The Girl Who Fell Beneath the Sea

Description

A New York Times Bestseller!

Axie Oh's The Girl Who Fell Beneath the Sea is an enthralling feminist retelling of the classic Korean folktale "The Tale of Shim Cheong," perfect for fans of Wintersong, Uprooted, and Miyazaki's Spirited Away.

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...

Praise for The Girl Who Fell Beneath the Sea:

An ABA Indie Bestseller

"On every page I found something marvelous and new, and I was eager to keep reading because I wanted to further explore this wondrous new world." --The New York Times

"A beautiful, mesmerizing retelling I wish I'd had when I was growing up. ... A heartfelt tale that I will be recommending for years to come." --Elizabeth Lim, New York Times-bestselling author of Six Crimson Cranes

"A clever, creative, and exquisitely written tale of sacrifice, love, and fate." --Stephanie Garber, New York Times-bestselling author of Caraval

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336 pages

Average rating: 7.63

104 RATINGS

8 REVIEWS

Community Reviews

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LMahoney

Jan 26, 2024

10/10 stars

What a lovely book. I love how fast paced it was. The story itself was great and I loved the characters!

yenjii

Jan 25, 2024

10/10 stars

I was addicted to this - anytime I wasn't reading this, I was thinking about reading it, and that really says it's all.

At first, it was honestly difficult for me to NOT compare the beginning of this novel to Ghibli's Spirited Away movie, and I had troubles visualising Oh's world with Spirited Away superimposed in my mind's eye. I couldn't even help jumping to conclusions with my train of thought.

However, as soon as we meet the characters and ex...read more

Game of Tomes

Oct 06, 2023

9/10 stars

RTC

TheCleverReader

Feb 03, 2023

8/10 stars

This book was beautifully written. The writing was whimsical and really lent to immersing me into the story. It was so neat seeing the world beneath the sea and learning about all the stories and legends made for quite a journey.

I enjoyed Axie Oh’s writing style. It was magical and the world/characters are well developed. The pacing is slower but I felt necessary to really enjoy and live within the story.

I loved the relationships built between ...read more

QueenQ

Jan 10, 2023

8/10 stars

I loved this book! It was heading towards 5 stars, but the ending felt kind of rushed to me and I would have loved to see some more time of those 2 years Shin was gone/not remembering, so we could really see what heartbreak Mina was feeling. And just more of an ending, where Mina is reunited with Namgi and Kirin and her ancestors