Reviews

Heir Apparent by Vivian Vande Velde

capnnebs's review

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5.0

Great book with great ideas. I myself wouldn’t mind a game like that.

theresahasread's review against another edition

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slow-paced

2.5

lisatnel's review

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2.0

It started out really really good. The premise was awesome and I was so excited to keep reading. Then once she started playing the game it got really boring. She started over too much and we were stuck in a replaying scenario. I didn't like that at all. It seemed to take forever for the plot line to develop. I was so disappointed by this because I was really excited to read it after everything got all set up in the beginning. The idea of playing in a game like that was really cool and i thought there could have been so much more interesting plot twists than there actually were. I just think she dropped the ball with this one.

carlacbarroso's review against another edition

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3.0

Though it's more directed to a juvenile public, it was an interesting reading even if the beginning was somewhat repetitive. This books tells the story of Giannine, a 14 year old girl, who gets trapped inside a virtual reality game after a group of protesters have invaded the game center and smashed the equipment. Being trapped, she's forced to play the game to a satisfactory end, so she can be pulled out of the system, but time's not really on her side.

I did feel like I was playing a game ("Broken Sword" came to my mind on several occasions and yes, I only played that game and it's my favourite) and got frustrated, just like Giannine, whenever she had to restart it. It annoyed me that she couldn't figure out some things at first but it was fun to follow her around. The other characters hadn't much depth but then they were videogame characters and served their purpose.

In the end it was an enjoyable light read.

vivisection's review

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5.0

Now that I've read this book it is one of my favorite books ever. This book is about a young girl named who enters a virtual reality game, but a group of angry parents came in and damaged the equipment while she was in the game. she then finds out that she is trapped in the game until she wins and becomes queen of her country. will she survive through barbarian attacks, angry peasants, and magic read the book to find out.

el_reads17's review against another edition

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5.0

Heir Apparent is one of my favourite middle grade books. Rereading it more than 10 years later, it's every bit as good as I remember. It doesn't have the most original premise-- getting stuck in a high stakes virtual reality game --but Giannine's narrative voice makes it special. I love her dry, sarcastic take and all the puzzle-solving.

Pairs well with Hexwood by Dianna Wynne Jones.

melodon's review

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5.0

I read this many years ago in middle school. It was one of the first books I ever read that dealt with video games/virtual reality in any form, and I absolutely loved it. You would think a book that basically rehashes the same scenes multiple times would be boring, but this was far from truth. A must read for anyone who's a fan of vr/video game fiction.

eastoferin's review

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2.0

i didn't read this when it came out, but i think it has aged poorly

eastofthemoon's review

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2.0

i didn't read this when it came out, but i think it has aged poorly

gumrocks's review

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5.0

This book had me hooked from the very first page. I couldn't stop reading this book once I picked it up. I really like how this book was set in the middle ages. It is weird because I usually do not like anything about the middle ages. But this book got me really interested in it. Giannine was a very cool character in this book. I think she had a lot of character development and you can see it throughout the whole book. It definitely doesn't go unnoticed. I think a very important thing I learned in this book (the theme) is to never give up. Always have faith that everything will work out. Keep trying and your hard work will pay off. If things you try just don't work out, that is okay. That is probably for the best. Find different, new ways to help you get out of bad situations or feelings. There are always gonna be other options if things just don't work out. So just keep your head held high and keep on going. You'll get where you want to be, no matter how much time it takes.