Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

You ever get your hands on a highly anticipated sequel to a book and you panic? You get worried it won’t live up to your hype and don’t pick up the book? I did that and I regret because boy did I love this book.

It took me two weeks to fully read this book, which is a lot of me. Normally taking that long means a book isn’t holding my attention.

However this book had me on my phone reading it in the dark, laughing and not wanting to stop, savoring each bit.

It has a lot of heart, a lot of fun, and I honestly wish I had more.

5 stars

Thank you to Del Rey and NetGalley for the review copy! I loved The God and the Gumiho when I read it last year and was so excited to read the sequel!

I loved the setting of a murder mystery on a cruise ship for the dead and I loved getting to know Kisa alongside Seokga. And Hajun and Somi are the absolute best.

This did a great job of wrapping up their storyline, but the epilogue makes me hope that maybe we’ll get a spin-off down the line. (Pretty please with a cherry on top?)

Overall if you liked the first book, I feel like the sequel stands up!

Thank you NetGalley for the eARC.

I loved this and I am so happy about that. I loved the first book and when I read the synopsis for this one, I was devastated that Seokga’s brother would be murdered and just when the brothers were getting along. However, I was pleasantly surprised about the loop hole about that, and it added to the humor and wholesomeness that I didn’t expect. I was laughing and smiling so much throughout, Seokga is hilarious is this. I also liked the development between Seokga and Kisa, and handling the history with Hani. The pacing was nice and steady as they got to know one another. The mystery also kept me on my toes.

I enjoyed the pacing up til the last 20% where it seemed to slow down and then speed up. Some things about the mystery didn’t add up that well, but it didn’t diminish my enjoyment.

I’m wondering if there will be a continuation but maybe with other characters.

What a great sequel to The God and The Gumiho. If you’ve read book 1, you know the end had a major impact on this book and I was very intrigued how it was going to be addressed. And I adored it! I wasn’t sure at first about Kisa as a new character, and the setting on cruise ship was very different to book one but with the old characters, the same humour and even more romance, I adored it! Seogka was still his broody, sarcastic self but we got to know a but more about him personally and all the other character’s stories were so special. Highly recommend this series!

The God and the Gwisin was one of my most anticipated reads this year and I’m happy to say it did not disappoint!!! I loved Hani and Seokga and was so thrilled to get back to their characters. However!!!! Hani has been reincarnated into Kisa, who seemly on the surface is nothing like our chaotic Gumiho.

It’s always interesting to see how reincarnation is handled in a sequel because I feel like there are so many points in which it can go wrong. However, I think Sophie Kim does a great job with Kisa and subsequently Seokga as he works through his comparisons of her to his Hani.

Of course the story isn’t complete without a good murder mystery. And while I’ll say that I wasn’t as invested in the mystery in this one as I was the original, I thought the relationships with characters definitely made up for it.

I can’t wait for the rest of the world to read this in just a few short weeks!

Thank you to Del Rey and NetGalley for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

5⭐️ Thank you Del Rey and Netgalley for the arc in exchange for an honest review. And thank you, thank you Sophie Kim for bringing Seokga, Hani and Kisa into my life! 🥹

From where we left off in Fate's Thread #1, I was hesitant about the direction of this story. Even more so when a certain fiesty, but loveable, gumiho seemed to be missing from the plot. I honestly wasn't sure how I felt about a reincarnated love interest, as someone who gets overly attached to characters (especially ones as well written and loveable as Hani), but Kim blew me away with how she was able to get me to fall in love with Kisa. Like Seokga, I too had to scold myself for comparing Kisa to Hani, when ultimately there was more than enough room in my heart for both. I always do tend to love the nerdy, awkward fmc's anyways (blame my HP upbringing). Couple the newness of Kisa and her backstory with the deeper dive into Seokga's character and you have a recipe for a riveting and deeply moving story. I loved that we got to delve into his mind and see a more vulnerable side of him that we didn't see as much in Fate's Thread #1. He was so down bad and even my own heart ached and broke for him. Kisa was the perfect complement and quite literally a soothing balm to his traumatized heart. And the pining. Omg THE PINING. The slow burn development between Seokga and Kisa was absolutely divine. Even all the side characters enhanced my overall experience, which is always a good indicator of a book that will earn its stars from me.

