The Girl Who Fell Beneath the Sea

IT WAS SO GOOD almost made me cry a few times

I found this pleasant enough to have in the background while going on walks; I found the prose to flow well, too - though it may be difficult to separate that from the narration of the audiobook which was excellent. Even so, it felt like it dragged on a little bit too often - which is a bit of a strange thing to say when the plot is relatively fast paced.

With all of the above, the rating may seem a little high but I really just found the novel fine, nothing more to it.

Beautifully written Asian inspired fantasy that reads like a timeless fable. I thoroughly enjoyed Axie Oh’s writing in particular; so many quotes in this book that could rival “critically acclaimed” works of literature.

It is uniquely different to see a protagonist that adores her family (extended family included!), and one who’s motivations of duty and familial love outweigh romantic love.

However, things come too easy for our protagonist and the story had a general low stakes feel to it. Nevertheless, I enjoyed it (It’s nice to know that your favourite characters will not die an agonizing death XD)

If I wasn't reading this book for a book challenge I would've dropped it. The BIGGEST problem is how the author starts off with a female lead who is 15 ( almost 16 ) and male lead who is a god , indicating centuries of age. The "big reveal" that's supposed to make us jump on the ship is that he's secretly NOT just a random god but the actual Sea God himself . So shes not the bride of some random but his bride and what makes it worse it that they dont get married until the year Mina turns 18. Which ofcourse , TOTALLY makes the relationship acceptable since she's not a child bride anymore , right? Does Axie Oh understand what a predator is? Clearly not since she doesnt know about that special word you call an adult who's in a relationship with a minor but waits till they're 18 to physically touch them. Its like the author saw Twilight and was like 🤔 "what if I went even YOUNGER ?!" Even before these revelations I wasnt enjoying the story. Mina is a human traversing the spirit world to save her loved ones and I was bored. I felt absolutely nothing for the characters or the plot after she got her voice back. The writing falls flat on every moment it needs to keep your eyes open so when you get to the big reveal its hallow . I wish more people had tagged the adult/minor warning so I could've known but I don't blame folks for not catching it. I'm not marking this as a spoiler because more people need to know what they're walking into. There's only 2 short mentions of her age that are easy to miss but i'm incredibly disappointed since I've had my sights on this book since it was released.

invisible strings by taylor swift

magnets by niki

this was definitely Giving Spirited away vibes !! with the colorful lively mystical world that mina fell into 

tbh i didn’t truly know what was going on in this book and the romance is very subtle yet cute 

the plot of this fantasy world was so confusing. the storytelling and world-building also felt clustered where i had no idea what was happening most of the time. the character development was weak to me as well. there’s so many characters and i couldn’t fully connect with any of them. yea this book was not helping my reading slump

i liked the romance especially shin!!! however the romance did feel rushed and underdeveloped. i totally missed the part where shin and mina fell in love??? and i’m pretty sure i didn’t miss anything (the author wrote barely any development) bc i was just reading for the romance. sure they had some cute banter and subtle moments but they were SUBTLE!! like how did the subtle become LOVE?? i did love the mention of how shin’s empty bedroom was later filled with mina’s stuff. anyways when mina mentioned that she was in love with shin, i was like girl when did this happened???? overall, i wish we got more of shin and mina ESPECIALLY SHIN’S POV! oh that would’ve ate 

Very nice book, well written, just not really my style

i loved this so much

there's just something off with the writing but it's a solid book!!

started this a while ago and wasnt really into it, last night i picked it up and finished it all in one sitting … so gooooooood!

There were some parts of this where the narrative thread got a little lost, and some parts dragged on while others were rushed through.

However, there is so much vibrant life in this book. It’s incredibly creative and rich with lore and character personalities. The big twist was something I did not expect, and the ending had me crying. There’s an abundance of good lines in this that hit close to home, and the vibes are adjacent to Spirited Away.

"The water stretches out to the horizon, its beauty unparalleled, filling my heart with a joy that is boundless, that both grounds me to this moment and spirits me away, to a world far beyond this one, to the place where I long to be." Where do I even start? I love the world, I love the characters, I could easily read 500 more pages about them. The mythology is beautiful and the way Axie Oh described the spirit world made me picture it so powerfully in my head. I wanted to know all its crooks and crannies, all its creatures, and all its spirits and gods. The only reason I'm giving it 4 stars is that it felt rushed a few times, but ugh this is one of those reads that will stick with me. Beautiful. I'm really excited to read more from Axie Oh. And can we PLEASE talk about how STUNNING this cover is?

