Genre 📚: YA Horror, Paranormal, Fantasy
Tropes 💁♀️: Family curse, Resurrection, Revenge
Rep ✔️: Korean American main characters
CW ⚠️: Loss of a loved one, grief, body horror, animal mutilation
Rating ⭐️: 4/5
The Han sisters, and all the women on their mom’s side, have always had the power to bring the dead back to life. The one rule: small animals only. Anything bigger, a human especially, would get too complicated. But when Soojin loses her sister Mirae in a tragic drowning accident, she’s so overwhelmed with grief that she breaks down… and breaks their one rule.
The book starts off slow, introducing us to Soojin’s quiet town and the very loud absence that Mirae left. Once Soojin resurrects Mirae (the body parts reassembling from the earth like some disturbed plant timelapse), the sisters’ relief and joy are palpable and, quite frankly, gut-wrenching. But in bringing Mirae back, it reawakens an anger that turns into vengeance.
Needless to say, there’s a lot of death and A LOT of creepy imagery. The water, the dirt, the long black hair all reminded me of The Grudge and the uncomfortable, grimy feeling that movie gave me. At the same time, the writing was poetic and almost hypnotic, pulling me in deeper. That, along with intricately woven themes of sisterly love and letting go, made this an incredible reading experience.
**Much thanks to NetGalley and Knopf Books for Young Readers for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review. And the River Drags Her Down will be released on October 7, 2025.
Sara Bechtol 