Book Title: The Girl Who Fell Beneath the Sea
Author: Axie Oh
Date Started: February 2nd 2021
Date Completed: February 13th 2021
Genres: Fantasy, Romance, Adventure
Quality Rating: Three Stars
Enjoyment Rating: Four Star
Final Rating: Three Stars
Review:
◆ Thanks to NetGalley for this eBook copy for review ◆
I'm a big fan of Asian mythology, and I'm so excited to see more being published. The Girl Who Fell Beneath the Sea is a welcome addition to the growing collection of Young Adult fantasy retellings, though I did personally find it a bit too heavy on the instalove tropes of its age range to be wholly engrossing.
It sits comfortably in the YA category, however at times almost felt Middle Grade; the characters behave sort of weirdly (reacting too much or not enough), and were generally a lot more intent on minor things that fell into their path than their actual overarching goal and needs. I loved the rare bits where we explored (and had described to us) the spirit world under the sea and the various gods, spirits and demons that reside there. I feel like that was something that could've really enriched the story, had it been utilised more than setting the scene. I also would've liked that to have informed Mina's development more than her instalove storyline (both for her love interest and the friends that become very intimate when they hated her not so long before).
I was a little confused as to what the story was aiming towards for most of the book. The plot was mostly Mina following around other people, visiting the Sea God's palace every now and then and then getting thrown into dangerous situations. As mentioned, the protagonist's quest didn't seem that pressing for the most part which led to this sort of mish-mash of a load of side quests that were sort of having an impact on the main narrative, but only conveniently. Really, Oh was focused on making the characters involving, and while the whole ensemble was really sweet and had potential for those iconic 'bands of brothers' (whatever the non-male-centric version is), it was all a bit rushed to be able to buy into that.
All being said, the last chunk of the book was fantastic. I saw the twist coming but it was still clever and satisfying, and it felt like the most planned part as lots of little things from across the book were demystified in ways that really rewarded Mina's patience (she didn't do that much actively throughout the book, but patience is still a virtue). I look forward to reading more from Axie Oh, just with the hopes that there'll be a little bit more time for depth to the characters and their relationships in the future.
