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A review by purr21
The Girl Who Fell Beneath the Sea by Axie Oh
4.0
The Girl That Fell Beneath the Sea is the fantasy novel I’ve been looking for. It had dragons, gods, beasts of myth, spirits, a love triangle and a soft but strong female lead that wasn’t foolhardy for once.
The story follows 16 year old Mina as she is thrust into the world of spirits, and gods; including the Sea God who is under a curse, and Shin who has sworn to protect him; by severing the thread of fate between the Sea God, and every Bride of the Sea God sacrificed by Mina’s villagers each year. Mina chooses to sacrifice herself to save her brother’s lover from being thrown into the sea.
I loved the mystery surrounding the curse of the sea god and the emperor and the identities revealed at the very end - it took me by surprise in a pleasant way and tied everything together. The pacing was good and the supporting characters had a depth to them. For a standalone novel, the world building was pretty impressive as well.
I just felt like whereas the story and plot developed well, I missed having a connection to the main character Mina as a reader. Perhaps it was the lack of an internal monologue but I felt a gap between Mina’s thoughts during the story as the lead character and as the reader following her. That’s only why I knocked off one star.
TL;DR - a soft and strong fantasy novel with a sensible female lead, plenty of mythical creatures, spirits and a mystery that unravels in a Joseon vibes spirit world and era.
The story follows 16 year old Mina as she is thrust into the world of spirits, and gods; including the Sea God who is under a curse, and Shin who has sworn to protect him; by severing the thread of fate between the Sea God, and every Bride of the Sea God sacrificed by Mina’s villagers each year. Mina chooses to sacrifice herself to save her brother’s lover from being thrown into the sea.
I loved the mystery surrounding the curse of the sea god and the emperor and the identities revealed at the very end - it took me by surprise in a pleasant way and tied everything together. The pacing was good and the supporting characters had a depth to them. For a standalone novel, the world building was pretty impressive as well.
I just felt like whereas the story and plot developed well, I missed having a connection to the main character Mina as a reader. Perhaps it was the lack of an internal monologue but I felt a gap between Mina’s thoughts during the story as the lead character and as the reader following her. That’s only why I knocked off one star.
TL;DR - a soft and strong fantasy novel with a sensible female lead, plenty of mythical creatures, spirits and a mystery that unravels in a Joseon vibes spirit world and era.