It's actually pretty hilarious, but I forgot to read the blurb for the book and was completely shocked and close to throwing my book across the room when we got to the murder mystery portion of the tale. The setting of a river cruise in the underworld seemed like such a silly environment, but was surprisingly unique and worked out quite well. I did truly love the Scooby Doo vibes of the mystery, with our delightful cast of misfits who all served an important role in the search for the murder. I found the pacing to be perfect, maybe a little chaotic at times during the peak of it all, but in no way did that detract from my enjoyment of the book. Whereas in book 1 I found it to be rather predictable, this one was less so. I had several theories about the murderer at different points in the story, which kept me engaged and glued to my kindle.

I cannot wait to get my copy of The God and the Gwisin in next month, until then, I'll be coercing all my friends into reading this!

Thank you to Netgalley and Random House Publishing Group for access to this advance reader copy.

This book is the sequel to 2024's The God and the Gumiho. If you haven't read the first book yet, stop reading this review and go check that one out. It's a very good read.

The God and The Gwisin takes place 33 years after the end of The God and The Gumiho. Seokga has been searching for the reincarnation of Hani, his love in the God and the Gumiho. Right when fate is about to intervene to allow him to find her in the form of a red thread tying them together, Hani dies. He ends up finding her on a river cruise through the river of dead, where they have to solve a mysterious death.

I loved this book. I like it more than the first one, but the first one was also excellent. So much of the dialogue and character interactions, especially between Seokga and the other gods, were filled with humour. The murder mystery on a cruise ship was a timeless trope wonderfully executed. I think more background knowledge in Korean mythology would have helped me a bit, but the author does a wonderful job explaining throughout both books. I loved the use of the Ship of Theseus metaphor to describe it.

Somi says at one point that Seokga is the worst detective and quite frankly, she's right. I figured out the mystery at the heart of the book quite a long time before Seokga and Kisa, but I still enjoyed the journey to get there and the character's motives.

The romance was wonderful. I really enjoyed Seokga and Kisa trying to get to know each other while dealing with Seokga's memories of Hani and trying to reconcile the old life with this new iteration. It was interesting to see what carries on from life to life and what is different. Hani really changed Seokga and made him a better romantic partner for Kisa.

As I was such a fan of the first book, I was very grateful to receive an ARC to read the second as I couldn't wait to read more!

The story explores identity, fate, and the tension between past and present selves, all through a character who’s starting from scratch in more ways than one. She brings a fresh perspective to the world, and I found her highly compelling. She’s driven, thoughtful, and kind, and her analytical approach to the strange circumstances she finds herself in made her really engaging to follow. She also blends well with a quirky ensemble cast that includes a mix of mythological beings and other intriguing figures. Their group dynamics were one of my favourite parts!

That said, the book doesn’t shy away from serious topics. It deals with grief, trauma, and healing, and I’d definitely recommend checking trigger warnings for themes like death and suicide. One character in particular is given a lot more emotional depth in this installment, and the exploration of his past was heartbreaking and powerful. The expanded role of other mythological figures was also a highlight, especially for someone like me who isn’t deeply familiar with Korean mythology—it was fascinating and added rich texture to the world-building.

The one thing that didn’t work for me was the mystery element. The reveal felt too predictable, and the investigation itself lacked the sharpness I was expecting—especially given the investigative tone of book one. Still, if you're here mainly for the characters and romance, I don’t think you’ll mind too much. The central relationship was well-developed, heartfelt, and refreshingly open from the start, even if I could have done without one specific plot device they used to communicate.

Unlike the first book, this one wraps up more neatly and offers satisfying closure, though the final chapter leaves the door open for more. Here is hoping Sophie Kim continues as I’d happily read anything she writes in this world!

Thank you to NetGalley, Del Rey, and Sophie Kim for providing an ARC.

This was a 3.5 star book for me so I rounded up! I really enjoyed the hints and references to Korean mythology and folklore, but wish we had more world-building in book 2. It was a cute duology and I'm so glad the MMC got a happy ending. I know I loved the first book more as this one felt more murder mystery esque and so many random ad hoc events kept occuring so I didn't really feel the romance between Kisa and Seokga.

I really enjoyed book one earlier this year, so as soon as I finished that I requested book two and I’m absolutely glad that I did. The amount of pain and angst going on was just perfect! Seokga was an even better love interest than in book one and I truly loved his storyline both personal and love wise in this sequel. The mystery plot was just as fun even if you could tell better who was who. I also love the redemption arc for a few other characters, one in particular. But I love most of all Kisa. I found her more compelling as an Mc compared to Hani, but that might just be because she’s more similar to me personally. Overall I loved this sequel and I’m super satisfied with how everything turned out in the end!
Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for an e-arc copy in exchange for an honest review.

"Some stories deserve a happy ending."


