The God and the Gwisin is an emotionally rich, wildly inventive sequel that threads myth, romance, and philosophical inquiry into something truly special. Sophie Kim’s writing is playful and poignant, balancing absurdity and longing with remarkable ease. What could feel chaotic in another writer’s hands—divine mischief, reincarnated soulmates, absurd therapy sessions, and sentient red threads—is here turned into a heartfelt meditation on identity, fate, and love that persists through time and transformation.

Kim continues to weave Korean mythology into modern settings with grace and cleverness, asking bold questions about what makes a soul the same when everything around and within it has changed. Through humor, yearning, and delicious tension, she invites readers to consider whether love can transcend lifetimes, and whether the self can remain intact across reincarnation.

This sequel sharpens the emotional edges of the series. The romance is electric—grumpy sunshine at its very best—but it is also thoughtful, grounded in real conflict and deep internal work. The characters must reckon with who they are now rather than who they once were, and the story gives them room to stumble, to grow, and to fight for what they want.

Kim’s talent for creating side characters who shine just as brightly as the leads is on full display. Each relationship—romantic, familial, platonic—feels earned, messy, and real. And amid the emotional depths and metaphysical questions, there is still room for banter, boba dates, and soft moments that linger.

This is a story about choosing each other in spite of everything—fate, fear, gods, and ghosts. With rich prose, vivid characters, and a setting that gleams with imagination, The God and the Gwisin cements Fates Thread as one of the most original and tender fantasy romances out there. Sophie Kim doesn’t just write romance. She writes myth, reborn

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

Sophie Kim’s The God and the Gwisin is a stunning blend of myth, memory, and mortal longing. Set against a vividly imagined world, the story is both a love letter to Korean folklore and an unflinching exploration of grief, legacy, and reclamation.

The writing is lyrical and precise, with characters who bleed and breathe off the page. The magic system feels sacred, the relationships deeply layered. It’s a book where everything matters—every name, every choice, every ghost. Beautiful, sorrowful, and deeply human, this one will stay with me for a long time.

4.5 stars rounded down just because i loved the god and the gumiho a tiny bit more

It took me a while to get to it: I had absolutely loved book one and (unlike most) how it had ended and when they sent me the galley, I couldn't say no.
But I also wasn't sure about Hani not being Hani.

Turns out i was worried for nothing and to be as vague as possible, this was a soulmate x second chance x first love v. new love mix of tropes well done. Did i shed a few tears? Obviously. But while a little heartbreaking in parts, the book turned out really (really) cute.

One thing for sure, the mystery was definitely not the book's strong point; it felt a little underwhelming and lacking compared to book one, and can we all agree our no longer fallen god is a lousy detective?
Fortunately, The god and the gwisin really shone through figuring out how much of Hani is in Kisa -or none at all-, Seokga's constant character development and relationship with his brother and the amazing supporting cast. Sophie Kim once again seduced me with her storytelling abilities.

A beautiful follow-up novel. Entertaining, fast-paced and un-put-downable. I will definitely be recommending this one.

“I swear on Hwanung, god of laws and kept promises, that the sun will shine on us both once again.”

This book is what happens when K-drama vibes crash into the underworld on a luxury cruise ship and honestly? I didn’t want to disembark.

We’ve got:
🩷 A grumpy immortal god chasing his soulmate through death
🩷 A tired magical doctor just trying to survive eternity
🩷 Ghostly glam, spicy mythology, and a literal red thread of fate
🩷 And yes… a meet-cute that involves a flying paperweight to the face.

“My Hani,” he gasps again, vision blurring as he begins to run, following the Red Thread of Fate toward his lost love.
Someone is waiting. Someone is waiting for him.

Set on the SRC Flatliner, a cruise ship for the recently deceased (YES you read that right), the story follows Kisa who died from exhaustion and now scrubs floors in the afterlife and Seokga, a literal god who’s been looking for the reincarnation of his one true love for thirty-three years. Their souls are tied by a red thread…and it’s finally pulling tight.

I seriously adored the tropes and themes in this one! I’m talking reincarnation, burnout, found family on a cruise ship, healing from past trauma (even in the afterlife) and just such creative mystical creatures and magical academia!

