Bride of the Water God, Volume 4

Bride of the Water God #4

by Mi-Kyung Yun, Julia Kwon Gombos (Translator)

Gods and mortals alike are in love with Soah! Driven from her husband Habaek's magical kingdom, Soah's life back on Earth has been pretty miserable so far, despite her many admirers. With Habaek's mother and some of his supposed friends conspiring against him, will the cursed Water God finally come to his senses and rescue Soah? Dark Horse Manhwa's engrossing and mysterious fantasy-romance series returns, and writer/artist Mi-Kyung Yun brings more of Habaek's colorful peers to the forefront. Humor, drama, and a bit of horror combine in this story, as Soah tries to uncover the truth behind her strange husband's curse and his previous wife's early, brutal demise. Complicating everything, Habaek - her powerful, moody husband - must live in the form of a little boy during the day, returning to his true adult body at night.

Genres: Manga, Manhwa, Fantasy, Romance, Graphic Novels, Young Adult, Historical

172 pages, Paperback

First published July 12, 2007

About the author

Name (in native language): 윤미경

Associated Names:
Mi-kyung Yoon
Юн Ми Гён
尹美庚

Mi-Kyung Kun is a Korean manhwa artist. She is the author of Bride of the Water God series (original title: 하백의 신부).

She received the Silver Medal for Seoul Media Group's "Shin-in-gong-mo-jeon" ("New Artist Debut Competition") for Na-eu Ji-gu Bang-moon-gi (The Journey of My Earth Visit) in 2003.

She received a "Shin-in-sang" ("Best New Artist") award from the Dokja-manhwa-daesang organization for Railroad in 2004.

Fan Forum: http://cafe.daum.net/winkalryd

Reviews

[Dani ❤️ Perspective of a Writer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Check out more manga and graphic novel reviews @ Perspective of a Writer...

As the fourth volume of a manhwa I can say that this volume has stayed equal with the previous volume at the 4-1/2 star level. the plot is definitely better, and has progressed without too long of a wait... see what I said about the previous volumes... See my review of volume one... and my review of volume two... See my review of volume three...

I'm not sure how she does it but the art seems to be getting better when I think it has already reached the best it can get! The illustrations about the lovers were so gorgeous I could have those for my wall, really! The intercuts of the buildings and setting were stellar!! Added so much more to the art in this volume. Because it exceeded my expectations it still gets a 5 star but there were two spreads where I just could NOT decipher what was meant. It makes me feel real stupid and I HATE that!

We really get a sense of how much this stony faced alpha male of a god was hurt by this Nakbin in this volume. He is VERY leery about being hurt again... we learn that the bet was an excuse that he gladly latched onto but which still wasn't enough for him to go after what he wanted. It must really be hard being to water god and in contention wit the emperor. Soah is portrayed as rather dim. I know she's had proof shown her that they are different Habaek /Mui but still, come on!! And she also didn't reveal some knowledge she had, so she's no weak flower, yet I also see that she is soooo shy in his presence that she can hardly get out the words she wants to say... and he doesn't make it easier for her!

Habaek and Soah's relationship is VERY SLOW!! And I wish I understood Habaek's relationship with the people of Sugak... still so much that can be explored!! This series definitely has place to grow and get better!!

I was glad that we didn't linger any longer over her back history and that story line. It was a great way to start the series and explain what Soah came from but now lets stick with Sugak! Tae-eul-jin-in has his own arc this time which I LOVED!! I have a soft spot for Loki type characters!! Huye also has this odd loyal and betrayer role in Habaek's life... I want to learn more about what Huye thinks and feels. He advises Soah about Habaek and I'm not sure she should follow his advice, in fact, I'm SURE she shouldn't... Would you be so trusting of the others in a realm of a god? I'm not sure I would... maybe if they truly seem happy to see me and spend time with me then yes... but everyone else I'd treat with a grain of salt. There is also our no name villain... she has some big revelations she's holding onto!

