The recipe for this book requires:
- A sprinkle of fantasy
- A dash (or two) of Korean folklore
A unique story based on the Korean tale of Shim Cheong, which tells the story of a girl who sacrifices herself to the Sea God to cure her father’s sight.
In the book, to keep the sea’s storms at bay, the village people believe that each year they must offer a young maiden to the Sea God by sacrificing her to the Sea, in exchange for a peaceful year without storms. Mina, our protagonist, is caught in the middle of a metaphorical storm when her brother’s lover is chosen to be the offering to the Sea God. Instead, Mina throws herself into the sea, saving her brother from heartbreak and his lover from possible death.
Thus, Mina gets carried away into the depths of the sea, where she discovers a unique spirit realm, inspired by various Asian mythologies. Mina meets with the Sea God, who turns out to be a young boy plagued by nightmares and his past. The main conflict of the book begins when she discovers that she must free the Sea God from his position. As she attempts to do just that, the Red String of Fate, which connects her to the Sea God, is cut by his ‘protector’, a spirit named Shin. With a sudden turn of events, Mina eventually regains her Red String, but this time it does not connect her to the Sea God, but to Shin…
This leads them to mischief, chaos, and Mina’s attempts to free the Sea God once and for all, with the help of some of her new spirit friends, a baby, a grandma, and a little boy. The tense atmosphere and the ‘this or die’ attitude of the characters, along with the String connecting Mina and Shin, results in an interesting (romantical!) dynamic, that’s fun to read about (yes, I was giggling through the book, shhh, I needed a break from exams)!
Overall, I think there definitely could be some improvements in how the plot is developed, as well as the romance aspect. Still, the main message is beautiful, and so is its world-building, which leaves you curious to find out more. It reminded me of a Studio-Ghibli movie!
It was the perfect springtime read, and it seriously makes me want to go to the beach. Maybe I’ll meet my very own Shin? (haha). There’s a lot more that I didn’t get to that made this book really special, but to be honest, this book was more of a ‘you had to be there’ kinda read. You just have to experience the rush of adrenaline for yourself, yknow?
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