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madarauchiha's review
dark
emotional
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
❤️ 🧡 💛 💚 💙 💜 my about / byf / CW info carrd: uchiha-madara 💜 💙 💚 💛 🧡 ❤️
It's a fun, lighthearted romance balanced with medium drama. I think if I was in the age group for this, I would be spellbound and thrilled. I still did enjoy this book, but it's not entirely my cup of tea regarding reading levels. I do recommend this book if you need something lighthearted and sweet after a heavy topic book. It's long enough to let you forget. At times I felt it dragged but that may be due to being outside the intended reading age audience. But do keep in mind this is aimed towards children [teens], so you definitely need to shut your brain off a bit before plunging in.
The romance is cute puppy love and I thought it developed naturally and very well. There were plenty of plot twists that felt organic and unforced, which I appreciated considering the length of the book. I think the length is well suited to the plot, and not padded out unnecessarily.
Also! I appreciate that the portrayal of police is accurate and that the entire cast is Korean. Like, chefs kiss, thank you, wish I had such books growing up as an asian american child.
Content warnings:
minor: animal death,
medium: alcohol abuse,
major: violence, body horror, peer abuse / childhood bullying, unhealthy relationships, child abuse, murder, child abandonment, orphaning, child abuse, police, smoking tobacco, underage smoking,
It's a fun, lighthearted romance balanced with medium drama. I think if I was in the age group for this, I would be spellbound and thrilled. I still did enjoy this book, but it's not entirely my cup of tea regarding reading levels. I do recommend this book if you need something lighthearted and sweet after a heavy topic book. It's long enough to let you forget. At times I felt it dragged but that may be due to being outside the intended reading age audience. But do keep in mind this is aimed towards children [teens], so you definitely need to shut your brain off a bit before plunging in.
The romance is cute puppy love and I thought it developed naturally and very well. There were plenty of plot twists that felt organic and unforced, which I appreciated considering the length of the book. I think the length is well suited to the plot, and not padded out unnecessarily.
Also! I appreciate that the portrayal of police is accurate and that the entire cast is Korean. Like, chefs kiss, thank you, wish I had such books growing up as an asian american child.
Content warnings:
minor: animal death,
medium: alcohol abuse,
major: violence, body horror, peer abuse / childhood bullying, unhealthy relationships, child abuse, murder, child abandonment, orphaning, child abuse, police, smoking tobacco, underage smoking,
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Body horror, Bullying, Toxic relationship, Child abuse, and Drug use
Moderate: Alcoholism
Minor: Animal death
plumpaperbacks's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
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? No
5.0
[second read, December 2022]
It’s been entirely too long since I read this for the first time, and revisiting it was SO MUCH FUN. Vaguely stressful, yes, but mostly just fun. Miyoung and Jihoon are my favorite grumpy/sunshine couple of all time, and that’s entirely because they’re the only one I’ve seen where she’s the grump and he’s the sunshine. We need more of that ASAP please. It’s for the betterment of society.
Also, I am shocked to learn that apparently Past Me didn’t like Junu until the sequel??? At least, that’s the vibe I get from my first-time-around review, and Present Me just Does Not Understand. I was so happy to see my favorite cinnamon roll goblin troll again. Every time he showed up, I was grinning, and more often than not I was cackling by the time he left. I love Miyoung, Jihoon and Somin, but I absolutely ADORE Junu. He is Best Boy. 🥹💗
And speaking of, it’s now time for me to go reread his book and possibly cry over it too. Fun times lie ahead. :’)))
[first read, August 2020]
I didn’t know what to expect when I started reading this, and admittedly, it took me a couple of chapters to get used to the audiobook’s narrator. But after that, I quickly fell in love with the characters and grew invested in the story. Cho took Korean mythology and spun it into a mesmerizing modern fantasy—which, by the way, I wish there was more of. Wicked Fox is a story of love and sacrifice, morals and murder, and it was so much more fantastic than I ever could’ve guessed it would be.
My favorite part of the novel, undeniably, was the characters. Miyoung and Jihoon are brilliant, with plenty of individual dimension and incredible chemistry. Miyoung is the grumpy one, closed off to protect herself because she and her mom move around so much and absolutely not in the mood for people whatsoever. (Relatable.) Jihoon is the soft one, also trying to protect himself—for different reasons—but doing so by being affable and charismatic. I love them so much!!!
Miyoung ends up as the new girl at Jihoon’s school and, despite her standoffish exterior, he stands up for her when bullies come around. He genuinely wants to be her friend and it’s so wholesome. He respects boundaries but also refuses to back down because he thinks everyone needs friends. For the record, that was when I knew he was one of my favorite beans and a complete cinnamon roll.
Cho develops their friendship before any romance, which I really appreciated. But the romance does come, and with it, so much angst and way more emotions than I signed up for. They’re such a cute couple before everything starts going wrong, and the things they did to my heart are so rude. (I still love them, though.)
