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Strings of Empire #1

The Wizard Corps

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Wizards are rare in Racellia. Most are drafted into the country’s armed forces. Quint Tirolo is pressed into service through a betrayal of two acquaintances when he is fifteen, and he finds that his heritage puts him into peril as soon as he enters training. The troubles continue, even as Quint’s magical powers begin to grow with new knowledge. The Wizard Corps is the story of Quint dealing with excruciating bias and his efforts to make a life among a people who see him as an enemy. Luckily, he finds people he can work with despite their feelings, but will it be enough to enable Quint to survive?

284 pages, Kindle Edition

Published July 18, 2024

444 people are currently reading
63 people want to read

About the author

Guy Antibes

79 books141 followers
I write action/adventure fiction with a definite proclivity towards Sword & Sorcery. I like magicians, but I'm less partial to unicorns, dragons, elves and dwarves. But give me a hero with a magic sword and I'll make him sing... Wait, I already have!

I've published a number of works under the CasiePress imprint and there are more to come.

I'm an older guy (Guy!), married and all my kids have grown up and given me grandkids to dote over. I've read thousands of books and found that in most cases, I'd rather write than read.

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5 stars
787 (59%)
4 stars
385 (29%)
3 stars
107 (8%)
2 stars
23 (1%)
1 star
17 (1%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 50 reviews
Profile Image for Russell Gray.
686 reviews139 followers
February 11, 2026
If you're in the mood for a great story with a pure mage main character, then don't be deterred by the awkward cover art and give this book a try.

The story follows our MC, Quinto, a young man living in a rural village who gets pressed/kidnapped into military service when he manifests his magic abilities. It quickly becomes apparent that he has a talent for magic, but this also causes him just as much trouble as anything since he's a Hubite, which is a disparaged minority race in his country.

The magic was fun and interesting, and involves manifesting tendrils of power called threads and then thickening and weaving them into strings that create various magical effects. A wizard's skill is generally measured by how many strings they can cast. It reminded me a little of the Madwand series by Roger Zelazny, which is the only other fantasy story I can think of that used strings to visualize magic.

The plot generally seems to follow a bit of the Hero's Journey, but with one obstacle after another as the any success on the part of the MC is met by further jealousy or racism. It reminded me a little of Heartwood Mage by James Haddock where you have a MC who is simply trying to develop his powers and settle down in life, but people just won't stop messing with him. Though this book is quite a bit more focused on the politics than the action and killing.

The writing felt a bit stilted at times, with a lack of sentence variation and dialogue being very on the nose, but overall I really enjoyed the story, the characters, and especially the magic.

I would highly recommend this to anyone looking for a solid fantasy with a spellcaster main character. Especially if you are tired of OP spellblade-type characters, the wizards in this series focus almost exclusively on magic, with sidearms sometimes being present but often not making much difference.
37 reviews1 follower
August 8, 2024
This book seemed like it was going for a historical feel but didn't nail it.

I don't want to complain about this book. It was okay. I finished it, but I was bored the entire way. I liked the concept for magic, but there was no joy or even satisfaction shown by the main character. The historical feel was what attracted me to the book, but the relations that the MC developed never felt real even with his parents.
161 reviews4 followers
November 12, 2024
A great picture that needs to be filled in

4.25 Stars

I sped through this book Understand that I’ve been looking at the cover for so long and I had the first day of my vacation kick in and I needed something to read. I downloaded the sample and I said I must have more. From that moment forward, I was reading and then eating and then reading and then eating. Finished half of the book in one night finished the other half the following day. The writing is that good, but there are some issues. I didn’t write a review right away. I slept on it, and I finally came up with an image and it’s literally an image of an outline that needs to be filled in. The author presents a really good MC you get some story you get some background you get some growth you get some development you get to really see how this world works. Needs a little bit of emotion himself. That’s why I say it’s not filled in. That’s the one thing that’s lacking. Even during some major events in this book I don’t see the emotion from the MC. Now, some may say there is reason for this, and I can understand that I can understand why he doesn’t display as much emotion as others, and it makes sense but I thought by the end of this book he should show me a little more. With that being said oh there is more opportunity and I want to know what happens next I bought the Next book immediately and started reading. I just stopped to come back and write this review for people to let them know this is a keeper buy it and read it.


