Prince on the Run

The Adventures of Desolation Boxster #1

by Guy Antibes

Prince Trevor Arcwin is everything a prince should handsome, tall, and adept at arms. Unfortunately, Trevor is not the king’s favorite and is tucked away in the Presidon army. He is disliked by more than his father and finds his life is at risk. A mysterious aide, thrust upon the prince when he enters the army, must guide the Prince through peril after peril while they are both on the run.

Genres: Fantasy, Military Fiction

304 pages, Hardcover

Published February 12, 2022

About the author

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.

Reviews

[Andrey · Rating 1 out of 5]

It almost feels like this is a story written by aliens or maybe a state-of-the-art text generation algorithm. It is about a bunch of awkwardly scripted NPCs wandering through an ever-changing dreamscape of slap-dash setting pieces that don't fit together one bit. The writing is abrupt and overly direct, frequently to the point of incomprehensibility. The characters either have trivial motivations stated directly by the author at the outset, have seemingly no motivation for their actions or, bizarrely, sometimes somehow both at the same time (have one stated motivation that flips around or completely changes for no reason in the middle of a scene). The world is a mish-mash of ideas that don't combine into any semblance of sense.

This is a, err, we are left to assume medieval kingdom? There are royalty and nobility and knights except there is also a professional military with a complex administration, entrance exams, professional officers and NCOs, and rigid command structure with units of various regulated sizes which are all very modern concept. The king has an iron grip on power but doesn't command the army and, despite there being wizards in this world, does not know magic or command any wizards. So how does he have a grip on power? One prince is refused entry to the university because his application is not impressive enough... what?! Meanwhile another prince bows to each nameless peasant in a crowd while watching a joust where commoners are allowed to participate. One of those commoners in fact rents a full set of jousting armor and warhorse for the event as if it is as simple as renting a tux nowadays; the problem is that a more proper modern comparison would be renting a fully armed tank- why is it possible to rent this? who the hell even has it available to rent? The rewards for winning the various parts of the tournament which are handed out personally by the king include such minutiae as a fancy table knife, a minor piece of armor and even a wooden toy. Characters say stuff like "let's leave a few minutes early" as if they have modern watches but they don't have any timekeeping devices. There are castle guards who are not part of the army but it is not clear what relation they have.

So reading that previous paragraph, I am almost tempted to explain this all away. Maybe these inconsistencies are just intentional weirdness hinting at some deeper mysteries about the world as something from a Gene Wolfe novel or they are intentional parody in the style of The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy? No, as far as I can tell this is just the laziest most inconsistent and thoughtless "worldbuilding" I've ever encountered. I honestly don't think the author has any consistent concept of the world where these events are happening or the motivations of the characters in the story.

[Stuart Macmartin · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed much of this book. There were a few bizarre things, such as money appearing when all should have been lost, or jousting armour available for rent (never mind how that much ready cash was available). The bizarrely bad governing that should have collapsed under invasions years before.

The real disappointment is the lack of purpose in the meandering journey. A few mystical things randomly happen. Hopefully justified in a later book: I assume the god really is manipulating things, but we don’t know much about his motivations. Our hero thinks he has goals but they are always near-future. He has a few small sequential disconnected objectives, but no over-arching super-objective. Unless it’s to find his super-objective. So this ends up being a story of things happen, and our prince is swept up in the swirling waters of events. He once had a goal of joining the army. After that I suppose it was to survive. It’s ironic when we read, “after a few times running through secret passages without a goal, it became passé.” I hope that was intentional irony, to be resolved in the next book.

The main foreshadowing was repeated heavy-handedly. It would have been so much more effective for him to see that article at the appropriate moment, and recall. (In the author’s favour, though, it’s at least plausible for this heavy-handed reminder to play out as it did given one character knew something we only knew later)

So this started out as 4 star, then the pointlessness of the meandering dropped it to low 3. It’s possible the next books take off from here, and the author is readable, so I’ll likely cautiously trust him a bit longer.