Kisa is clever, exhausted, and endearing. Seokga is dramatic, divine, and just a little unhinged. Together? They’re chaos and comfort, myth and medicine. If you love supernatural romances with depth, lore, and laughs- you’ll eat this one up.

“I swear on Hwanung, god of laws and kept promises, that the sun will shine on us both once again.”

This book is what happens when K-drama vibes crash into the underworld on a luxury cruise ship and honestly? I didn’t want to disembark.

We’ve got:
🩷 A grumpy immortal god chasing his soulmate through death
🩷 A tired magical doctor just trying to survive eternity
🩷 Ghostly glam, spicy mythology, and a literal red thread of fate
🩷 And yes… a meet-cute that involves a flying paperweight to the face.

“My Hani,” he gasps again, vision blurring as he begins to run, following the Red Thread of Fate toward his lost love.
Someone is waiting. Someone is waiting for him.

Set on the SRC Flatliner, a cruise ship for the recently deceased (YES you read that right), the story follows Kisa who died from exhaustion and now scrubs floors in the afterlife and Seokga, a literal god who’s been looking for the reincarnation of his one true love for thirty-three years. Their souls are tied by a red thread…and it’s finally pulling tight.

I seriously adored the tropes and themes in this one! I’m talking reincarnation, burnout, found family on a cruise ship, healing from past trauma (even in the afterlife) and just such creative mystical creatures and magical academia!

Kisa is clever, exhausted, and endearing. Seokga is dramatic, divine, and just a little unhinged. Together? They’re chaos and comfort, myth and medicine. If you love supernatural romances with depth, lore, and laughs- you’ll eat this one up.

I received an ARC from Del Rey through Edelweiss. This doesn't affect my thoughts about the book in any way. Happy release week to Sophie Kim! 🥀

What if Hotel Del Luna was on a cruise ship? Read this stunning sequel to the Fates of Thread Duology to find out!

🦊 he knew her in a past life
⚔️ grumpy god x shy gwisin
🦊 korean mythology
⚔️ murder mystery & fantasy
🦊 a man who YEARNS
⚔️ reads like a kdrama

The God & The Gwisin reminds me so much of what if a kdrama about souls bound for reincarnation had the comedy of A Business Proposal and Hotel Transylvania. This book has PEAK yearning!

Intertwined with a modern take on Korean mythology, Sophie Kim gives us a sequel that’s incredibly romantic but angsty and funny at the same time. We reunite with grumpy Seokga who spent 33 years looking for his lost love Hani since she passed, who apparently reincarnated in the form of incredibly smart Kisa. The only catch? She doesn’t remember him.

The book is adult fantasy with a fun murder mystery plot told through two alternating POVs. Reading this felt like I’ve reunited with old friends and met new ones along the way. I truly enjoyed how exciting this was. It was so funny I literally could not stop laughing at how perfect the comedic timing was in every chapter 😭 Seokga was on his knees getting insulted left and right and I’m giggling like an idiot at my Kindle TT (Godly Gossip strikes again!)

I would say this book is way more lighthearted than the first one, but it kept that nostalgic feel and has the perfect ending for our two star-crossed lovers. Thank you, Miss Sophie for giving me the beauty in the form of Hani/Kisa and Seokga.

What a perfect ending to an amazing duology. Unless there might be more in this world; which i will fully gobble up.

We get introduced to Kisa, formerly Hani, but there is a twist. I really enjoyed Kisa and Seokga getting back to their roots and solving a mystery together. I saw bits of Hani in Kisa - the way Sophie intertwined them was perfection.

The third person always gets me in the beginning so I had to get used to that all over again but I did enjoy this so much.

Thank you again for an ARC!

⌗ plot
I could read this simply as a comedy with a sprinkle of depressed god of dark humour. Unfortunately, it was a mystery. Or meant to be. The only mystery after the first 50% of the book was why it must depend on our broken couple's lack of communication. While the plot itself was rather frustrating, I think the book made up for it in its wit and wholesomeness.