Message to the Author

I always write a message to the author for books that I really love I caution anyone that there are spoilers ahead

Spoiler spoiler spoiler

OK, here goes. I thought the character in this book really lacked some emotion at pivotal times. Especially at the end when we started seeing people he should’ve cared about die or when some of those betrayals happened. Even if he smothered the anger, even if he smothered the sadness , I didn’t see it. I do wonder why all of these people wanted him dead didn’t just kill him. The emperor had him and said work for me. Will you once the boy said no why didn’t he kill him? This really needs to be explained in the future book because to me that makes almost no sense. If there is this pivotal individual out there and you don’t want them to rock the boat you know they could rock the boat that you’re currently steering and he says I won’t help you drive this ship. Why do you leave him alive? One other issue and it’s major but I think it will be tackled in the next book or so all these strings. He happens to be learning. Why isn’t he using them in combat of some sort. I was pleasantly surprised this book to see it not go all action wizard, you know the investigations, though plotting the backstabbing the understanding of tactics that was a pleasant surprise. Instead, I found it lacking in action. I had to ask myself why is he learning these strings if he’s not gonna use them to tournament upside down and shake his pockets out. Now I’m just being a lover of the first book and pointing out some of the criticism on my head, don’t think I didn’t like it. I loved the book I purchased it. I didn’t say let me get it on KU. I bought both of them but these were thorny little issues to me and I don’t want them to grow into something much bigger. I’m looking forward to the next book and you can look forward to my next review.

Oh, I also saw you had a bunch of other books a few I’ve actually purchased before I’ll be diving through your collection.
2 reviews1 follower
January 2, 2025
Decent story, unfortunately ruined by poor writing and editing

Well, overall, I enjoyed the plot and the world built in this book but it was a disappointing read as many important moments were not fleshed out the way that they should have been, for example at the beginning of the book 3 assailants break into the main character‘s room and assault him but it’s glossed over in just a couple of sentences. There are also many characters, but due to the brevity of the writing, we don’t ever really get to form a connection with any of them, including the main character. Even what should be traumatic or emotional moments are just glossed over in a sentence or two. It makes all of the characters feel robotic. This book feels like an outline of all of the plot points that the author wanted to make rather than the telling of the story he’s trying to get across.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for Peter Sugiharto.
2 reviews1 follower
May 2, 2025
Discovery of strings

I'm amazed at how the plot is unlike anytjing I've read before but still made me sitting on the edge finishing it.

Like the underatted Magician's Guild I've always praised for it's original use of normal magic, this one brings the soft magic side of things where memory is your best friend if you're a wizard (Harry).

The strings system is as dubious as the spell which can be learned with anyone who has magic and it is as magical as a magic bakery. Ingredients can be changed and it still create bread.

Quin is a really good intro. Being underappreciated. He grows amidst all the prejudice.

One note, I dont know how the author can do it, but this book is normal sized but read as three other books already. Probably with so many hills and valleys.
599 reviews5 followers
August 6, 2024
Wow

I am glad Guy Antibes has started a new series!! I have all of his books!! This book reminded me of growing up in the 1960's! I grew up in Alexandria, Va. We lived in a white subdivision, and their was a black subdivision next to us. We shared a basketball court and a football field. We never had fights because we knew the government would take away the basketball court. Our problem was staying away from the clan and the Nazi groups. They were marching in Alexandria in those days. The funny thing is two brothers whose father was in charge of the Nazi became Fairfax County Police officers. That's life!
Profile Image for Michael Gnizak.
56 reviews1 follower
December 15, 2025
Didn’t finished it.

I tried reading this one two separate time. First attempt I made it about 10 pages but didn’t connect and wasn’t in the mood. My second attempt went better, I made it 20% six chapters.

