Bride of the Water God: Volume 1

I feel like I have to get the art out of the way first, this is one of the most beautiful mangas in my collection! I was blown away by just how gorgeous each page was. The story is really fantastic as well, I picked it up after watching Bride of Habaek and so far while I loved Bride of Habaek I would have loved to see the show follow this storyline as well, so far I'm enjoying seeing So-ah in the realm of the gods.

If you like different mythology, then this is definitely for you. One of the most interesting manga I have read in a while.

This is my first time picking up a 'manhwa' in my years of reading manga and I have to say I'm very impressed. The book (like many other reviewers) is peppered with beautiful artwork and gives the reader something wonderful to look at every time they turn the page. Again, the plot is slow, a little lackluster, and has the potential to be either 1) cheesy and predictable or 2) interesting and engaging. The character development is almost non-exsistant but perhaps it will pick up in future volumes. A definite must-get for me though, I love the premise and the execution is not half bad. It's a good find!

"Bride of the Water God" is one of my most favorite series. It's beautiful, incredibly so, and the story is intricate and interesting. It uses Korean mythology as a backdrop for a story of romance, tragedy, mystery, power and political intrigue. The sheer beauty of the series is breath-taking. No detail is spared as each character their surroundings are lovingly drawn. Their emotions are treated with the same love and care. Their setting and roles may be fantastical, but they are very realistic in their personalities and behavior. Soah, the main character, is intelligent, loving, and kind. She has the reader hoping that her wishes and dreams will be fulfilled. The Water God is a deep, cold, and mysterious person, yet vulnerable and terribly alone. The rest of the cast is given the same treatment. Each has their own personality, agenda, and needs. Each is sympathetic and believable. The story is complex, and be confusing if you don't read it very, very carefully. This isn't a light-hearted shojo story. There is a mystery here, and the reader has to pay great attention to what happens in order to understand it. A knowledge of Korean mythology will help as well. The author assumes that the reader has that knowledge in order to focus on the story at hand, but I would have preferred a bit of back story as an introduction. Westerners may have to do some research in order to fully understand the world of Soah and the Water God, but that's not a bad thing. The story starts off a bit slowly, but it does so in order to set the mood and introduce the characters. It's very much worth it to stick with. If you love mythology, romance, and incredibly beautiful art, buy "The Bride of the Water God". You won't be sorry.

this is a great series so far!!! iam waiting for my 2-7 volumes to arrive hoho:) anyways.... the drawing was perfect. the 1st volume was mainly a setting for the series.. not much going on. but i like this series and plan on finishing it. so far there are 2 series out in the us, and 7 out in asia... the story is not completed in korea. thats all i know

this manga is a work of art. the drawings are elegant and gorgeous, and the story is very engaging. it is a lot more personal than i expected from the summary, and contains a greater cast of characters than i originally thought. the paneling and pacing of the pages (and the entire volume) is done with great skill - something that is very difficult to do right and well enough to bring your reader into the story and lose themselves in it. i cannot say i like all of the characters, but it is because they all feel real, and i am just not drawn to certain personality types. and each one contributes something special. i also enjoy the humor the author has been able to include. the story is mostly serious, but not so much that it cannot open itself to a broad range of expression. i typically dislike girl characters, because they are depicted as weak, vapid, or useless, but the girl in this story is anything but. she does maintain the "quiet reserve" that seems a prized trait of beautiful, asian, female characters. but there is more to her than that, as is revealed throughout the 2 volumes. i thoroughly enjoyed this, and i was sad to see only one other 5 star. i would highly recommend it to anyone.

I am a big anime/manga/manwha fan. For those of you who may not know, manwha is akin to manga, but it is authored by koreans instead of by the japanese. On the Art: Although there is some cross-over characteristics of the art (chibi or small, big eyed characters), the manwha I have read tends to exagerate the longness of a figure (longer torso/arms/legs/feet/fingers) than what I've normally seen in manga. The art in this volume is exquisite! Very finely drawn characters and settings with clean and crisp lines. On the Story: There are certain stories that I find require reading over multiple times to truly understand what was going on; this is one of those titles. This re-reading I find is necessitated by the complexity of the storyline as well as of the visuals. I don't want to go too far into detail, but further into the story there is a "specialness" attached to the hot-air balloon that is seen throughout the first volume. Knowing what the "specialness" is, and re-reading Vol 1 gives further insight into the story line. This is turning out to be a highly- nuanced story; just like my favorite manwha, "Model".