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A review by chantaal
The God and the Gumiho by Sophie Kim
1.0
This book annoyed me so goddamn much, mostly because it could have been SO MUCH MORE.
This started as an interesting premise, and I liked how much the characters frustrated and annoyed each other in turns. It seemed like an actual rivals/enemies/hate to lovers situation vs the typical lukewarm "I hate you because of a misunderstanding 3 years ago" version of the trope. But then it kept going and going and the WAY these two annoyed each other started to annoy ME. I hated the way they talked to each other, I hated that they both smirked and scowled and had wicked gleams in their eyes and they sneered and snickered and were mischievous 100% of the time. I hated how these millennia old creatures acted like absolute dumbass idiot teenagers. And then they were horny for each other and falling in love.
Don't get me started on the fucking coffee running joke. IT STOPPED BEING FUNNY REAL FAST.
There was so much promise here, and I'm so upset that a book that could have done so much interesting stuff with this premise only wanted to do the romantasy bit and ignore everything else. It could have been so cool to expand a lot more on the gods and demons aspect, to really dig into what the world is like with demons running around and how they have to hide from humans. This felt like a romantasy taking place on a stage with a cardboard painted backdrop of urban fantasy.
I keep thinking about how childish this was. How many times did Hani stick her tongue out at Seokga? How many times did she fuck up his coffee on purpose? How many times did Seokga speak with an icy calm or snarl at someone? Why did this just feel like a Loki/Reader grumpy/sunshine fanfic? Why did they have a literal staring contest seeing who could keep their eyes open the longest like a pair of 10 year olds?? WE COULD HAVE DONE SO MUCH MORE.
The way they went from completely annoyed at each other to absolutely horny for each other in .5 seconds was WILD.All it took was for a fairy to make them kiss and for Hani to see Seokga shirtless and boom, horny romance??? The worst part was that the story WAS seeding moments where they were starting to break through the annoyance and seeing more in each other, but then it seemed like the story felt it was taking too long, so BOOM, now they're horny for each other and falling in love. IT COULD HAVE DEVELOPED THE ROMANCE SO MUCH BETTER.
There were some good red herring setups and lampshading and swerving, but then the actual reveal of who they're tracking down in the end was meant to be a big reveal but...it wasn't? It was as obvious as the first red herring. The journey that the side plot takes with Hani's gumiho friend was incredibly obvious as well. At least the very final moments were a bit of a surprise, but I didn't feel a thing by then.
Finally, the audio. All I'll say is that neither of these two narrators know how to act/emote. There are great audiobook narrators who read books and bring them to life. Then there are these two, who say a line of someone growling with the exact same cadence and tone as someone crying. Hell, I wouldn't even know what emotion a character was supposed to be feeling in a line of dialogue until the dialogue tag was read out. Go girl, give us nothing!
Anyway. What a fucking let down. We could have had a much more interesting in depth story with the mythology. The romance could have gone down a different, much more interesting path if it wasn't so interested in being a "spicy" romantasy.
My first disappointing read of 2025, woo hoo.
This started as an interesting premise, and I liked how much the characters frustrated and annoyed each other in turns. It seemed like an actual rivals/enemies/hate to lovers situation vs the typical lukewarm "I hate you because of a misunderstanding 3 years ago" version of the trope. But then it kept going and going and the WAY these two annoyed each other started to annoy ME. I hated the way they talked to each other, I hated that they both smirked and scowled and had wicked gleams in their eyes and they sneered and snickered and were mischievous 100% of the time. I hated how these millennia old creatures acted like absolute dumbass idiot teenagers. And then they were horny for each other and falling in love.
Don't get me started on the fucking coffee running joke. IT STOPPED BEING FUNNY REAL FAST.
There was so much promise here, and I'm so upset that a book that could have done so much interesting stuff with this premise only wanted to do the romantasy bit and ignore everything else. It could have been so cool to expand a lot more on the gods and demons aspect, to really dig into what the world is like with demons running around and how they have to hide from humans. This felt like a romantasy taking place on a stage with a cardboard painted backdrop of urban fantasy.
I keep thinking about how childish this was. How many times did Hani stick her tongue out at Seokga? How many times did she fuck up his coffee on purpose? How many times did Seokga speak with an icy calm or snarl at someone? Why did this just feel like a Loki/Reader grumpy/sunshine fanfic? Why did they have a literal staring contest seeing who could keep their eyes open the longest like a pair of 10 year olds?? WE COULD HAVE DONE SO MUCH MORE.
The way they went from completely annoyed at each other to absolutely horny for each other in .5 seconds was WILD.
There were some good red herring setups and lampshading and swerving, but then the actual reveal of who they're tracking down in the end was meant to be a big reveal but...it wasn't? It was as obvious as the first red herring. The journey that the side plot takes with Hani's gumiho friend was incredibly obvious as well. At least the very final moments were a bit of a surprise, but I didn't feel a thing by then.
Finally, the audio. All I'll say is that neither of these two narrators know how to act/emote. There are great audiobook narrators who read books and bring them to life. Then there are these two, who say a line of someone growling with the exact same cadence and tone as someone crying. Hell, I wouldn't even know what emotion a character was supposed to be feeling in a line of dialogue until the dialogue tag was read out. Go girl, give us nothing!
Anyway. What a fucking let down. We could have had a much more interesting in depth story with the mythology. The romance could have gone down a different, much more interesting path if it wasn't so interested in being a "spicy" romantasy.
My first disappointing read of 2025, woo hoo.