Scan barcode
readingwithtemperance's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
I want this book turned into an animated film immediately, preferably by Hayao Miyazaki please and thank you.
I feel like I just really love books set in the afterlife honestly. I loved that you could visit your ancestors and all of the gods and goddesses. And choose what form you take as well.
The story itself was beautifully crafted. Very atmospheric and whimsical. I love stories based on folklore!
I feel like I just really love books set in the afterlife honestly. I loved that you could visit your ancestors and all of the gods and goddesses. And choose what form you take as well.
The story itself was beautifully crafted. Very atmospheric and whimsical. I love stories based on folklore!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Death, and Blood
Moderate: Violence, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Miscarriage, Death of parent, and War
bethann_coleates's review against another edition
adventurous
inspiring
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death and Death
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Miscarriage, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, War, and Injury/Injury detail
roseleebooks's review against another edition
fast-paced
3.5
This book had a lot of elements I enjoy in a YA fantasy. The mythology retelling, the worldbuilding, and side characters were definitely strengths. I think my favorite scenes were all ones in which Mina was interacting with someone who wasn't the sea god or Shin. The family dynamics and flashbacks as a way to build connections and explanations were also a key part of the story and helped to make Mina's character more dimensional.
The plot and the romance aspects of the story were rushed throughout. I appreciate that there was a lot of story to cover in a relatively small number of pages, but as a reader it felt like I was expected to accept this as part of the story without any of the background that was built in for other relationships.
Overall I enjoyed the story and read it very quickly. The fantasy retelling and family dynamics were my favorite aspects. I think as a teenager I would have had no complaints about this book.
The plot and the romance aspects of the story were rushed throughout. I appreciate that there was a lot of story to cover in a relatively small number of pages, but as a reader it felt like I was expected to accept this as part of the story without any of the background that was built in for other relationships.
Overall I enjoyed the story and read it very quickly. The fantasy retelling and family dynamics were my favorite aspects. I think as a teenager I would have had no complaints about this book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Child death
hellavaral's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
medium-paced
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death and Grief
Moderate: Violence and Injury/Injury detail
klsreads's review against another edition
adventurous
inspiring
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
OK, first off, the cover art is gorgeous.
I REALLY wanted to love this book. Loosely based on a Korean fairy tale, it follows Mina, a young girl who sacrifices herself to the increasingly violent Sea God to save her people. In a page right out of Spirited Away, she falls through the sea into the Spirit World and must find a way to break the Sea God's curse. There were quite a few lovely ideas in this novel, but they were underdeveloped, weaving circuitous plotholes that left me exasperated.
This book was confusing - sometimes barreling at break-neck speeds through assassination attempts and sometimes dragging through memories and myth. I wish the author had spent more time developing the characters and world. It was whimsical and sweet, but the pace moved so quickly that the world collapsed on itself. We barely had time to get to know anyone - most things were shown, not felt, and there was little time for lingering or angst. I wanted more lyrical, fairy-tale esque prose because of the format. Perhaps this would've worked better as a short story? There were lots of explanations and little trust in the reader, which makes me think it was written for a younger audience. That being said, I did like Mina, though she fit many of the "special, strong chosen one" tropes (which can be done well, tbf). Namgi might've been my favorite character (queer, found family, creature of myth? Sign me up).
It's possible I'm not the demographic audience, which is ok! I might not have a cultural understanding. At this moment, this book wasn't for me. I recommend it if you like Studio Ghibli, easy-read fairy tales, and Korean folklore.
(Am I a hater?? This is not the best review streak, lol).
I REALLY wanted to love this book. Loosely based on a Korean fairy tale, it follows Mina, a young girl who sacrifices herself to the increasingly violent Sea God to save her people. In a page right out of Spirited Away, she falls through the sea into the Spirit World and must find a way to break the Sea God's curse. There were quite a few lovely ideas in this novel, but they were underdeveloped, weaving circuitous plotholes that left me exasperated.
This book was confusing - sometimes barreling at break-neck speeds through assassination attempts and sometimes dragging through memories and myth. I wish the author had spent more time developing the characters and world. It was whimsical and sweet, but the pace moved so quickly that the world collapsed on itself. We barely had time to get to know anyone - most things were shown, not felt, and there was little time for lingering or angst. I wanted more lyrical, fairy-tale esque prose because of the format. Perhaps this would've worked better as a short story? There were lots of explanations and little trust in the reader, which makes me think it was written for a younger audience. That being said, I did like Mina, though she fit many of the "special, strong chosen one" tropes (which can be done well, tbf). Namgi might've been my favorite character (queer, found family, creature of myth? Sign me up).