Anyway, all of that aside, the protagonists were so well-written and easy to care about, no matter what was going on. As the story continued, I realized that that applied to the side characters as well: Jihoon’s friends, his grandmother, and even some I didn’t expect it from, like Yena and Junu. The antagonists were also well-developed, even if they didn’t get quite as much page time as I would’ve liked. A minor issue.
The story is set in modern Seoul, which was interesting to me and definitely something I wouldn’t mind seeing in more stories. While there wasn’t world-building like you’d see in a high fantasy, Cho more than made up for it with folklore. I’d only heard of gumiho a couple of times in passing and never knew much about them until reading this. I found it quite intriguing, and especially liked the small pockets of legend and backstory woven into the main plot.
And so help me, the plot twists in the last quarter of the book. Everything went completely to crap and I was stressed. Numerous things happened I didn’t see coming, and I was consistently upset and/or shocked until the very last chapter. I was kind of confused, at first, because everything seemed to wrap up nicely and I wasn’t sure what the sequel was going to be about. Then came the epilogue, and I’m so curious but also very concerned.
So, needless to say, I loved Wicked Fox. Every part of it was magnificent, and I can’t wait to read the sequel. Please read this. I can’t recommend it enough.
Representation:
It’s been entirely too long since I read this for the first time, and revisiting it was SO MUCH FUN. Vaguely stressful, yes, but mostly just fun. Miyoung and Jihoon are my favorite grumpy/sunshine couple of all time, and that’s entirely because they’re the only one I’ve seen where she’s the grump and he’s the sunshine. We need more of that ASAP please. It’s for the betterment of society.
Also, I am shocked to learn that apparently Past Me didn’t like Junu until the sequel??? At least, that’s the vibe I get from my first-time-around review, and Present Me just Does Not Understand. I was so happy to see my favorite cinnamon roll goblin troll again. Every time he showed up, I was grinning, and more often than not I was cackling by the time he left. I love Miyoung, Jihoon and Somin, but I absolutely ADORE Junu. He is Best Boy. 🥹💗
And speaking of, it’s now time for me to go reread his book and possibly cry over it too. Fun times lie ahead. :’)))
[first read, August 2020]
I didn’t know what to expect when I started reading this, and admittedly, it took me a couple of chapters to get used to the audiobook’s narrator. But after that, I quickly fell in love with the characters and grew invested in the story. Cho took Korean mythology and spun it into a mesmerizing modern fantasy—which, by the way, I wish there was more of. Wicked Fox is a story of love and sacrifice, morals and murder, and it was so much more fantastic than I ever could’ve guessed it would be.
My favorite part of the novel, undeniably, was the characters. Miyoung and Jihoon are brilliant, with plenty of individual dimension and incredible chemistry. Miyoung is the grumpy one, closed off to protect herself because she and her mom move around so much and absolutely not in the mood for people whatsoever. (Relatable.) Jihoon is the soft one, also trying to protect himself—for different reasons—but doing so by being affable and charismatic. I love them so much!!!
Miyoung ends up as the new girl at Jihoon’s school and, despite her standoffish exterior, he stands up for her when bullies come around. He genuinely wants to be her friend and it’s so wholesome. He respects boundaries but also refuses to back down because he thinks everyone needs friends. For the record, that was when I knew he was one of my favorite beans and a complete cinnamon roll.
Cho develops their friendship before any romance, which I really appreciated. But the romance does come, and with it, so much angst and way more emotions than I signed up for. They’re such a cute couple before everything starts going wrong, and the things they did to my heart are so rude. (I still love them, though.)
Anyway, all of that aside, the protagonists were so well-written and easy to care about, no matter what was going on. As the story continued, I realized that that applied to the side characters as well: Jihoon’s friends, his grandmother, and even some I didn’t expect it from, like Yena and Junu. The antagonists were also well-developed, even if they didn’t get quite as much page time as I would’ve liked. A minor issue.
The story is set in modern Seoul, which was interesting to me and definitely something I wouldn’t mind seeing in more stories. While there wasn’t world-building like you’d see in a high fantasy, Cho more than made up for it with folklore. I’d only heard of gumiho a couple of times in passing and never knew much about them until reading this. I found it quite intriguing, and especially liked the small pockets of legend and backstory woven into the main plot.
And so help me, the plot twists in the last quarter of the book. Everything went completely to crap and I was stressed. Numerous things happened I didn’t see coming, and I was consistently upset and/or shocked until the very last chapter. I was kind of confused, at first, because everything seemed to wrap up nicely and I wasn’t sure what the sequel was going to be about. Then came the epilogue, and I’m so curious but also very concerned.
So, needless to say, I loved Wicked Fox. Every part of it was magnificent, and I can’t wait to read the sequel. Please read this. I can’t recommend it enough.
Representation:
- full cast of Korean characters
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Death, Death of parent, Grief, Medical content, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Addiction, Alcoholism, and Child abuse
Things tagged under “graphic” occur multiple times on-page. It’s also worth mentioning that there are instances in the second half of the book where one protagonist has seizures and is hospitalized because of them. Things tagged under “minor” occurred in the past and are briefly referenced on-page. I can’t remember if there’s also references to prior child neglect or not, so just a fair warning that there’s a chance of that.
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