Mina sacrifices herself to the Sea God in an attempt to appease him, end his deadly storms, and ultimately save her homeland. Mina is subsequently transported to the Spirit Realm, where she encounters all manner of lesser gods and mythical creatures, and endeavors to wake the Sea God so he can grant her wish. The stakes are high and time is ticking.

First of all, the cover is stunning! However, this was not the book for me. While I appreciated the references to Asian culture, I found the writing to be unengaging and the plot to be convoluted and somewhat unoriginal. I was able to make many parallels between this story and the events of Spirited Away and Beauty and the Beast. In addition, I wasn’t a fan of the “stories within a story” – in other words, Mina would tell her friends a collection of random stories that didn’t seem to contribute much. The slow-burn romance was sweet, at least, and that’s what really kept my attention!

That being said, perhaps this book would better suit a young teen or someone who read and enjoyed the book, A Thousand Steps into Night. I still look forward to seeing what else Axie Oh writes, because I really liked her other book, XOXO.

Thank you to Feiwel & Friends, Axie Oh, and NetGalley for an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

3.5 Stars — The Girl Who Fell Beneath the Sea was one of my top anticipated books of 2022. I have some mixed feelings about it but overall, I liked it and would recommend it. There’s a dreamlike quality to the story along with a touch if nostalgia. It feels like a classic fairytale that’s comforting and familiar. As if Axie Oh is sitting us down and saying, “let me tell you the real story behind the tale of Shim Cheong. Once upon a time…”

That said, I wasn’t fully immersed in the story. I wasn’t transported, but I appreciated this fantastical journey Mina was on. I had issues with the world-building and plot but I enjoyed the story and atmosphere. I felt warm and soft after and I could see myself rereading this again.

4.5 stars

I really liked this book! I honestly would consider buying it in print so I could see the cover in person. The characters are well written and charming, just like the world they live in.

While I really loved a lot about this story, the writing felt very choppy, and at times I was confused about which characters were even in the scene because things seemed to skip around and certain scenes seemed to get dropped or forgotten. I did really love Mina and her love for the people she cared about, how she was willing to do anything for them. I loved her relationship with Shin and everything she discovered about him and the Sea God. This was definitely a lovely story, and I loved all the mythology and traveling through this magical world. I just wish we had gotten a little more character development (I'm still over here shipping Namgi and Kirin and needing to know more about both of them).

A whimsical story for all readers. I could not put it down and was obsessed with it. Axie Oh got my heart with her previous release but kept it with this masterpiece.

I’m going to tell you right now there is nothing I didn’t love about The Girl Who Fell Beneath the Sea. This story gripped me from beginning to end and I already want to reread it.

When I started reading this I kind of joked with myself that I might have a secret obsession with the Water God. The book reminded me of both The Bride of the Water God (a beautiful manhwa) and The Bride of Haebak which is a Korean Drama. I guess Spirited Away too but I didn’t really compare it to that in my head at all. Although it reminded me of these, it's not the same. It's such a beautiful, wonderful story on its own. I felt so impressed by the way Axie Oh painted this story for me so that it became a living thing in my head. I could picture this world and I think I took a mix of those other stories to help create images in my mind.

I loved the world. I loved the descriptions of the Spirit World and the different Gods' courts. When I was reading I felt like I was there, in this strange fantastical underwater place. I was just so completely immersed. The world building for me was just fantastic. I’m always impressed when an author can take a world that’s not necessarily big, because in a way it’s not but can make it so flushed out. That it feels big in a different way. I have read or learned about the The Tale of Shim Ch'ŏng and I like how this is incorporated into this story but in a different way then you would think.

I loved every single character. There is nobody I didn’t like and even though I figured out some things early it never diminished my enjoyment when reading. My favorite of course being Shin. I don’t know how you can’t love him. He reminds me of the steady male leads in Historical k-dramas. The family, friend and love dynamics were all pretty interesting to me. I always love a good red string of fate love tale but I also feel like there were many other important connections.

I really loved the book and I always struggle to put my love into words when a book really captures my heart. I would love to see this as a manhwa or I guess any other type of media. I just really like the art associated with the cover so that’s why I’m saying Manhwa. Ha ha.

Not at all familiar with Korean fairy tales, I was intrigued to read this book as an audition for inclusion in my high school sophomore World Literature courses. I was extremely pleasantly surprised and am glad I will be including it beginning next year.

The story's richness in description is balanced by paradoxical and poignant observations about living a human life embedded in a non-Western point of view. The appeal of the story and the openness and vulnerability of the characters, I think, students will find appealing, and the concepts of sacrifice, loyalty, and belief will give stuents a new perspective on universal themes.