It's possible I'm not the demographic audience, which is ok! I might not have a cultural understanding. At this moment, this book wasn't for me. I recommend it if you like Studio Ghibli, easy-read fairy tales, and Korean folklore.
(Am I a hater?? This is not the best review streak, lol).
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Murder, and Fire/Fire injury
Moderate: Child death, Miscarriage, Death of parent, Pregnancy, and War
Minor: Bullying
linefelcei's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
3.75
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death and Violence
Minor: Child death, Blood, and Grief
cepbreed's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
“There is no place you can go so far away from forgiveness. Not from someone who loves you.”
For the hype this book got I was slightly disappointed. The setting was lovely and the characters all worthy of adoration but the writing fell flat for me. The Spirited Away comparisons make a lot of sense but the writing fails to reflect half of how atmospheric that movie was. I found Oh’s voice clumsy at times. The young adult genre of course means that the writing isn’t going to be the most intense in the world but it’s no excuse for so much telling. Oh didn’t spend nearly enough time establishing each scene and for a book where so much happens that was detrimental to the pace. That said I really fell in love with Shin and Mina. I’m making an effort this year to read more Asian and Asian American literature and so far am off to a strong start. All the critiques I have obviously don’t mean I didn’t like this book because in reality the contrary is true. I just see so much potential in this plot and the characters that it was sad to see that unrealized.
Song:
- Pictures of Us - beabadoobee
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death and Grief
Minor: Blood
smileypers0n's review against another edition
adventurous
inspiring
medium-paced
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief and Abandonment
Minor: Child death, Violence, and War
bethsreading's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.75
This is a book I’ve had on my TBR for such a long time. Not only was the cover stunning but the story of an underwater fantasy world based on Korean folktales and the red string of fate? Absolutely yes. However, this one ended up as a disappointment for me. I think it was more of a let down because it had so much potential. There were so many incredible ideas to work with and nearly all of them fell flat or where completely under developed.
This book needed to be double the length so it actually had space to develop the world and the characters. The progression of the story is so jumpy; there is never any downtime, it just hops from plot point to plot point, and most of the time it is actually quite jarring. I wanted the story to stop and take moments to breathe and let the characters and world actually come to life — it needed the meaningful ‘filler’ moments that flesh out a story.
The world building was one of the most disappointing parts. At times you had gorgeous glimpses of a Spirited Away style, enchanting underwater spirit world, but those moments got swept away in unanswered questions about the workings of the world and many elements that really didn’t make sense at all.
My biggest issue has to be the characters. They are all so one-dimensional. The main character doesn’t feel like a real person, just a collection of tropes that are told to you, not even really shown or given proper backstory. And the side characters feel like they only exist to aid the main character and fill in plot points. A lot of the dialogue felt awkward or elicited eye rolls and the relationships between the characters and their feelings are not meaningfully developed but just told to you, so I really felt nothing for them at all.
I think I am slightly harsh on this one because it had so much potential. Some of the writing is really beautiful, the story is very compelling and unique, and the characters could have been very meaningful. But overall it ended up being underdeveloped, one dimensional, and a big disappointment.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Miscarriage, Violence, and Grief
jayisreading's review against another edition
adventurous
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
4.0
A feminist retelling of the Korean folktale, “The Tale of Shim Cheong,” The Girl Who Fell Beneath the Sea has a lot of heart, and it’s clear that Oh poured a lot of love into her characters and the worldbuilding. Being familiar with the original folktale, I was pleasantly surprised that it wasn’t about Shim Cheong specifically (though she appears as a side character), but, rather, a rather headstrong and earnest sixteen-year-old named Mina. Alongside Mina is a cast of relatively memorable characters, perhaps one of the more notable ones being Shin, who ends up being Mina’s love interest. (I should note that this is definitely a slow burn romance, which won’t be for everyone—) I did find Oh’s characters somewhat weak, especially compared to her worldbuilding, but they certainly weren’t one-dimensional either. I think it was just wanting a bit more character development and time to sit with the cast. I also found the novel’s pacing a bit uneven at the start, but it really came together as it continued.
All-in-all, I enjoyed this YA novel more than I thought I would. I think I was especially taken to the emphasis on storytelling, and I really appreciated how Oh seamlessly wove in other Korean folktales into the novel through Mina.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Violence, and Blood
Moderate: Grief
Minor: War