[Ruth Harwood · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed the adventures, this book was exciting in many ways, with characters who you can imagine yourself and constant action that gives the reader a lot to consider at the end. Yes, there are a few little things, like the fact it could have been much better written as a first person narrative, I think. There seems also to be a little rush to get over things. The campfire chats which could have been examining the pair and their pasts are often rushed affairs with very little said and much left to be desired for the reader, and perhaps the constant repetition of the main character's name twice in a sentence, as if we didn't realise it was him the sentence was about was a little clunky, and a first person would have dealt with that and given us perhaps more insight into the man inside the writer's imagination. I felt a sense of loss when the end came however, for more reasons than I'll tell, spoilers are not my bag, but I look forward to reading the sequel x

[Jade Zahreddine · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's not Great, it's not Bad. It is. I am giving it four because even though it felt aimless it did end up going somewhere at the end. It would have been better to flesh out the palace intrigue a bit more, it feels like the 2nd half of the book was just rushed rushed rushed with events that could have filled chapters being dealt with in paragraphs. I didn't understand why he wanted to talk to Lillith near the end, the motivation seemed absent. The story would have been more compelling if it had a vehicle for Trevor to interact with his siblings when he was in the army. Maybe he convinces Generals or Majors to support him making his family worry. That would have been a great segue into where it ended up. He just seemed like a non-player who was treated like a player for no discernible reason, who cared for no discernible reason. That said, it really wasn't terrible. So I am going to give it 4 stars, 3 on this book, and a star loaned in advance for a hopefully better 2nd book.

[Frank Bertino · Rating 5 out of 5]

Entertaining Read

Prince Trevor is fascinated by the martial arts and has no desire to ascend the throne. However, his siblings remain concerned about his potential support for one of his brothers or sisters, leading them to seek his elimination. The narrative that follows involves fleeing, studying, training, serving as an army officer, and betrayal, culminating in a story filled with action, humor, intrigue, and a touch of romance. The reader eagerly anticipates the next installment in this captivating series.

[Curt · Rating 3 out of 5]

An enjoyable read. Quite a few unexpected twists and turns. Some of which were nigh impossible to suspend disbelief. A profound and rather disappointing turn at the end that should have received much more elaboration IMHO. Any further elaboration would be a spoiler.

It was entertaining enough that I intend to start reading the next book.

[Michael White · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow very well done

I like the change in style and how the story is laid out! It’s a departure from his usual way of doing a story but very polished and engaging. I am glad for this change, lately his stories were getting a bit stale.

[Bruce · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another enjoyable read

If you’ve read any other books by Guy Antibes then you know what this book will be like. Easy to read, enjoyable story, if not very deep.

[Ray Knighton · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very good

Fantastic. All of his books are very exciting! I like watching the main character grow. What I don't like is having to wait for the book to be written. Hurry

[Kate · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh boy! Oh boy! A new series!!

Hot diggity! The start of a new series! So exciting! An awesome start, gobs of challenges and action, such a neat world!

[Mike · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good Read

Easy to read with lots of adventure and action! I would recommend this book for all ages. Looking forward to the next one.

[Heidi Marinko · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book

Interesting characters interesting plot. Often I would find myself so engrossed in the book it was like watching a movie. Can’t wait until the next book.

[Vinayak Joshi · Rating 2 out of 5]

I found this to be an ordinary book. Characters are disturbingly emotionless.

[Jimmy Duncan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent story!

Lots of twists and turns in the plot, but still readable. The characters were believable and interesting. Action was decent

[caleb · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read in One Day

Really enjoyable story, lots of plot twists and constant action. One of the better books of this genre. Good editing.

[Johnie C · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great read

I enjoyed reading this book very much and would recommend it highly to anyone that like action, intrigue, and magic.

[Peter Cornell · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good start

A good start to a series. Wouldn't be much as a stand alone novel, but it's A good beginning for a series.

[steven lewis · Rating 5 out of 5]

A new series

Very entertaining. The story writing was captivating.
Mr. Antibes has another winning novel. I hope his success continues. Thanks you.

[Ford Miller · Rating 4 out of 5]

Simple story that was fun to read as the characters got more detailed and evolved.

[Jackie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great read

Loved the characters in this book! I was so sad when one of them had an unfortunate ending....cant wait to get to Book 2.

[Jim Phillips · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating story

Teaching you why education is important. Not a bad subplot to a very enjoyable book. The political geography is also quite unique.

[Les · Rating 3 out of 5]

Okay

Unfortunately my favourite character was murdered and I don't much care for the others , not a bad adventure but more intelligent characters would be good.