While the beginning was a bit slow, The God and the Gwisin was still a really entertaining book. After getting past the first 15% of the book, I honestly flew through it trying to guess who the murderer was and needing to get my answers.


Spoilers for The God and the Gumiho ahead!!!


Seokga the No-Longer-Fallen is looking for the love of his life. Ever since he lost Hani, nothing has felt right and he’s been desperately searching for her reincarnated form. But when the red thread of fate leads Seokga to a cruise down the river of the dead, the woman he finds isn't Hani . . . she's Yoo Kisa, and she has no memory of him whatsoever - with seemingly no interest in regaining it either. Although, when the Heavenly Emperor of Okhwang is murdered, Seokga and Kisa must solve the crime before the cruise ends. And as the mystery draws them closer, they will have to decide what they truly mean to each other.


I won’t lie, I feel like the synopsis of this book spoiled a lot of things and I definitely believe that it’s better to go in blind. I would have much rather not know who gets murdered aboard the cruise ship and I also think that not knowing about the red thread of fate from the beginning would have also added another pleasant element of surprise.


As I said, The beginning of the book was quite slow and this most likely happened because of Kisa. It felt a bit disorienting at first to read from her perspective and I didn’t like how Seokga and even us as readers were constantly comparing her to Hani. I really wanted to get to know Kisa as her own character, not as Hani’s reincarnation!


I did fall in love with Kisa tho. She was so smart and funny and I found her so relatable at this that I just couldn’t help loving her. She had her own struggles and I loved seeing how they impacted her and how she dealt with everything the world has thrown at her in her life. She was genuinely a really pleasant surprise since I wasn’t sure what to expect of her after what happened in The God and the Gumiho.


Seokga, the same as in the first book, had my heart. He is just my grumpy, caffeine addicted god and I love him so much!! He and his poor detective skills make this book so funny, in spite of some of the seriousness of his character.


The romance between the two was genuinely the cutest!! This is one book where the soulmates trope was done right!!! One thing I was scared about while going into this book, was that it will be an insta-love situation. And while some might argue that it was, I believe that not only did it work with the story, but it also didn’t feel like insta-love. The book takes place over the span of a week or two, but with the way their romance develops it feels like they spend so much more time together than they actually do and they form such a beautiful bond in the end.


I was also pretty scared about how the romance will develop due to Hani and the impact she had on Seokga in The God and the Gumiho, but by the end I realised I had no reason to be scared about that. There was this one moment in the book where Seokga becomes aware of the fact that it was Hani who he needed first, to help him open up to the possibility of love, but Kisa was the one he needed in the present with her gentleness.


I also really loved some of the side characters in this book like Hwanung (the way he and Seokga interacted was everything!! Seokga genuinely loves his brother so much and seeing them together healed my soul), Hajun (a new character we meet in this book! I absolutely loved his friendship with Kisa! I need a friend like him frfr) and a character that we met in a previous book that honestly I didn’t like back then but somehow miss Sophie Kim made me love her!


Now onto the mystery…. I predicted who the murderer was and the turn the plot was going to take towards the end. The plot in itself wasn’t bad but all these plot twists were hinted so heavily from the beginning of the book that they didn’t even feel like plot twists by the end. It was obvious to me that they would happen, I was there just waiting for everything to go down.

Overall, this was a solid book and I’m curious to see what Sophie Kim has in store next! (also don’t fall in the same trap I did! This book is NOT ya!)


Thank you NetGalley and Del Rey for a copy of this book!

I was pleasantly surprised by the first book and eagerly awaited this installment. I love this world and I love these characters so much. A new take on fantasy with a K drama feel.

I read the first book on release and didn’t get a chance to reread it before this one but I really feel that wouldn’t be necessary as the author does a great job of recapping stealthily so you would feel up to speed.

While this series is certainly more character driven than plot driven the plot in this one is kind of forgettable. It starts out really funny and interesting but it’s not super shocking and I feel more could have been done with it. Come for the heart warming love story, with bonus murder mystery.

I hope you like the phrase ‘wine brown eyes’ because you will read it approximately 50 times lol. I understand the reasoning behind it, it just sticks out so much.

Should there be a third book (yes please) the ending leaves a tiny crack open for such but does have a satisfying conclusion. I wouldn’t feel like this book suffered from ‘middle book syndrome’

Definitely recommend checking this out. Hope to read more from this author too.

Thank you to NetGally and the author/publisher for an eArc of this title in exchange for a fair and honest review.