Because the plot was stronger the chapter ending WERE SO GOOD!! I wish the endings were a little more clear cut, but I also appreciate that the Koreans want these to read like books rather than like comics. Some good advancement that makes me look forward to my next 4 volume arc!!

Art/Illustrations>⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Story/Plot>⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Chapter Endings>⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Main Characters>⭐⭐⭐⭐
Side Characters>⭐⭐⭐⭐
Relationships>⭐⭐⭐⭐

BOTTOM LINE: A gorgeous manhwa that has ratcheted up the romantic side of the story... will the political aspects spike in the next volume?

______________________
You can find this review and many others on my book blog @ Perspective of a Writer. See my manga and graphic novel reviews in a special feature called Saturday Morning Cartoons...

[Shera (Book Whispers) · Rating 3 out of 5]

To be honest the whole plot about Soah being sent back with no memory for a bet was weak for me. (Come on, we all new she would remember him.) The look into her family life is very interesting and I'm hoping Soah's little sister will not be forgotten. Cause that girl is also living in a bad home and with big sister gone, what's stopping her farther from selling her off too?

It's actually the last two chapters of this book that make it worth my while. It's clear some serious evil god/goddess plots are going on here? Oh, and readers also find out part of what happened with Nakbin, Habaek's first wife. Each little tidbit revealed makes me come crawling back for more.

It's cruel that this series feels so average, but tosses out those little tidbits! However, I'm hoping this is the true turning point in the series. The story board is getting much better and the conversations don't feel so choppy. At this point all the characters have their own agendas and no one can be trusted, and that's just how I like it!

Sexual Content: Overall Clean.

3/5- Adored it, just a few minor details held it back.

Originally reviewed at Book Whispers.

[LG (A Library Girl's Familiar Diversions) · Rating 2 out of 5]

Soah has regained some of her memories about Mui and Habaek, but she also remembers Habaek reuniting with Nakbin, so she pretends not to know Mui and agrees to marry Dong-young. However, Mui/Habaek can't quite bring himself to stay away, and Tae-eul-jin-in brings things to a head by forcing him to have a flashback to his last days with Nakbin.

That's the best I can do for a description of this volume that doesn't get too spoiler-y and hopefully also makes sense, because dang was this a confusing read. The author continues to mix flashbacks in with the series' present, with no clear indication when the switch happens. The worst moment was when Mui was remembering Nakbin, the big betrayal occurred...and then for some reason Mui was suddenly at Soah's window, coming to take her back to Suguk. Huh? Did he somehow wake up with no memory of what Tae-eul-jin-in did?

I felt like I had to put a ton of effort into keeping the characters and timeline straight. It was exhausting, and I wasn't even very successful. I still don't know who the woman that visited Habaek is (are we supposed to know, or is it really supposed to be a mystery still?), and I have no clue what most of these characters' motivations are. Is Huye loyal to Habaek or not? What's up with Tae-eul-jin-in?

Habaek and Soah seem to exist in the midst of a very slow tornado of things that keep happening to them, neither one of them with much of a choice about any of it. Mystery and intrigue can be a lot of fun, but at this point it seems like that's all this series is, one mystery piled on top of another - after four volumes, I don't have much trust that Mi-Kyung Yun plans to give readers answers anytime soon.

Once again, the artwork is pretty, but the storytelling is painfully confusing. Since it looks like this series was never fully published in English anyway, and since it would take special effort for me to read any further, I'm just going to stop here.

Extras:

A couple pages of full-color artwork, six 4-panel comics featuring the author, a short author afterword, and a page of author notes on the story of Gyeonwu and Jiknyeo (including Gyeonwu's connection to Dong-young, which didn't entirely make sense to me), Mui and Habaek's clothing, and Mura's eyes.

(Original review posted on A Library Girl's Familiar Diversions.)

[Roomies' Digest · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really need Soah to put two and two together soon like pleaseee how many signs are we gonna ignore here! 😩

-mo

[Ambs ❤❤ · Rating 5 out of 5]

Re-read.

[Hikaoru · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sticking around for the intermittent humour.

