Are you in the mood for Korean mythology? Then this book is a must read!
Title: The Girl Who Fell Beneath the Sea
Author: Axie Oh
Published: February 2022
Pages: 325
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
Rating: 7/10
Deadly storms have ravaged Mina’s homeland for generations. Floods sweep away entire villages, while bloody wars are waged over the few remaining resources. Her people believe the Sea God, once their protector, now curses them with death and despair. In an attempt to appease him, each year a beautiful maiden is thrown into the sea to serve as the Sea God’s bride, in the hopes that one day the “true bride” will be chosen and end the suffering.
Many believe that Shim Cheong, the most beautiful girl in the village—and the beloved of Mina’s older brother Joon—may be the legendary true bride. But on the night Cheong is to be sacrificed, Joon follows Cheong out to sea, even knowing that to interfere is a death sentence. To save her brother, Mina throws herself into the water in Cheong’s stead.
Swept away to the Spirit Realm, a magical city of lesser gods and mythical beasts, Mina seeks out the Sea God, only to find him caught in an enchanted sleep. With the help of a mysterious young man named Shin—as well as a motley crew of demons, gods and spirits—Mina sets out to wake the Sea God and bring an end to the killer storms once and for all.
But she doesn’t have much time: A human cannot live long in the land of the spirits. And there are those who would do anything to keep the Sea God from waking…
Dive (pun intended) into a dreamy world with Axie Oh’s first mythological story. The description of the book reminds you 100% of a Studio Ghibli film. Axie Oh manages to capture a Korean mythology in modern words, but also stays close to the original story. All the gods that passed by were explosive, which makes it easy for you as a reader to get an idea. The discussion that follows about Gods versus humans and the duties and responsibilities of each, made me enjoy this plot point immensely.
Despite the fact that it is beautifully described, I also have points of criticism. The timelines were messy. The trio of characters were indistinguishable and after a week they already mentioned a bond with the main character that simply wasn’t there. It certainly doesn’t help that there is hardly any character development. You get to see what the characters do, but you don’t necessarily get to know most of the characters. A real shame because there were some very interesting supporting characters in the book. However, the women in the story were powerfully portrayed and also played an important role in the storyteller’s motif. And that is important where the book is working towards, how the whole story came together: a beautiful emotional ending.
The thing is… who reads the ending, which was so incredibly strong when the journey to it was a mess of messy timelines, too rushed and paradoxically many other things seemed to be postponed? The pace is so irregular that I only got into a reading rhythm in the last quarter.
Such a shame, because if the whole book was as strong as the ending, this book could easily have been a 10. Now I have to give this book a 7, because the dreamy descriptions and the thoughts behind the story were beautiful. But I do hope the author will grow a lot before her next Korean mythological duology comes out in 2025.
Love,
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