Review by hedgielibraries - Under the Oak Tree, Vol. 1 (Novel)

hedgielibraries 's review for:

Under the Oak Tree, Vol. 1 (Novel) by Suji Kim

4.5

adventurous emotional hopeful lighthearted relaxing medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Note: Thank you to Random House Inklore and NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read the eARC for Under the Oak Tree Volume 1 by Kim Suji!

Rating: 4/5 stars!

Summary: Maximilian Calypse has grown up being the stuttering, undesirable daughter of Duke Croyso. Three years ago, she was married to rising knight Riftan Calypse before he left for a campaign to defeat an ancient dragon, and now, he is returning. Her memories of Riftan are painful and tense, and on top of that, rumors abound that the princess of the nation offered her hand to Riftan. Divorce would mean at the very least exile from the only life she’s known, and at worse, death. As Maxi and Riftan make their way to Anatol, Riftan’s domain, can she come to learn who her husband really is, and make a happy life for herself in Castle Calypse?

Content Warnings: Dubious Consent (due to period-typical lack of sex education and misogyny) and Physical and Mental Abuse (Duke Croyso to Maxi, not between the FL and ML)

Review: I included the content warnings above because I would have appreciated those warnings being given before I read. It’s hard to read where Maxi is at the beginning. Throughout the novel she grows to understand more about her sexuality and herself as a person apart from the abuse she’s suffered her whole life.

I love Maxi with all my heart. She takes the shitty circumstances she’s been given and does her best to find happiness despite that. Maxi alone keeps the rating at 4 stars because I just love how she’s been written as a character.

Riftan… he’s not the worst ML I’ve ever read in this genre but good lord does he need to like, communicate with Maxi. He did not grow up as a noble and thus probably doesn’t understand that noble women don’t know a whole lot about ‘marital duties’ but Maxi’s body language was giving off discomfort and fear pretty strongly during the first few times they had sex, and for that he’s lost a lot of likability in my eyes.

Perhaps throughout the course of the story, he will realize his early mistakes and apologize, especially once the truth of Maxi’s life before him comes to light.

Other than that I really liked this novel! Kim Suji’s writing comes across well with the translation work done by the teams at MANTA! It really brings out the medieval fantastical elements of the novel while retaining a lot of the emotion and personality of each of the characters. Though the sex scenes were a bit repetitive, they were fairly well-written, and didn’t leave me feeling bored or disinterested.

I will be looking out for Volume 2, and checking out the manhwa!

Content Warnings