The Girl Who Fell Beneath the Sea

 

Today's post is on The Girl Who Fell Beneath the Sea by Axie Oh. It is 321 pages long and is published by Feiwel and Friends. The cover is a beautiful illustration of a girl in traditional Korean clothes with her skirt turning into the sea. The intended reader is someone who likes fairy tales and Asian folklore. There is no foul language, no sex, and mild violence in this novel. The story is told from first person close of the main character, Mina. There Be Spoilers Ahead.

From the dust jacket- 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…

Review- Mina living in a village by the sea and every year the most brilliant girl in the kingdom will be sacrificed to try and appease the Sea God. But this year's bride is the beloved of her older brother and Mina will not let him be heart broken, so she makes a vow to the Sea God and she is taken instead. In the realm of the spirits, Mina learns that the Sea God has been asleep for one hundred years and the balance of power is in danger of changing, which would be horrible for the human realm. So Mina has a quest, to save the Sea God and maybe herself too. I really enjoyed this novel, as lover of mythology from all over the world, I enjoyed reading a new novel about a water god's bride. The writing is excellent, the characters are interesting, and the love story is cute and moving. Oh is clearly very familiar with the legend and she gives it a wonderful new spin. This is a very fun novel and if you have never read any Korean folklore, then I strongly recommend starting with this novel. 

I give this novel a Five out of Five stars. I get nothing for my review and I borrowed this novel from my local library.