I didn’t think it was possible to love the sequel more than the first book—but I did. The return of familiar characters made this story both beautiful and poignant. In this installment, Seokjung has spent decades in solitude, patiently waiting for Hani to reincarnate. When the red thread of fate appears on his finger, he knows she’s returned—but he struggles to find her as the red thread tangles all over the world.

Hani has been reincarnated as Kisa, a doctor and shaman who has no memory of her past life. By the time Seokjung locates her, she’s already been dead for seven years and is working aboard the Flatliner, a cruise ship for the dead, trying to pay off her karmic debt. I absolutely loved watching Seokjung and Kisa fall in love all over again. Since Kisa doesn’t remember being Hani, Seokjung must get to know her from the beginning—wooing her with patience and growing himself in the process. The character development was satisfying, and while Kisa is no longer Hani, she still retains elements of Hani's soul, as if she is a different side of Hani's soul. Thus Seokung is in love with all different sides of her.

The side characters were just as enjoyable. Somi returns, along with Hwaning and Hwanung, and we’re introduced to Hanjung, a new character who’s Kisa’s best friend and a former K-pop star now serving time aboard the Flatliner.

Like the first book, this sequel is packed with action, but it also expands the mythological world introduced earlier. There’s a compelling murder mystery aboard the ship that adds another layer of intrigue and detective work.

This book masterfully blends romance, mystery, fantasy, and mythology—everything I love in a story. Kim’s writing is smooth and evocative, with rich character depth. Even the red thread of fate begins to feel like a character. This book felt tailor-made for me and this duology now ranks alongside Sue Lynn Tan’s Daughter of the Moon Goddess as one of my favorite series. Highly recommend!

thank you NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group for the ARC!

last year i really enjoyed the god and the gumiho, and I’m happy to say that its sequel was just as delightful, if not even more so. this story is set 33 years after the events of the first book, and it follows our god of trickery seokga, and kisa, the reincarnation of hani from the previous novel, as they find themselves unexpectedly bound together by a mysterious red thread of fate. their journey introduces a mix of familiar and new faces and, unexpectedly, a murder aboard a boat that sets the characters into an investigation. very fun. i was worried that i wasn't going to like kisa as much as hani and even though she is very different as she is much more logical and down to earth, i still really liked her and apreciated what she offered to the story. i think i liked the romance in this story more than previously book too, even if i'm not the biggest fan of the soulmate trope, i still thought it was fun.

moreover, this was such an easy book to sink into, i ended up reading it almost in one sitting. it offered exactly the comforting escape i was needing, with a story that didn’t demand too much of my brain power but still delivered plenty of charm, humor, and heart. also, as i mentioned in my review of the first book, one of the things i love most about this series is how it reads so much like a kdrama. the world is vibrant, whimsical, and full of life, and it holds so much potential for future books. i would absolutely read if the author ever decides to write another book with these characters or that explores entirely new ones within the same universe. this author is definitely someone I’ll be keeping an eye on from now on.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an advanced reader copy

The God and the Gwisin by Sophie Kim is the third person dual-POV fantasy romance sequel to The God and the Gumiho. Seokga has been searching for Hani’s reincarnation for years and finally the red thread of fate tying them together leads him to her incarnation: Kisa. Only Kisa has already died and is now surviving on a boat in the afterlife and Seokga has to find the person who tried to kill his brother.

I loved The God and the Gumiho, so I was super excited about this one. The cover is dynamic and it has a lot of my favorite pieces from the last book, including the mystery elements, the tension between Kisa and Seokga, and how well Sophie Kim blends fantasy, mystery, and romance together. This book met my expectations and Sophie Kim is now an autoread author for me because sticking the landing in a genre blend and then adding mythology and K-drama flair once was already hard but doing it twice shows a lot of skill.

The Ship of Theseus thought experiment comes up quite a bit as Kisa and Seokga contemplate their new relationship and its relation to Seokga’s relationship to Hani. Kisa and Hani have different tastes and interests on top of looking different and having different names. Hani was a freeloader when she saw the chance while Kisa was a medical professional at a young age. Hani also lived for hundreds of years as a gumiho while Kisa was a shaman. They’re very different characters but certain things about them remain the same, such as their love of spicy historical novels and their intelligence even if it presents differently. I loved that this book explored the question of reincarnation through the thought experiment because it is a very interesting question and the ways that it relates to romance open up a lot of doors for angst and character exploration.

Seokga and Kisa’s relationship takes time to develop and Kisa wants to keep them as friends and struggles with being reincarnated. She is very much attracted to Seokga early on like he is to her, but she pushes those feelings away in favor of taking a more academic approach because it’s safer for her. She’s also somewhat scared because she’s never had a relationship and lacks experience in a lot of ways and I appreciated how Seokga responded to these concerns. I also liked Seokga’s journey with what it was he loved about Hani and how it connects to Kisa.

