I received this book for free from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
A Plagued Sea by Kim Bo-young, Sophie Bowman Published by Macmillan Audio on May 30, 2020
Genres: Horror
Format: ARC, Audiobook
Source: Netgalley
Goodreads
First the floodNext the sicknessLast the change
Visionary Korean author Kim Bo-young unleashes a Lovecraftian nightmare of infection, transformation, and abomination.
“[Kim Bo-young's] fiction is a breathtaking piece of a cinematic art.” ―Bong Joon-ho, Academy Award-winning director of Parasite
While waiting for a train to Haewon, an isolated Korean seaside village, bodyguard Mu-young gets a disaster alert on her phone. TVs throughout the station report breaking news of a massive earthquake on the eastern coast. Despite the danger, Mu-young boards the train with her niece: she’d rather face the earthquake than leave the girl in her mother’s care. That choice haunts her for the rest of her life.
Three years later, Haewon Village is home to horrors. The earthquake unleashed an ancient plague that transforms its victims into fishy monsters, and the government’s lockdown has cut off any hope for help. Mu-young’s niece is dead, and all that’s left for her is to hunt villagers who break isolation. When an officious bureaucrat from Seoul arrives in the village, he stirs up even deeper trouble. Will Mu-young survive? Does she even deserve to?
I went into this novella completely blind. I had no idea that it was a Lovcraft retelling. However, even if you are not familiar with the original, this was a great atmospheric read. Safe to say, I enjoyed it immensely.
To start, it needs to be made clear that this is not a typical horror story. It is more eerie and reflective in nature. Reading this after experiencing Covid-19 allowed me to see many parallels of at how people dealt with the outbreak. That atmosphere of anxiety, not knowing when there will be a cure or if people even care to do something … that hit hard. There is also an air of despair, of not seeing any hope but having to push through everyday. That is best reflected by Mu-yeong, our female lead. I genuinely connected with her character and reflected alongside her as she is forced to question her supposedly “black and white” views.
The author also focuses on societal behaviour and attitudes towards those who present as “other”. In the case of this story, people who become sick slowly transform into “hideous monsters”. And as a result, they are punished by being isolated and looked down upon. The character that best shows this is the professor who decides to wander in; expecting to be welcomed, he quickly shows his true self when things don’t go his way.
Although this may not be your typical horror novel, its short length still has me thinking many days later. I’m more inclined to read the original Lovecraftian horror because of this novella. And I’m definitely reading more by this author!
