I loved revisiting the world of Wicked Fox! While Miyoung still has an important storyline in Vicious Spirits, this is primarily Junu and Somin's story. I would consider Vicious Spirits to be more character-driven than plot-driven, and a lot of time spent on the friendships between the characters and their internal struggles. The romance between Junu and Somin is so fun and sweet; I loved their banter and the way they gradually opened up to each other. The introduction of a new character, Hyuk, was a delight. I only wish that Changwan played a larger role, since he's part of their friend group as well!

I'm so glad that Kat Cho had the opportunity to tell Junu and Somin's backstories and fully develop them as characters. I'd definitely recommend this to fans of Wicked Fox, especially if, like me, they also wanted more Junu!

As much as I enjoyed Wicked Fox, I loved Vicious Spirits even more. Wicked Fox set a good stage as the first book in the series, but the romance and action in Vicious Spirits are what I have been waiting for!

My favorite part of this novel is easily the romance. Somin and Junu's chemistry is hinted at the end of the first novel, but it delivers in this one. Miyoung and Jihoon have a sweet, caring, and intense relationship whereas Somin and Junu have a passionate, enemies to lovers, and exciting kind of romance. It is so FUN to read and watch everything unfold. I could not put this book down (seriously I read over 90% of this book in one sitting).

While it took me a while to fully embrace urban fantasy (not a genre I usually passionately love right away), I really came to love it. It helped reveal how so many of the life lessons in the story are still applicable to people and not just gumihos and dokkaebis (though who's to say they aren't real)!

Kat Cho is amazing at building these characters. They each have stories behind them and like in real life, you get to know a little more of each character's background as you spend more time with them. Although I loved the main characters, some of the repeating side characters are just as crucial to the story. I cannot wait to see if there are more gumiho series adventures!

If you loved Wicked Fox, get ready for an absolute experience with Vicious Spirits!

ARC provided by the publisher through NetGalley, all opinions are my own.

Vicious Spirits is an amazing follow up to Wicked Fox. I am officially a person who buys all Kat Cho books.

Vicious Spirits focuses on Somin and Junu, expanding their narratives began in Wicked Fox, but ever fear we still get tons of Miyoung and Jihoon, including their POV's throughout. The book has the same fantastic structure, interspersing myth, and backstory with the main thrust of the narration, and the same focus on character relationships that drove the emotional thru line so poignantly.

There were a few things that didn't quite meet my experience reading Wicked Fox. If I gave half stars, this would probably be a 4.5. The romance didn't work quite as well for me; it seemed fast in a way that kept me from being funny immersed in the story in the same way I was with Miyoung and Jihoon. I also didn't get quite the level of incredible heady angst as I felt in Wicked Fox. The story has twists and surprises and drama, but I didn't feel quite as intoxicated on the drama and tension. The book is presented as a companion to Wicked Fox, but I am not actually sure the story could stand on its own without having read the first book, which isn't a negative just a neutral observation and an indication that I think you should read Wicked Fox first.

This is, of course, not to indicate that I didn't really like this book! My favorite part of Wicked Fox was still very much present in Vicious Spirits! I really continued to be incredibly impressed with the way Cho writes relationships, and I especially love that family relationships are so central to her stories. I love a YA that included adults, and I am especially in love with the inclusion of older people. I love all the little old ladies. I want a Kat Cho book of just 12 little old ladies being excellent. I loved the different kinds of relationships on display. The examination on how those who have died continue to impact the living (not just when ghosts start popping up everywhere), it is genuinely wonderful. I also really love the friendships in this book. It is outstanding to see a book that really delivers on bonds of friendship. So often, friendship is put on the back burner in a book or is only brought up when the plot needs an extra emotional stake to make sense, but this series gives friendship the page time I always crave.

I also really did love the plot of the second book! Even if I didn't find it quite as enthralling as book one, I did find it deeply interesting, and I was invested in what was going to happen to these characters. I don't want to spoil anything, but I think this book does an excellent job of expanding the world of the first book and also harkening back to what we learned in that book.

I completely recommend this series to anyone who is looking for a series that will grab you on page one and take you on the best angst-filled journey you didn't know you needed. I am unsure how to convey how much I like this series. It is a lot.

I am giving this 5 stars on Goodreads and The StoryGraph because I think it deserves it even if a few things weren’t exactly how I hoped!