I would recommend this to fantasy of fantasy mysteries and Romantasy and readers who loved The God and the Gumiho

I really like how Sophie tells her own version of Korean mythology. There’s always something new. Honestly, I love her interpretation of the Red Thread. She also knows the right timing for everything. I can feel my lips tearing apart from smiling so much. And I also felt my blood pressure go up because *what the hell, Yeomra?* There’s just enough action and romance in The God and The Gwisin. And I can’t get enough of the romance.

The characters are much better than on TGATG. Especially, Seokga. Man learned his lesson. *Kinda.* But I can’t blame him. I wouldn’t see it coming, either. I know there’s still some mystery left because it got me thinking it just doesn’t make sense. The last chapter was a rollercoaster ride. Made me insane.

If there’s anything that I learned in this book, it’s *to* *choose the people you trust and share your life with.* You never know if that someone is a friend or an enemy. And that love moves in mysterious ways.

In this follow up to God and the Gumiho we find Seogka working with a “new” partner his reincarnated love while they try to solve his brother’s murder. I think that this book is definitely lighter than the first one but I don’t think that’s a bad thing at all. I actually ended up really liking Kisa and how she was different but familiar. The reincarnation plot and the mystery I think was a good tie in. Seogka was so sad in the beginning but I really liked how he didn’t lose his entire personality despite 33 years having passed. I love the shenanigans of this book and I really love Korean Mythology and it was tied in very well.

<b>DNF @ 20%</b>

Unfortunately, I've just lost interest in this world and its characters. A lot of factors had a hand in this, but mostly ever since my reread of <I>The God and the Gumiho</I> that I gave 3 stars (which on my first read, I'd given 5), I just don't care anymore??? Though, I will also admit that my current mood is finding all the books I'm reading boring so that didn't help either. But either way, I've lost interest in this series (yes, I'm sad too considering my love for TGATG last year🥲). I gave this a shot at least up until 20% but I don't care for Kisa nor do I care about any of the characters or the plot.

I may still pick this up when I'm in a better reading mood but I don't think it will be any time soon.

(Del Rey please don't hate me😭)

<I>Many thanks to Del Rey for the early copy via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review!</i>

I forgot how much l enjoyed The God and the Gumiho last year.  The God and the Gwisin sees our resident grumpy trickster god, Seogka, working with his reincarnated lost love to solve his brother’s murder on board a luxury underworld cruise ship. The vacation his therapist advised he take no less.

The humour is quirky and liberally spinkled throughout. I love a pining MMC but a pining God, particulalry a grumpy, albeit depressed and engaging in therapy, caffeine addicted God... next level *chefs kiss*.

I found this a lighter story than book one.  The murder mystery and family drama didn't feel as high stakes as The God and the Gumiho. Certainly, the flow and direction of the story felt clearer and the established characters along with the new faces, maintained the eccentric nature of the story. The added humor of baby Godling to navigate the care of was a fun inclusion with the murder investigation.  But is it really murder when the murdered is reborn? And, does this count as a surprise baby trope?

Overall, it's such an interesting premise. Can our love come again in another life? Seogka is seeking the Hani he lost. To be faced with the familiar yet distinct, to love differently with Kisa, to trust and love again, these are ideas I just loved exploring.

I can see a slapstick Kdrama web series emerging from this world. But in the meantime I'm content with the content but open ended storyline for Seogka and Kisa. I look forward to another story from Sophie Kim.

I hold back from a five star rating simply because I think you really have to be in the right mood to read this one.

With thanks to the author, Sophie Kim, Random House Publishing Group and Netgalley for the eARC to read ahead of publication.

The God and the Gwisin is available 3rd June (AUS).

Book 2 takes places 33 years after the events that caused Seokga lose the love of his life Hani. Now when the red string of fate appears meaning, his love is back, he is surprised to find someone who isn't like Hani in any way. Obviously Hani is reincarnated but something doesn't feel right. When the two wind up stumbling upon a murder mystery Seokga must put in his detective hat once again. He has to solve this, not only to save his brother but to also save the woman he is falling in love with who is nothing like Hani.

I did not expect to have someone be so opposite of Hani. At first it was weird for me because I really liked Kinda, way more then I liked Hani and I wasn't sure if that was supposed to happen but then when everything comes together I think that Sophie must have had a plan in place all along and how unique and fun was that to discover!

I rated it the same that I rated book one but I definitely enjoyed it a lot more.