If you’re a fan of those fantasy-focused Kdramas filled with Korean mythical creatures and a fun little contemporary romance twist, then you’re going to love The God and The Gumiho. Thanks to Del Rey for the gifted copy of this book.
More about The God and The Gumiho
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?
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My thoughts
Such a fun read that combines my love of Kdramas and fantasy. A genre-bending story that really has a little bit for everyone, but if you’re a fan of Kdramas like Goblin and Tale of the Nine-Tailed, then this one is for you.
The story follows Seokga (the god) and Hani (the gumiho aka nine-tailed fox). Seokga is the fallen god of mischief who’s coup to usurp his brother ended up with him losing his power and forced to spend his life collecting 20,000 unruly demons from the human world. Hani is a 1600-year-old gumiho who had her fill of men’s livers and souls back in the 19th century and now living quietly as a barista at a small coffee shop (even though she hates coffee). When a mysterious force starts killing randoms throughout the city, Seokga is on the case to find the killer and Hani volunteers herself as his assistant because is also on the search for an unruly gumiho who recently took the lives of two men (it was Hani).
This book seriously brought the drama. Even from the premise you know there’s going to be a lot going down between Seokga and Hani. It’s one of those dramas where you find out the twist and you’re just wondering the entire time how the heck they’re going to work this one out and I’ve seen my fair share of dramas.
The enemies-to-lovers between Seokga and Hani was really cute. I imagined Seokga as this hardened grumpy trope who only finds pleasure in a decent cup of coffee. And while Hani played a bit of the sunshine, her secret gumiho side definitely shows you she’s anything but. Both of the characters were worthy to root for and their unlikely partnership to find the creature that’s causing all these murders really made for some fun banter between the two of them. And of course, you know they fall for each other with all the intensity you see in the dramas.
And I was actually surprised by the end! The difficult decisions, the larger than life villain, and the ultimate ending just really sucked me in and I was reading at the edge of my seat wondering what was going to happen next. I wasn’t a huge fan of the world building and I felt a little lost by how powerful the villain and the other unruly demons were. It lacked that level of ambient danger and what Seokga and Hani were getting into was way over their heads. I also noticed a couple of things being introduced all the way at the end, which I thought could have been snuck in here and there throughout the story.
Overall, a great start to a new romantasy book and I can’t wait to read the next one!
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