Review: Wicked Fox by Kat Cho

Hey all, Dani here.

Yay, it’s Thursday. Or technically, since I’m on third shift for a couple weeks, it is my Friday. When I get off in the morning, it will be time for my weekend to start. Thank goodness. I have already worked 44 hours this week and have almost 12 hours left to go, so it has been a very long, very hot, week of work in the factory. The paycheck will be lovely though, because that is quite a bit of overtime.

Anyway, I have so many books I want to read, or that I need to review. But I’m still dreadfully stuck in this mood of not knowing what I’m in the mood to read. It’s making me worried that I’m going to end up falling into a reading slump. I hope that doesn’t happen.

All right, let’s get into today’s review.

Summary

A fresh and addictive fantasy-romance set in modern-day Seoul.

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.

My Thoughts

Rating: 5 stars

Let me start off by saying that I don’t watch K-dramas. I have never seen a single one, so this being compared to those was not what made me want to check this book out. However, I am pretty much obsessed with kitsune/gumiho mythology. So just that one mention of it made me need to pick up a copy of this and devour it like a gumiho devours a man’s soul to survive. Ahem, anyway.

I can also say that I’m not super familiar with Korean customs and culture, so that was an interesting aspect to reading this book. But I was drawn into the story rather quickly, and I thought it was all done very well. Miyoung and Jihoon were fascinating main characters, and I enjoyed the varying family dynamics from the characters as well as their relationships with friends and/or classmates.

Honestly, I was hooked in this story pretty quickly, and it was definitely interesting to see how a creature like a gumiho dealt with being in a modern setting, especially living in a large city.

Oh, and I learned a lot of things about gumiho as well, as I am definitely more familiar with kitsune lore. So the concept of a fox bead was new to me, but it was completely fascinating.

I am so, so glad that I read this book. I loved the character development with Miyoung as she started to become friends with some of Jihoon’s friends, and as she stopped isolating herself so much. And the mother-child relationships between Miyoung and her mother and Jihoon with his mother, were so complex. It was truly wonderful.

Now I just have to wait for the sequel.

Where to Buy

You can pick up your own copy of this book from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Books-a-million, Book Depository, or your local independent bookstore.