This story begins immediately and it never slows down.
Mina jumps into the sea to sacrifice herself as the Sea God‘s Bride in place of Shim Cheong - Mina‘s brother‘s beloved. The villagers sacrifice each year a bride to the Sea God in the hope that it will stop the storms that are destroying their land. Being an orphan Mina adores her brother Joon and loves to listen to the tales of her Grandmother about the Gods. When Mina wakes in the world of the Sea God - „a world of dragons, of gods with unfathomable powers, of assassins who move unseen through the shadows, where your voice can be transformed into a bird and then stolen, and where no one I live can ever reach me.“ -she is tied through the Red String of Fate to the Sea God himself. But short upon her arrival Mina has to learn that the Sea God is merely a boy and that he is trapped in a sleeping state. Furthermore, her soul, and with it her voice, gets stolen by Lord Shin. „By severing the tie that would make the Sea God mortal through his connection with [Mina], Lord Shin keeps the Sea God invulnerable to attack“, to „protect the Sea God from those who might seek to replace the god in power“. But in order to stay alive in the realm of spirits Mina has to get her soul back. Additionally, she is determined to lift the curse from the Sea God to hopefully end the suffering for the villagers.
„The Girl Who Fell Beneath The Sea“ is inspired by the classic Korean folktale “The Tale of Shim Cheong” although the narrative is definitely a different one.
This book felt like a slow, gentle wave taking you from the beach out to the ocean, especially in regards to the romance. I read it in one day and I literally was in another world while doing so.
Throughout the book I sensed a deeper secret, a hidden truth but the way everything unfolded was a huge surprise nevertheless, an ending I couldn‘t have foreseen.
All the characters are so lovable and sweet and Mina is my favourite heroine yet. She is fierce and powerful and she never even thinks about giving up (well, once maybe, but only for a few seconds). And the male protagonist is literally a catch.
The tales in the book told by Mina have brought me several times to tears, as they tell stories of people caring and loving and crying sometimes.
In general this story engulfed me like a warm, soft blanket leaving me with a harmonious, wonderous feeling and with one of the most resonating sentences of the whole book: „Don‘t chase fate. Let fate chase you.“
