Book Review The Plagued Sea By Kim Bo-Young

 Many Many Thanks to Honford Star Ltd for the advanced E-copy of Kim Bo-Young's A Plagued Sea.

Amazingly, After I finished this one, I was offered the Advanced Listener's Copy from MacMillan Audio!  I jumped at the opportunity because with this creepy novel, I wanted to see how the narrator would handle the monsters and general atmospheric vibe! 

I am not sure if there has been a new flood of translated Korean works into the English Market - or if I just somehow became aware of them and started to seek them out but I am definitely here for it either way. 

Let's start with the Cover:

This cover really gives off a bit of creepy vibes just with the muted tones and the sightless fish eyes, It was designed by Jana Heidersdorf who is well know as the creator of covers for Hazelthorn and Don't let the forest in.

    This is a novella and it is a perfect read for those embarking on HRCYED (Hardest Reading Challenge you'll ever do) in July. One of the prompts is Weather Events and another is Regions, and yet another involves the elements, so this compact novella could work for several prompts. 

For readers who aren't into challenges, this also stands out as a book in translation, and a horror novel that pulls in the most delightful Lovecraft elements, while maintaining originality. 

   Without any SPOILERS - (there's enough spoilt fish in this one), readers start in a train station where our main character and her delightful niece are set to take a trip to a seaside escape. As they near boarding, warnings abound noting a strong weather event at their destination. For an unknown reason Mu-young decides to board the train anyway - a decision she may come to regret. Three years later, She finds herself trapped in a village that is quarantined due to East Sea Fever. There's no vaccine or cure, and it seems only this village is affected. My-young fills her time working to maintain quarantine for the infected. It's a thankless job, and she isn't a gentle kind character that makes a reader want to support her. One day she's warned to stay inside, but of course, like all good horror, she does not do what she was told, and all hell, chaos and misery breaks loose in a way that opens her understanding and compassion. This crescendo of a moment really made the entire book for me! 

   Overall this read has top tier suspense that built steadily until an explosive conclusion. I enjoyed the references back to Lovecraft and felt that this novella does deserve to be called "lovecraftian" It was someone Covid-19 coded- and I did feel a bit triggered by many references that brought the Covid back to the forefront of my mind. I imagine in a few more years "the young folk" will find those references fascinating rather than triggering! 

Getting back to the Narrator... Joy Osmanski was the narrator and I appreciated the subtle way she used her voice tones and pauses to create this nightmare sensation of a novel.  It would have been easy to fall into sound effects, but instead I felt as if I was listening to Joy tell us a story naturally using just inflection, timbre and tone- as well as space between the words to set the scene. Amazing. 

I'm so glad I got the opportunity to dip into this one early and review it for all.  It's one to pop on the TBR to savor on a rainy summer afternoon! 

First Published :  8/11/2026

Pages: 156

Available as an Audio Book :  Yes

Trigger Warnings: Death, Ecological disaster, Disfigurement, violence, smoking and mild alcohol use, noxious odor references.  (this is not a full list, read responsibly)