But Mr Haebak, you're gonna confuse the hell outta your bride. You still hadn't come clean about your identity but you had the audacity to be sulky that she is avoiding your advances.

At least since they're deities, we won't be bored with the details of court 'cause if they want something done, it'll be like "kun faya kun".

[Shayshkers · Rating 3 out of 5]

This. Series. Frustrates me. XD It's a good story. It's a beautiful work of art, but once again the transitions and flow are just awful. Some simple text boxes with a setting would help leaps. Every time I think I'm going to put this series down something happens that keeps me intrigued.

[talls · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this series so far.

[Belle · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lí do duy nhất mị cho 3* là vì art 🤷🏻‍♀️

[Meike · Rating 3 out of 5]

*3.5

[Ralu · Rating 4 out of 5]

this volume was full of surprises 🙈🙈

[Amanda]

the serise has been pretty good i've had to order the books but thats ok. Shall start reading this book once i can afford it.

[scarlettraces · Rating 5 out of 5]

excuse me while i go melt in a corner.

[Ramona · Rating 3 out of 5]

The story is all over the place...but still good.

[N. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Drama, drama, drama.

[Bluebelle-the-Inquisitive (Catherine) · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Who are you looking for?”
"My wife. But it looks like she's not here."
"Seems like you're really in love with her."
"No, not really."
"She was really cranky... tactless and dull. We argued whenever we were together. The woman's only skill was keeping me had all the time."
"Guess that's why she ran away."
"But... I think I liked her a lot the way she was." — Soah & Mui/ Habaek

There aren't any massive spoilers in this review but there are some. Nothing that will ruin the volume but if you want to go in cold don't read on. If you are moving to read the volume; I liked this. I liked to see another side of Soah, seeing other characters at the fore was more than welcome and the styling remains perfection.

So-Yi is super cute, but no one is what they seem. I didn't mention it in the other volumes but the domestic violence is accurate. Possibly to the point where I'm feeling bad for the author. Domestic violence is difficult to do well and this is very well done. The mother cares for her husband despite his many flaws. The situation meant that Soah has meant that has developed a spine. And I love her for it.

Mui has quite the volume. We see his possessiveness which becomes his godhood. We get to see him drunk, which funnier than I expected. Mui shows a lot of emotion in this volume. There is a couple of gorgeous pieces of art one of Habaek and his mother, one of Habaek and Soah. The Habaek and Soah, in particular, uses shadows brilliantly. Making it appear as if Habaek, Mui and Soah are in the same image.

Nakbin was cleanup for the failings of Huye in Habaek's assassination. We've already met the handler, Ban-Wang the wolf. Huye betrayed everything for Habaek, that is where the insanely fierce loyalty comes from. But the death of Nakbin has lead to a strong resentment.

What's going on here? Well... it's true that I always wanted to run away... from a Father who wanted to sell me and a Mother and couldn't protect me... and from a nosy baby sister who was always leaning on me... the worth thing is,,, the reality of my selfish desire just to get away and be happy — Soah

A representative gif:

[Cursed Herondale · Rating 2 out of 5]

A series of scenes jumping from one to another is exhausting me. There are no indication that the page I'm currently on is a distant past, or a previous conversation. It stresses me out really, why do I have to decipher everything? Which timeline, which realm, which characters.. is reading Manhwa has to be this difficult? And I haven't started with the inconsistencies yet. Mooee/Habaek was betrayed by Tae Ul Jin In and chained to be forced to dream about Nakbin. I didn't see the betrayal coming, I was ready to delve into that twist only to turn the next page and found Mooee taking Soah back to the Water Country without getting her memory back, now when they got back to the Water Realm she is acting as if being shoved back to the world of gods was cool with her, forgetting her good for nothing father, useless mother and poor sister. So what was the deal about the kidnapping thing? The memory loss bet? There are so many loose ends on this story that are really disappointing, the author should focus at one or two scenarios instead of running around stories all over the place that makes it all too confusing.

[Kate · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read the first volume of this manhwa series back in 2012. When I saw my library had picked up the next three volumes in the series, I decided I would revisit the story.

