akoebel, Will777r: thanks for the feedback (late is fine, and really, a week isn't that late).
I'm glad to hear that the sibling conversation works well. I liked it, but it was the first three-person interspersed conversation (as opposed to only two people) I recall ever writing, so it took a bit of work to figure out.
Are his teachers so mean (or stupid) as to actually schedule overlapping sessions (and in different places?) or is it just the skewed view of a teenager? I would expect tutors for a prince to actually come to the prince's room to do their lessons, instead of having the prince run around.
To answer the first, some of both, for reasons discussed later in the book. I don't want to reveal too much just yet, but I am curious if it was too distracting, or just a question you wondered about.
In a similar vein, does the queen actually ask him to scrub floors?
This queen, yes. I hope this is brought out later, but this one I'm less sure I've covered appropriately. However, she's raising her children to have experienced what work others do, from the opinion that understanding it will make them better leaders.
I also found the initial scene with his tutor unnecessary. My guess is that there is some foreshadowing in the opening line? But I don't know if the entire scene makes it worth it. I can't speak much on first sentence hooks cause I'm horrid at them, but I can say that if your story opens with the first line of scene 2 ("Miki ran down the empty corridor"), I am definitely more drawn in. That at least makes me want to find out why he's running and why he's trying to keep quiet
The first line was supposed to be foreshadowing, but I'm not sure how much of it will end up being kept -- that may be a case of changing it later for better foreshadowing.
It's interesting that you mention the second scene as being a better starting point. I had started there originally, and the feedback from my first readers was that that scene introduced too many characters and world elements at once, similar to your next point of feedback. So I added this scene, took advantage of the tutor to add a rough sketch of foreshadowing, and let there be a scene focused mostly on Miki before it blossomed with others. After this feedback, however, I'm not sure the scene I chose is the best one to do it, and there might be another that would work as well without some of the problems this one entails.
Your link looks interesting. I'll give it a more thorough perusal as soon as I find the time.