I cannot understate how beautiful this book is. The cover drew me in, and when I saw comparisons to Spirited Away I knew I had to get my hands on this novel. Mina is no less beautiful, a brave, compassionate character who I missed as soon as I turned the last page. This will no doubt become a comfort read for me, and a novel I suggest so my miyazaki readers, my new to fantasy readers, and readers who want to explore a story from a non-American lens.

NOBODY TOUCH ME, I’M EMOTIONALLY FRAGILE.

This book…where do I even begin with this book? There’s so much that I want to word-vomit onto the page, that trying to collect my thoughts into something coherent is going to be difficult.

Okay, right, baduk stones on the board: I love Korean mythology and folklore. I’m in no way going to call myself anything close to an expert on the topic, but what little I’ve experienced has always left me wanting to know more about whatever god, creature, or tale it was.

Which, of course, means that I’m familiar with the tale of Sim Cheong: girl decides to sell herself to sea merchants as a sacrifice to the Dragon King so that her blind father can regain his eyesight. Her filial piety is so moving to the Jade Emperor and the Dragon King, that they put her in a lotus flower and send her back up to the living realm, where she’s chosen as the new wife of the Song Dynasty emperor and gets to reunite with her father where BOOM his eyesight is magically restored.

Yeah, I know…it reeks of the patriarchy. It’s definitely got some, shall we say, misogynistic elements to it and Sim Cheong herself doesn’t really possess all that much agency beyond her choice is selling herself off to merchants to then be flung into the sea…oof, there’s just too much to be said there, so I’ll leave it be. Axie Oh, meanwhile, saw those elements, laughed, and said, “hold my soju.”

Mina is no agency-less heroine, and frequently points out that “[her] fate belongs to [her],” in direct defiance to the tale in which she finds herself. Sure, she makes the choice to sacrifice herself to the Dragon King…but that’s the thing: she makes the choice herself. She’s the one who pushes aside Sim Cheong, cuts her hand, looks into the dragon’s eyes and says, “안녕, 나야!” Even when characters within the story attempt to steal her agency – whether it be her soul/voice (hello, little mermaid), her life, et al. – she stays true to herself and never lets others decide her fate.

Actually, let’s talk about fate, because “fate” and the characters’ relationship to the idea of fate is probably one of my favourite parts of this novel, and I think it’s the lynchpin of what holds it all together – it is also the theme that I point to and nod, saying, “Now <i>that</i> is how you retell a classic folktale.” Fate is often called a fickle thing, and the constant war between fate and free will (or self-determination) pops up in many a myth from all over the world. Ya girl had to read <i>Oedipus Tyrannus</i>, <i>The Iliad</i>, and <Agamemnon</i>, more than once…trust me when I say: I’ve read me some mythic tales about fate.

Fate is something quite tangible in this novel, as it appears in the form of the classic Red Thread of Fate. Originating (I think) in Chinese mythology, it’s usually thought of as an invisible red string around the finger of those that are destinated to meet one another in a certain situation due to their being each other’s true love/soulmate. And when I say soulmate I mean like…regardless of time, place, circumstances, et al. these two people are meant to be to the point that the magical cord, while it may stretch and tangle, will never break. Never.

It’s super casual, I know. But “fate” is not always a humans (or even gods) believe, and Mina’s grandmother makes a wise comment to her that: “Don’t chase fate, Mina. Let fate chase you.”

Don’t fall in line with what you think is your predetermined role…run and run and run in whichever way <i>you</i> choose, with your own decisions, to forge your own life, because your life belongs only to you and no one else. You are not made by fate; fate is made by your choices.

Fuck yeah, preach. PREACH LOUDER FOR THE PEOPLE IN THE BACK.

This is why I love Mina – I love how she never wavers in the belief that she controls her own fate, even when it all seems to be predetermined and she must fall in line. She never does, and it’s beautiful to witness. Also, she’s just awesome? Like, I would want to hang out with Mina: she’s the full spectrum of complex emotions, and I felt them along with her as she felt them. She felt so raw and real, which when you’re thrown into the Spirit Realm of gods and monsters, is a huge bonus for your protagonist/POV character.

By the way, the Spirit Realm? It’s awesome. I love it. I’m a sucker for places like this in stories, and Oh’s imagination runs wild and free in a way that is so delightfully refreshing, yet comfortingly familiar. I could see the world in all of its colours and details, and every character had a unique voice that helped me to easily picture them in my mind. (Note: in my mind…everyone is basically disgustingly gorgeous, just like in any k-drama, lol.)

I love, too, that this is a standalone story. It knew how long to stay, and how to balance between beauty and terror. I’m only sad that it’s over, because part of me wishes to remain in that Spirit Realm and have adventures with Mina, Shin, Namgi, Kirin, and co.

But all dreams must come to an end. I’m just happy that Axie Oh let us dream along with her.

