. I wanted a deeper exploration of Giannine's connection to the people in the game: I wanted to know if she mourned them when she left, or if she began to think that they were real, or... what?This is a book I would recommend for anyone looking for a feather-light beach read, a gift for a young person (under 15), or an example of a solid use of the "virtual reality" concept to tell a fantastical story. ( )

This book was very enjoyable. It was written in solid prose, and I enjoyed the story. One couldn't call it "complex," and in the end, that's why I've only given it three stars. The best children's fiction (young adult fiction? - I'll stick with 'children's,' although I suspect that it's intended for young adults) tells a deeper story than that which a child can comprehend. As an adult reading it, I was frequently frustrated - not because the story that Giannine has to navigate through was difficult to puzzle out (although the solution wasn't nearly as obvious to me as it ought to have been) but because I kept seeing the ways that the book could have become more edgy and adult and it kept turning directly away from them. I was also frustrated by the way that the love interest was neatly tied up at the end. I wanted a deeper exploration of Giannine's connection to the people in the game: I wanted to know if she mourned them when she left, or if she began to think that they were real, or... what?This is a book I would recommend for anyone looking for a feather-light beach read, a gift for a young person (under 15), or an example of a solid use of the "virtual reality" concept to tell a fantastical story. ( )

When Giannine gets a gift certificate for half and hour on a virtual reality game at Rassmussen Gaming Center, little does she know that more than her virtual life will be at stake. She has a little over an hour, real time, to solve the challenge - or die.

Funny and suspenseful, Vande Velde's writing is definitely up to par. Giannine is an appealing hero, and the story makes the repetitive nature of video games (enter, die, repeat...) interesting. ( )