But Khemri is a Prince, and even if he wanted to leave the Empire behind, there are forces there that have very definite plans for his future. In the ruins of space battle, he meets a young woman, called Raine, who challenges his view of the Empire, of Princes, and of himself. Khemri is drawn into the hidden workings of the Empire and is dispatched on a secret mission. Every Prince wants to become Emperor and the surest way to do so is to kill, dishonor, or sideline any potential competitor. There are rules, but as Khemri discovers, rules can be bent and even broken. A Confusion of Princes by Garth Nix Khemri learns the minute he becomes a Prince that princes need to be hard to kill-for they are always in danger.

There's a fair amount of mostly bloodless violence - teen protagonist Khemri engages in duels, starship battles, attacks by alien zombies, and other mayhem - and a small amount of profanity ('s-t,' 'f-k').

Khemri learns the minute he becomes a Prince that princes need to be hard to kill-for they are always in danger. Parents need to know that A Confusion of Princes is a far-future space adventure that also functions as a clever coming-of-age story. Garth Nix, bestselling author of the Keys to the Kingdom series and Shades Children, combines space opera with a coming-of-age story in his YA novel A Confusion of Princes.

A confusion of princes