One-part magical romance, one-part action spectacle, WICKED FOX is by far, one of the most lush, gorgeous, innovative titles I've ever had the pleasure to read.

Cho crafts a tale so descriptively whimsical that you can't help but be pulled into the pages. The mythology is rich, the characters inviting.

WICKED FOX is one of those stories that latches on and does not let you go -- one that buries in your heart, calling to your soul. It's whimsical, it's magical, and it's a story I'll be thinking of for a very, very long time.

Definitely check it out -- I promise, you will not regret it!

First things first – Wicked Fox is a must-read if you’re a fan of K-Dramas. It hits a lot of the popular tropes without being too over the top (most of the time) and just gives off all those amazing K-Drama vibes. We’re talking illness, betrayal, plot twists that you never see coming but make you want to scream at the characters. All that good stuff.

The world building and atmosphere in Wicked Fox is amazing – the detail Kat Cho put into the setting and the magic was captivating. I honestly felt so immersed in this book, that despite some of the things I didn’t enjoy (more on that below), I couldn’t rip myself from the pages. Everything felt so real and the stakes were high!

Additionally, I loved how morally grey each character was. Near the end there, I didn’t know who to trust and who to wish into some forgotten pit in hell. Wicked Fox is definitely a book that will keep you on your toes until the very end!

As we know, I have a great distaste for books that lean too heavily on a lack of communication between characters. Sometimes, this one made me want to smash my head against a wall, but other times it felt totally reasonable that these characters couldn’t talk to each other about their issues. This mixed bag left me frustrated at times, especially because the book was quite lengthy and resolution took so long, but I was never frustrated enough that I couldn’t get through it and continue rooting for the characters.

All in all, extremely well written, a little insane, but a great East-Asian mythological urban fantasy. Now I’m super excited to dive into Vicious Spirits!

Plot: 4/5
Characters: 4/5
World Building: 5/5
Writing: 5/5
Pacing: 3.5/5
Overall: 4/5
GoodReads Rating: 3.75/5

eARC gifted via NetGalley by G.P. Putnam’s Sons Books for Young Readers via Penguin Young Readers Group in exchange for an honest review.

I enjoyed the story telling in this book and loved the concept of a story about a gumiho. The main character is a gumiho, a 9-tailed fox spirit. They must drain energy from people to survive, and if they lose the pearl that resides in their body they can be controlled by the person in possession of it. Here, we get the story based on Korean folklore (which is so much richer than western/European folklore) where the characters struggle with their natures and the secrets surrounding their lives. It was beautifully written and great character study of nature vs nurture. My o my complaint was that the action was slow, meaning I lost focus at points.

I adored this book from start to finish and am dying for the sequel. Part paranormal romance, part adventure, this book had me engaged and on the edge of my seat the entire time.

Wicked Fox is a book that is unfortunately forgettable. The relationship between Jihoon and Miyoung becomes an endless will they/won't they cycle that gets tedious after a while. Close to the end of the book it seemed like every chapter they would flip flop between liking each other and being mad at each other.

The most interesting thing about Wicked Fox is the mythology. I don’t know much about Korean mythology so I enjoyed learning about those stories. It seems to be becoming a trend to have anecdotes or quotations placed at the beginning of a chapter, but at least in this book it helped to enhance our understanding of the world.

The premise was intriguing and I always enjoy a dark atmosphere, but Wicked Fox did little to stand out amongst the crowd.

This book was an automatic approval for work (I work at a bookstore). It did not mesh with my reading tastes, but I think there is definitely a market for this kind of book! Those who like teen fantasy and/or teen sci-fi might really enjoy it!

I loved that this book had different mythology in it. The pacing was fast but not too fast and the characters were well-written.

This was so incredibly imaginative and fast-paced. I loved the blend of mythology and urban fantasy--it reminded me positively of some of my favorite webtoons and dramas.

