'The Girl Who Fell Beneath the Sea' explores intertwined fates

If there is any type of fantasy novel that I find hard to resist, it's a good folklore retelling, and Axie Oh delivers that with "The Girl Who Fell Beneath the Sea." This YA novel retells the classic Korean folktale, "The Tale of Shim Cheong," about a girl who is sacrificed to the sea. However, rather than centering on Shim Cheong's story, the novel instead introduces readers to Mina, a teenage girl who the author imagines is from Shim Cheong's village, and whose impulsive action changes both of their fates. Mina lives in a seaside village that has suffered under considerable threat from deadly sea storms for many years, resulting in devastating flooding, landslides, and damage to the coastal villages, including theirs. Attributing this deadly weather to the Sea God, villages along the coast have thrown girls into the sea each year for generations as potential brides for the volatile otherworldly being, hoping that one of them will be chosen and mollify his temper, thereby saving them all at long last. When Shim Cheong, the girl her brother loves, is the next girl set to be sacrificed, Mina intercepts for her brother's sake and takes Shim Cheong's place, ending up in the Spirit Realm, a magical place of supernatural beings and legendary beasts. It is there that Mina discovers that the Sea God is not a wrathful being at all, but one who has been trapped under a 100-year-long enchanted slumber, filled with nightmarish unrest. Through her sacrifice, Mina unwittingly ties her fate to the Sea God's, complete with a bright red ribbon connecting their hands, the folkloric red string of fate. However, humans are not meant to be in the Spirit Realm, as it's a place for liminal entities, and the longer Mina stays, the more she is at risk of becoming a spirit herself. And so, Mina must race against time to break the Sea God's enchantment, thus saving both her home and the Spirit Realm. This novel was a fun read, with a vibrant, magical setting reminiscent of Hayao Miyazaki films like "Spirited Away" and "Howl's Moving Castle," and that comparison gives it a strong appeal factor for teen readers. Mina is a spirited protagonist who, despite having a red string of fate literally tethered to her hand, questions and challenges the forces of fate and ultimately takes hers into her own hands, much like the protagonists of the aforementioned films. Anyone who enjoys folklore and fairytales will enjoy diving into this updated rendition of an international classic.