Thank you to NetGalley for giving me this ARC in exchange for my honest review.
In And the River Drags Her Down by Jihyun Yun, we follow Soojin Han after her older sister is found drowned in the river that cuts through their small coastal town. Soojin Han disregards every rule and uses her ancestral magic to bring Mirae back from the dead. At first, the sisters are overjoyed, reveling in late-night escapades and the miracle of being together again, but Mirae grows tired of hiding from the world. Driven by an insatiable desire to finish what she started in life, to unravel the truth that crushed her family so many years ago, Mirae is out for revenge.
This book was absolutely amazing!
The writing style really pulled me in to start with but the plot is why I stayed. I liked all the characters, and the setting was positively creepy. I literally could not wait to find out what happened.
Please go read this right now.

Okay!… so not only did this book have a deeper emotional meaning and connection it was also dark, creepy, and spine tingling. Beautiful and haunting imagery. The main character really learned her lesson about ancestral magic and how potent it is. Fantastic story.

3.5 Stars

✨ ✨✨ A slow-burning gothic tale steeped in themes of grief and loss. ✨✨✨

And the River Drags Her Down is simultaneously eerie and heartbreaking. This book is such a sorrowful and emotional read. It’s definitely dark and mysterious as well though.

The writing is absolutely brilliant and beautiful! Around the middle it did get a little slow to be honest, but overall I enjoyed this story!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing a free ebook copy in exchange for an honest review. This book is expected to be released October 7, 2025.

Thank you to Netgalley and Random House for providing me with a copy for review purposes. All opinions are my own.

And The River Drags Her Down is an absolutely breathtaking and soul-crushing debut novel that explores themes of grief and loss through the creeping and violent mural of a horror story.

Viscerally poetic and painfully vulnerable, the book captures the loneliness of loss and mourning juxtaposed with the isolation of being “othered” in your community (and sometimes, your own family).

We, as humans, always want grief and healing to be a linear and neat journey. Of course, healing is anything but. It is a messy, unpredictable rat king of trauma, made more complicated by our own imperfections and selfishness. We may wish for our healing journey to be a clear path from point A to point B, but forget that healing isn’t a destination, it’s a permanent detour, and our unwillingness to let go often makes monsters of ourselves and the memories we clutch onto.

The incredible scene building, pacing, and tension will keep you turning the pages faster and faster, while the sensitive and deeply nuanced writing will have you thinking of this book long after it is over.

This book will tear open wounds and messily stitch them up again, and this author has earned an auto-buy status on my own book shelf. I cannot recommend this highly enough. A perfect creepy, heartbreaking, and deeply atmospheric read for dark fall days that are beginning to stretch into winter. This has been one of my top reads of 2025, do not miss.

A stunning, lyrical debut that blends poetry, memory, and myth with haunting precision. Yun’s writing is both raw and elegant, exploring themes of womanhood, grief, violence, and inherited trauma with aching beauty.

Each poem feels like a breath held too long delicate yet devastating. The collection is rich with cultural depth and emotional resonance, lingering long after the final page.

A must read for fans of powerful, poetic storytelling that speaks to both personal and collective histories.

ੈ✩‧₊˚Preread~Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for giving me an ARC ! I don't read horror genres very much, so this will be interesting !

Well...that was certainley something. I went into this book with a matcha latte, my blanket and expecting a gothic horror book, but came out with an empty glass, my blanket on the floor, tears and emotional trauma ! Lovely.

The book follows the FMC Soojin after the loss of her sister Mirae, who drowned in the river of their small town, Jade Acre, a couple years after their mother was killed in a car crash. But what no one knows is that the women in their family have always been able to ressurect living things with bones. Stricken with griend, years after her sister's death, Soojin, against all of her mother's warnings, ressurects Mirae.

