Giannine Bellisario is given a gift certificate to a virtual reality arcade for her fourteenth birthday.  She arrives at Rasmussem Gaming Center and finds protesters crowding the sidewalk.  When she finally gets in to play, she chooses Heir Apparent, which seems to be the most exciting choice.

Once in the virtual reality game, she finds herself working as a sheep herder.  She has been chosen to be one of the few in line for the throne.  After making a number of mistakes and having to start over, she gets a summoned through the game by the owner of Rasmussem Gaming Center.  Protesters have tampered with the game, and she now has a limited amount of time to complete the game.  If she doesn't complete her quest in time, she'll die.  The problem is that no one knows how much time she has.

HEIR APPARENT is a little slow while the characters, the premise of the game, and then the situation are set up.  Once those issues are set up, it becomes a really good read.  Those who like computer games will find this book to be enjoyable.  The virtual reality game makes the book a lot of fun.  I also enjoyed the tension that the author created while you are waiting to see if Giannine will make it out of the game alive.