Under the Oak Tree: Volume 1

First thing you need to know about this, is there are trigger warnings. And some things were a lot more graphic in the novel than in the comic.
I personally found parts easy to skim over if that helps, but it is something to know and not be blindsided about.

This is such a gorgeous story, with amazing characters with struggles that are realistic and make you want to cry and hug or cheer them on. There's just so much to love: the romance, the world & magic, the characters and their journey, etc.

Maxi is a duke's daughter that was abused throughout her childhood, she stutters, and had an arranged marriage to the commander of the Remdragon knights.
Riftan is the commander, Maxi's forced husband, who has scares from a fierce battle and is preparing for more.

They both have flaws, struggles and scars. They both are loyal to each other and grow in a love that you can't help but cheer for and adore.
Healing, identity, learning to trust and love, these are all throughout this first book of the series and it's beautiful to read.

The world is fantasy with magic, monsters, and set with another threat of war as the backdrop. Need I say more?

When I saw this one available on Netgalley, I decided to grab it because the webcomic seems to be super popular. I ended up really enjoying it and wish I had more so I could continue my binge reading. I do wish it had a little more depth. Yes, there is a lot going on and Maxi has had an abusive life and we do get descriptions on the castle, money systems, different people, etc., but the writing still felt shallow or done in a way that creates distance between the reader and story. I wasn't completely entrenched and I kept wishing for more. Then we'd get an info dump on the money system or magic system which sometimes felt unnecessary. Like, why is the money so complicated and why should I care about this when I know it will only (probably) be important for one arc?

That all being said, I am really enjoying where the story is leading us and I cannot wait for Maxi to feel comfortable with Riftan and everyone else. Seeing her bloom is fantastic. Even the setbacks in the relationship developments make sense. Now that she cares about Riftan and these people of course she will have new worries and concerns which, with her background, can and do create obstacles.

So yeah, I really enjoyed this, I'm looking forward to reading more and might get so impatient I hunt down the manhwa to see how expensive reading that will be.

Rating Description:

1.0 - DNF/Despise

1.5 - Almost DNFed and wish I had

2.0 - Almost DNFed but had redeeming qualities/just boring

2.5 - Alright with lots of notes

3.0 - Alright with notes but I'm not raving about it

3.5 - Technically good but I'm not raving about it

4.0 - Technically good, and/or I enjoyed it a lot

4.5 - Loved it, I wanted to highlight lines in the book but still with notes

5.0 - Loved it, I wanted to highlight lines in the book, and notes are very positive

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I have been stressed these past 2 months so I picked this as one of the last things to read this year because I needed something easy to read.

It might seem weird that I rated this higher than some books that were objectively better. But it’s about expectations.

From the summary of this book and the reviews I’ve read, I knew that this wasn’t something deep and meaningful. I have been forewarned on the problematic scenes scattered in the story. I also went into this without expecting a lot of character development or world building.

This was supposed to be a fairly run of the mill fantasy. It will have some monster fighting. It will have “spicy” scenes (some of which are questionable by today’s moral standards).

So given those, I can say that my expectations were met. There were no surprises. There were no unexpected disappointments. What edged this to a 2.5 instead of a 2.0 was because it didn’t have any weird and annoying contradictory actions from the characters (cough – Of Jade and Dragons – cough).

Would I recommend this to others? Probably not especially if I don’t know them well. I also won’t recommend this to the younger audience. However, this does fit a certain niche of interest and I don’t see a problem with reading this book or books of the same ilk. I mean, we don’t always have to read award winning books. As I said to the girl who rang this book up for me in Coles: We don’t always have to eat vegetables. It’s ok to eat some junk food. And this the equivalent of junk food in the literary world.