This book was such an emotional rollercoaster. While the ending was fairly inevitable, there are secrets and truths unveiled throughout this book bit by bit. You can see Soojin's crippling grief, and denial that anything bad is going to happen after Mirae's ressurection. Mark, one of her childhood friends whom she grew apart with after her mother's death, is so sweet 🥹. They have a bit of a bittersweet, open ending, but I think most people will be pretty satisfied with it. He's such a crucial element of comfort throughout the book for Soojin, giving her space when she needs it, and being someone she can rely on.

And the River Drags Her Down was a such a beautifully written and haunting story of loss and grief with an eerie horror twist!

Another first time author for me and I was not in any way disappointed!

And the river drags her down was a beautiful, raw, painful experience. I absolutely loved every second of it.

With a beautiful and intricate story of loss, grieving and just full of emotion.
I was captivated, and I felt like I was pulled into this story as if I were truly going through her pain with her.

Only downfall was this book felt a little slow in places, a little dragged on, but still a well executed story.

This book was an emotional read for sure. The pain that Soo and her father feel after the loss of her sister feels real. Soo is unable to move past this loss and punishes herself for even thinking about having fun. After a rough night she makes a choice that sends her down a road she can't come back from. The author did a great job weaving this story and the struggles that people go through after loss. I would recommend this to any of my students who want an intriguing read that is unique and mysterious.

What a hauntingly beautiful read!

First and foremost I need to gush about the writing. It was absolutely amazing—I loved how it felt poetic without being too much. Lovely, the author did a great job!

Now in terms of the story, I liked it a lot! My favorite part was probably the sister relationship between Mirae and Soojin. I really appreciated that we got chapters in both the past and the present so that we could see how different the sisters’ experiences were growing up, particularly after losing their mom. It was touching to see Mirae care for Soojin, even as she was grieving herself, and to see what effect that has on the present day.

I thought the magic system was really interesting, especially as it tied in with Korean culture! The way that Mirae was tied to water was fascinating to read about, and then of course the Han family’s necromancy magic to resurrect was great too.

My only critique would be that there were some places where the pacing slowed to nearly a halt for me, which took me out of the story a bit. But the pacing did eventually pick back up again, and when it did, it was great!

I would definitely recommend this book to anyone that it sounds interesting to!

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House for allowing me to read the digital ARC!

This concept was fascinating and I really felt Soo's pain, but it never got as scary as I thought it would and the pacing felt off. There were long lulls in between action that just felt like "breaks", The pacing at the end made the big dramatic moment feel anticlimactic and cheesy. The writing was engaging and easy to lose myself in. There were a few interesting twists, but you essentially know the whole story going in.

Jihyun Yun delivers a stunning debut novel that fully embraces the stages of grief.
After losing her mother and sister, Soojin must navigate the messy and complicated stages of grief, while grappling with her gift of raising the dead.
Nothing bigger than her hand, of course. Until a tumultuous night finds her in over her head.
What first seems like a blessing ends up spiraling into darkness as Soojin is forced to tread the murky waters of the choices she's made and what she must do to make things right.
It is clear that Yun comes from a rich poetry background, as the pages are alight with beautiful imagery that doesn't let go.
While the characters are few, they contain multitudes and form a plot that drives the heart of this story. What could have easily become trite, or buried in fantasy, is instead rooted in reality and the emotions we all feel when experiencing loss.
The fantastical elements of this book are not written without meaning, just for the sake of imagery, instead lending metaphor that adds to the gravitas of the situations they exist in.
This book was an unexpected surprise and very well done. Expect big things from this author in the future.

And the River Drags Her Down is a haunting, lyrical triumph—an emotionally immersive novel that pulses with grief, sisterhood, myth, and memory. Jihyun Yun’s prose is nothing short of poetic: precise, atmospheric, and aching with unspoken truths. From the opening pages, this story grips you like a current, pulling you deeper into the emotional and psychological undertow of a young woman grappling with the mysterious drowning of her sister. Yun masterfully weaves Korean folklore, family history, and the raw ache of loss into something intimate and epic all at once. The novel explores what it means to carry inherited trauma, how silence echoes across generations, and how womanhood is often entangled with sacrifice and survival. There is so much quiet devastation here, but also fierce love—between sisters, between mothers and daughters, between women and the myths that shape them. Every sentence feels intentional, every image gorgeously unsettling, and the result is a reading experience that’s not only moving but transformative. And the River Drags Her Down is a ghost story, a love letter, and a reckoning all in one—a novel that lingers in the bones long after the last page. Jihyun Yun has crafted something wholly original and unforgettable.

