This was such a magical world of storytelling, beautiful world building with a great group of misfit characters.
I liked that there was no waiting around for the story to start- were thrown into the action in the first pages.
I'm always so intrigued by the Red Thread of Fate so it was really fun to read about in such a beautiful fantasy world.

I would recommend this if you enjoyed Six Crimson Cranes.

I really enjoyed this book and so rated it 4 stars. The setting is magical and the characters have great depth. The plot follows a classic hero’s journey arc with plenty of surprises and action. The first chapter throws the reader right into the story and there is never a dull moment.

The main character, Mina, lives by the sea, ravaged by storms. Her people believe that in order to please the Sea God, they need to sacrifice young women to the sea. Shim Cheong is chosen as the sacrifice, but she is in love with Mina’s brother. Mina sacrifices herself as the Sea God’s bride to let Cheong and her brother keep their relationship.

Mina finds herself in a magical spirit world and has to work to save herself and her people. She shows tremendous growth and bravery in this story and it’s wonderful to watch. There are several complicating factors and characters on her journey, including a mysterious young man named Shin. Reluctantly, they team up to unravel the mysteries of the Sea God and the raging storms.

This book is a fast and easy read. The writing flows well and the setting is fascinating and magical. I was sucked into the world and the characters and it was a wild ride. I am looking forward to Axie Oh’s future writing.

I will start by admitting that while I am not particularly interested in the fantasy genre anymore, I was captivated by both the cover art and the entire concept of this novel.
I am aware that it was compared to Miyazaki's "Spirited Away" which I never had the pleasure to watch, but in my personal opinion, Oh created such an interesting and beautifully original world.
One of my favourite details were the unbelievably fascinating stories interwoven throughout the novel, which enriched the mythology and narration to the point that I could picture an animated movie based on it.
Mina was a courageous narrator and main character, albeit too flawless at times. I appreciated how resilient and loving she was, and all the relationships she forms throughout the book do resound incredibly genuine.
I do hope this release will make waves and that perhaps we can one day see a beautiful adaptation of it.

★★★.5
A quick and easy read.

I will admit, I requested this solely because of the gorgeous cover, which perfectly captures the vibe of this book.

Mina sacrifices herself to be the sea god's bride instead of her brother's beloved hoping to save her people. She finds him in a slumber. Someone is trying to get rid of him and the red string of fate has connected her to another god. Mina has one month to figure out how to break the sea god's curse, for mortals cannot last long in the spirit world.

I'm not familiar with the source material so I cannot comment on that. What I can say, is that this is a beautiful and magical story with about love, family and friendship. My criticism would be that it was very rushed with everything resolving a bit too easily. I would have preferred to see more of Mina's personality and how the romance developed.

Arc provided by publisher through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I requested The Girl Who Fell Beneath the Sea as I loved the cover. This is something that I rarely do but it was so beautiful I just had to take a chance and read the novel.

The novel itself is as beautiful as the cover. Its spiritual taking in many of the Eastern religious philosophies, its steeped in legends with mortals dedication to appeasing their Gods to make their life easier. With a lovely love story with a very feisty couple.

I cried, laughed and applauded Mina the heroine, Shin and my favourite Mask, Dai and Mikki on their adventures.

Thank you to Netgalley and to the publisher for this wonderful fairy tale that for me will be one of the go to books for 2022.

Just edited to say that I have changed this to a five star review as I cried at the end and the novel and characters are still with me after finishing.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Hodder & Stoughton for the e-ARC of The Girl Who Fell Beneath The Sea by Axie Oh in exchange for my honest and unbiased review.
Publication date: February 22nd 2022

This story pulls you in from the very start with Mina sacrificing herself to become the Sea God's Bride both for the love she has for her brother and her homeland, which is being ravaged by deadly storms. However, when she reaches the Sea God’s kingdom all is not what it seemed from land.

This book definitely pulls you in to a world of myth, legend and most definitely all the vibes of Spirited Away! The world building is beautiful, complete and the whole story is told beautifully with absolutely no lecturing.