An exciting continuation of Wicked Fox featuring my favorite Dokkaebi & a certain feisty heroine 💖

“Miyoung and Jihoon are picking up the pieces of their broken lives following the deaths of Miyoung's mother, and Jihoon's grandmother. With the support of their friend Somin, and their frenemy, Junu, they might just have a shot at normalcy. But Miyoung is getting sicker and sicker by the day and her friends don't know how to save her. With few options remaining, Junu has an idea but it might require the ultimate sacrifice and, let's be honest, Junu isn't known for his ‘generosity.’”

I loved Junu in Wicked Fox, and found myself loving him even more in this companion novel! His character development over the course of the story was so inspiring, and I was obsessed with the little bits of his backstory that we got throughout the book.


What can I say? I’m trash for immortal men, I guess. And immortal men capable of witty banter with a sassy heroine? Just call me Hefty©

”You should just admit that you’re intrigued by what could be behind the smoke. Or are you afraid of getting burned?”

“I’m afraid of getting emphysema,” Somin said.


And for my Jihoon + Miyoung fans - don’t worry! They get a spotlight in this story too. While I loved Junu and Somin (their bits were my favorite), I did feel the story dragged a bit at certain points. I didn’t understand everyone’s vehement hatred for Junu, when it was clear he was trying to help. Grant it, he betrayed them in the last one, but he was trying to fix it! There were also many dialogue moments where I felt like I was just reading the same conversation over and over.

I found myself going, “Wait - didn’t they already have this conversation a couple chapters ago? Why are we re-hashing this?”

With that being said, this was still a nice adventure. If you loved Wicked Fox, you’ll love this sequel!

A big thank you to Penguin Teen for gifting me with this ARC 🧡

Wicked Fox was one of my favorite reads last year, so I was super excited to dive into the sequel. One of the main characters from the first book, Miyoung (the eponymous wicked fox), still has several chapters from her viewpoint, but we also get some of the story from the perspective of two amazing side characters from the first book: Junu and Somin!

I loved getting to know these characters better. Junu is a delightful insufferable flirt with a lot of insecurities, and Somin is a smol angry bean who won’t let anything get in her way. Basically, they’re both awesome, and their enemies to lovers romance arc is so cute!

I felt like this book started a little slow, but I soon got sucked back into the world of mythology, sassy characters, and yummy Korean food. It was really interesting to learn more about the mythical creatures that inhabit this world and how much trouble the characters got into when they got on the bad side of the wrong immortal.

Overall, I think this book is great for fans of contemporary fantasy who also enjoy some romance.

Vicious Spirits at its core is a story about friendship, love, and moving on from the past. I love Cho’s writing style and the pacing is fast in this one. Honestly not a dull moment!

It’s been a while since I picked up a sequel and this one was the perfect one. It doesn’t follow our two main characters from Wicked Fox, but they are an integral part to the narrative. This way we get different perspectives and explore different characters. I loved Somin and Junu so much! I’m glad it followed them and we got to experience their backstory. Somin and Junu’s banter was EVERYTHING. I just love Somin so much and found myself relating to her actions. I do the same thing, Somin, the same thing.

The world is expanded in the sequel and I’m glad we got to see different aspects of it. As for the themes, they’re the ones I mentioned above. I loved how the reader gets to experience a female and male friendship that doesn’t end up in romance. These two characters care deeply about one another, love and support each other.

I hardly stay up to finish books nowadays, but this one I just had to! There’s action, drama, angst!! The book has all the YA goodness that I love.

I was so engrossed in the world and invested in the characters. Vicious Spirits is a magnificent companion to Wicked Fox. It’s extremely engaging and discusses important themes.

Thank you to PenguinTeen for giving me early access to this title.

This is the follow up to Wicked Fox in which we find Miyoung and Jihoon navigating their life after the death of Miyoung's mother and grandmother. As a Korean American, constantly searching for representation in fantasy, this book, as well as Wicked Fox are two of my favorites. I really enjoyed the writing style, the world building, the tension within the story... it was so nice to finally see myself in a story.

Kat Cho's storytelling is fully immersive, I find it so hard to put it down when I've started. I don't want to give too much away as not to spoil since this is a sequel, but trust me, if you liked Wicked Fox you will love Vicious Spirits.

Vicious Spirits is the second book in the Gumiho world, following Wicked Fox. I was so excited to get more of this world, and it didn’t disappoint. This book is labeled as a companion novel, so I was surprised that it was a continuation of the storyline from Wicked Fox. I’m actually really glad the storyline continued though, because I loved the characters from the first book.

In Vicious Spirits, Miyoung and Jihoon are facing the terrible loss of family members. Somin and Junu are desperately trying to help them recover and live normal lives. All the while, Miyoung’s health is failing as she is stuck in a limbo between human and gumiho due to the loss of her yeowu guseul. She finds herself facing nightmares of her mother every time she falls asleep, and she can’t figure out why her mother haunts her. Soon, they realize there is a tear in the world, allowing ghosts to pass to the living world from the between. The clock is counting down as they try to discover what is causing the tear and how they can mend it.

