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4.11 AVERAGE
4.11 AVERAGE
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
emotional
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
As someone who loves the mutual nuisances, petty back and forth dynamic promised in the synopsis, the beginning of this was such a fun time for me. And I also liked getting to learn some of the Korean terminology and mythology, I've never watched any Korean shows or movies but it made me more tempted to try them. Unfortunately, around 20% it started to lose the magic for me. The back and forth started to feel really childish for creatures that have lived as long as they have and if I had to hear about the MMC Seokga sneering one more time, I would've lost it. This had a lot of promise but just didn't quite work for me.
funny
lighthearted
relaxing
medium-paced
these characters are over 1000 years old and they act as dumb as teenagers… this book felt so. idk. tropey. like oh no there’s only one bed… and also he’s mean to everyone else but he’s nice to her… and a lot of the dialogue felt very “marvel-y.” it’s not even that i didn’t enjoy this book. sometimes you can enjoy things you don’t think are great. but this book coulda been waaay better
war is over
i’m not even going to try to write a proper, cohesive review for this because oH mY gOD, this book drove me iNSANE. i lost count how many times i wanted to DNF this one, but i had the physical copy and i really forced myself to soldier through.
this genuinely felt like an insult to all the k dramas ive watched because the writing was incredibly juvenile and immature. i’ve seen this compared to tale of the nine tailed, which was my first k drama and is still my roman empire till this day, but comparing the god and the gumiho to that is genuinely insulting.
i heard that sophie kim is known for her more serious works, and tried to go for a sillier vibe for the god and the gumiho, but i think it showed. this did not work at all.
this had all the makings for an amazing book. really, it did. the concept revolves around a fallen god trying to hunt down a notorious gumiho who’s killed and devoured thousands of men, and has to work together with the same gumiho that killed those men without knowing that. it was giving 5* potential. it could have been so juicy. we could have gotten so much electrifying cat and mouse tension with both characters trying to outwit each other, but no.
what we get is two 1000 year old immortals who literally act like a bunch of immature delinquents literally the whole book. i teach primary kids, but hani and seokga might actually be more juvenile. instead of them outfoxing each other, we literally get hani throwing coffee at seokga and cheap dick jokes scattered every now and then. seriously, are they 12? yeah, okay, they’re self aware they’re childish, but how am i supposed to connect to the romance when they act that way? it generally felt like the book was written by a preschooler at times.
it’s such a shame because i was genuinely invested in the murder mystery plot and the lore involving the different korean mythical creatures. but the tonal shift was just wayyy too jarring. the novel can’t decide if it wants to be a serious murder mystery or some silly coffee shop romcom, and it just clashed like oil and water, and eventually the cringy dialogue and writing style took me out of the story completely where i could not care for anything anymore.
hani might be the most insufferable FMC ever. if sophie kim’s goal was to make hani unlikeable, then bravo, she accomplished that. i was unsure how i felt about hani in the beginning since she made some questionable decisions, but then she just got worse after that and i was praying for her downfall. truly. i really don’t get how seokga fell for hani. what did she even do to make him fall for her minus being so annoying and childish all the time? she sasses him a few times and laughs, and he’s down bad. their relationship was purely based off of childish insults, nonsensical arguments, and forced banter. they had their first kiss, started making out during a stake out, and then kiss almost every chapter after that. yeah, it’s a no from me.
hani is supposed to have her big redemption moment in the end, but i felt absolutely nothing because she was just unrootable and unlikable the whole time.
and seokga? god of mischief, where? i saw no evidence of that cunning mind he was supposed to have. instead, he simply commands and compels people with his mind rather than be silver-tongued and deceitful. i was so disappointed.
plugging in some quotes that were my 13th reason:
“ha! you like me!” hani, are you 5?
“i want to be more than a friend. more than your makeshift teddy bear.”
“what are they? friends? friends that sometimes stick their hands down each other’s pants?”
you could not pay me to reread this book again. glad that others liked it, but this was not for me.
i’m not even going to try to write a proper, cohesive review for this because oH mY gOD, this book drove me iNSANE. i lost count how many times i wanted to DNF this one, but i had the physical copy and i really forced myself to soldier through.
this genuinely felt like an insult to all the k dramas ive watched because the writing was incredibly juvenile and immature. i’ve seen this compared to tale of the nine tailed, which was my first k drama and is still my roman empire till this day, but comparing the god and the gumiho to that is genuinely insulting.
i heard that sophie kim is known for her more serious works, and tried to go for a sillier vibe for the god and the gumiho, but i think it showed. this did not work at all.
this had all the makings for an amazing book. really, it did. the concept revolves around a fallen god trying to hunt down a notorious gumiho who’s killed and devoured thousands of men, and has to work together with the same gumiho that killed those men without knowing that. it was giving 5* potential. it could have been so juicy. we could have gotten so much electrifying cat and mouse tension with both characters trying to outwit each other, but no.
what we get is two 1000 year old immortals who literally act like a bunch of immature delinquents literally the whole book. i teach primary kids, but hani and seokga might actually be more juvenile. instead of them outfoxing each other, we literally get hani throwing coffee at seokga and cheap dick jokes scattered every now and then. seriously, are they 12? yeah, okay, they’re self aware they’re childish, but how am i supposed to connect to the romance when they act that way? it generally felt like the book was written by a preschooler at times.
it’s such a shame because i was genuinely invested in the murder mystery plot and the lore involving the different korean mythical creatures. but the tonal shift was just wayyy too jarring. the novel can’t decide if it wants to be a serious murder mystery or some silly coffee shop romcom, and it just clashed like oil and water, and eventually the cringy dialogue and writing style took me out of the story completely where i could not care for anything anymore.
hani might be the most insufferable FMC ever. if sophie kim’s goal was to make hani unlikeable, then bravo, she accomplished that. i was unsure how i felt about hani in the beginning since she made some questionable decisions, but then she just got worse after that and i was praying for her downfall. truly. i really don’t get how seokga fell for hani. what did she even do to make him fall for her minus being so annoying and childish all the time? she sasses him a few times and laughs, and he’s down bad. their relationship was purely based off of childish insults, nonsensical arguments, and forced banter. they had their first kiss, started making out during a stake out, and then kiss almost every chapter after that. yeah, it’s a no from me.
hani is supposed to have her big redemption moment in the end, but i felt absolutely nothing because she was just unrootable and unlikable the whole time.
and seokga? god of mischief, where? i saw no evidence of that cunning mind he was supposed to have. instead, he simply commands and compels people with his mind rather than be silver-tongued and deceitful. i was so disappointed.
plugging in some quotes that were my 13th reason:
“ha! you like me!” hani, are you 5?
“i want to be more than a friend. more than your makeshift teddy bear.”
“what are they? friends? friends that sometimes stick their hands down each other’s pants?”
you could not pay me to reread this book again. glad that others liked it, but this was not for me.
adventurous
emotional
funny
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
First half of the book felt like it leaned on popular tropes a little too much, like grumpy x sunshine for example, sassy x sassed you know? Both of the characters felt very immature and a little flat, however! The second half of the book was a lot better, I think Kim hit her zone and ended the book very well. Overall even with the rocky start the book had a pretty well developed plot and an interesting premise. This book was really engaging, I plan on reading the rest of the series as it continues, unless the characters continue to be immature.
adventurous
dark
emotional
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
dark
emotional
medium-paced