Oh my Wicked Fox has to be one of my top reads for 2019. It was so much fun reading about Korean mythology and culture. Wicked Fox takes place in modern Seoul. Between Gu Miyoung who is a gumiho (a nine tailed fox) and Jihoon a normal boy who after a certain turn of events are thrust together. Miyoung and Jihoon are so cute I can totally see why this was getting compared to K-dramas. Wicked Fox not only was cute it was surprisingly full of twists, especially in the latter half of the book. I also really enjoyed the supernatural aspects and mythology that came with it and was hoping that we could see more of it as we did also spend quite a few moments of the book at school with Jihoon and Miyoung. I understand I know it was to establish their getting to know each other better but compared to the supernatural aspect felt very boring.

Overall Wicked Fox is a great addition to the young adult genre especially as it is an urban paranormal fantasy which we do not see as much of anymore. As well as featuring Asian characters and by an #ownvoices author.. which we also need more of. Highly recommend.

Set to post June 25 for review at The Good, the Bad and the Unread.

Stevie‘s review of Wicked Fox (Gumiho, Book 1) by Kat Cho
Contemporary Young Adult Fantasy Romance published by G.P. Putnam’s Sons 25 Jun 19

My favourite trickster character from international folklore is the nine-tailed fox, a trope I’m most familiar with in the form of the Japanese kitsune. So I was very excited to spot this retelling of the Korean version of the legend: the gumiho (or kumiho in some renderings into English). As I’ve read next to no fiction set in Korea (present day or otherwise), the setting of this novel gave me an additional incentive to read it. The story begins with our heroine making use of both modern technology and ancient magic to track down an evil man.


Gu Miyoung is a gumiho and, like all of her kind, she needs to feed on the energy of humans in order to survive. Unlike the others – including her mother – she refuses, however, to take innocent lives or to inflict a painful death on her victims. This means she can only hunt at full moon – when her powers are strongest – and relies on a young shaman, who can communicate with the recently deceased, to find evil men to kill, thus bringing closure to their victims. While tracking her latest prey, Miyoung strays deep into the forest and encounters a human boy who is being attacked by a dokkaebi – a goblin. Miyoung rushes to aid the boy, and although she eventually kills the dokkaebi, the magic it uses in the fight causes her to become separated from her yeowu guseul – the fox bead believed to house a gumiho’s soul. Fearing that the boy has seen too much, Miyoung swears him to secrecy before making a rapid exit, hoping never to see him again.

Ahn Jihoon was in the forest to exercise his grandmother’s dog. After his encounter with two beings he’d previously thought only existed in the bedtime stories told to him by his halmoni, he returns home expecting never to see the girl again. However, he meets her twice in rapid succession: once in a dream and then again the next day at school, where she is introduced as a new transfer pupil. Jihoon tries to befriend Miyoung and is at first rebuffed, although she is eventually forced to recognise that she needs the support of Jihoon and his friends if she is to avoid the attentions of the mean kids at school.

Outside school, Miyoung and her shaman friend search for ways to replace the yeowu guseul – stashed safely in one of Miyoung’s pocket – in its rightful place within Miyoung’s body. Their search for information and talismans to help in their proposed ritual leads them into contact with more legendary beings, as well as with friends and enemies from Miyoung’s past, and that of her mother. Meanwhile, a detective is investigating the mysterious deaths of a number of men in and around Seoul, and his suspicions fall upon both Miyoung – as perpetrator – and Jihoon – as one who is helping a criminal evade justice.

Things get ever more complicated for our protagonists as their families get caught up in both searches, and some of their supposed friends turn out to have ulterior motives that are at odds with their claims to be helping. Eventually, all this outside interference puts the lives of Jihoon and his halmoni at risk, and Miyoung is forced to choose between her mother and her former friends, as well as her new friends.

I enjoyed this book a lot, especially the glimpses into different aspects of Korean life and folklore. Some parts of the middle section – after the big showdown between Miyoung and her mother – dragged a little, and it was difficult to know how much time had passed. On the other hand, I liked that all loose ends appeared to have been tied up by the final chapter, allowing the book to stand alone if need be, although the epilogue then hints at more adventures to come.

Grade: B

Unfortunately, this book just didn't really resonate with me. The plot sounded quite captivating but I wasn't too into the execution.

