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.