The verdict is still pretty much the same as my previous impression: while the art is lovely, the scenes have zero transition as they jump from place to place and from past to present. It's utterly confusing and I can't keep any of the characters straight. The story is as soap-operary as it gets, and while I do love a good Korean soap opera (I love Goong), Bride of the Water God is too much for me.

I looked the series up, and it looks like due to a licensing dispute, Dark Horse lost licensing rights around volume 17 (out of 24 volumes). What volumes Dark Horse did publish are now out of print. So, whether I read any more of this is up to whether my library manages to track down any additional out of print volumes. I'll never be able to finish the story, though, and that's probably okay. There's better stuff out there.

[Lou (Lou and Life) · Rating 4 out of 5]

This manhwa series has continually proven to be exactly what I need. I can read and finish volumes incredibly easily even when I am in a reading slump due to stress. It's the gateway manhwa that I need to encourage me to read! Especially because I feel so accomplished when I finish them.

I really enjoyed reading this volume. This is the volume where the plot really starts to move forward and we can start to see where the story is going to go. We see the side characters play larger roles in the story and we get to see the relationship between the main couple progress further. Then you had the big secret reveal at the end of the volume which leaves you wanting more and desperately wanting to find out what the implications the secret will have on the main story.

I am enjoying this fantasy manhwa series and I would recommend it as a light story. It's a very easy read and one you'll read quite quickly too!

[Amandine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Soah, amnésique, est de retour dans son village... son ami d'enfance, amoureux d'elle depuis toujours, en profite pour lui demander sa main ! Cela doit être le seul qui est content de son retour ; les autres villageois l'accusent d'être la cause de la nouvelle sécheresse... Evidemment, Mui n'est jamais très loin et veille sur elle ! <3 j'ai vraiment adoré ce tome, même si je n'aime pas vraiment les intrigues où il y a des amnésies. Les dessins sont juste sublimes !

[Nadina · Rating 4 out of 5]

I do enjoy this series, though I fond it strange and slow that Soah has not figured out Habaek and Mui are the same person yet, I hope that comes soon. That being said, this was the last volume we had in the library system so now I have to wait for the next volume.
I am enjoying the pace and plot over all. I like the character interactions and find I quite like the artwork. It is definitely different from the kdrama, but still good.

[Eisah Eisah · Rating 3 out of 5]

So, this is the last volume I have and I don't think I'll be continuing on with the series. I enjoy the artwork, but the author needed a lot of help on this series. This volume dove back into being more confusing again. For example, Mui and Soah were talking when she was back at home. Suddenly, a girl who wasn't there in the previous panels is clinging to Soah's leg and yelling at Mui. I had no idea who she was or where she came from. It was only later that I figured out she's probably Soah's little sister. Who I didn't know existed. It's a perfect example of what's wrong with this series. Because things aren't set up, characters just appear and we're told how they connect to Soah and that's it. We aren't shown anything to establish how they feel about each other.

Dong-Young appears and is apparently a childhood friend of Soah who is of a higher status and loves her. He proposed to her in the last volume and in this volume she accepts. There's a bunch of melodrama about Mui being jealous that she's going to marry someone else and wondering if they really love each other and such.

The story needed a big overhaul. She really needed a good writer to help her pull things together. Everything is flat because the story doesn't do anything for characters to earn their accolades. Habaek/Mui talks about being deeply in love with Soah, and Soah is supposed to be in love with him, but what have they ever done? They've sort of grumped at each other a couple of times and that's it. Does he even know her last name? (Does she have a last name?) We're told how characters feel about each other but aren't shown it.

Same with Dong-Young. He just appears out of nowhere and we're told he's her childhood friend, and that's about the extent of his character. He exists to be a plot point and make Mui jealous. He just pops out of nowhere suddenly and we're informed of their history, and there's no feeling of a real connection at all because we never see them as childhood friends or anything.

Once again the story bounces back and forth between flashbacks and current times and it's hard to tell what's happening sometimes.

