The Novel Vol. 2 Luxuriates in Romantasy Tropes

Posted in: Comics, Manga, Review | Tagged: Inklore, Manhua, Manta Comics, Suji Kim, Under the Oak Tree, webcomics, webnovel

Volume 2 of romantasy Under the Oak Tree, the original novel version, is the next chapter in the timid heroine starting to feel her power.

Romantasy novels like Under The Oak Tree occupy a very specific space in the minds and hearts of fans and readers. To read them is to bathe oneself in the very expected tropes of the genre. Fans know what they want and what they’re in for when they commit to a book like this. Originally a webnovel before its equally successful adaptation into a digital manhua, it’s obvious that Suji Kim has the magic touch and knows the genre inside out, possibly with the guidance of her editor.

The first volume of Under The Oak Tree, both novel and comic, was mostly set up. That opening book established heroine Lady Maximillian as the sacrificial daughter of a fallen noble house, tossed by her father to an arranged marriage to a minor prince to assure their political and social survival. Maxi is timid, insecure, downtrodden, and terrified from a lifetime of emotional and physical abuse at home. To her surprise, she discovers that her broodingly handsome and brooding husband Prince Riftan is incredibly hawt and hawt for her. Things get hawt and heavy very quickly, which the novel and comic plunge right into.

Perhaps the author lays on Maxi’s timid stammering a bit too thick. Some readers might find her simpering intolerable after hundreds of pages already read by the time volume two of Under the Oak Tree begins, but hey, she’s an abused child. The second volume is the second act, when the heroine starts to heal under the hero’s love, and her powers start to manifest. However, another Princess visits, who was once Prince Riftan’s proposed marriage, which is the part of the story where the heroine suffers doubts about whether her husband might dump her for a more confidant and glamourous rival. This is the (surprisingly early) point in the story where the heroine has to fight another woman for her man. Oh yeah, and Lady Maxi’s awakening magical powers are also a thing. Suffice to say, these books do not pass the Bechdel Test. The closest to feminism in these stories is when the heroine has to become strong and self-sufficient to feel she’s truly earned the love of her man. Fans of the genre know this, and this is totally what they’re here for. This is the best I can do for a review without spoilers, since fans hate spoilers.

Continue the Proud Tradition of Romance Tropes

Lady Maxi is an archetype that originated in Jane Eyre, though she’s a lot more timid and simpering, while Jane was defiantly self-possessed, all so that her eventual triumph feels more cathartic. That arc is a trope by design, however long it takes to get there, and that depends on how popular the webnovel and comic have been and how much the publishers want to keep it running. Prince Riftan is the basic misunderstood brooding romantic hero who seems brutal but sincerely loves the heroine, an archetype established all the way back to the classic novels like Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights that established the current model romance novels. Romantasy adds magic to the genre, and Korean entries dial the violence, the emotional abuse, and the sex scenes all the way to 11, and fans love it. Korean-written romantasies in a quasi-European medieval setting are the winning formula that transcends borders to readers all over the world, especially the US and Europe. There’s something about Korean storytelling that makes all the tropes more intense, and fans are here for the emotional, romantic, and sexual intensity. Again, this is the highest form of the type of thing fans like, so they should be happy with the continuing cathartic agony of Under The Oak Tree.

Under The Oak Tree Vol. 2

Review by Adi Tantimedh

8/10

Romantasy novels like Under The Oak Tree occupy a very specific space in the minds and hearts of fans and readers. To read them is to bathe oneself into the very expected tropes of the genre. Fans know what they want and what they’re in for when they commit to a book like this. There’s something about Korean storytelling that makes all the tropes more intense, and fans are here for the emotional, romantic and sexual intensity. Again, this is the highest form of the type of thing fans like, so they should be happy with the continuing cathartic agony.

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