Thank you to Del Ray and NetGalley for providing me this arc copy of a book sequel that I was ecstatic to read!

Rating: 3.75 Stars

This is a weird book to review. On the one hand, this book shares many of the elements back that I loved about the first. It is fun, stylish and knows how to have a good time. The dialogue was quick and effortless, the characters continued to be entertaining and snarky without sounding too young or too old and the plot was genuinely interesting. I think for many fans, this will be an amazing book and it'll satisfy those who enjoy a campy kdrama mystery. The added perspectives for Seokga as well? Perfection. Absolute highlight of this book was his chapters and I can't say how much I enjoyed them a lot enough.

Alas, I definitely had some issues here.
1. I don't think the setting is very interesting. I think the cruise boat vibes were very...boring. There was a lot they could do, but the narrative constrained the main characters to doing not much unless a romantic scene was necessary or when they needed to find clues. Unfortunately, I think this impacts how the characters interact, because aside from Seokga and Kisa, there's not much character bonding to be found. Which, again, is unfortunate because I think there could've been a really solid group dynamic here.
2. I just don't think Kisa is as interesting or defining a character as Hanni was. Certainly, I think her character will work for a lot of readers, she just didn't work for me. Which is a shame! Because I found her character arc to be very interesting in theory, and some moments did work for me, but that lack of chemistry and her more toned down character compared to Hanni just failed to wow me in a meaningful way. Maybe on a reread or with the next book, I'll be more involved with her. But for now...I'm not impressed.
3. The side characters felt very underdeveloped. While some make sense, others do not and it just makes their presence feel more annoying than anything. I also think that some go into very sensitive tropes that I don't think were handled very well, or were given very little after thought.

That said, I did very much enjoy this book. Sophie Kim has a fantastic writing style that is fun to absorb, and its no different here. I cannot wait to reread this again when it releases.

I loved The God and the Gumiho, and The God and the Gwisin did not disappoint!

Seokga the trickster god has spent years searching for his soul mate after losing fox shifter Hani as part of a pact to return to the realm of the gods. At long last, he has a red thread of fate around his finger that leads him to Yoo Kisa, a gwisin (ghost, ish) whose soul is bound to an underworld cruise ship.

Kisa is careful, thoughtful, and extremely thorough - something she wasn’t in her past life as Hani. At first, Seokga struggles to see how this could be his soul mate reincarnated. When Seokga and Kisa are forced to work together to solve a murder aboard the ship, neither of them are sure how to form a new partnership.

I really enjoyed this new dynamic. Seokga is still a grumpy guy, but has retained the emotional growth from the first book and actively opens himself to even more of it in this book. We also get to see a little more into his background as Seokga the Fallen, which I found interesting and thought tied in well to the overall story.

Kisa wasn’t as immediately likeable as Hani, for me at least. Her inner dialogue wasn’t as relatable, and at the beginning felt a little forced. However, her anxieties and overthinking quickly grew on me, and I loved the way her gentleness brought out different sides of the rest of the characters.

Plot-wise, the murder mystery is nothing groundbreaking, but is well-paced and entertaining enough with the relationships keeping the story afloat. Anyone who enjoyed the first book will love The God and the Gwisin!

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for review :)

When you've been looking for the reincarnation of your soulmate for so many years your therapist begs you to take a vacation... on an underworld cruise ship... and you finally find her there, but she doesn't remember you. Oh, and there's also a murder mystery. And a surprise baby, but not in the way you think (have fun figuring that one out).

I can promise you, you haven't read a series quite like this before. The closest comp would be adult romantasy Percy Jackson, with Korean mythology. This sequel is pretty different from the previous book - characters old and new, in a completely new setting and situation. It's again an incredibly funny read, and even though I missed Hani just as much as Seokga at first, Kisa grew on me very quickly, and I ended up absolutely adoring her. But aside from being fun, there's also so much yearning. I empathized so deeply with Seokga, who desperately wanted to (re)connect with his soulmate after losing her and having searched for all these years. There's truly nothing like the reincarnation/soulmates trope done right.