The characters are beautifully described and the little trio who come to Mina’s aid are truly loveable and Shin is just perfect. Meanwhile Namgi just holds a special place in my heart…what can I say? I have an obsession and it’s pretty truly fulfilled in this absolute delight of a story.

Normally I would write so much more, but so would just gush and give away the whole plot! This book is beautifully written, whimsical, adorable and an absolute delight. It does have lessons told throughout it, but they are told within charming stories and never forced.

If you are looking for a book that will fill and brighten your heart and soul, puck this book up!

Thank you NetGalley and Hodder & Stoughton to give me this beautiful ARC book because I love it so much!

Actual rating 4.5 ⭐!

We met Mina who sacrificing her life to save her brother and also her village to become the Sea God bride. Even tough, in that year Mina wasn't the girl suppose to be sacrificed. In the Sea God city, Mina met the Sea God, who just a boy, and he sleep. He didn't do anything and just sleep in his throne. Until she found by Shin, Namgi and Kirin who stolen her voice. Now, she must wander in spirit realm to find her voice and also find a way to save her village.

From the moment I read this book I already falling in love! This book is so good even from the first chapter! I love the world building and world explanation from the author. It so beautiful and I can really see what kind of world in this book. And I also love all the characters here! All of them are so kind and brave. It's beautiful to see the relation ship between Mina and all other spirit here, but of course my favorite are Mina and Shin! They have a beautiful relationship! My favorite character is Mina! Mina is not a strong girl, but she brave and really care the other person. I really love her character here.

The conflict is also super good! Complex and there's a twist! I didn't know it would be turn out like that! This book really have a complete story from family, friendship and love! You can find it all here in this book! I really recommend this book to all of you!

This book is a fairytale! It's full of love, hope, family and fantasy.
Unlike any book I've read before, and a book I feel like I need to read again!

5/5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

The Girl Who Fell Beneath the Sea is an enchanting and magical tale of a girl, Mina, who throws herself into the sea in order to spare the girl her brother loves, from being sacrificed. She does this to appease the Sea God who everyone believes is cursed. Immediately after falling to the depths of the sea Mina finds herself in the spirit world, which felt similar to the movie, Spirited Away. I enjoyed this comparison and even though it had slight similarities to Spirited Away, the story was very original and exciting. What I liked most about the story was its colourful imagery and how atmospheric it was. I haven’t read anything like it before and was happily surprised by it. The length was also perfect which I felt gave the story a balanced pace.

I loved every bit of this story, based on a Korean myth it tells the tale of a land wracked with storms from the sea. The Sea God is displeased and to appease him, an exceptional young woman is sacraficed annually as his bride in the hopes to break the curse. This has continued for 100 years and this year it is the beautiful Shim Cheong - destined from girlhood to be the bride but who loves Joon. Mina joins her brother Joon and his love Shim Cheong on the boat to the sacrafice site. Mina takes Shim Cheong place when the avatar of the Sea God, an irredescent blue scaled dragon appears and she is taken down beneath the waves to the Spirit world under the sea.
Once there all is not as it seems, she is met by three spirits one of whom turns her soul into a magpie and steals her voice. Cast adrift in the Spirit realm, Mina walks into a city of strange beauty and unexpected kindness.
Minas adventures have only just begun and so she redeems her soul, connects with the inhabitants of the Spirit realm, seeks to rescue the Sea God and so save her country.
I was caught up in the story which vividly brought to mind scenes from the Studio Ghibli film Spirited Away, and I found these echoes throughout the book. To say more would lead to spoilers but all I can do is urge you to read this magical and beautiful story.
WIth thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for access to this ARC. All views are my own.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with a free e-arc in exchange for an honest review!

The Girl Who Fell Beneath the Sea was such a fun and enjoyable read, definitely holds up to its Spirited Away pitch!

I loved the characters, and their relationships and the world that Oh has built! Mina was a perfect main character, and I was rooting for her from the beginning! and the ending was *chefs kiss*!

