You know those books where you just have such a good time while reading?!
This. This here is one. 😌 It felt so quintessentially YA: teenage angst, drama, school bullies, mythological creatures, soft boys and grumpy girls…I was just heart-eyes over the whole story. It had such a fun beginning and then lovingly bundled my heart into a ball and thREW IT IN A FIRE for the end. This hit hard, okay, super hard. It was full of drama and bantery dialogue, of sacrifice and true love, of mythology and the discussion of what makes a monster. It has messed up families that you’ll hate and love all at once. It had it ALL.
Me: *battered up and bleeding by the emotional gymnastics I just went through*
Me: I had a good !!! time !!! reading this!!
It’s centred around the Korean folklore of the gumiho — the nine-tailed fox who must eat the gi of its victims to live.
Monster lore is my favourite okay. I love all the questions and the morally-grey discussions. If you murder an evil man, does that make you evil? If you will die unless you kill others, are you morally responsible for their deaths still? Miyoung is working her way through all these questions. She hates her monstrous side, but it’s also her family and culture and life. Her mum is cold and hard, but she does everything for her daughter. Is her mother a monster for literally choosing to kill anyone to keep her daughter safe?
I also loved all the pockets of gumiho lore between the chapters!!
Also the characters were just [chef’s kiss] adorable. I love them.
Look it has my favourite trope: bubbly sunshiney boy befriends the grumpy could-definitely-kill-you girl. They are adorable. Jihoon was so dogged with his offer of friendship. And look there were so many layers here to make you cry. Jihoon having been abandoned all his life and being affable to offset his trauma, refusing to let Miyoung be bullied. He accidentally finds out her secrets and he’s so respectful about it. And Miyoung, just wanting to protect herself from hurt because she’s a monster and doesn’t want him do die…ajafskdla THE ANGST.
Miyoung watches a lot of Korean dramas to fill the friendless void in her life, and IÂ did feel Wicked Fox kind of reflected the soap-opera-y dramas at times (some of the reveals were like that haha). But I enjoyed it! The writing was always super engaging and the story had a fantastic flow.
Basically this filled my craving for needing a fun and dramatic and solidly good story.
It has monsters and is stuffed with #Ownvoices Korean culture and folklore. It lined up some of the most delightful tropes, put in complex and messy family relationships, had a restaurant setting, gave us a talkative adorkable boy and the heartaching steel girl of our dreams, and then it also tipped in some murder and blood. 🤗Gotta say. That is my favourite thing.
Thank you to PRH International #partner for the ARC! And I also have a copy from a FairyLoot box!
Goodreads | Book Depository | Amazon
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.
| what do you think?|
is this one on your TBR ?? have you read it? tell me all your thoughts! do you like books where they discuss what makes a monster??
I love soap-opera-y dramas, so maybe I’ll like this! I’ll definitely check it out if I can find it at a library!
I absolutely needed this book, like, yesterday, or the day before, or even a century ago and I’M SO EXCITED TO READ IT.
I have seen this one around on booktube and bookstagram lately, but I didn’t think it was going to be for me. But this is lowkey giving me Monstress vibes and now I am intrigued. I love reading books based on non-Western mythology, and the banter while also having a solid storyline sounds so good!