Thirty-three years after the events of 'The God and the Gumiho', Seokga is reinstated to the pantheon of the gods, working on himself with mandatory therapy and still desperately searching for the reincarnation of Hani. But the red thread of fate, which appeared signaling her reincarnation, leads him to the Underworld, onboard a luxury ship cruising down the river of the dead. But Hani is no more, instead the woman at the end of the red thread is Yoo Kisa, a former shaman whose untimely death traps her onboard the SRC Flatliner, working off a significant karmic debt racked up in her past life. She has no recollection of her previous life, nor does she remember Seokga, who seems disappointed that Kisa couldn’t be any different from his lost love. But when the Heavenly Emperor, Hwanin, is murdered aboard the cruise ship, they find themselves working together to solve the murder before the cruise ends.

The story poses an interesting philosophical question using the Ship of Theseus as an analogy. As the original components of the ship are exchanged, is it still the same ship? Is Hani still Hani, even though she is now called Kisa?

This book was far more lighthearted and comical compared to its predecessor. It follows Seokga and Kisa as they attempt to solve a murder aboard and decide what they mean to each other. There’s a new dynamic between Seokga and Kisa because while Seokga is the same as he was before, still grumpy and intolerant of others, Kisa is a wholly new individual despite her connection to her past life as Hani, who she has no recollection of and who she refuses to be just to appease Seokga chasing Hani’s ghost. In the end, Kisa decides for herself the answer to the Ship of Theseus, standing firmly on who she is and Seokga finds himself falling in love all over again and together they both bring about their own happy ending.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Calling all my romantasy girlies! If you're looking for a series that has everything you love about romantasy (fun magic, pining romance, bickering romance, mystery, intriguing plot, fantastic writing), then you need to be reading the Fate's Thread series!

I was satisfied with book 1. In fact, I thought it was going to be a standalone. Boy am I glad I was wrong! This sequel was so needed. It was like meeting our MCs all over again because their personalities changed so much from book 1. But in a good way?? This book was soooo funny and the YEARNING?! 10/10. The mystery vibes were still there, but better than book 1 imo. Everything about this book was perfect. The humor. The romance. The fantasy. Everything. Idk if there’ll be a book 3, but I’d be there for it.

Thank you to the publisher for providing me with an e-arc in exchange for my honest review.

A thrilling mystery that teases your heartstrings and curiosity!

After a 'Tale of the Nine-Tailed'-esque first instalment, TGATGwisin pulls us into a locked-room mystery aboard the SS Flatliner in hell where our beloved, ever-tortured god Seokga is meant to stay on for an impromptu, unwanted vacation with his heavenly emperor brother...only for said brother to be found dead and to be reunited with his Threaded lost love who got reincarnated, Kisa (formerly Hani). Worse of all? She has no memory of him, and is seemingly a different person...and dead.

This is a smooth follow-up to the first instalment, lacking disjointedness and any loss of steam. It doesn't lean so much into the horror-crime-mystery tone of the first due to the lack of multiple gory murders and Detective Seokga is effectively retired, instead being a more mellowed, contemplative story of regret, family, conciliation, healing, making peace with change, and following your heart. Since the throughline that ties the two books together is character-centric than plot-centric, this instalment feels seperate enough that one could very generously pretend this is a mostly-standalone story.

While I managed to guess the big twist of whodunnit early on, I still enjoyed the story for its magnetic leads, the supporting cast (with a surprise return of an old face), and the character interactions. Man, there was some good comedic moments here, just like the first. I had a big laugh-out-loud moment at one point.

A swoony read, indeed!

P.S. the way I'd kill for a short story or novelette that's family-drama-centric post epilogue...

Thanks to Netgalley and PRH Group - Del Rey for providing me with the e-ARC/DRC in exchange for an honest review.

This book did not disappoint in the continuation from the first. I was watching for this & I loved it.

In a word -
Seokga the babysitter?
Murder mystery
Fated soul mate
Reincarnation
Daddy issues
Korean mythology


Sexy Seogka is back again making headlines as he boards a cruise ship in the underworld on a search for his reincarnated soulmate. I loved The God and the Gumiho and was ecstatic when I got approved for the ARC of this one! I was concerned when I realized that there would be no Hani and instead we would have to fall for Kisa like Seokga does, but it worked! There's a little bit of murder mystery (kinda obvious who the villian is), but the detective work is not the main component, the romance/relationships are. Overall, I loved the redemption arc of Somi, and I miss Hani dearly, but I'm glad we got to see her. Equal parts serious and funny, and definitely lives up to the K-Drama vibe! I will be getting the Fairyloot edition (hopefully!!) to match The God and the Gumiho!

