This was in my top 10 anticipated releases for this year, thank you NetGalley for the e-arc of this book! The God and the Guhimo was one of my favorite books of 2024 and the second book in the duology is easily one of my favorite reads for 2025. The mystery kept me on my toes and the twist at the end of Hwanin's murderer was unexpected. The deep emotions of grief and finding love was done so well. I was dying for Kisa and Seokga to end up happily ever after. The setting of the cruise ship was perfect for a summer read. I love Sophie Kim's writing and her immersive worldbuilding. If you love K-pop Demon Hunter's, you definitely need to read this duology!!! I will forever recommend this series.

“Oh, Seokga thinks, he could fall in love with her forever, in all her forms. She’s not Hani. She’s Kisa. And he is beginning to adore her. Ardently.”

4.5⭐️

I’m gonna be honest fellas, I enjoyed this more than I did The God and the Gumiho. Finding a murderer aboard a cruise ship in the underworld while adjusting to having met your soulmate, a situation that comes with a lot of baggage and complications??? I’m sold🙂‍↕️

I needed this book in my hands the minute I finished The God and the Gumiho—which wasn’t long considering I only waited for like a few days. The first book’s ending crushed me and this one did the same but healed me too. Besides the romance and the mystery, I also really enjoyed the friendships formed.


Seokga and Kisa, oh they are so loved by me. The angst??? The yearning???? ‼️SPOILERS‼️The fact that they can read each other’s mind was both amusing and frustrating. Plus the thread being sentient was so funny. That one’s a menace with very good intentions.

Thank you NetGalley and Del Rey for an ARC in exchange for an honest review

Really enjoyed this! It was so much fun reading this sequel! Definitely recommend reading this especially if you're interested in korean mythology.

Thank you Del Rey and Sophie Kim for giving me an eArc!

A fun and captivating story based on Korean Folklore.

A K drama in book format with a swoon worthy romance, murder mystery and on top of that the love of your life is DEAD!

A bit of a slow start but our amazing author Sophie spins a delectable tale of heartbreak and love, with elements of comedy that runs throughout the book and is sure to entertain from start to finish.

Expect themes of:
⭐️Reincarnation
⭐️Murder Mystery
⭐️Banter
⭐️Korean Folklore

I finished this a couple weeks ago and I’ve had to sit and ponder on it for a while. Whilst there were things I enjoyed, there were just as many that I didn’t and overall I felt it didn’t live up to how good and interesting The God and the Gumiho was.

<b>Pacing and storyline </b>

The pacing of the book was good because the story line always seemed to progress. I didn’t find myself bored in any section because something was always happening and thankfully there was no filler.

Due to the nature of the storyline, I was worried we’d spend a bit of time rehashing the past, but that wasn’t the case. The bits of story and character actions from the first book that were mentioned in this all serve a purpose to Seogka’s character development.

However, I really don’t like locked door mysteries as I find them far too predictable even when authors try and throw you off. This was no different. I found the mystery elements of the storyline very predictable without even trying to figure it all out, and would go as far as saying the murder mystery is really only there to facilitate Seokga and Kisa’s relationship in this book. Because for someone who was previously a detective in book one (and a fairly decent one), this one felt more like a comedy skit.

<b>Characters </b>

There’s an interesting mix of eccentric characters, some new and some familiar (that was definitely an added bonus)!

The God and the Gwisin explores the relationships of all these characters together and for most of the book I was more invested in their development, acknowledgment of their own deaths, grief and love than I was in the main mystery storyline.

The debate between Hank vs Kisa and the Ship of Theseus theory is an interesting one, and like many people going into this book, I still held out *some* hope that we’d get a glimpse of Hani somewhere since Kim made us love her so much in book one.

And I feel like at times this did affect the chemistry between Kisa and Seokga, even when he self-acknowledged that Kisa is not Hani, and without a Hani teaching him of Love in book one he wouldn’t be the God / person he is now who is ready to accept his place in the world and love himself and someone else.

I think Kim did a fantastic job in making us love and route for the characters from start to finish.