The only thing I wasn't too keen on was the love story within the arc, but other than that, it was incredible!

Thank you @netgalley and @hodderstoughton for providing me with an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Publication date: February 22nd 2022

Mina sacrifices herself to become the Sea God's Bride in the hopes of stopping the deadly storms that ravage her homeland. But everything under water is not as it seems. 🤔

This book was so beautiful! 😍
I love it so much. It even made me tear up a couple of times, just because of the beautiful and emotional moments. 😢

The atmosphere described in the book, together with the extraordinary cover, immersed me completely. 😊
I felt like I was walking through the streets and palaces that were described.

The events and people that surround Mina also piqued my interest. 😃
I wanted to know what had happened to everyone and what occurred to make this curse happen. 🧐
I would love to read more about these people, just their day-to-day lives. 😄

This book reminded me of Strange the Dreamer for some reason, but I cannot explain exactly why... 😅

Everybody: Read this book! 💙💙

(Link to Instagram to follow on February 7th.)

A really beautifully written book, with writing that transports you completely to a world reminiscent of a studio Ghibli film while also standing on it's own 2 feet exploring the beautiful spirit realm! It was fantastic to read a book with a mythology that isn't as explored as say; Greek or Nordic, and because of this it felt very fresh and interesting! Loved the main character, she was brilliantly relatable and level-headed (which isn't often found in a young adult protagonist).

Can't wait to recommend this to people at the shop!

Y'all I've not had a taste of lush, brilliant and intricate fantasy like this one in a long while. A huge thanks to publisher & netgalley for providing me with an arc :)

Moving on, let me tell you why you should read this book, and I assume you will, YOU WILL RIGHT??

FIVE Solid reasons to read The Girl Who Fell Beneath The Sea by Axie Oh. I'll pin the plot in the comments.

1. A girl who decides her own fate & can take decisions for herself, badass female lead, love that.
2. A high fantasy book I'd call it. Since the details, myths & lores, made it hard to stop reading, it felt like I was entranced by the story. I wanted more and more.
3. The characters other than the main leads. Kirin? Adorable tsundere, I bet. And Namgi? Loml I love him, how big of a cinnamon roll he is? Axie I love you for giving me these characters but I might dislike you tiny bit for not giving me enough of them
4. The pace and the story building. I still cannot believe how the author managed to explore the whole story with back story, myths & legends, everything in a single book. Like now you know how perfectly it is paced. And for me, who personally loves grandmother's stories, this was an absolute delight.
5. Lord Shin of Lotus House :) I'm not elaborating, you'll know what I mean when you read it. So go ahead read it when it releases.

“I cry a lot, I think. I have weak eyes.” My brother wraps his arms around me. “Or a strong heart.”
•
If I had to describe this book with a word, it would be: melancholic. The story is truly fascinating and Mina reminded me of the protagonist of She who became the sun.

She may be neither the most beautiful girl in her village, nor the chosen one, but she refuses to be a passive observer of her life and keep seeing her family suffer. She decides to take the destiny in her hands and sacrifice herself in order to save her world.

She ends up in the Spirit realm where she meets Shin. He reminds me a bit of Wrath from KOTW, he is so composed and imperturbable, yet so tender when it comes to her, it’s really a pleasure seeing them growing into each other’s.

The story is masterfully written and it really gives you the idea of being into a legend, I personally love this kind of writing.

The Girl Who Fell Beneath The Sea is one of the best books I've read in my life. I'm a complete fan. Oh is a phenomenal author and she's done a fantastic job with this story.

There is so much I love about this book but what I love most is the discussion of faith in this. I loved how the author explored faith and belief in Gods, how it brought so much hope to humans, and what happened when that belief was challenged. The arc was handled very sensitively and written beautifully, presenting a multi-dimensional view to the whole thing. I loved it.

The main character, Mina, is so freaking badass and I am in complete awe of her. The way she's so protective about the people she loves, hee determination and fearlessness in protecting those people, her love for stories, her faith in God... It all summed to make a beautiful character who I will love forever.