Oh I really enjoyed this. I applied for this arc not even having read the first book yet (but it was very high on my TBR) and read both within the space of two weeks, now I’m desperate for the next one!

Although at the start some of the characters I did not care about, they were written in such a way that I couldn’t help but fall in love with them. Knowing that Hani wasn’t going to be exactly herself was a little off putting to me before I started as I don’t really like the “amnesia” style trope, but I loved this so much.

The progression of all the characters was so good and I can’t wait to read more of this world and anything else that Sophie Kim writes

After reading The God and the Gumiho I didn't think that any other book would match or beat it I absolutely loved it. Sophie Kim however said hold my drink and watch me do it again and somehow better 🤯 I cannot wait to add this book to my collection and know this will be a series I will come back to for a comfort read.

In the first book I really enjoyed Seokoga however I adored him even more in this book. After everything that happened with Hani Seokoga did a lot of self reflection, therapy and grieving and for this reason I think his relationship with Kisa is even stronger then the one with Hani. I wasn't sure how they would have someone like Hani but her own person and I love Kisa as a character. It was fascinating to see how Kisa's mind work and this also helped develop a deeper relationship with Seokoga. I cannot wait to see what Sophie Kim will do next❤️

Thank you Random House Publishing Group -Del Rey, Random House Worlds, Inklore for providing this book for review consideration via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

Thank you so much for allowing me to review this title.
I love any Asian themed book, especially fantasies.
This was a great one!
Thanks again!

I love this series. Seokga is pathetic. He's attempt at a coup was pathetic. He's a lousy detective. He's petulant and occasionally childish. I'd have an issue with it if the book pretended he wasn't any of that, but the book actually calls him out a lot and I had so much fun with it. He's so flawed, yet he's still a character that's fun and easy to follow along with. And he isn't surface level - I really enjoyed going in to see his depth a bit. Also, seeing your soulmate again as a completely different person and having to struggle between loving who they were and who they are now is always angsty and interesting to me.

THE GOD AND THE GWISIN - SOPHIE KIM

If you saw my review a few days ago, you'll know that The God and the Gumiho was a five-star read for me. I loved it so much, and I had very high expectations for the sequel. Thankfully, even though I feel like The God and the Gwisin is very different, I loved it just as much.

You may want to skip past this review if you haven't read the first book, but I'll try to keep it as spoiler free as possible. Seokga, our favourite grumpy caffeine-guzzling trickster god, is back with a mission to find his reincarnated soulmate. Having searched for decades, he finally finds her: on a cruise ship sailing through the Underworld.

She's not entirely what he expects, and I think the reader's expectations are also challenged if you loved the characters in the first book. There's an idea brought up again and again - the Ship of Theseus - where the question is if every single plank of the ship has been replaced, is it still the same ship at all? I loved this concept so much.

Sophie Kim's writing is excellent as always, blending the heartfelt and romantic with witty banter and funny interactions between characters. Speaking of characters, there are some familiar faces as well as some entirely new ones.

Of course, nothing is straightforward, and when a gruesome murder happens on board, Seokga and the other characters team up to find the culprit.

This book ties up Seokga's story beautifully, and it's a must-read for anyone who's read the God and the Gumiho, as well as anyone looking for a series that reinterprets Korean mythology in a way that's completely unforgettable. Thank you to Sophie Kim, the publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this eARC.

Release date: 3 June 2025

Review score: 5/5

TWs: d*ath, injury detail, s*xual content

ok I'm not crying, you are. Maybe I have been since the end of the god and the gumiho. And receiving an ARC for this was what I needed to stop.

Sophie Kim... you have some explaining to do. I was so emotional throughout this entire book. Like fate...gods...how can you be so cruel. But as much as I waited to read this fearing the absolute end of this...I had to jump in.

my heart broke and was repaired repeatedly. I wasn't sure how I could love a gwisin as much as I loved an unruly gumiho, but between the pages I found out.