I wanted to like it, but I find the narrative annoying. There is a lot of racial tension (fictional races) that just isn’t fun to read about. Extreme bullying, no justice, and it just makes me mad reading it. Not badly written in the normal sense, but certainly not what I’d call enjoyable to read.

I was bored and looking for a fun read, but this one didn’t do it for me. I’m giving it a generous 3 stars.
382 reviews2 followers
August 11, 2024
Interesting

Things I liked, a good story and an interesting idea of magic a young boy finds magic and and hatred in equal measure, what would you do if dragged of by people who hate you to fight wares for a country that is racist towards you.
The story was very good but in my opinion the antagonist felt a bit emotionally detached unless this is a future plot point as most teenagers have rapid hormonal mood swings be it girls fighting etc, our protagonist seems more mature in some ways and just dense and stupid in others, I hope for another book in this series to find out why or who he becomes.
117 reviews1 follower
September 11, 2024
Really good story, interesting new magic system -NEEDS EDITING

I have decided to stop deducting stars when rating poorly edited books since it detracts from the reading experience more than the author's effort. I also realize that there usually aren't as many errors as I feel like there are because they are so very jarring to me, personally. In any case, this is a good story with interesting characters and engaging action despite the few editing errors that made small parts of the story difficult to understand.
Profile Image for Deborah.
132 reviews
August 11, 2024
I loved this book. I thought the main character was wonderful. I loved his struggles and his bravery.
It is well written and the problems the boy had are believable. I could feel his confusion as he tries to live in this prejudiced world, developing new powers and wondering who to trust.
The reader will travel from place to place experiencing the trials and struggles of growing up in a prejudiced world where other people search to control and use others for power and gain.
Fast reading, lots of action and interesting people
I recommend this book for all lovers of magic
I can’t wait for book 2
Profile Image for Robert Spellmann.
342 reviews4 followers
September 29, 2024
Fascinating. Cool magic scheme. Good YA lit

Are you a reader who gets fed up with poor literature? I have been. It has been - download a Kindle book, search for vile words, find too many, delete the book, try again. Repeatedly!
FINALLY - this Antibes book. Clean prose. No, sex, sadism, or gore. Lead character is actually a male!
And, the plot is enthralling! Highly recommended.
1 review
January 6, 2025
I thought the book was very poorly written, with too much exposition. The story line was interesting, although the magic developed by the hero of the story was hardly used, and not well described. It would have been better for the hero to have been older, with more life skills that he could use. I wouldn’t recommend this series to anyone interested in this type of fantasy. There are better writers and stories.
1,632 reviews12 followers
October 28, 2025
3.5 stars. Fairly good coming of age type of story in which a young man grows his wizard powers in a medieval style of country. The book was an easy read. The story progressed fairly quickly (good) but at times I felt the story was being told in a superficial manner. I also felt that the story was presented and the characters acted in an unemotional way. Still, I'll read the next in the series and see how things go.
522 reviews5 followers
July 27, 2024
Picture 15th or 16th century central Europe. The MC is discovered to have magical talent, he's also jewish. Now picture a landbound Horatio Hornblower or Lord Ramage(w/o the title of course). The magic system is not overpowering, well done and unlike any other you've read about. The result is extremely entertaining and you will impatiently await the next volume.
Profile Image for Keith.
2,167 reviews6 followers
August 15, 2024
Very Different

An intriguing beginning with a well defined mystical worldview, populated by various societies at odds with each other, and some at odds within. The plot is rather convoluted, and follows a meandering path from chapter to chapter. Decent character development and an ending which brings some resolution to a few story threads, but not an end to the series.
Profile Image for Frank Bertino.
1,771 reviews20 followers
August 20, 2024
Well Written

Quint, a teenage boy who just came into his magic, is betrayed to the Wizard Corps and ripped away from his parents to be trained. He finds racial prejudice interfere with his opportunities. Betrayal, kidnapping, and destiny ensue. I like the action, adventure, and meeting adversity. I look forward to the next book.
154 reviews1 follower
September 7, 2024
I love Guy's writing!

