The God and the Gumiho

Thank you to Netgalley and Hodder & Stoughton for providing me with an E-Arc of this book in exchange for an honest review!

I'll be honest and say I was not feeling this book for the first few chapters. I found myself not really enjoying the writing style at first, which is my own personal preference, and I didn't feel fully engaged in the story for a while.

This absolutely changed as the story went on. Sophie Kim has done an amazing job at weaving together Korean myth and fantasy to a more modern setting. She kept certain aspects, like how the magical creatures stay hidden from the mortal world, simple but effective, and it really allowed her to focus on the more prominent parts of her worldbuilding. The culture around the gods was entertaining, and the ease at which she explained each creatures features/roles in their magical society made it easy to become immersed.

I also really liked each of the main characters! To me, the romance itself felt a little rushed, but that could be because I definitely have a preference for something a little more slowburn, but by the end of the novel I felt so invested in them that it didn't matter to me in the long run. I do wish they'd had a bit more emotional vulnerability before they were thirsting over each other (lol) but, as I said, by the end of the book I was really rooting for them. I actually really enjoyed the bittersweet ending. It definitely would have felt like a cop-out if the two of them had been allowed to freely walk into the sunset together, and Seokga having to lower himself to begging really sold how committed they were to each other. It would be interesting to see how the relationship plays out in the future with reincarnation in the mix, especially if her gender is different and how Hani's different life experience influences her in her new life, or what form she'll take in a magical sense.

Hani herself was entertaining as a main character, morally dubious at times but easy to understand and root for, and it wa slovely to see Seokga soften and open up over the course of the book.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book, and I'll definitely be picking up the next in the series!

The God and the Gumiho by Sophie Kim★★☆☆☆   2.5/5—ARC received on NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.I came into the story expecting a K-drama-esque story, and a K-drama-esque story is exactly what I got. The story is a cute, mystery rival-to-lovers, cat-and-mouse chase (god and fox chase lol) - embodying all that you could come to expect from a K-drama. If I watched this on screen, I imagine I'd thoroughly have a good time. The stylistic choice of writing, however, made reading a struggle. There were quite a few times where I wanted to DNF due to the clunky narrative. The plot was interesting, but the way it reads like a fanfic is somewhat off-putting and made it difficult to immerse into the story. A few scenes felt immature and YA (situations and behaviour that I'd expect of a teenager but not of a 1000 year old gumiho). There was a decent amount of fluff, which I think could have been cut out to tighten the pace of the story, where it seemingly dragged a little too long from time to time. I struggled a bit with liking the characters individually. Hanni comes off as a immature, self-important bitch - but she did become more palatable throughout the story. Seokga just did not really hit for me. Truth be told, I found his dialogue a little cringe. I think Hanni and Seokga's interactions is what shined the most, filled with cute and witty banter and reminiscent of your typical K-drama romance plot. It's unfortunate that I felt as if the progression from rivals-to-lovers was a bit abrupt and needed more time.I'd probably settle for an “it's okay” regarding the book. Reading The God and the Gumiho was neither immersive nor exciting, and I struggled to complete the book. I can see why others may love the book but unfortunately, this was a miss for me.

I had to give myself time before reviewing this. Purely because I had tears running down my face last night when it got hard. I ran to my room just because I didn't want my dad to see me cry over a book.

This book was so good, aside from my little (big) issue with a fairyloot reseller that made me want to stop reading, I loved it. I love Seokga and his coffee drinking tendencies, I love when characters are relatable and Seokga happened to be with his love for coffee. I loved Hani, she was an amazing fmc. She was not annoying and her story pre-Seokga was very interesting.

Their love story was sweet, I love how the cold Seokga could fall in love with her, and I love how Hani “I don't let anyone in my life because I am selfish and I have a secret” fell for the one who was tasked to kill her.

You cannot tell me that Hani didn't have a soft spot for Somi, she loved the baby gumiho so much. So much so that she told Seokga to let Somi go even though she was dying. She took all the blame for it and I hope Somi will appreciate what Hani has never been capable of doing for another.

Hani loved Seokga so much that she prayed to his brother and got him to change his bargain enough to give Seokga a fighting chance against the Eoduksini. Seokga loved Hani so much that he didn't want to kill her even though she turned out to be the Scarlet Fox, loved her so much that he cried and felt guilt for his hand being guided to kill her with her own scarlet blade, and loved her enough to beg his own brother to get her a chance to reincarnate so he could find her again. So their story wouldn't end in pain and guilt.
Give me a Seokga, I need a guy like him so much!