I was really excited for this book since it was listed in horror and seemed to have some super natural element to it. the problem was most of the book had nothing to do with horror aspect and more about grief and Soojin’s personal life. I wish we got more of Mirae's viewpoint. The start of the book started off really strong but by the middle of it I felt like i was skimming the book and wanted to just get through it. The writing was beautiful but the actual substance in the book i couldn't get into. I would say those who like contemporary will like it but probsbly not for those looking for a horror book.

I really loved the poetic writing of this book. The characters were a little bit hard to like though… The FMC was very self-absorbed and I’m mature. I did like the premise of the story, the animation magic. Overall, I enjoyed this story thank you Nagalli for the digital copy.

4.5⭐ 0🌶️

And the River Drags Her Down isn’t just another horror story–it’s a beautiful and haunting look at loss, grief, and the ends to which we’ll go to have just another moment with the ones we love. Jihyun Yun’s writing is full of rich descriptions and heartbreaking emotions. Even in times of joy, I felt a longing ache in my soul knowing that things would not last and that eventually, grief would again slither back into the hearts of our main characters. These were all twisted up in ghastly graphic and stomach-turning moments of death and decay that served as the perfect balance to keep this story firmly planted in the realm of the macabre.

The atmosphere was amazing–a coastal town where rain seems never ending, mysterious deaths, ancestral power, and grave secrets set the scene for an eerie story to unfold. But what is even greater is the depth to which the story unfolded and the complexity of the characters within the town. Nothing is quite as it seems and secrets and lies will indeed come back to haunt us. The emotions and life lessons felt so real and heavy despite the magical elements and I resonated so much with our characters as they navigated the complexities of life, death, and their own decisions.

From start to finish, I was captivated by this story. Jihyun Yun is a new-to-me author and I picked this up based solely on the blurb, cover, and vibes and I was pleasantly surprised with how much I loved the writing. I’ll definitely be circling back to read Some Are Always Hungry and I can’t wait to see what else comes from the brilliant mind of Yun in the future.

What a beautiful and dark description of the depths of grief and loss. I loved the mix of the paranormal as a way to process death. Highly recommend this read!

This book offers an eerie exploration of the complexities of grief and the dangers—what I would call the "rot"—that can develop in one’s soul if they fail to let go and move forward in the healing process. It is filled with rich, poetic prose woven into a twisty horror tale. Several themes emerge, including Korean legends, the bonds of sisterhood, revenge, and the influence of birth order theory as we see the differences between the older and younger sisters. The narrative illustrates how each sister's familial role impacts her life and highlights the necessity of letting go.

Since I received an advance reader copy, which is noted as an uncorrected proof, I will refrain from commenting extensively on the formatting. However, I did find the chapters somewhat confusing due to the shifts between the sisters' storylines and a magical subplot that was included for dialogue exposition. But that did not affect my reading enjoyment.

Grief meets ancestral magic in this moody, rain-soaked ghost story. What starts as a desperate act of love spirals into something eerie and vengeful. Gorgeously written with a folkloric pulse, it’s about sisters, secrets, and the high cost of bringing back the dead. Creepy, poetic, and quietly devastating.

I absolutely adored this book from the beginning and the rest did not disappoint. It wasn't predictable for the most part and I loved that it concluded without romance and left things open ended.

The small-town and the characters were so alive and the depictions of grief were heartfelt and breathtaking at times. An extremely human experience with magic and necromancy stirred in, I wouldn't change anything about this read.