I haven't talked about it before but I'm going to address the translation here. I do this all the time so I feel fairly confident talking about it. I should probably say I'm addressing the 'localization' in particular. I don't know Korean and I haven't seen the original comics, so I can't say how accurate the translations is. It seems like it's pretty competent.

There's occasionally some awkwardly worded phrases. Generally, when translating something like this, I consider the goal to be making it sound smooth enough that it doesn't sound like it's a translation. I'm not talking about leaving honorifics like "-nim" in, though. That's a choice, and something I've done in the past with certain translations.

There are places in the dialogue where it feels a bit too directly translated. To explain, usually what I do is I translate and then I smooth it out. This means cutting out awkward words to make it sound more like what someone would say (and it's done even more extensively in subbing, because then people have a limited amount of time to read the text when it appears on the screen). So, to examine a bit of dialogue, here's a line from the book:
"Sorry to say this, but I'm not going to back off. She was mine first."

In this situation, Mui is arguing with Dong-Young over who Soah should be with. It's perfectly understandable, but the wordiness of it takes away from the impact it could have, and it sounds more like a direct translation than how someone would speak in English. You could say the exact same thing something like this:

"Sorry, but I'm not backing off. She was mine first."

Or something along those lines. It's more direct, curt, and probably reflects the character more.

Does that mean I'm saying the localizer did a bad job? Not really. It sounds like an easy job but it's not. It's constantly balancing how much you want to change the original text, often worrying about losing the meaning or straying too far from the source, and using a lot of your gut feelings when it comes to what it sounds like. This can be especially painful when you love a work or have a lot of respect for it and don't want to change anything. It's more like an art than a science, and you want to do the original work justice.

I've also heard horror stories before about people translating/working on manga who were getting painfully underpaid, and to make anything close to a living wage they'd have to churn out a ridiculous amount of pages in a day. I have no idea what the job market is looking like in this field right now since I freelance and make my own schedule, but I could imagine there's still some amount of expecting people work for low pay out of love for comics.

So in these volumes you do see lines that sound like a direct translation, but it is generally understandable (when you aren't confused by the story itself, anyway).

The author has been pretty successful and made many more volumes of work since these. I hope she got some help with her storytelling in that time. Paired up with a good writer she could make some pretty incredible works. I'm not completely turned off from reading any of her works in the future, but I will stop reading this one and maybe check her out again with one of the later works.

[MaJo · Rating 3 out of 5]

.
.
.
Por supuesto que vemos como ella lo recuerda a él y vuelve al mundo de los dioses. También descubrimos qué Nashville en realidad no era ella sino otra diosa disfrazada.
También podemos ver cómo los sentimientos de él hacia ella van creciendo.
Los gráficos siguen siendo increíbles de mis favorito hasta ahora

[Alejandra RL · Rating 3 out of 5]

Por los Dioses, la historia ya a comenzado a ponerse realmente interesante.
El padre de Soah es una pesadilla, Mooee/Habaek ya comenzó a sentir algo por ella, los otros dioses andan conspirando y parece que un personaje clave a a regresar de entre los muertos.

Definitivamente voy a seguir con los otros volúmenes.

[Vie · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's annoying to see Soah doesn't recognize Mui and Habaek are the same person. And it's more annoying to see Soah falls in love with Mui, is that mean she's basically cheating on Habaek although Mui is her husband? Argh, it was confusing thoughts!! I hope she will realize it soon.

[Audrey Arnold · Rating 4 out of 5]

The story was a bit easier to follow in this volume than in the last, and the characters were much easier to distinguish from each other. The art is gorgeous, as always, and the story is still enticing. On to the next volume!

[Tina Olah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very nice artwork and I liked some of the story developments in this volume...I think the main male character is an aggressive ass though.

[nidah05 (SleepDreamWrite) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good volume.

[Kaitlin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I would kill to draw illustrations like this! However the main plot gets lost in the middle somewhere. However I hope that they end up being happy in the end.

[Carrie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Still finding the story confusing at times but curious to see where it all will lead. Here for the beautiful art but oh so much wrist grabbing.