<b>Ending </b>

I can’t decide whether that’s it, or if there will be another book in the series, but I’m hoping there will be as I finished and felt very dissatisfied and something lacking. I felt like we didn’t get closer.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher early access in exchange for an honest review

3.5 stars rounded up to 4
This was so fun!! I’d highly recommend this series to any kdrama lovers out there.
I didn't love it as much as book 1 but it was still a lot of fun

My Selling Pitch:
Generic urban fantasy murder mystery but in the style of an anime filler episode-they’re on a cruise ship.

Pre-reading:
I liked the first book enough to continue. It was Korean Zootopia. The UK covers for this series are so pretty

(obviously potential spoilers from here on)
Thick of it:
I hope there's a recap because I barely remember the first book. (There’s not, but I remembered enough, and the book will jog your memory as needed.)

Laughing that they’re calling her the nucleus as the powerhouse of the program. It’s a mitochondria, girl.

A bowler hat! I’ve seen Meet the Robinsons don’t start with me.

It’s so manga/anime coded. It’s so interesting how she can convey that panel imagery just through text.

I’m so confused why they’re obsessed with the ship. Like where do the Greeks factor into Korea?

An inherent distrust of smiling people- is he from New England lmao?

This reads very YA.

I’m assuming the therapist drugs are messing with his magic, and she dunnit. (Don’t show me a mystery, I’ll solve it lol.)

An Outlander reference?

Murder squash song lmao. (I hate that this is now a deep cut.)

I wanna join book club.

Title drop

He reminds me of Jack Jack from The Incredibles.

I'm a mommy. Mammacita! audio plays every time for me now lol.

Jeez, Soomin sucks if this is true. (Note the if because I wasn’t even buying it then.

This is a well-structured reveal if you were born yesterday and weren’t already like so she was definitely pushed when you opened the book.

A piney boy

I’m a little confused. Is this not a duology? (It is. We were just at 80%, and I was like we don’t have enough time to wrap everything up, but we did.)

Girl, I told you the therapist was evil.

I miss Hani’s snark.

Oh god, every STEM girl felt that correlation isn’t causation. Put that shit in my gravestone.

Bro, I opened this book-

I know ACOTAR didn’t invent demon-infested libraries, but it’s very similar.

Post-reading:
It’s a satisfying conclusion to the series. It’s written with the same anime flair as the first book, so if you liked it there, you’ll like this book’s humor too. I was missing banter again. It was kind of an annoying downgrade to go from a heroine confident in her sexuality to writing yet another virgin’s first time sex scene. Kinda gave the book some purity culture abstinence whiffs. That’ll always annoy me.

The mystery was super obvious again. If you don’t open this book and know whodunnit, are you even reading mysteries? The writing style and easy plot did make this feel pretty YA. Aside from a pretty tame sex scene, there’s nothing to make this feel adult.

It’s well structured. The side characters get their moments. It’s just overall fine. It’s good. That’s it. I’m very rarely recommending people books that are just good. It’s not something you need to rush out and read, but if you pick it up, you’re in for a solid story, although it’s not gonna feel like anything particularly special.

Who should read this:
Anime fans
Urban fantasy fans
Myth retelling fans

Ideal reading time:
Cruise ship is a summer book to me.

Do I want to reread this:
Nope.

Would I buy this:
If the special editions weren’t so pretty, probably not, but they are, so she’s coming home.

Similar books:
* Fathomfolk by Eliza Chan-urban fantasy romance, fairytale retelling, family drama
* House of Earth and Blood by Sarah J. Maas-urban fantasy romance, mystery
* Threads That Bind by Kika Hatzopoulou-YA dystopian urban fantasy, family drama, myth retelling
* Deathless by Catherynne M. Valente-folktale retelling, historical, urban fantasy romance
* Garden of the Cursed by Katy Rose Pool-YA urban fantasy romance, mystery, family drama
* Strange Beasts by Susan J. Morris-historical, urban fantasy, sapphic, mystery, public domain retelling

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

⭐️⭐️⭐️✨ rounded up. A solid conclusion for this duology. I had a great time but then again the red string theory of fate is always a topic that I love.