--

Okay, real quick before I go, we just need to address the elephant in the room which is that: yeah, I figured out the reveals before they happened and some of them were even…painfully obvious if you had a little bit of knowledge of Korean and narratology. BUT, and it’s a big “but,” it isn’t a bad thing; it’s actually something that made me cackle to myself multiple times throughout the story. I felt like I was privy to some kind of inside information just due to my own nerdiness.

The biggest one is the one that, to me, was the most glaringly obvious: Shin is the Sea God – or, as I’m used to hearing him called, the Dragon King. I mean, okay, first off, his name is Shin…신 (“shin”) literally means “god.” Then we have the idea that since this emperor disappeared, the Sea God has demanded female sacrifice (a bride) and that calms his anger, except that, you know, it doesn’t. If you’ve got to sacrifice nearly every year, then I think you need to consider that either (a) you’re doing something wrong, or (b) you’re worshipping a false god.

Combine that with us having the Imugi vs dragons and the idea of them being like a “lesser” or “false” dragon…and I think you can easily see where this is going. Not only that, we go back to the red string of fate, and how easy it has been for every bride to have their string cut. Oh? Excuse me, say what? SIR, I DON’T THINK YOU’RE SUPPOSED TO BE ABLE TO DO THAT. SEEMS KIND OF SUS. Just continuing to show in narrative terms: this Sea God isn’t a “real” god – or, at least, he’s certainly not the true Sea God. Our Dragon King has, in fact, been here all along, wandering around the Spirit Realm without his soul: Shin. God has always been here, just not where he was supposed to be.

Okay that and the pebble with the lotus flower carved into it? Like, come on now, guys: did nobody else see this coming? AGAIN LET ME STRESS that this is not a knock against the book. As I said: it actually made me kind of cackle to myself because it let me pretend I was clever and I enjoyed watching the way Axie Oh led all the other characters to this revelation.

Oh, also: Kirin is literally a kirin. You know…the mythological creature? I’m not sure if we were supposed to be playing that as a reveal, but it sure felt like it. Meanwhile I’m just sitting here like…did…did Mina really never guess from his name that he’s quite literally the thing that he is named as? Mina, girl…come on now.

The ancestor spirits being Dai, Mask, and Miki? Yup, I kind of guessed, but I’ll freely admit I just threw it out to the wind like, “Okay, but what if…” and I can’t say I’m anything close to clever for that as it was kind of a lucky guess.

An imaginative, daring tale of a lovable and brave girl who sacrifices herself to save her family. The writing is dazzling and the world-building immersive and fantastical.

I am a sucker for fairy tales, and Axie Oh gives me a new one to love. Mina is the most beautiful girl in her village. This isn't a good thing. The Sea God is fickle and has cursed the village with killer storms. Thrown into the sea Mina doesn't die, but thrown into the world of spirts. Mina must save her village by curing the sea god.

I LOVE this book. Books can be a hard to read, this one I didn't have trouble at all. I normally don't give 5 stars, however for this book. 5/5

This started out as an almost exact copy of Miyazaki's Spirited Away but somewhere along the way shifted into Howl's Moving Castle. While there are some slow parts, I was at the edge of my seat every turn of the page. I kept wondering will they get together, will she save the day, will she return home and never get the chance to return? Yes to all the questions by the way but it was touch and go for so long. But when I read the last sentence of the last page, I swooned and held my kindle to my chest. This was as close to perfect as any fantasy novel gets. So if you like Miyazaki or Studio Ghibli films, then this is the book for you.

This Book is truly amazing! Axie Oh has done it again. I was tearing up in chapter 1 already with how wonderfully she captured what it means to be human. I can say that I really enjoyed the story and the pacing. I do wish some character had a little more depth to them, but I can totally see them having a small story or maybe a collection of tales about them where we dive a bit deeper into who they are in the spirit world. The "twist" at the end for me was very predictable, but even though I knew it, it didn't take away from the story. The emphasis on Mina and just the fact that she's so "regular" is what really drew me to her, I'm tired of always seeing female characters have to be extraordinary, so Mina just accepting that she is who she is was really empowering. The focus on family was also very important to me as a reader. I grew up in a culture where we respect our family and our elders and it was great to see that represented here as well.

Mina's country is being overwhelmed with vicious dangerous storms. To appease the sea god each year a beautiful young woman is thrown into the ocean to become the sea god's bride. Mina was not chosen to be the bride, but goes into the ocean to save the love of her brother. There, she encounter spirits and gods and must try to wake the sea god and have them stop the storms. This was beautifully written. It was a suspenseful, but calm story. The characters felt real and you could understand their motives. I look forward to reading more by this author.

Stunning read - the story and mythology is immersive and the setting is absolutely magical. Fans of Spirited Away will fall in love with the setting and story. Well written with emotional and endearing characters. Loved this book.

