Spoiler sections are clearly marked in headings.
Riftan’s POV is the prequel to the Korean web novel, Under the Oak Tree, often fondly abbreviated to UTOT in online communities. Under the Oak Tree currently consists of two novels, a prequel, and a webcomic retelling. However, only book one and the prequel currently have official English translations available on Amazon (as of 03.2023), and book one has been split into five parts. It’s a little confusing, but you can see all the available English copies here: Amazon UTOT English Series.
Some Information about Under the Oak Tree
The Under the Oak Tree series is set in a fairly standard fantasy world; there are knights, lords, monsters and magics. What makes UTOT different from other fantasy series is our protagonist, Maximillian Croyso—a shy but prideful lady who escapes from one abusive household into another. There are plot beats about monster attacks, learning magic, and all the things you would expect from an average fantasy book, but it’s all decoration to the central story about a woman’s struggle to overcome trauma and make space for herself in a man’s world.
I read Under the Oak Tree Book 1 a few months ago and fell in love with it, but I decided against reviewing it out of pure prudishness. Unlike most of my reading material, UTOT doesn’t shy away from sex. Its bedding scenes are graphic and sometimes traumatic, but what I liked most was that it explores the repercussions of these scenes. Sex isn’t simply there to get the reader hot under the collar—though it often achieves that—it’s a crucial part of the storytelling. Sex in UTOT is a brilliant source of violence, challenge, and connection, and I couldn’t imagine the books without it.
I plan to overcome my shyness and review UTOT book 1 on my next reread!
Riftan’s POV – A Prequel – Spoilers for UTOT Book One Ahead
This book seems to have two names. On Amazon, it is being sold as ‘UTOT: Side Story’, but it is most widely known as ‘Riftan’s POV’, including on its Goodreads page…
Both titles lack imagination and poetry but Riftan’s POV, literally meaning ‘Riftan’s Point of View’, upsets me more. If I’m being honest, it makes me feel like I’m reading a fanfiction spin-off, but if I were being generous, I would say that the title echoes the protagonist’s character.
The thoughts and feelings of Riftan Calypse are often locked away behind sturdy walls of toxic masculinity and personal trauma. But if the author, Suji Kim, had asked Riftan what he would have named the book, I imagine he would have found ‘Riftan’s Point of View’ to be a perfectly agreeable title.
Rants about the title aside, this prequel slides back in time to around a decade before book one begins and traces various referenced events in book one to its beginning.
My POV on Riftan’s POV
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Unfortunately, it doesn’t currently exist in any physical version for english readers, so I had to read it via the kindle app.
If something is going to prevent me from reading a book these days, it’s usually because I have to read it on a screen. I find screens unwieldly to hold, I miss the satisfaction of turning the pages and the smell. I do not like reading on devices…
…But I absolutely binged Riftan’s POV in the space of about two days. That speaks heartily in its favour.
When I first bought the book, I’ll admit that I was a little nervous. The fanfiction-esque title, mixed with my uncertainty over whether Suji Kim could write male perspectives as successfully as female, plus my adoration for book one—”what if this book changes how I feel about the main series in a BAD way?”—such thoughts went through my mind. It’s happened before… looking at you, Mistborn, Secret History…
Thankfully, none of that happened. Suji Kim wrote Riftan’s POV beautifully. The narrative and storytelling are empathetic if not always sympathetic, and many of the experiences contained within are as raw as Maximillian’s.
TRAUMA AND DESIRE IN UTOT: Side Story – Major Spoilers for Riftan’s POV Ahead
Whilst Riftan’s attraction to Maximillian begins as an innocent appreciation of beauty and a deep-seated need for connection and understanding, it develops into something far more serious (and in some ways twisted) as Riftan grows older. One reason for Riftan’s growing intensity is puberty, but his needs and expectations of Maximillian become twisted as he develops a somewhat misogynistic worldview.
Riftan is both blessed and cursed by genes that have given him a healthy, powerful, and handsome body. His beauty brings him trouble, as older women unwittingly prey upon him, not realising his youth (the reader hopes). In turn, this leads Riftan to dislike women in general, as so few of his interactions with them are genuine.
“The woman showed no sign of embarrassment; instead, she looked up at him seductively and grabbed his thigh. […] He was sick of it. Woman had been hounding him ever since he was fourteen.”
Pp.112-113.
While the women try to coerce Riftan into sex, the men use him for his brute strength. His stepfather abuses his magnificent constitution by forcing him to support the family through blacksmith work, and later convinces him to carry the dead body of Riftan’s mother out into the woods. While the step-father is presented in a sympathetic light, it shouldn’t be ignored that he uses Riftan’s labour to fund his alcoholism, and then uses Riftan as the easy way out for dealing with a dead body. Had he been forced to use his brain, perhaps he would have fetched a wheelbarrow.
That said, the step-father is Riftan’s only surviving family for the majority of the book, and as such has Riftan’s sympathies, if not the reader’s.
“Not only was he [Riftan] uninterested in women, but growing up in a world where people betrayed each other for a pittance made it hard to get close to anyone.”
P.114
All this darkness encourages Riftan to idolise his innocent memories of Maximillian. Unlike lesser romances, however, both Riftan and the narrator acknowledge the dangers of idolatry. This narrative speaks of the dangers of dependency in many forms, but acquiesces that it can be difficult to escape.
“More and more, the girl in his memories became even more romanticized, and his fondness for her grew.”
P.125
Sexy Times in Riftan’s POV – Major Spoilers for Riftan’s POV Ahead
As can be expected from a prequel that primarily explores the childhood of the love interest, there are very few sex scenes in this book. That’s not to say that sex and desire is absent from this novel, however.
As previously mentioned, various women make passes at Riftan during his youth. It’s definitely not romantic, but it forces Riftan to think about his perspective regarding women and sex throughout the text.
The text’s only sex appears at the end of the novel, but I wouldn’t describe it as particularly ‘sexy’. If you’ve read UToT book 1, you’ll recognise it as the troubling wedding scene from the start, but this time from Riftan’s perspective. It’s a rather broken moment, tarnished by conflicting feelings, miscommunication, and various distractions, but perhaps that makes it more real.
Instead of focusing on sex as a means for conflict and intimacy, this book instead uses physical violence and the camaraderie of men in arms. The feelings are similar, but the decoration is different. Of course, the readers for war fiction and women’s romance rarely cross over, so those differences are likely quite important for UTOT’s readership.
A Summary of My Feelings
To summarise my feelings, Riftan’s POV was a great book. It absolutely made me want to reread book one because it explains so much of Riftan’s often mysterious and sometimes scary behaviours. This prequel is not a romance book, but it is romantic.
I rated it 5/5 on my Goodreads!
If you’re looking for an 18+ community with which to discuss Under the Oak Tree, I fully recommend my comments section!
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