Review: The Girl Who Fell Beneath The Sea by Axie Oh *SPOILERS*

 

Thanks to NetGalley for providing me with a copy of one of my new favorite books. I absolutely fell in love with this from the very first chapter. Before I started this, I knew nothing about it except that it was based on Korean mythology. I was not expecting this to make me cry multiple times, but it did. The character reveals and the love for family just had me sobbing. 

We follow Mina as she is trying to save her brother from making a huge mistake. He is going after Shim Cheong who has been chosen to be the Sea God's bride because she is the most beautiful in the village. Mina's brother is in love with Shim Cheong and vice versa, but they cannot be together because Shim Chenog's fate has been chosen and she is to be sacrificed. Mina ends up sacrificing herself in Shim Cheong's place to save her brother's life and from heartache. 

Mina goes to the Sea God's palace and she is angry that he has abandoned the people and caused horrific storms and causing so much death. When she sees him, she sees that it is only a young man and he is asleep and deep in grief. She is approached my three men who end up cutting through the red string of fate that binds her to the Sea God and they also take her soul and it transforms into a magpie. She is then told that she has 30 days to find a way to help the Sea God and restore her soul so she doesn't become a spirit. She is also told to trust no one in the spirit realm. 

When she gets thrown from the Sea God's palace and the gates shut, she goes down this back alley and is crying. There she meets a person named Mask who is wearing a mask with the face of a grandmother. There is also a boy named Dai with an infant on his back named Miki. I was suspicious of these characters but they were only trying to help and the reveal of who they really were was just so beautiful and sad.

I would love to have more books set in this world from any of the characters. I would like to see this become a movie. I know that there is a film called The Tale of Shim Cheong that was made in North Korea. 

I will be picking up Axie Oh's other works because her writing style is one of my favorites. Where the end of each chapter leaves off on a cliffhanger but it's a subtle one and not overly dramtic.