📚The God and the Gwisin by Sophie Kim
💜mf fantasy romance
💜Korean mythology
💜fated mates (connected by the red string of fate)
💜second chance (they’ve been separated for decades and she doesn’t remember him when they find each other again)
💜equal parts angst and healing
💜dual pov
💜book 2 in a series (should be read in order)

⚠️CWs for self-harm, suicidal thoughts, suicide, grief/loss, violence, murder

Story: 3.5/5
Audiobook: 5/5 (narrated by Rebecca Yeo & Intae Kim)
Length: 13h12min

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️.5/5

3.5 stars (rounded up to 4). This was so fun!! I’d highly recommend this series to any kdrama lovers out there. While I felt like the plot wasn’t quite as strong as the previous book, the characters were just as fun and loveable. I really liked how the plot was equal parts second chance-ish romance and mystery. This book ends with a HFN and nicely sets up future books in the series.

This series has a special place in my heart. The first book came out on my birthday last year and while I had no idea what I was getting into I went absolutely nuts over it! So when I found out a book 2 was coming out(honestly on accident) I checked to see if NetGalley had e arcs and lo and behold they did! I immediately applied! So thank you NetGalley for letting me have one! But really this book 2 lives up to book one! I love Kisa so much despite missing Hani and Seoka is a lovable mess as always! And we get another murder mystery in this! Which is fantastic. I absolutely adored the study on how Kisa isn’t Hani and how the book approaches that. Basically I just love this book and after that ending please tell me there is atleast a spin off coming if not a full sequel? I adore this world so much and I’m begging for more!

I loved the second book of Fates Thread just as much as the first. This one may even have been better.

It was such a magical blend of heart break, comedy, romance, Korean mythology and the classic who-dunnit. Sophie Kim has such an excellent way of building endearing characters who are so clearly flawed and yet we end up loving them from the bottom of our hearts.

If you loved the God and the Gumiho then you will definitely love it's sequel.

I still wish the book contained a glossary of all the realm, creature and god names but it was less difficult to track in book two. For a full experience I also listened to part of it on audiobook and this certainly added to some of the characterisation and comedy, but some of Kisas chapters sounded a bit disjointed which was distracting.

Thank you NetGalley and Del Rey for this ARC Copy!

I was really interested to see where this story would go after the ending of the first book in the series. I really enjoyed both books a lot but I think I actually enjoyed The Good and the Gumiho just a little bit more. It was interesting navigating the underworld and the journey to find his soulmate, but I think my favorite part of the first book was their dynamic together, so spending a lot of time with them apart lost some of the magic for me. Though I was missing the characters together, I still think that the journey was really well done, and it was very interesting to see the underworld, and watch Seokga deal with his past traumas.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a copy of this arc


The God and the Gwisin is a perfect sequel that surprised me with its fresh take on the fated love trope and a deeper dive into Korean lore. It balances cozy romance, soul mates, sibling drama, vengeful gods, a booze cruise, a murder mystery, and even an unlikely sidekick. While it leans more heartfelt than action-packed, the emotional depth—especially in Seokga and Kisa’s character arcs—was compelling. I laughed a lot, particularly at the chaotic babysitting scenes, though at times the slapstick humor made Seokga feel less like the fearsome god he’s meant to be. Still, I’d happily read more in this series!

This sequel was perfection, after the first book I was not expecting a to be able to follow these characters journey any further but The God and the Gwisin offered a fresh take on the fated love trope!

Loved this sequel to God and the Gumiho. Love that there is more Korean lore in this book than the first! Would love to see more in this series!

4.25 stars

thank you del rey and netgalley for the arc

i will start this off by saying i had high expectations for this book and, for the most part, it delivered. i think sophie kim had a tough job with this one, with the way the first book ended, and trying to make the story work while also making it believable and interesting. for the most part, i think the book works, mostly because it feels like a new story with a mix of new and old characters that really work together as a whole.

the relationship between seokga and kisa feels believable, with the way kisa is kind of like hani but not really, and the way seokga learns to love her for her and not for who she was in her past life.

i do like the angle of "he needed hani to get to kisa", i think it works really well with their story and it makes it feel like he was really meant to find kisa all along, as opposed to him being in love with her simply because she's hani reincarnated.

i also loved the addition of somi to this story, she feels like a new character despite not being one, and her relationship with hajun was very very cute. one thing i always appreciate with this series is the way the secondary characters are written, they feel fleshed out and developed in a way that really reminds me of kdramas (lol).

the only reason this isn't a 5 star is the third act conflict felt wayyyy too rushed and clunky. i wish we could've spent more time with the whole mireuk plot point and also seen seokga as emperor and reconciling with hwanung

all in all, this was a solid follow-up to the first book and i wonder if sophie kim will continue this series with the way this one ended.

