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天才王子の赤字国家再生術~そうだ、売国しよう~ (Light Novel) #12
The Genius Prince's Guide to Raising a Nation Out of Debt (Hey, How About Treason?), Vol. 12 (light novel) (The Genius Prince's Guide to Raising a Nation ... (Hey, How About Treason?)
The trouble in the Empire has finally subsided, but that doesn’t mean Wein can rest easy. Relations between the East and West are more strained than ever, and there’s new trouble at home. A movement for independence is brewing in Natra, and Ninym’s been caught in the center of it. Things are looking grim—and that’s when Falanya reveals something that could change the kingdom forever!
- GenresLight Novel
154 pages, Kindle Edition
Published July 23, 2024
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22 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
August 29, 2024
Things are looking bad for the Kingdom of Natra. Prince Wein may be a brilliant battlefield tactician and a credible statesman known throughout the continent, but when pressed upon by his own people, the man has little recourse. GENIUS PRINCE . . . v12 charts a possible path that could see the young dragon either poised to consumer everyone in his way or die by his own word, like all beasts past.
The civil war in the east has finally reached its necessary conclusion. Lowellmina is on top, and the woman has her fair share of paperwork, crowd-rousing, and spy-hunting to keep her busy. Deep down, part of her still desires Wein to stand by her side. But for now, her own country requires healing. In the west, curiosity still quirks the brow of myriad leaders who scrap for more power, rebuke the Earthworld Empire to the east, and revere (fear) Levetia's Gospel Bureau. The east would see Natra brought into its fold for passive, long-game geopolitical advantages; the west would see Natra crushed or consumed for active, urgent geopolitical advantages. What's a genius prince to do? ("Both sides sought to make Natra a treasonous sacrificial lamb," page 99).
GENIUS PRINCE . . . v12 takes an intriguing tactic: The book wrests control of the situation out of Wein's hands, and concocts a surreptitious ambush in the meanwhile. Falanya is increasingly bitter about her brother's economic and diplomatic pragmatism. The Flahm have grown restless (via outside agitation) and threaten to revolt in pursuit of independence. And lurking in the shadows are representatives of the Gospel Bureau, requesting an alliance with Natra for obviously nefarious reasons.
The author's decision to tell this story in tandem with the origin of Wein and Ninym's meeting and subsequent relationship offers a clever and sometimes heart-rending contrast of events. Wein, it turns out, has always been a rather dispassionate person; he has no goals or motivations of his own, he always does what he's told, and he has always lived with the truth that somebody, somewhere, wants him dead. As for Ninym, her desperate plea to survive, and to prove herself worthy of service to the young stoic, speaks as much of her individual pride as it does to Wein's increasingly conscientious effort to do well by others.
Wein always speaks of Ninym as his "heart." And when readers peruse the current volume, they'll learn that he means this quite literally: Ninym's capacity to survive, to endure, to find her own path, is what gives Wein his own sense of life and his own path forward. The challenge, as one finds in GENIUS PRINCE . . . v12, is that external forces often seek to overwhelm Ninym's agency. For example, the Flahm seek independence, with Ninym at the helm (against her desire), while the west seeks reconciliation with the Flahm (with a corrupt glint in its eye).
Secondary characters loom important in this installment. Falanya expressing her interest in aiming for the throne upon discovering her older brother's apathy for ethical rulership is no accident. The girl, shaking with anxiety, proclaims that "this isn't about compassion. It's a necessary effort to guarantee the future of our nation" (page 69). Elsewhere, Levan, the chief Flahm servant to the Natran throne, struggles mightily to contain the unrest among his people. Levan is old school, and he believes his people owe more to the Arbalest family than they could ever take. But the winds of change are strong, and as such, sacrifice often arrives in unrecognizable shapes and forms. The question of how Natra will survive the pressures of the east, the west, and from its own people, may well hinge on the opinions (and devotion) of a single, long-serving vassal.
The civil war in the east has finally reached its necessary conclusion. Lowellmina is on top, and the woman has her fair share of paperwork, crowd-rousing, and spy-hunting to keep her busy. Deep down, part of her still desires Wein to stand by her side. But for now, her own country requires healing. In the west, curiosity still quirks the brow of myriad leaders who scrap for more power, rebuke the Earthworld Empire to the east, and revere (fear) Levetia's Gospel Bureau. The east would see Natra brought into its fold for passive, long-game geopolitical advantages; the west would see Natra crushed or consumed for active, urgent geopolitical advantages. What's a genius prince to do? ("Both sides sought to make Natra a treasonous sacrificial lamb," page 99).
GENIUS PRINCE . . . v12 takes an intriguing tactic: The book wrests control of the situation out of Wein's hands, and concocts a surreptitious ambush in the meanwhile. Falanya is increasingly bitter about her brother's economic and diplomatic pragmatism. The Flahm have grown restless (via outside agitation) and threaten to revolt in pursuit of independence. And lurking in the shadows are representatives of the Gospel Bureau, requesting an alliance with Natra for obviously nefarious reasons.
The author's decision to tell this story in tandem with the origin of Wein and Ninym's meeting and subsequent relationship offers a clever and sometimes heart-rending contrast of events. Wein, it turns out, has always been a rather dispassionate person; he has no goals or motivations of his own, he always does what he's told, and he has always lived with the truth that somebody, somewhere, wants him dead. As for Ninym, her desperate plea to survive, and to prove herself worthy of service to the young stoic, speaks as much of her individual pride as it does to Wein's increasingly conscientious effort to do well by others.
Wein always speaks of Ninym as his "heart." And when readers peruse the current volume, they'll learn that he means this quite literally: Ninym's capacity to survive, to endure, to find her own path, is what gives Wein his own sense of life and his own path forward. The challenge, as one finds in GENIUS PRINCE . . . v12, is that external forces often seek to overwhelm Ninym's agency. For example, the Flahm seek independence, with Ninym at the helm (against her desire), while the west seeks reconciliation with the Flahm (with a corrupt glint in its eye).
Secondary characters loom important in this installment. Falanya expressing her interest in aiming for the throne upon discovering her older brother's apathy for ethical rulership is no accident. The girl, shaking with anxiety, proclaims that "this isn't about compassion. It's a necessary effort to guarantee the future of our nation" (page 69). Elsewhere, Levan, the chief Flahm servant to the Natran throne, struggles mightily to contain the unrest among his people. Levan is old school, and he believes his people owe more to the Arbalest family than they could ever take. But the winds of change are strong, and as such, sacrifice often arrives in unrecognizable shapes and forms. The question of how Natra will survive the pressures of the east, the west, and from its own people, may well hinge on the opinions (and devotion) of a single, long-serving vassal.
May 15, 2025
Genius Prince's Guide remains an intriguing read, not with much (or in the case any) action, but with its interesting characters, cloak-and-dagger politics and how muddied Wein's true objectives are even to us readers. The flashback to how Ninym and Wein first met was in that regards the best part of this volume. The rest was mostly a setup for the next arc depicting the current political situation and the problems Wein is going to face. The cliff hanger at the end of the volume was kind of expected, and Wein's muddied objective also makes it a bit difficult to judge whether something is just plot armor or believable plotting by the prince. The volume was also rather short even for a light novel. Still, a good read and I hope we get the next volume (it being almost a year since we got this one).
November 29, 2024
Good book
Very good book , we need more books like they . We're the ater can speak adut manrtes in very good way
Very good book , we need more books like they . We're the ater can speak adut manrtes in very good way
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews