Review: Heir Apparent by Vivian Vande Velde
Heir Apparent
by Vivian Vande Velde
Set in the same universe, but not a sequel to User Unfriendly
Giannine’s father gives her a gift certificate for her birthday that entitles her to half an hour's game play at the Rasmussem Gaming Center in a total immersion virtual reality game. Pretty cool, right? Giannine selects a game called Heir Apparent, a medieval fantasy in which her peasant-born character must fight to hold onto the kingdom she inherits from the dead king. It seems like a fairly standard quest, but when protesters from the Citizens to Protect Our Children damage the machine she’s hooked up to while she's playing, the game takes a deadly turn. Giannine must play the game through until the end within her allotted time slot or else suffer permanent brain damage. Unfortunately, every time Giannine dies within the game, she’s sent straight back to the beginning. Faced with barbarians, peasant unrest, calculating half-siblings, wizards, and dragons, Giannine really will be fighting for her life in Heir Apparent.
The beginning of the novel is a little repetitive, since Giannine dies fairly quickly and has to re-live the same scenes over and over, but once she got used to the game and began piecing together the story from her previous visits, the plot really picked up. It did make me wonder why the game doesn't have “levels” so that Giannine would not have to go all the way back to the beginning each time she died. The characters adapt to the player’s decisions, though, and each time they were a little different. There isn't really be a way to set up a stopping point - too bad for Giannine.
I really liked the melding of futuristic technology and quasi-medieval fantasy. While Giannine and the reader never forget that she’s just playing a game, the characters of the game also feel real. It made me wonder how kids act when they finish the games. I mean, does Giannine feel sad that she’s leaving the characters behind, like I might feel regret when a favorite tv show ends? Or is it worse, because she interacted with the characters? Do people in this universe go crazy and end up spending their life savings playing the same game over and over because they’re in love with a character? (I mean, people do stuff like that now, and it’s a little creepy.) If that kind of stuff was going on, I can see why organizations like Citizens to Protect Our Children would protest and want to have the games banned. Anyway, adding this layer over the adventure of the game Heir Apparent just made the story so much more interesting.
I also liked the way Giannine’s personality affected her game play. For example, she has a troubled relationship with her father; she lives with her grandmother and rarely sees him. It turns out that a critical magical item is held by game-Giannine’s father, but she never bothers to meet him because she doesn’t think that a father will be a valuable asset. Little things are sprinkled throughout the book, slowly building up a picture of Giannine’s life outside the video game.
WARNING POTENTIAL SPOILER
I did think the ending was a bit of a cop-out. It turns out that the romantic interest Giannine has in the game has a real-life counterpart around her age, who just happens to be the totally hot designer of Heir Apparent. It’s strongly hinted that they’ll have a happily ever after relationship, thanks to the game. That’s….kinda lame, to be honest.
END SPOILER
I listened to the audio version of this book recently, narrated by Carine Montbertrand (who did a great job, by the way) and it’s a pretty fun story. The technology is vague- yet plausible - enough that it doesn’t sound too dated, even though the book is almost ten years old.
3.5 out of 5 stars
To read more about Heir Apparent, buy it or add it to your wishlist click here.
by Vivian Vande Velde
Set in the same universe, but not a sequel to User Unfriendly
Giannine’s father gives her a gift certificate for her birthday that entitles her to half an hour's game play at the Rasmussem Gaming Center in a total immersion virtual reality game. Pretty cool, right? Giannine selects a game called Heir Apparent, a medieval fantasy in which her peasant-born character must fight to hold onto the kingdom she inherits from the dead king. It seems like a fairly standard quest, but when protesters from the Citizens to Protect Our Children damage the machine she’s hooked up to while she's playing, the game takes a deadly turn. Giannine must play the game through until the end within her allotted time slot or else suffer permanent brain damage. Unfortunately, every time Giannine dies within the game, she’s sent straight back to the beginning. Faced with barbarians, peasant unrest, calculating half-siblings, wizards, and dragons, Giannine really will be fighting for her life in Heir Apparent.
The beginning of the novel is a little repetitive, since Giannine dies fairly quickly and has to re-live the same scenes over and over, but once she got used to the game and began piecing together the story from her previous visits, the plot really picked up. It did make me wonder why the game doesn't have “levels” so that Giannine would not have to go all the way back to the beginning each time she died. The characters adapt to the player’s decisions, though, and each time they were a little different. There isn't really be a way to set up a stopping point - too bad for Giannine.
I really liked the melding of futuristic technology and quasi-medieval fantasy. While Giannine and the reader never forget that she’s just playing a game, the characters of the game also feel real. It made me wonder how kids act when they finish the games. I mean, does Giannine feel sad that she’s leaving the characters behind, like I might feel regret when a favorite tv show ends? Or is it worse, because she interacted with the characters? Do people in this universe go crazy and end up spending their life savings playing the same game over and over because they’re in love with a character? (I mean, people do stuff like that now, and it’s a little creepy.) If that kind of stuff was going on, I can see why organizations like Citizens to Protect Our Children would protest and want to have the games banned. Anyway, adding this layer over the adventure of the game Heir Apparent just made the story so much more interesting.
I also liked the way Giannine’s personality affected her game play. For example, she has a troubled relationship with her father; she lives with her grandmother and rarely sees him. It turns out that a critical magical item is held by game-Giannine’s father, but she never bothers to meet him because she doesn’t think that a father will be a valuable asset. Little things are sprinkled throughout the book, slowly building up a picture of Giannine’s life outside the video game.
WARNING POTENTIAL SPOILER
I did think the ending was a bit of a cop-out. It turns out that the romantic interest Giannine has in the game has a real-life counterpart around her age, who just happens to be the totally hot designer of Heir Apparent. It’s strongly hinted that they’ll have a happily ever after relationship, thanks to the game. That’s….kinda lame, to be honest.
END SPOILER
I listened to the audio version of this book recently, narrated by Carine Montbertrand (who did a great job, by the way) and it’s a pretty fun story. The technology is vague- yet plausible - enough that it doesn’t sound too dated, even though the book is almost ten years old.
3.5 out of 5 stars
To read more about Heir Apparent, buy it or add it to your wishlist click here.