⌗ characters
Kisa was... a character. I fear both Seokga and I were desperately thirsting for every drop of Kisa's character to be revealed excruciatingly slowly. I think I miss Hani more than Seokga, but that's just my personal preference. Nonetheless, our beloved Seokga retained all of his so satisfyingly salty dark humour, Somi is cute as ever (Hani would be so proud), Hajun was just as adorable, and a frking thread probably had the most character (lol). But why must our one perfectly cool character- uhm- de-age ;-;

⌗ setting
This sequel was (obviously) set in the same world as The God and the Gumiho. However, the setting felt entirely new, for it is now set in the underworld. I enjoyed this aspect very much! Still urban-y but the descriptions of the river??? Phenomenal. Reading Korean in English spelling will never stop breaking my brain, but just as before, Ms. Sophie did a wonderful job bringing all the Korean ancient mythology to modern life.

⌗ writing style
The writing felt a bit interesting for me. Simple, effective, and present, but at the same time I did notice some chunky words that I found didn't entirely immerse into the vibe and the general writing style. Not sure if I noticed this in the first book. Otherwise, the writing was approachable and immersive with no unnecessary details!

⌗ personal enjoyment
I really enjoyed reading this overall! I laughed out loud so many times reading this. I think it was a healing fun kind of book considering everything else I real lol. I recommend if you like contemporary romance & urban fantasy. There is one nsfw scene but it was actually really well written!

So good, it’s better than the first one!
A bit of a murder mystery on a luxury cruise liner for the dead and our gods.
There was just so much to love about this one from the why the romance panned out, to the character developments and the wider plot of the gods. I loved it all.
Now someone tell me that it’s not just a duology please?!?! Cause that ending could leave room for more in this world?

Thanks to NetGalley and publisher for an eARC

Thank you NetGalley and the publishers for a copy to review!

An amazing sequel to The God and the Gumiho, this book transports us the the Underground of Korean mythology, and welcomes back both old and new characters. I liked how Sophie Kim introduced the concept of reincarnation and how feelings can change with time. I also hope we will have a third book in this universe - the ending made me gasp!

if “in every lifetime, i will find you” was a book, then this would be it.

even though i gave the first book a 5 ☆ rating, this is 4 ☆ for me simply because some parts unfortunately dragged. regardless of the lower rating, i enjoyed this thoroughly.

imagine being granted the one request of bringing back the love of your life only to find her after 30+ years and… she’s dead. again. like “the god and the gumiho”, this is another whodunit but with a twist (i’ll let you read it to see what the twist is). kim gives us a very nice balance of comedic relief and some heavy hitter topics, all with the flow of a kdrama. i appreciate the arc of every character, even the side ones, and felt like all wrapped up quite nicely.

i laughed. i cried. i was in shock over how kim really just pulls you into her stories.

forever thankful to del rey for an early copy ♡

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.

A fantastic second installment! This book delivers a perfect mix of action, emotion, and humor. The characters are sharp, the dialogue witty, and the pacing keeps you hooked from start to finish. Sophie Kim blends mythology and modern fantasy effortlessly.
I’m officially adding her to my auto-read list!

#Netgalley #TheGodAndTheGwisin

Thank you net gallery for the advanced copy of this book. I enjoyed the modern life mixed with mythology and would definitely recommend. There was a good mix of mystery, humor, romance and banter,

actual rating: 4.5⭐️

SOPHIE KIM!!! WHAT A GEM YOU ARE!! Literally I cannot believe you delivered us a stellar season 2 like what!!!!

When I say season 2, in my mind palace I have really elevated this book past its literal form of being a book because it was a whole k-drama, full casted, with an entire soundtrack and everything. I lived for every single second of it, all 16 episodes (if you’re a k-drama enjoyer you know). This book much like the first reminds me so much of Tale of the Nine-Tailed. It was so much fun to read; from the jump I loved how the returning characters meshed so well with the new characters added in this book. The continuing character development for Seokga was done so well, we got to see a completely different aspect of his backstory in which he struggles with “daddy issues” which I say it like that but it’s much more complex, trust.