3,5/5

to save her brother the heartbreak of losing the love of his life, mina sacrifices herself to the sea god and becomes one of the sea god's brides. a yearly sacrifice is made to him to calm the violent sea storms, but instead of a husband, she finds a cursed god and her soul stolen. mina has just thirty days to get her soul back, save a cursed god, and figure out what's going on with the demons and spirits around her.

for the most part, i really enjoyed this book! i thought it was well written and really liked mina's voice. i thought we also had a very fun cast of characters around to get to know!

where this book loses points from me, however, is simply that i think it had more in it. i think there was more story to tell for a lot of the minor characters, and things that felt like they should've been said that weren't. while the romance was pretty sweet, it wasn't as major of a focus as i thought it would've been and it left me feeling somewhat ambivalent about it. i actually cared much more about the relationship of two much more minor characters that seemed like it should've been developed more than it was

still, this was a very enjoyable read that i was excited to come back to, with fantastic worldbuilding and a wonderful atmosphere!

3.5/5

The Girl Who Fell Beneath the Sea is a retelling of a classic Korean legend called ‘The Tale of Shim Cheong’. Mina is a mortal girl who sacrifices herself to the Sea God to save her brother’s lover - Shim Cheong- and is swept away into a magical spirit realm. This is an enchanting story of gods, mythological beasts, and following one's fate. There is a dreamlike quality within the pages and the story is interspersed with some lovely descriptive passages and vivid imagery.

If you have seen spirited away there is almost a resemblance to the way the story is told. The description of the dragons and the flow of prose. However, The Girl Who Fell Beneath the Sea is truly in its own whimsical element.

There is a lot to digest in the initial pages and I completely lost track of who was who and what was going and I had to back-track to re-read some of the passages. I feel like there was a lack of culture and history behind the pages. I could visualize the setting yet I felt like I couldn't see the characters or setting well enough. However, I was much more invested in the second half of the book when the pacing settled in and the story began to fall into place. At times, I felt that the story would either speed or slow down unnecessarily leaving it with a choppy feeling.

There is a unique and varied cast of characters. More character development would have been welcome and a better background knowledge of the leading characters would have given them more depth. I felt like the Mina we were introduced at the beginning of the book was the same Mina at the end of the book - with a few changes. Also, I found that the secondary characters, while useful in some ways, were quite pointless. I am still trying to figure out the reason they were there. If they were more dimensional and had more purpose I would have felt more of a connection with them.

The romance in the storyline is a weak one, although I did like the ending. However, the romance was in its own way silly. It wasn't instant-love but it wasn't fully developed either. It just existed.

In the end the the story didn’t have the complexity and energy I enjoy in fantasy literature but on the whole it was a entertaining and interesting read.

The Girl Who Fell Beneath The Sea is a Korean mythology retelling, of sorts. The protagonist is Mina, who lives in a small village where every year, a bride is thrown into the Sea to appease the Sea God and try to prevent the seasonal storms that would occur otherwise. This year, 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 and discovers that there’s more to the story than legend would have them believe. There is an entire city under the sea and so many colorful characters, including a boy named Shin, whom she works with to wake the (hibernating) Sea God and end the storms.

Official Synopsis:

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…

Oh my days. I’m not super familiar (at all) with Korean folklore, but I loved this so much! In the beginning I thought it wouldn’t have much action or adventure but was I wrong?! There was romance, adventure, comedy, side characters that you fall in love with, soul searching (literally), emotion and basically everything you want in a book. The plot twists were a little bit predictable, but I didn’t guess all of them, and there were still quite a few ‘Oh my God, I can’t believe that happened!’ moments. Ughh and the ending. My heart melted.

But, onto the writing, which I a.d.o.r.e.d. The writing is so lyrical and it just pulls you in, making you more invested in the story than ever. So, here’s a couple of my favourite quotes:

‘I am the maker of my own destiny’

‘Is it you that makes the world cry or the world that makes you cry?’

‘Don’t chase fate, Mina. Let fate chase you.’

‘My eldest brother, Sung, says trust is earned, that to give someone your trust is to give them the knife to wound you. But Joon would counter that trust is faith, that to trust someone is to believe in the goodness of people and in the world that shapes them’

‘I wonder if it happens in a day, for your fate to change.Or if it takes longer for your life to be stolen from you’

Great read! I was invested from the very start. I loved the whimsical, mythic feel of the narrative. Mina is a great, level headed character and holds her own in unexpected and frightening circumstances. I wish the romance was just a bit more developed because it kind felt like two characters fell in love just because they needed to. Otherwise I was very engrossed the entire time. I feel like fans of Spirited Away would really love this as well.

The Girl Who Fell Beneath the Sea is an imaginative story of love, loyalty, and family that weaves mythology and an interesting magic system where everything is unexpectedly dangerous yet profoundly beautiful.