The God and the Gumiho
Ratings8
Average rating3.8
15
Ratings8
Average rating3.8
In this sly and dazzling contemporary fantasy, the most notorious nine-tailed fox in Korea pairs up with a trickster god–turned–detective to track down a wrathful demon . . . before it can destroy the mortal world. “Enchanting fantasy . . . With an intoxicating mix of action, mystery, and deliciously angsty romance, this reads like the most bingeable K-drama.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review) Kim Hani has retired from a life of devouring souls. She is, simply put, too full. Once known as the infamous Scarlet Fox, she now spends her days working in a coffee shop and annoying a particularly irritating, if unfairly handsome, trickster god as often as she can. That god is Seokga the Fallen. Exiled from the heavenly kingdom of Okhwang, he now begrudgingly resides in the mortal realm, working toward his redemption and suffering through his interactions with the particularly infuriating, if sneakily charming, gumiho barista at his favorite café. But when a powerful demon escapes from the underworld and threatens to end all of humanity, Okhwang’s emperor offers Seokga an enticing bargain: Kill this rogue creature, as well as the legendary and elusive Scarlet Fox, and he will be reinstated as a god. Hani, however, has no intention of being caught. Seokga might be a trickster god, but she has a trick of her own that he’ll never see coming: teaming up. As Seokga’s assistant, Hani will undermine and sabotage his investigation right under his overly pointy nose. Sure, she’ll help him kill the demon, but she certainly won’t allow him to uncover her secret identity while they’re at it. As the bickering partners track their case down a path of mayhem and violence, the god and the gumiho find themselves inescapably drawn to each other. But will the unlikely couple stand together to prevent the apocalypse, or will they let their secrets tear them—and the world—apart?
Featured Series
1 primary bookFate's Thread is a 1-book series first released in 2024 with contributions by Sophie Kim. The next book is scheduled for release on 6/3/2025.
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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 thoroughly enjoyed the whole premise of this book. The settings were vibrant, the characters were all loveable in their own ways, and the inclusion of myth and folklore were brilliant. The writing flowed well, and the plot was fun, even with some coincidental bumps along the way.
It was fun to see an early reveal into who Hani was, how she planned to deal with it and then another trouble was thrown in, forcing our endearing main characters to be together. I'm very open and looking forward to a sequel, whether it continues with Hani and Seokga, or moves onto others in the story.
The only downside to this was that I did find it a bit difficult to engage with the abundance of Korean myth folk, purely because I wasn't 100% sure on how to pronounce their names, or were able to imagine what they looked like. It didn't take too much away from the whole book itself, but they weren't memorable.
Definitely for lovers of kdrama, urban fantasy and mysteries!
Audio review: A dual-POV story about a fallen trickster god and a wanted nine-tailed fox who hides under that name Honey and works at a coffee shop. Three men are found without livers and Honey weasels her way into the investigation, when an even more heinous murder takes place. If you like the enemies to lovers trope this one is for you. If you like urban fantasy and mythology mashups you'll likely like this too. Romantasy definitely.
