The Girl Who Fell Beneath the Sea by Axie Oh
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Deadly storms have ravaged Mina’s homeland for generations. The people believe the Sea God has cursed them. Therefore, every year, a young girl is thrown into the sea in an effort to appease him.
It is believed that these girls will serve as his wife until the next girl is sacrificed. Eventually one of the girls will be chosen as his true bride and the curse will end.
Mina’s older brother, Joon’s beloved, Shim Cheong, is the most beautiful girl in the village. Unfortunately, because of her beauty, Shim Cheong is set to be sacrificed. Joon will be heartbroken. Mina cannot let that happen.
So, on the fated night, Mina takes Shim Cheong’s place by throwing herself into the sea.
Guided by a majestic and slightly frightening dragon through the water, Mina enters the spirit world, where things are not quite as she expected.
The Sea God isn’t maniacally twirling his mustache, plotting evil deeds to unleash upon her village. He’s actually trapped in an enchanted sleep.
If she has any hope of ending the curse, Mina needs him awake. How else is he to choose her as his true bride?
Along with some new friends, including a mysterious boy named Shin, Mina sets out on a mission to try to discover the secret to waking him up. Time is not on her side, however, as humans can only survive in the Spirit realm for a short period of time. The pressure is on.
I had a great experience with this audiobook. The narrator did an incredible job bringing such a dreamy narrative to life. I was transported.
You might even say I was spirited away…
I have since discovered that this is actually a retelling of the classic Korean folktale, The Tale of Shim Cheong. I would love to get my hands on that now.
This was absolutely enchanting and I would be very interested to see how closely it connects to the original source material.
The entire story is so beautiful, so epic, so lyrical and so freaking amazing. I just can’t even express all the feels. I am clearly over the moon for this one.
Thank you so much to the publisher, Dreamscape Media, for providing me a copy of the audiobook to read and review. You better believe I will be snatching this up on release day!!!