I am not revealing anything but my love for these two books. You have to read them. They're so good. and maybe..maybe with an end like that ... we get another? please? 🥺

This was a very fun and delightful read. I loved that the world expanded and we got to spend time in the underworld. As with the first book, the banter and humor was top notch! The way it all came together in the end was very satisfying but left just enough open so that we (hopefully) get another book!

Thank you Netgalley and Del Rey for sending me the eARC for this book!!!I finished this book soooo fast and I wasn’t expecting to love it so much after how the first book ended with Hani sacrificing herself and I just couldn’t see how the reincarnation and thread would work🧍‍♂️🫣 Sophie Kim killed it with the angst and romance plot for Seogka and Kisa🥹❤️‍🔥i loved their story sooo much and the plot with the murder mystery had me hooked!!

Plus the side characters like Hajun and Somi were so much fun to read about and at least Somi’s character development was very interesting to read!!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️✨ — 4.5 stars
The God and the Gwisin is the perfect continuation of The God and the Gumiho. I loved the first book (even though murder mysteries aren’t usually my thing), and this one somehow pulled me in even deeper. I think it’s because I was already so emotionally attached to these characters. There was no way I wasn’t going to follow them wherever they went, even onto a haunted underworld cruise ship.

Seokga’s character arc had me hooked. He’s a literal god going to therapy, still grieving, still searching for the reincarnation of his soulmate Hani, and I love that Kim lets him be messy and vulnerable while still keeping his chaotic energy. Kisa (Hani reborn, but not quite) is equally compelling, dealing with karmic debt, ghost duties, and the emotional whiplash of being told you’re someone’s fated love but not remembering any of it.

💛 What I loved:
• The mystery and intrigue had just the right amount of twists
• The thoughtful inclusion of mental health (therapy rep for gods = 10/10)
• The soulmates trope, but make it angsty
• Learning more about Korean mythology and lore
• Found family and the amazing side characters (Hajun is a fave)

The ending melted me. My favorite god got his happy ending, and I closed this book feeling very full.

Thank you to NetGalley and Del Rey for the ARC of The God and the Gwisin by Sophie Kim.

Such a fun follow-up to The God and the Gumiho! If you're in the mood for a little divine family drama and boatloads of yearning, The God and the Gwisin will satisfy that craving.

I was initially worried that I wouldn't have as much fun with Yoo Kisa as I did with Kim Hani, but Kisa shines in her own way with her speedy mind. This book hits the ground running with a mystery and plenty of angst as Seokga continues his search for his lost soulmate. I quite liked how they handled the question of reincarnation and what that means for our main couple. Admittedly, the relationship dynamic isn't quite as fun as it was in the first book, but it's nevertheless charming in its own way. I also quite enjoyed the various dynamics with the side characters, from Seokga's complicated relationship with his brother to Kisa's reunion with another character that I loved.

Sophie Kim is such an auto-read author for me, it's not even funny. So excited to see what she's working on next now that this duology is complete!

4.5⭐️

I was SO nervous and excited to see how ‘The God and the Gwisin’ would play out, as I’d loved Hani and Seokga and wondered how in the world this sequel would go! And wow okay so — first off (quick intro) It’s been decades since the first book took place, Seokga is being forced onto a vacation on a cruise ship in the underworld with his brother and therapist! Cue he meets Kisa, who’s on the other end of his red string of fate and has Hani’s wine brown eyes. Hwanin gets murdered and a hysterical and encapsulating mystery.

I had adored Hani, but dare I say I adore Kisa equally or more??? It could be nerve racking as a reader knowing we’re getting a new FMC to follow up such an iconic one and the author does not fall short with Kisa.

Seriously this was so good, concepts of reincarnation were handled so well and believably. The same humor from the author while also tackling serious topics of mental health, family, betrayal, etc.

And of course just like the first book we have some massive twists and I could not tear myself away the last 30% of the book. I feel so emotional that it’s over.

Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for the ability to read this book ahead of publishing. This was a immaculateeeeeeee sequel, and Ioved it just as much (possibly even more) as The God and the Gumiho. It was like watching the very best K-Drama!!