I forgot exactly how much I love Sophie Kim's adult fantasy work until I started this! I'm not sure what she puts in this series but Sophie had me giggling and blushing and kicking my feet the entire way through. I loved the characters, the exploration of self and destiny and the mystery that needed to be solved, all threaded with Kim's signature deadpan sense of humor. I cackled laughing, I gasped in shock and I awwwwwed in happiness.
I'm also really really hoping there's a third book in the series too because that ending? The gasp I gusped?

For fans of:
- Legends and Lattes

Maturity: 18+

This book includes:
- cozy romance
- soul mates and fated love
- complex sibling dynamics
- vengeful gods
- a booze cruise?
- who done it murder mystery
- an unlikely sidekick
- TW

I love this series. Something about it is so cozy and lovely, despite some of the very dark themes. The love Seokga holds for Hani's spirit is so lovely and wholesome. I loved seeing his character development from the last book develop further in the sequel, He has really gone through so much and I just want him to heal and be happy to badly!

I also loved being introduced to Kisa, Hani's reincarnation. She has so many of Hani's lovable qualities - fierce loyalty, determination, wit - without ever being her carbon copy. The way she makes connections with her fellow dead people, is lovely to read. (lol) I really cant recommend this sequel enough to all those who loved book 1.

I received this eBook as an ARC in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to NetGalley, Sophie Kim, and Random House Publishing Group for the opportunity to review this book. This review has been posted to GoodReads check out my profile https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/62314863 and it will be posted to my bookstagram account https://www.instagram.com/tinynightingales/ and booktok https://www.tiktok.com/@tinynightingales?is_from_webapp=1&sender_device=pc

The God and the Gwisin is a captivating continuation of the Fate's Threads duology, staying true to the world of the first book while introducing a fresh setting and a new female protagonist. I loved the banter and humour throughout – it made the darker moments hit even harder. The mystery plot was a definite highlight, with twists that kept me fully engaged and constantly guessing who the real murderer was.

Seokga remains a brilliantly morally grey character, and I really appreciated how much his character had developed over the 33 years since Hani’s death. His complexity added depth to the story, and the emotional weight of his past made his actions all the more compelling.

While the romance was still present, I liked how this instalment leaned more into the mystery, which felt like a natural progression for the series. It struck a great balance, and I found myself just as invested in the relationships as I was in the plot.

Overall, I adored this book and I’d recommend it to anyone who loves Wicked Fox or the K-drama Tale of the Nine-Tailed.

eARC Review: The God and the Gwisin by Sophie Kim 🚢

This was a rather fun conclusion (or what I assume to be the conclusion) to the Red Thread series. While there were a few things that I thought could’ve gone differently, it was still nice being back with the gloomy trickster god, Seokga, and his not so great detective skills. 🔎

The book picks up about 33 years after the events of the first book, The God and the Gumiho. I don’t really want to talk too much about the plot of this book because it does revolve heavily around the events of the previous one, but all I’ll say is that Seokga is again surrounded by very sweet characters who want him to brighten up for once and a love interest that drags him out his grumpy ways. I loved the banter that goes on with him and the new gang, but I also like the redemption that happens for a returned character from the first book (even though I wasn’t too big of a fan of the romantic subplot for them). 🦊

As much as I really liked the new group of characters, the plot did at times feel a bit too predictable here. Did this make it a bad thing for me? Honestly, no. While I’m not a huge fan of contemporary fantasies and insta-love like romances, there’s something about the snarky characters that works for me; and the idea that ancient deities get more immature as they continue through their non-dying lives like its some kind of odd aging? Yea, I can see it. 🤷🏻‍♀️

All in all, I still had a rather good time with this and am very curious to see if there will be a third book in the series or not. While the ending of the book felt like it was closing the events that took place (much like the first book), I can see where the plot might continue. 🤔

Thank you goes to Del Rey and NetGalley for accepting my request to read this in exchange for an honest (and late 😅) review; and to the author, Kim, for writing such a quirky and fun contemporary fantasy centered on Seokga. ❤️

Publication date: June 3!

Overall: 4/5 ⭐️