Heir Apparent

Light fantasy or early LitRPG, this is much better than the first book in the series. Decent female lead character, but the story is a little rushed at times. A very quick read.

For the majority of the book there is only one person; the rest are computer driven characters. Playing a one hour session (a birthday present) she is trapped in the game when anti-gamer terrorists attack the game center, breaking the immersion device somehow. She can only exit the game by winning, and if she fails to do that soon, she will probably die in real-life.

Okay, hokey setup, but it works. When she dies in-game, she restarts from the very beginning, though that doesn't happen too often. She must live by her wits. This is good for her and enjoyable to read. The computer characters have an excuse to be 2D, but they do have differing individual motivations. Working out the permutations is another part of the challenge.

So yeah, I liked it. The strongest reviews seem to be mostly people fondly remembering this from their youth. The first book in this universe was in 1990 (and only average), this book 2002. Another was written in 2012 - perhaps we are due for a fourth. I plan to read the third book regardless.