This is one of those books that becomes harder to put down the more you read! I love modern takes on mythology, and learning about the Korean “gumiho” was super interesting. The main characters, Miyoung and Jihoon, have an adorable relationship throughout the backdrop of monsters and mayhem. There is a perfect mixture of action and romance, and the writing is so well-done. Despite taking place in a real-life setting, Cho manages to make Seoul her own with fantastic world-building and rich details. A wonderful debut; I can’t wait to read the sequel!

A fun, engaging, and diverse urban fantasy that I think many people would enjoy!

Gu Miyoung is a Gumiho, a mythical creature that resembles a fox with nine tails and eats men every full moon in order to survive. She and her mother never stay in one place for too long, but when they decide to reside in Seoul and Miyoung meets Jihoon, a typical human teenage boy, how does that change her traditional Gumiho life?

I really enjoyed Wicked Fox for many reasons; it was set in a place I have never read before, therefore allowing me to learn about a new culture, I really enjoyed the concept, although it isn't the most original plot I have ever heard it kept me intrigued the entire time through, and the characters were extremely realistic to me, the way they dealt with certain situations and the feelings they had resembled typical 17-year-olds.

Kat Cho delved into a lot of important topics, focusing heavily on familial relationships and teenagers growing up without their parents or with strained parent-child relationships, and I think this discussion was done well, in a realistic way that shines light on the heartache that these children/teens go through when a parent walks away from them. In the case of Jihoon, it also gives an amazing portrayal of him and his Halmoni, his grandma who raised him, and as someone who was raised by their grandma, this representation hit close to home. The feelings/emotions portrayed through all the scenes are hard-hitting, real ones that children feel every day.

My main gripes with this Wicked Fox were some of the characters, specifically Junu and Nara. Junu just rubbed me the wrong way with some of the things he said, and his character as a whole. Non-spoiler but there is a scene when Miyoung is sprawled on the ground after falling and Junu says something along the lines of "it's not every day that a pretty girl is sprawled out waiting for me," and frankly it just made me uncomfortable. Nara's character was an issue for me because her whole arc just did not make sense to me; her motivations were continuously changing, and she felt like a character just to fully develop the plot instead of adding any substance to the story.

Overall, I would definitely recommend the Wicked Fox to anyone who wants an addicting urban fantasy!

This book starts slow, but I really appreciate how it's based on Korean mythology. Finally! A lot of my students will love it.

Absolutely loved this book! It was the perfect blend of romance, drama, and Korean myth. Favorite book for the summer!

This balances the best parts of YA fantasy - an exciting, sparkling, and occasionally gritty adventure, with the growing pains of adolescence from mean girls, crushing academics, and restrictive parents. While it occasionally oversells its dark aspects, Wicked Fox is especially engaging for its mixture of modern Seoul and old superstitions and folktales. It's a wonderful addition to the fairy-tale-adaptation genre in YA with a Korean twist that sets it apart.

Set in South Korea, a story about a girl who is also a Gumiho or Fox demon. She needs to feed often on the souls of humans to stay alive but despises doing so, so she chooses to feed on the souls of men who prey on women. One night while fighting a troll and saving a human boy, her own soul in the form of a bead is lost. Unsure of the consequences and afraid to disappoint her strict mother, she has to find away to put it back inside her.

This felt like an anime or a manga. I enjoyed the characters and the mythology. I did struggle with pronunciation of some of the names and Korean words used throughout the story but it didn’t take away from the story itself.

Teens will swoon for this modern Romeo and Juliet story set in Seoul. Miyoung is a gumiho, an immortal fox-like creature who must feed on the gi of men to survive. But she doesn’t want to be a killer and risks her own survival saving a boy named Jihoon from a goblin. In the process, she loses her bead—her soul. And must choose between her immortal life or his mortal one. With plenty of twists, wonderful friendships, and heart-wrenching decisions, this book is sure to steal more than you gi—it will steal your heart.

This was a brilliantly vivid journey into the rich world of Korean folktales and mythology. I enjoyed being submerged in the Seoul landscape, rich in detail with its food, traditions, and monsters. The characters were well fleshed out and three-dimensional, with fatal flaws and shimmering imperfections. I was very fortunate to have received an ARC of this book and would recommend it to fans of exotic fantasy and classic monster stories.

