The Girl Who Fell Beneath the Sea by Axie Oh
August 14, 2023 - August 25, 2023
4/5
Audiobook
YA, fantasy, retelling, mythology, romance
Update: 13%
Loving this so far!
The dragon and spirit realm reminds me a lot of Spirited Away.
Very curious about how the red string of fate ties into everything going forward.
Also I’m surprisingly not as bothered by the first person narration as I expected, could be the audiobook though.
Review
There were some great parts to this novel, but once again I think the middle got lost. Written as an alternative “what-if” to the famous Korean story The Tale of Shim Ch’ŏng, Axie Oh’s novel follows Mina, an original character who takes the place of Shim Cheong as the Sea God’s bride. The opening chapters of this novel are gripping. We get an overview of the tragedy that has ravaged the lands, the myths surrounding the Sea God and his Bride, and Mina tossing herself into the ocean. From there, a water dragon transports her to the Spirit World where she finds the Sea God under a cursed sleep. But, before she can attempt to wake him, the mysterious Lord Shin and his companions, Kyrin and Namgi, appear to interrogate her. They cut the red string of fate tying her to the Sea God and steal her soul for safekeeping, leaving her mute. Mina is given an ultimatum of 30 days if she wants to retrieve her soul, otherwise she’ll become a spirit. That’s a fantastic set-up, right? I believe this opening sequence is where the comparisons to Spirited Away came from. However, it doesn’t last long.
Almost immediately, Mina manages to steal back her soul. From this point forward begins a series of confusing assassination attempts to kill the Sea God or Lord Shin through Mina. The red string of fate can’t seem to make up its mind and jumps between the two men for some reason that I still don’t fully understand. The string ties your life forces together so when one dies, the other does as well. The motivations for these assassinations are also very dubious. Supposedly the Lords of Crane and Tiger House want power, but that’s all the information we get. Mina also spends a lot of time sneaking into the Sea God’s Palace to tell him stories and teach him forgiveness and compassion so he’ll wake up, I guess. The time delay between when Mina last speaks to him and when the Sea God actually awakens still throws me off. I figured there would be a plot twist where it wasn’t actually Mina, but something else that woke him. I was, however, mistaken. Also amidst all of these other interactions, the Goddess of Moon and Memory likes to pop up and continually threaten Mina. Somehow this develops into her taking the place of the Goddess of Women and Children, at Mina’s behest.
Despite all the very confusing middle bits, I did also really enjoy the ending sequences.
Spoilers
All the weird stuff between Shin and the Sea God can be attributed to Shin giving up his memories and soul to false-Sea God. He is the famous emperor whose death led to the nation’s collapse while Shin is the true Sea God. However, rather than jumping into their perfect fairytale ending, Mina returns back to her village and family. After all, their protection has been her motivation this entire time. Mina is given a year to spend in the mortal world before Shin will come to find her. However, it takes another full year for this to happen because the spell to send Mina back also erased Shin’s memories of her. Both Mina and Shin are given time to adjust to their new lives before jumping into their relationship.
I found it a really refreshing conclusion.
Content Warnings
Mentions or depictions of:
death, child death, blood, violence, grief, injury, war