While this book continues to follow Miyoung and Jihoon, we also get more character perspectives from Somin and Junu. I loved reading their chapters, and I really enjoyed delving more into their characters and backgrounds. This book features a hate to love romance, which is always a lot of fun to read. One thing I was disappointed in was how little Changwan appeared in this book. I wish that he would have been in it a bit more because I really want to learn more about his character as well.

Vicious Spirits was a great sequel to Wicked Fox. I loved getting to know more about Junu and Somin, and I loved seeing their relationship evolve. Of course, the storyline was great as well, and the end left me feeling content which is always a plus. I also want to mention that I love that Kat includes short stories and flashbacks throughout the book, and I appreciate the difference in the chapter heads so you know you are branching from the main storyline. Overall, it was a really great book that I recommend if you are into folklore or even Korean dramas!

I need to begin by saying that my (glowing) review of Wicked Fox ended with “I hope there is more Junu” in Book 2, so when the first two pages were immediately Junu backstory? I was, quite literally, overjoyed.

VICIOUS SPIRITS is more of a companion to WICKED FOX than a sequel. While Jihoon and Miyoung are still integral to the plot, this book is really Junu and Somin’s. I absolutely adore when a series expands beyond the original protagonists, so I was really excited to see Kat Cho head in this direction. I was happy that Miyoung and Jihoon could focus on their relationship (with supernatural hurdles of course) while we the reader still got the rush of June and Somin’s budding romance. There was an absolutely excellent amount of hate-kissing that just brought me all the joy in the world. I also really enjoyed the added elements of the ghosts and the reaper, and a certain ghost’s story arc absolutely brought tears to my eyes. Ultimately, just like WICKED FOX, this was a book about love – all the different types of love – and coming to terms with accepting the love we don’t think we deserve.

While I really enjoyed this book a lot, and Junu is one of my absolute faves, it did fall a little short to me. I expect that this is because I went into WICKED FOX with zero expectations and was blown away by how much I loved it, so my expectations for VICIOUS SPIRITS were very high.

I found this book to be missing some of the exhilarating plot twists of the first. The overall plot and pacing were still excellent, but the element of surprise really wasn’t there. I also felt like the “history” chapters, for lack of a better word, were all Junu backstory – while this still added to the world building and our understanding of the character, it lacked some of the magic and mythos that they had in WICKED FOX. I also found it a little frustrating that once again everyone had to save Jihoon. Poor Jihoon. I just want my cinnamon roll to be safe!

Overall, this was still a really satisfying conclusion to the duology, and one that I highly recommend picking up!

**Thank you for Penguin Teen for providing me with an eARC via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.**

I received this book free from the publishers via NetGalley.
Oh yes! I loved this book! It was such a great sequel. I enjoyed learning more about Junu and Somin. They are really complex characters. This book is definitely more on the romantic side than wicked fox which I really liked because I'm into romance. I just love the mix of Korean Mythology with the real world. Definitely pick this book up! I would recommend reading Wicked Fox first.

Vicious Spirits is the second book in Kat Cho's Wicked Fox duology. I was thrilled to get this book early. I've always had a weird attachment to the nine-tailed fox, and it's so rarely depicted in modern media. Vicious Spirits, like Wicked Fox, is a well-written modern mythology story, written in the spirit of a kdrama.

Viscous Spirits continued with a fun adventure that started in the first book. The character June was very interesting with his mix of both good and bad personality traits as he propelled the story forward. Reading this made me curious about Korean mythology. I immensely enjoyed reading this and can’t wait to see what this author writes next.

Wicked Fox had such beautiful folklore and I couldn't resist seeing what Vicious Spirits had in store for the reader. I really loved what Cho did with this sequel. The writing style and atmosphere stays true throughout the entire book. I connected with the characters more in this novel and the back stories were perfection. My favorite part is the lore and there is much more in this one. I found myself Googling left and right to learn more.

The novel picks up a little bit after where Wicked Fox ends. Miyoung and Jihoon are still focal points in this book but Somin and Junu have more of a spotlight. Cho creates a hesitant seed that is growing between these two characters and, as a reader, I appreciated the pace at which they come together. It's not quick and instantaneous or overly zealous. There are spots where the emotional inner dialogue of the characters tend to go on a bit longer than I prefer but don't let that deter you from this one. It has so much plot to it that this is minuscule in comparison.