The story is interesting; is fun in places, has plenty of good guys & bad guys & friends & betrayers. It moves along but isn't gory. Our hero is a young but very talented magician from a persecuted people group. But not all the "good guys" are good & vv - it makes for a much more interesting story. I wish his books were also audiobooks. Clean as always.
46 reviews
September 14, 2024
Young Wizard....goes North!

Great story of a young wizard kidnapped multiple times beaten and knocked out several times and generally disrespected as a young white male.
A reverse race story....DEI influenced?
It is a good story!!....Finished it in single read.
High school Liberal Teachers will like the disrespect of young white males....!

38 reviews
December 21, 2024
Interesting story

I'm enjoying a good story that's not over the top. It's written in a plausible manner. It's well written with good character development and is visually rich without so much detail that I'm not skipping unnecessary descriptions. There's room for my own imagination to participate.
Profile Image for Fat Frog.
256 reviews
February 1, 2025
DNF 37%

The main characters is an android. He has no feelings. When he gets beaten, he just keeps on going, beep boop. No reaction. Beep boop.

Everyone is racist. Everyone is racist against the "Aryan master race" (blonde hair blue eyes).
Since the android MC is Aryan, he gets shit on every day.

The conversations are so dry and boring.
103 reviews
February 16, 2025
badly edited

This book is stilted and weird.
I didn’t even make it 10% of the way through.
I suspect it’s translation that was not well done .
Lots of declared statements, but no real character development or background.
The world is completely fake , and people don’t behave like people.
Not worth the read .
174 reviews3 followers
February 11, 2026
Young MC gets pressed into the army because he develops magic & hijinks ensue.

This is the 2nd book I've read by Mr. Antibes and I thoroughly enjoyed it almost as much as I did the 1st one! But this one has more books in the series, so, as soon as I finish this review, I'll be buying book two.
Solid MC, unusual magic system and lots of intrigue.
68 reviews1 follower
August 2, 2024
GREAT START TO ANOTHER GREAT SERIES.

I love the ways Guy comes up with different styles of Magic. So many thud & blunder sword and sorcery stories just use generic handwavium. Good story lines & some good life philosophy as well. Looking forward to Book 2.
Profile Image for Trey richardson.
230 reviews21 followers
August 7, 2024
what’s a shield?

I think this was a great start. My only issue is that the MC has no sense when it comes to protecting himself. He got knocked out no less than 6 times. Despite his supposed power he used it very little. I hope this changes in future books.
261 reviews1 follower
August 7, 2024
Good book!

Good coming of age story with a unique magic system. Looking forward to the next book. There were only a few grammatical and spelling errors such as pursuer instead of purser. Definitely recommend!
156 reviews
August 9, 2024
A great read!

I wasn’t sure what to expect, but am delighted I took the moment to try this book. By the bottom of the 1st page, I was “hooked”. The story is fresh, imaginative, and engaging. The characters are thoroughly interesting. The writing is gifted. My only disappointment… there’s no book 2!
Profile Image for Jim Phillips.
1,011 reviews4 followers
August 13, 2024
Nice

Not many typos made this easier to read. Enjoyable story and while I'm not a fan of the magic framework it is useable and stays consistent with itself. Not sold on the epilogue but it could be worse.
97 reviews
August 17, 2024
Good book

I very much enjoyed this book. It has an interesting magic system and the world building is excellent. The MC doesn't stand up for himself (he submits possibly to multiple beatings) which I found difficult to cope with. He is becoming very powerful however.
39 reviews
August 19, 2024
A reliable author

Guy Antibes has never let me down and The Wizard Corps is no exception. I don't generally follow author's blindly but I think I will start doing so in his case.
I am looking forward to the next instalment.
Profile Image for John Mckinley.
5 reviews5 followers
August 21, 2024
such a well written, compelling tale

I really love this book on so many levels! The author is such a skilled writer, and every chapter was really compelling. The plot itself had just the right amount of twist and turns. I can’t wait for the next book in the series!
Displaying 1 - 30 of 50 reviews

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