Review: THE GOD AND THE GUMIHO by Sophie Kim

Publisher: Del Rey
Page Count: 416
Release Date: June 4th, 2024
Series: FATE’S THREAD, Book 1
Rating: 3/5 Stars – Liked It

Kim Hani’s barista job in Korea has a lot of downsides, but the worst is her least favorite customer, the arrogant Seokga the Fallen. A former trickster god, Seokga was banished from heaven after a failed coup, and he’s stuck on the mortal plane until he can kill 20,000 demons as penance. But then Seokga gets an offer that could change everything: slay both a recently escaped demon and the mysterious gumiho the Scarlet Fox, and his sentence will be lifted early. Unfortunately for Kim Hani, SHE is the Scarlet Fox, in hiding for a hundred years after getting a little too enthused with consuming mortal souls. In order to thwart Seokga’s efforts, Kim Hani signs on to be his assistant, hoping to point him in the wrong direction. The two work together to stop the deadly demon, but they also find themselves falling for each other as well.

THE GOD AND THE GUMIHO is a fun little adventure, anchored by a solid pair of devious, morally grey protagonists. Seokga is arrogant and haughty; the best parallel I can make is saying that he brings a lot of MCU Loki energy to the table, strutting about and expecting mortals to bend to his every whim, even though his god powers and station have been stripped from him. Hani, meanwhile, is unrepentant about her secret past as the Scarlet Fox. In her view, it’s in a gumiho’s nature to consume souls and she’s not going to apologize for it. While both Hani and Seokga experience some growth over the course of the story, I appreciated that this wasn’t a more classic pairing of a “play by the rules” and a “break the rules” kind of duo, but two people who have learned to draw their moral line in very different places.

On the whole, I had a fun time with the mystery adventure itself. I enjoyed the “creature” world that exists alongside the mortal one, with glamoured shops to turn away mortal eyes and agencies dedicated to cleaning up supernatural messes before humans get wind of them. Hani and Seokga’s investigation takes them all over South Korea as they try to determine what human the demon has taken as a host, allowing many different creature encounters throughout the story. I did, however, think some of the mystery elements could have been better done; for one, our heroes are too easy to jump on a theory as the only answer and don’t always interrogate if there’s an alternative suspect or explanation.

That aside, I found THE GOD AND THE GUMIHO a charming time, particularly when it came to the execution of the two lead characters. I loved watching Hani interact with Seokga, using her own trickster ways to steer the investigation or simply to get under his skin. This book may also work slightly better for people more familiar with the K-Drama space that this book was inspired by. For me, it’s a perfect comfort read of two crafty people solving crimes and falling in love along the way.

Note: I was provided a free ARC by the publisher in exchange for my fair and honest review.