Both of these books were unique reads and I recommend them to anyone who hasn't ventured into Korean themed young adult fiction. Thank you Penguin Young Readers and NetGalley for the ability to read and review this advanced copy.

Themes: Korean mythology, possession, romance, spirits, own voices

This was enjoyable read but if you definitely want to know more about Korean mythology, you don't want to miss this.

Big thank you to PenguinTeen for the e-ARC of Vicious Spirits through Netgalley in exchange for my honest review!!

I would give this book a 3.5 for me personally BUT rounded up to a 4 if you’ve read the first book and are following the series.

The cover is absolutely FANTASTIC it’s everything like it’s one of my favorite book covers ever.

It’s the second book in the series after Wicked Fox and my first fantasy romance book I think that I’ve ever read! (idk if Twilight counts?)
The cover is absolutely FANTASTIC it’s everything like it’s one of my favorite book covers I’ve ever seen forreal.

So the same as Wicked fox the book takes place in modern day Seoul and follows Miyoung, Jihoon, Somin, and Junu but focuses mainly on Somin and Junu! But there are a few chapters here and there that focus on Miyoung which was great to have included because she’s still the main character of the series.

Miyoung is sick after she lost her fox bead which causes some issues and they have to get her bead back in order to fix them. But she can’t do it on her own and it’s up to Miyoung’s friends to help save her and get her bead back!

I’ve seen this book is marketed as both a sequel and a companion novel. I went in reading it as a companion novel but after reading it I think it’s more of a sequel just because I was left with not as much information as I felt I needed such as parts of the world building/descriptive imagery.

The romance in this one is focused on Somin and Junu and its written as an enemies to lovers because Somin expresses how much she hates Junu throughout the beginning but for me the enemies part wasn’t that convincing.

I think this is where the book being a companion novel sort of lacked. But as a sequel if you read the first one then it would’ve been more convincing.

But once we get past her “hating” him the romance becomes really cute.

I really liked how this is an Urban Fantasy and I love so much that it takes place in Seoul like that is literally so cool!! I wanna visit there one day in post-covid times!

Overall, this book was a little slow to start but once it got the call rolling it was super fun and I loved getting to be a part of their group.

My youtube video review will be up a day after the book comes out so on August 19th at this link: ‪https://youtu.be/cfBHlV2eAZg‬ (it’s not letting me add the link right now)

(ALSO I LOVED HYUK OK HE’S MY FAVORITE!)

This was a fun follow up to Wicked Fox. It's a page turner and I was happy to be back in this storyline even though we were seeing through different characters. Both books read like a Korean drama and this one seemed to have even more of that feeling. That's likely a good thing for K-drama fans. It was like having nods to some of the people and happenings from favorite dramas.

The characters didn't seem as fleshed out as in the first book, but were still compelling and entertaining.

I very much enjoyed going back into the world that Wicked Fox introduced us to. I like that the author chose to bring forth some of the previous books side characters and make them main characters in this book. It was cool getting to see more of the Asian mythology brought to life by Kat Cho. This one did feel more fantasy focused than the previous book. This cover is beautiful!

Actual rating: 3.5 stars

Thanks to PenguinTeen for giving me a free digital copy via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Can we please take a second to admire this cover? The art is so wonderful and I love the fact that there is Korean writing on the cover!

Lingering between a 3.5 and a 4 star rating but for now I’ll settle at a 3.5. I definitely didn’t love this as much as I did Wicked Fox, and I’m not quite sure if it’s because I went into this book without re-reading the sequel, which is something I like to do when a new book in a series comes out of if it’s the last book in the series. I mean, I read my review of the first book and remembered the general premise so I didn’t have any qualms about not re-reading the first book. Anyway…

I expected this book to focus mainly on Somin and Junu, which it did but I felt like going to Miyoung and Jihoon’s perspective really took away from the former two characters’ story. I liked how we got more of Somin and Junu’s backstory, especially how Junu came to be a dokkaebi. I liked the positive friendship between Somin and Jihoon (though I did feel Changwan got thrown into the mix for no reason whatsoever in this sequel. I want to say he wasn’t really needed overall but I don’t remember if he played a vital role in WF) and that Miyoung finally came to accept that she can have friends despite what she’s thought about herself in the past. I struggled with Miyoung’s feelings toward her mother, Yena, especially after the cruel things Yena did in the previous book. I think this also really threw me off from the story as a whole. Yena rubbed me the wrong way in the first book, so I had trouble connected with Miyoung’s feelings for Yena in this book.

