The Girl Who Fell Beneath the Sea (ARC): a review

Jan 9, 20223 min read

D E T A I L S

- Title- The Girl Who Fell Beneath the Sea

- Author(s)- Axie Oh

- Genre(s)- Fantasy

- Age rating- 14+

- Publication date- 22/02/2022

- Publisher- Hodder & Stoughton

P R E M I S E

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…

[GOODREADS] [STORYGRAPH]

R E V I E W

// Content Warning: Child death / Death of parent / //

THE GIRL WHO FELL BENEATH THE SEA follows Mina who throws herself into the ocean instead of her brother's beloved (talk about sibling relationships; I wouldn't even lend my phone charger to my sister) and gains the title "Sea God's bride."

The Gods' primary residence is underwater (fuck you, Zeus) and this is going to be a bit of a doozy but spirits also roam about freely and those with a soul (like Mina) get murdered for their souls.

Ouch.

She meets this arse, Shin, who thought it would be funny if he stole her soul but he underestimated her determination and was forced to suffer for the rest of the book with his fate tied to hers.

With a month's countdown to their "wedding," the "couple" must now work together to somehow undo the string thing and also fulfil their separate destinies; Mina to wake the Sea God and bring prosperity to her village, and Shin to stop the battle brewing between him and another God (again).

Mina was iconic, love her. She was driven by an inner voice to help those who helped her (aka her home) and not even the God of death could shake the mission off her (believe me, he has tried).

Shin was the definition of God with daddy issues and I don't know about you but I pictured him with glasses and until I see legitimate, author approved fanart, I'm sorry he will be wearing glasses.

The other characters were also, in my opinion, living icons. Well, not living because they're uh well a) Gods or b) dead.

My favourite part of this entire book was the fact that Axie Oh could have fallen into the trap of immortal x mortal pairing where the immortal is centuries older than the mortal who is often a newly turned eighteen-year-old (or in some cases, a minor ahem ahem looking at you UPROOTED). Ma'am went "here are the Gods you worship except they're all your age and still cry for their mum."

5/5 stars