Fun and entertaining, Genius by omission.

Note: Read 9 Volumes at time of review

The Genius Prince follows Wein as he cleverly plots and schemes against those that aim to attack or subvert his Kingdom of Natra and attains victory, usually to a huge boon to his country. He's blessed with extremely loyal and competent retainers, vassals and family that help him get the upper hand in most situations.

Wein is genuinely charismatic, competent and at times, funny. One of the aspects that I most appreciate about this series is that he has the perfect amount of empathy for a ruler; he doesn't shy away from killing or sending people to their deaths. Armies are meant to be wielded in battle and losses are expected, but too many series tend to try to solve every problem with a completely clean slate, which is unrealistic. A ruler can't be, nor should be expected to mourn every single death. That said, there are no important (ally) deaths and foot-soldier deaths do not really appear to have an impact. In the first novel, a significant chunk of their standing army is killed in action (1% of their entire population btw) but somehow it doesn't really affect the tiny country of Natra nor is it mentioned again.

The worldbuilding is good. We slowly learn about both sides of the world through the interactions of Wein and his ever-increasing influence over the continent. The East is ruled by the Empire, and the west is a conglomerate of unique and independent countries, ultimately subordinate to the religion of Levetia, at least in name. That said, the purportedly rich culture of the continent feels inconsistent with the timescales that are offered by the author. Natra is said to be the country with the longest history at 200 years, which is frankly, nothing. So working backwards, every other country has a 'rich history' of 2-4 generations of rulers, or that basically, kingdoms fall and rise at a staggering rate.

The side characters are great. There are ones you root for, ones you hate, and ones that are annoying in a good way, because they are nuisances with a legitimate reason to be so. The 'Holy' Elite are all genuinely terrifying characters whose existence you just have to accept. They weave a complexity to the actions that Wein must take in the West to subvert them. On the other hand, the Empire's Princes leave a lot to be desired. They feel a bit one-noted into their roles to the point that it feels that they are just 'jobbing' for Wein and Lowellmina.

As most characters have interesting personalities, the writing is fun and entertaining. The Prince is genuinely clever at times, and at the same time, his opponents are also not just fodder, so it keeps Wein and hence the reader on their toes. A lot of the solutions he comes up with can range from cleverly set pieces, good improvisation, or simply (but admitedly funny) forcing it through the skin of their teeth. That said, there are many situations where he is just 'clever by omission', that is, the author simply neglected to mention the plan and retroactively explains how Wein was always in control, which just feels cheap. He also employs quite a bit the literary device of leaving a text-speech blank mid-conversation or something like "we're going to do that", omitting what that is, so as to add to the mystery, but really, it's just terrible.

In conclusion, it's a fun read if you don't think too hard on what Genius means.