(view spoiler)[Maybe I'm just not a fan of Oh's writing... (hide spoiler)]

** spoiler alert ** 4.50 a must read! this is not an exaggeration but this book made me feel what is it like to be in love with a book and its characters - and i only feel this way with ghibli studio’s movies. will definitely re-read when i have a spare time. also, this may not have the usual ~ open ending ~ agenda of ghibli movies, but still delivered. all over, a whooping chef’s kiss for this book!

the writing in this book was super easy to get through as i sped through this within like 24 hr LOL 😋😋😋 but will say this book delivered more breadth than depth 🤌🤌🤌 when i wanted to see certain characters / plot points developed a little further 😫 did love the ambiance of a Korean myth, and all tbe embedded folktales that were told within the story 🫶

I do not know words are enough to explain the thoughts and emotions swimming in my head. I love this book so much… the story resonated with me deeply, both in plot and character-wise. as it reminded me of my own culture and beliefs. some lines in the books abt the relationship of gods and people gripped and tugged at my heartstrings, it’s like a nail hitting its mark. in the case of character-wise, I rlly see myself in mina ( as cringey as that may sound ). a lot. it’s because we share a lot of the same views, that made me feel very connected to her character. while reading, I find myself cheering her on or feeling the same emotions as her. besides that, the other characters are multifaceted with lots of layers to them although the story is told through mina’s pov. they’re colourful and full of live plus sooo well developed. ALSOOO I love the plot twists, they felt very refreshing ( as someone who read / watch a lot of media, it can be easy for me to predict twists ), the twists and turns felt rlly unexpected and I really like that about this book. now… I can see myself thinking abt this book for the next few days and in the near future rereading it, that’s how much I loved this book. 

Beautiful. I'm so glad this was my first read of the year. I didn't read a lot of fantasy last year and I hope to read so much more, and this was one of my most anticipated from last year. I kept seeing spirited away and Studio Ghibli vibes comparisons AND OMG IS THAT ACCURATE. The writing is stunning first of all. Mina was such a wonderful and likeable character, within the first chapter we see Minas character when she sacrifices herself for her brother and his love. Mina being a storyteller is another of my favourite traits of her and is so integral to her being. I adored the character of Shin aswell, he and mina had a great enemies-lovers romance just beautiful, I loved them apart and together. The reveal with spirits at the end had me crying. I loved this and now can't wait to read more fantasy.

This was honestly so nice and really easy to read, especially after reading a pretty heavy book. I loved the magical aspects and the retelling of 심청가

Strong Spirited Away vibes from this one. Literally felt like watching a Ghibli movie in my head while reading. Honestly speaking, the plot was a bit predictable and the worldbuilding was a bit vague for me, but the writing and vibes were simply immaculate and whimsical.

3* - Gorgeous but insubstantial, which is mainly my own fault for theorizing so much that I actually figured out pretty much the entire story. Still a very worthy read.

Axie Oh has created a beautiful tale in The Girl Who Fell Beneath The Sea, her world building is magical and the characters she has designed all make her story more engaging. Whilst the plot isn’t the most complex, her storytelling skills are magnetic and charming. I loved it.

Wow. I loved this book. If I'm completely honest, the only reason I bought the book was because of the gorgeous cover, it's so so so pretty. But I'm so glad I did. The storyline was great and made me want to keep reading the entire time and the characters were amazing. I could go on for days about this book, but all I'll say for now is: go read it!

i have no words to describe how much i loveee this book.. and this is the BEST book i've ever read in my entire life. the characters, the plot, the ending are just perfect. i am really really enjoyed reading this and there’s no plot hole and part yang bikin bosen gila this such a page-turner book t____t also mina and shin's love story is sooooo invisible string and daylight coded !!! <3333 now I NEED namgi and kirin side story cuz there must be something going on between them *begs*

this was… wow. this story was so full of love i think i experienced actual chest pains while reading this. i loved mina as an mc, she loved so fiercely. each character was an entire person, i felt so strongly each and every one of them. the yearning, the sacrifice, all written so clearly and beautifully. finished it in one go. this might be my favorite read of the year.

This is just another Kim Eun Sook’s Goblin. Writing wise, it’s not close at all to a well developed story, and the connection between the characters are absent. It feels like the author wanted to put too much of almost everything? Quite plain and flat plot too.