Book Review: Wicked Fox by Kat Cho
Welcome to my first book review!
I’ve been debating how I want to format the book reviews that I post on here and if I want to review every single book I read or just the ones I have strong opinions about. I’ll most likely do a monthly reading wrap-up and put majority of my reviews on there. Anyhoo moving on to my first blogged book review!
Synopsis from Goodreads:
Eighteen-year-old Gu Miyoung has a secret--she's a gumiho, a nine-tailed fox who must devour the energy of men in order to survive. Because so few believe in the old tales anymore, and with so many evil men no one will miss, the modern city of Seoul is the perfect place to hide and hunt.
But after feeding one full moon, Miyoung crosses paths with Jihoon, a human boy, being attacked by a goblin deep in the forest. Against her better judgment, she violates the rules of survival to rescue the boy, losing her fox bead--her gumiho soul--in the process.
Jihoon knows Miyoung is more than just a beautiful girl--he saw her nine tails the night she saved his life. His grandmother used to tell him stories of the gumiho, of their power and the danger they pose to humans. He's drawn to her anyway.
With murderous forces lurking in the background, Miyoung and Jihoon develop a tenuous friendship that blossoms into something more. But when a young shaman tries to reunite Miyoung with her bead, the consequences are disastrous . . . forcing Miyoung to choose between her immortal life and Jihoon's.
Review:
Ok so first thing I want to point out about this book is that THEY EAT RAW GARLIC! I just thought that was a great part because when I first met my bf and his famjam they did the same thing and I thought it was weird AF (I do the same thing now though). I thought it was just really great that they included this little tidbit of Korean food culture. Does anybody else do this?
Moving on, this book was a wild ride. So many plot twists, some which I saw coming, but still so many! The beginning was a bit hard to get into but as I read more I couldn’t put it down. I really enjoyed the inclusion of Gumiho folklore scattered throughout the book to explain parts of the main plotline. There was also a lot of focus on family in this book; broken families and the trauma resulting from that. Jihoon’s mother left him when he was a child and Miyoung’s mother is a very cold parent. Miyoung’s dad also left when she was a child so both Jihoon and Miyoung were raised by a single parent, in Jihoon’s case his grandmother. Miyoung’s friend Nara was also raised by her manipulative shaman grandmother because her parents died when she was also a child. I loved Somin’s character though because she was Jihoon’s childhood best friend and even though they were raised together, they didn’t develop the childhood friends to lovers trope. Plus she was just such a strong female character. I thought that the character growth in this book regarding Jihoon and Yena, Miyoung’s mother was really well done as well.
Overall this was a fast-paced read that was full of plot twists and great characters! Oh yeah, I forgot to mention, be prepared to shed a couple tears. Anyhoo, I’m so excited to check out the next book in the series Vicious Spirits which supposedly comes out August 2020!
4/5 🌟
Happy Reading!
