 The Girl Who Fell Beneath the Sea, by Axie Oh.
Based on a Korean folk tale, the story is told by Mina, a 16-year-old girl in a Korean fishing village. Every year, the people throw a young woman into the sea to be the bride of the Sea God, in hopes of calming the deadly ocean storms. This year's bride is Shim Cheong - but Mina's brother is in love with her, so Mina jumps into the sea in her place. Mina finds herself in an undersea realm with breathable air, a city with rivers and lakes. But nothing here is what it seems, and it's hard to tell friend from foe. She's confronted with a young man called Shin, who severs the red ribbon of fate between Mina and the Sea God, and steals Mina's soul and her voice in the form of a magpie. Is he attacking, or trying to protect the Sea God, who remains in a magical sleep? All her life, Mina has trusted the gods and prayed to them for aid. Here she finds them indifferent, cruel, or helpless like the Sea God. The exception seems to be the Death God, who has his own form of honor. Mina is told that only a true bride of the Sea God, bound to him by love, can set the world right. She mustn't fail the people of her village. But she feels an inexplicable tie to Shin. Magic abounds in this story: dragons, sea snakes, shape-shifters, and paper boats inscribed with wishes. Mina is an ordinary girl who must achieve the miraculous. Popsugar Reading Challenge: About an underwater society. 52 Book Club: Standalone fantasy. This Challenge Killed the Bookworm: Scaled creatures. Around the Year Challenge: Connected with the name of one of Santa's reindeer. (A minor character is the Fox Goddess, ie, Vixen.)
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