Bride of the Water God Vol. 1 & 2

Bride of the Water God by Mi Kyung Yun. translated from the Korean by Heejong Haas.

Reason for Reading: Vol. 3 in this series has been nominated for a Cybils Award but I so far have been unable to find a copy anywhere and according to Canadian online stores the book won't even be published here in Canada until the end of this month even though book 4 is already available. Very strange... Anyway, I thought I'd at least read the first two to get a feel for the series.

#254. Vol. 1 (2006 Korean) (2007 English) 184 pgs, Ages 14+ - This is the story of a Korean village girl who is sacrificed to the Water God in exchange for rain to end the village's five year long drought. Soah is that girl and she is set adrift where she eventually ends up on the island of the Water God who is an insufferable child. But he is keeping a secret from her, at night her turns into a full grown man and Soah meets this man and has feelings for him. Wonderful drawing, beautiful features on the women. A mixture of art styles are used, while most of it is realistic portrayals (which I prefer) there are times the people are reduced to miniature (chibi?). The story is promising; I'll admit to being a bit confused at times but I enjoyed it more as it went along and I'm interested to see where the story will go with Volume 2. (Canada )-(US) 2.5/5

#255. Vol. 2 (2006 Korean) (2008 English) 174 pgs, Ages 14+ - The man at night has told Soah that his name is Mui and he is the Water God's cousin. They are falling in love but neither will admit it to each other or themselves; there is much antagonism between them. Soah is given the opportunity to return home and yet she refuses. She learns of Mui's secret (that he is really the Water God by night) but from an unreliable source and this volume concentrates on her trying to find out the truth. I found the wordless panels quite hard to figure out exactly what was going on in them, and as in the first volume I was a bit confused at times but the story is much easier to follow this time around. Though this volume mostly centres on romance, the secondary characters are fleshed out and many now seem to have a secret past or ulterior motives. Halfway through the book I was pretty sure I didn't want to read any further in the series but then that's when things got interesting with the secondary characters, including some scheming from the Water God's mother and finally with the cliffhanger ending I know I'll have to read the next volume. (Canada )-(US) 3/5

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