I was really looking forward to this one, chiefly because it's set in Seoul. I've never read a YA book set in South Korea, but this one was awesome at immersing me into Korean culture. I learned a lot of fascinating things, and it was definitely the book's strongest point.

Unfortunately, a host of issues combined to bring the rating down to 3 stars.

Eighteen-year-old Gu Miyoung is half gumiho, a nine-tailed fox spirit who needs to consume gi, or human life energy, to survive. Her other half is human and it comes from the human father who abandoned her. She lives alone with her mother, a terrifying, ancient gumiho named Yena older than Korea itself. So far Miyoung has only been targeting criminals worthy of death to sustain herself; with the help of her friend Nara, a shaman, she hunts down wicked men at every full moon and drains them.

During one of these hunts she comes across Ahn Jihoon. He's a student at the local senior school, which she's about to join, and he lives with his halmoni - his grandmother - above a restaurant. His father is a deadbeat criminals: his mother deserted Jihoon for a better life with a new son and husband. Miyoung comes across him just when he's being attacked by a dokkaebi, a demon, and saves his life.

Unfortunately, in the process, she expels her yeowi guseul (fox bead) from inside her body. The fox bead is a gumiho's soul, and anyone who controls the bead can control the gumiho. Thus begins a desperate search to find a way to put the bead back inside her body. All the while she starts breaking her mother's cardinal rule: never fall in love with a human.

What I liked (an unfortunately short list):

✴️ As I've said, I loved the Korean culture. I know almost nothing about it, so it was fascinating to read about their three-year-long high school, and the meals they eat, and the suffixes they use for names depending on who they're speaking to - all of it.

✴️ Jihoon is a great character . He's always been pretty lazy and laid-back, but it's a front: he was deeply hurt by his mother's abandonment, and he's terrified of people leaving him. I really felt for him throughout the course of the book.

✴️ Gu Yena was formidable. She's a very old gumiho, and utterly amoral, but it was always obvious that she loved her daughter more than anything else in the world. I liked that the strength of the parental bond between Yena and Miyoung was a strong theme in the book - it was nice and nuanced, because Yena is certainly not a 'good' character, but Miyoung loves her anyway (as she should).

What I didn't like (a longer list):

✴️ Miyoung is frequently stupid . She KNOWS that she has to keep her nature a secret. She KNOWS that her mother will kill anybody who discovers that they're gumihos - and she has good reason to, because in her experience, humans just try to kill them first. Yet Miyoung is unforgivably careless. There's a reference made to how she often slips up, which is what forces them to move house so much, and I couldn't understand just how bad she was at keeping THIS ONE SECRET. She went around exposing herself constantly.

✴️ Miyoung is also far too guilty . I understand that this is going to be a personal issue: some readers might think she should feel guilty over all the lives she's taken. But considering she takes numerous precautions to make sure she only kills murderers, I didn't understand where all this constant guilt was coming from.

✴️ The writing was quite stilted , and there were a few instances of 'showing, not telling.' The dialogue also occasionally sounded unnatural.

✴️ Jihoon forgives his mother for her abandonment FAR TOO EASILY . Like dude, she literally pretends to her neighbours that you're just a delivery boy instead of her son!!!! And somehow, you've convinced yourself that she left you for your own good?!?!?!?

✴️ Nara was not a wholly realistic character : her motivations were random and obscure, and it felt like she was just a convenient plot device for the author by the end of the book. She wasn't fleshed out enough despite her importance to the story.

✴️ Speaking of the end of the book, I have some questions. But they're spoilers so I won't go into them, except to say that something happens which seems to contradict something that happened earlier.

✴️ There's a character in the book called Junu, who is ridiculously handsome, because he's a dokkaebi. When he meets Somin, an aggressive friend of Jihoon's, it's said that she's 'the first girl to resist him.' Erm... this is not true. Neither Miyoung nor Nara fell at Junu's feet either. I hope this isn't a cheap way to establish Junu and Somin as a future couple.

✴️ Relatively minor, but this is a pet peeve of mine... IT'S SPELLED WHOA!!! NOT 'WOAH'!!!

Overall

Not too bad, but I seriously considered DNFing it at first just because of the writing. I persevered and it grew on me slightly, but I'm not convinced I'll read the sequel.