A review by anna4
The God and the Gumiho by Sophie Kim

adventurous dark funny hopeful mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

4,25-4,5

Somehow, judging by the cover (which is just really a 10/10 cover), I expected something very different, but I have to say this was way better than anything I could have expected!

Let me tell you, Hani and Seokga are kind of the best! 

Seokga, especially in the beginning, gave me old-50+ year old-grumpy-I am *done* with this-man vibes and the funny thing about this is, that the more the book progresses, the younger he suddenly becomes. 

But the star of the book was definitely Hani. She was funny, she was caring and she made sure to annoy the shit out of Seokga whenever she could. Gotta enjoy the little things in life.

If you enjoy TV shows like Castle, The Mentalist, Sherlock and the like, you will have a blast reading about these two. The banter, the sarcasm and the way they treat each other is very much like the earlier and better seasons of those shows. And all of it sprinkled with korean culture and pop culture references makes it just all even better.

I saw people comparing it to K-Dramas and maybe I’m just really out of the loop here (haven’t watched one in 2 or 3 years) but the only K-Drama-esque resemblance I saw was the more than average coffee consumption. 

The writing was super fun (like, literally funny) and very complementing to the characters’ personalities and story. 

I think the only issue/critique I have with this book is that it takes place over a span of I think two-ish weeks. If those were maybe 3 or 4 months, I think I would have found myself a taaaaad more invested, because it would just have made more sense to me in terms of the development of the romance. 

There is basically an open ending which is unfair because my heart can’t handle stuff like this (I obviously shed a tear. Maybe two. Or more).

I need book 2 ASAP pls.

Thank you to Hodderscape for providing this book for review via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

Read in: May 2024