Shin was an amazing love interest and I adored him so much. He came off as rude and cold at the start but quickly made a place in my heart with how much he cared about his friends. As the story progressed, more of his layers were peeled to make him a great character that makes you want to root for them.

The romance was absolutely sensational. I loved reading all scenes that Mina and Shin had together and was really invested in their fate as a couple given the situation in which they met. I loved the slow burn and the pining. It was just beautiful.

The seemingly perfect blend of folktales and mythology in the story made it so much richer and added to the world building beautifully. Though we didn't see much of the side characters, they were all really special and I hope to see them in spin-offs. They all have great potential and it would be shame to have it wasted.

I will definitely be recommending this to everyone. I'm so in love with it!

This was a DNF for me unfortunately, i'm much more of a plot driven book and this was just a little too slow for my tastes.

I didn’t really think much about the book, when I was first approved for it. Honestly, it was when I followed the author on twitter and she seemed kinda cool that I was like, ok, let’s start this. How bad can it be?

The book made me tear up.

The main character Mina knows how to tell stories, and she has to tell them in order to try and revive the Sea God, and save her village. Of course, we have the mysterious Shin who protects the Sea God in his slumber, but apparently has no soul. We have the goddess of motherhood who needs bribes to answer prayers, we have the goddess of the moon who seems to want to kill Mina for a reason I still don’t understand. We also have these really interesting spirits who seem to be helping her for absolutely no reason but the banter.

“What if someone told you your fate was to climb up the highest waterfall and jump off ? Or to hurt the person you love most in the world? Or worse, to hurt the person who loves you most in the world? Fate is a tricky thing. It’s not for you, or me, or even the gods, to question what it is . . . or is not.”

And then as Mina puts the pieces of the hundred-year-old mystery together, you basically want to cry. I mean the story of Dai and Miki, when Dai is hurt, and who they all are really are to Mina is insanely sweet and perfect. The way things change between her and Shin especially after the visit to the goddess of motherhood is really nicely done.

“It was the boat that carried her. She would have fallen into the River of Souls if it weren’t for that cradle. Something crafted with so much love could never sink.”

I’d never heard of the folktale ‘The Tale of Shim Cheong,’ before this, but honestly one doesn’t need to in order to love this book. And if you aren’t a fan or haven’t watched spirited away and the other things they mention in the blurb, you really don’t have to. The book is beautiful and lyrical and sucks you in.

“That there is no place you can go so far away from forgiveness. Not from someone who loves you.”

This book was an easy five stars for me. What an incredible story with such beautiful, lyrical writing. Axie Oh has written a novel following a young girl, determined to do anything to protect her family which totally captures your heart.
I was hooked right from the beginning, with the opening chapters completely drawing you down and under in the Spirit Realm. Not only was the protagonist an easy character to like, the other characters we meet along the way all brought something special to the story line. There has to be a special shout out to Mask, Dai and Miki though - these three were adorable and brave and I just loved them.

I found the story fascinating, meeting the various Gods and Goddesses, and the way it highlights belief as a strength. Not only that though, but fate. Whilst fate exists, what I took from this story is that it can be interpreted many ways.

I cannot find a fault with this book personally. I loved every minute of this story.

This book is a delight to read.
I enjoyed the main characters alot, especially Shin and of course Mina.
I enjoyed the concept of her ancestors watching over her and guiding her.
I've heard people mentioning something about spirited away but I don't know what this is so there was nothing to compare it with.
Some points I will admit I got a bit overwhelmed with lots of information and sometimes I had to re read parts to make sure I was keeping up. But most of the time it flowed effortlessly.
I had my suspicions about certain characters not long after them being introduced and actually left notes about my suspicion on goodreads when highlighting via kindle, but then I questioned myself.. to find at the end I was right!
Sometimes you have to love it when you get something right. But alot of anticipation and suspense around it!
Overall I really enjoyed it. Thanks for the ebook arc netgalley! Really appreciated.