The book is tied to a planned online MMORPG, Imperial Galaxy. Heinlein or Andre Norton (to whom the book is dedicated), Nix (the Keys to the Kingdom series) has crafted an adventure filled with hostile aliens, deadly spaceship battles, cybernetic wonders, humor (often involving Khemri's na vet ), and a touch of romance.

Falling in love with a naval reserve officer, Khemri takes the painful first step in learning what it means to be human. A year into his formal training, however, he is sent on a mission to the fringe world of Kharalcha where, stripped of his augmentations, he must fight space pirates and the forces of the Empire. Raised in splendor by mind-controlled slaves, physically and psychically augmented, and virtually immortal, Khemri, like the other Princes, is intensely self-centered, assuming that he will someday become Emperor. In this exciting space opera, 19-year-old Khemri is a Prince of the Empire, one of 10 million Princes who rule much of the galaxy under a mysterious Emperor and an AI called the Imperial Mind. 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.

There are rules, but as Khemri discovers, rules can be bent and even broken. Every Prince wants to become Emperor and the surest way to do so is to kill, dishonor, or sideline any potential competitor. Garth Nix, bestselling author of the Keys to the Kingdom series and Shade’s Children, combines space opera with a coming-of-age story in his YA novel A Confusion of Princes. Khemri learns the minute he becomes a Prince that princes need to be hard to kill-for they are always in danger. Garth Nix, bestselling author of the Keys to the Kingdom series and Shade’s Children, combines space opera with a coming-of-age story in his YA novel A Confusion of Princes.

A confusion of princes