In terms of the romance between Somin and Junu, I wasn’t wholly convinced until the last couple of pages. I feel like this makes me sound a bit shallow but the beginning of their romance felt forced. The simplicity and normalcy of the ending, though, made me reconsider my initial feelings about their budding romance as I felt like they were finally able to put the past behind them in order to move forward.

I also felt this book lacked the atmospheric setting of the first book. Maybe that sounds silly but personally I never felt truly immersed, and I simply remember being so compelled and in love with the descriptions and world-building of the first book that Vicious Spirits seemed to fall so flat. However, in terms of the mythology and fantasy aspect of the book, I liked it. Parts of the book reminded me a bit of the K-drama titled “Guardian: The Lonely and Great God” / Goblin / 쓸쓸하고 찬란하신 – 도깨비. It made me wonder if the character of the reaper, Hyuk, would play a more prominent role but he seemed to be in-and-out and I wasn’t given enough information to care about his role in the book as a whole.

Overall, not as a fun and enjoyable sequel as I thought it would be but if you definitely want to know more about Korean folklore/mythology, you don’t want to miss this.

Oh my goodness this picked up right where the first book left off and I literally was so addicted. This was somehow even more addicting than the first book and I have no idea how that’s even possible BUT IT WAS.

While this centered more around Somin and Junu, we did still get a lot of fun stuff with Miyoung and Jihoon as well! This book kept the same style of having each chapter have a tidbit of the mythology/backstory which was definitely interesting. Last book it was more like an introductory course about Gumiho but this one was a bit more relevant to the plot that takes place.

As you can see from the synopsis, something is clearly wrong with Miyoung. She starts having these strange dreams with her mother. On top of that, Junu feel indebted to Miyoung even though literally everyone hates him (*gets snacks out and starts eating*). This was so much fun and I just LOVED the drama. On top of that, there was this new romance because DUH. I shipped it so hard it was absolutely phenomenal and honestly this series could continue forever and I would read every minute because Kat Cho just does such an amazing job pulling me into the story and the drama. It really needs to be a tv show.

With the main focus on Somin and Junu, I really just loved seeing them grow and their characters become more expanded than from the first book. It was great to see more about Dokkaebi and different kinds of spirits. This one in my opinion went down a different dark path than the first book which was EXCELLENT.

I would recommend this to anyone who is a fan of Korean mythology, excellent hate-to-love romance, THE DRAMA, ghosts from the past and actual ghosts, secrets catching up with people, and even more amazing drama. If you like snarky female leads, really well developed characters and backstories, twists and turns, and selfish arrogant boys that have a secret reluctant soft side this is for you!

3.75 / 4 🌟

Content Warnings: death of a parent, abusive family/family member, violence, blood

To say the least, Vicious Spirits, the companion to Wicked Fox, is a very very appropriate title. A rip between the worlds of the living and of the dead was created because of Miyoung’s yoseul guwel (??) bead that hovers in the “Between” (she’s not quite a gumiho anymore but she isn’t fully human either). However, Vicious Spirits mostly follows Junu (the handsome dokkaebi) and Somin, who is Jihoon’s best friend. It was nice seeming more attention on Somin, since I barely remembered her from the last book (then again, I did read Wicked Fox about a year ago). I also liked how the POVs were not only Junu’s and Somin’s, as the chapters sometimes rotated with Miyoung and Jihoon. Whoever could tell that part of the story the best at that time was given the microphone, so to speak. Also, poor Jihoon. This boy just wants to be left alone for once.

I was a bit unsettled by the age difference between Somin and Junu (their banter, however, is great). It definitely reminded me of that K-drama Goblin (not that I’ve watched it), but there’s something similar going on with the romance where a teenaged girl and a goblin who is centuries old fall in love.

But! I really loved Kat Cho’s integration of Korean mythology tales between what was happening in the present with Somin, Junu, Miyoung, and Jihoon. Sometimes these stories intersected with Miyoung and Junu’s pasts, and it was always neat to see the dots connecting. Junu’s past was interesting to see and also how he changes throughout the course of the story, mainly because of the other three and his realizations. This manifested in the characters in different ways, but there is a thread between them in that sometimes you’re the one who is limiting yourself the most. Other times, it’s the ghosts of your past that keep you back.

I was curious how the four was going to solve their biggest problem (again, poor Jihoon), but I wasn’t super anxious to know right then. Naturally, there was a very last minute solution that had me raising an eyebrow but also I was nodding in agreement since I saw this solution coming. I read this book relatively quickly, and I enjoyed it, but I think I liked Wicked Fox a bit more, since I was more “woah” and blown away with the later, which is why I’d rate this between 3.75 and 4 stars.