I also adored Kisa, she had her quirks that were reminiscent of Hani but she was also vastly different. I appreciated the fact that Seokga and Kisa’s relationship wasn’t rushed but rather it was a steady build up to the romance. Their interactions, the red string!!!, and just their dialogue with one another was all just so good and very well written. Kisa, who is trying her hardest to squash any feelings she might be feeling for Seokga and Seokga, who is literally jumping out of his skin because he has found the person at the other end of the red string while also containing himself because no, she’s not Hani but she’s someone he’s very interested in. But they literally have to build their relationship from zero once more and get to that level of trust and familiarity which was just so much fun to read and it had me so giddy!

The mystery was soo good!! I love being right because I literally guessed it from the very beginning and being rewarded for that guess is something I will never shut up about. No but seriously, I think it nods to the writing itself when the author provides crumbs that we come back to when everything is finally coming together and it makes sense.

When I say this book was everything I was expecting and more, I’m not kidding. Sophie Kim please, sign whatever you need to sign to make this into an actual kdrama.

Thank you to NetGalley, Random House Publishing Group - Del Rey, & Random House Worlds, Inklore for the eARC in exchange for an honest review!

Thank you Netgalley for this arc in exchange for an honest review☺️

I loved this so much!  I think I loved it even more than the first book to be honest!  It's so laugh out loud funny but there were also moments of sadness and tears.  Being a kpop fan familiar with idol culture, there were scenes that just hurt my heart 💔  Kisa and Seokga have the perfect chemistry, the slow burn was so good!  And the reappearance of certain characters  that I also loved made me so happy!  Knowing that Seokga's feelings were known by the girl right off the bat makes for an interesting love story, because of the unique development of their relationship.  I can't wait for the next book!  This is a great book for those who want a hilarious read, and for those who love kdramas, kpop, and korean mythology☺️

Was this even better than the first? Maybe?

It had a lot of the things I enjoyed from the first (more Seogka being Seogka, sarcasm, a good bit more romance the first), and then some. Seokga hating eve y minute of his forced vacation and the cruise was funny. Hani was so fun, but I also love Kisa. The dynamic between her and Seogka and the weirdness of the situation was well done. I loved Hajun! When's the third one coming out? I'm ready!

Thank you NetGalley and publisher for the eARC copy of this book!

The God and the Gwisin is the second book in the Fate's Thread series. It follows Seokga, the god, and Kisa, the gwisin, while they get to meet each other as the Fate's Thread guides them closer. In this second installment, Seokga has been looking for this soul he fell in love with but had to part ways, when he finds her he notices it might be too late for her and could complicate their romantic story.

I like how Seokga's personality it's slightly different than the previous book but mostly towards Kisa as he seems to have softened up for her. The fact that it wasn't easy for him just to find her and be happy together makes it an interesting story to follow despite not having the same female main character as the previous book. I also like the setting of most of the book, the SRC Flatliner is such an interesting place that I would love to keep exploring (maybe a novella?) Seokga's back story was so necessary for may situations in the book to work and I appreciate it a lot, it also makes him seem more complex than what we've read so far. Also, the sibling relationship that develops between Seokga and Hwanin is so cute that I wish I could follow them as Hwanin gets older.

At first, I wasn't convinced about the female main character because I was still attached to Hani from the previous book but I quickly got the hang of Kisa's personality as a character. Even though her personality seemed a bit odd, I liked how they got along and how persistent and patient Seokga was with her. Aside from that, there was not a thing that I disliked about the book (except, I guess, that it had to end.)

Overall, it made me happy to read about the characters that I fell in love with in the first book and get to meet new ones and new places to follow their adventures (or misfortunes.) This book was everything and more than what I was waiting for.
(Actual rating:4.75.bit I rounded it.)

This book was such a fantastic read. The blend of mythology, romance, and mystery was just so well done. I loved the concept of a cruise down the river of the dead, and if you have worked in any service type industry you will know what a punishment that is! The world-building felt rich without being overwhelming, and I was completely drawn in from the first chapter.

Seokga’s search for his reincarnated love had so much emotional weight, and Kisa was such a strong, grounded character. Their dynamic had the perfect amount of tension, heartache, and slow-burn connection. I really appreciated how layered their relationship was—it made their journey feel all the more real.

The murder mystery plot added great momentum, and the twists genuinely surprised me. Everything tied together in a really satisfying way by the end. And the mythology? Absolutely stunning—woven through the story in a way that felt natural and meaningful.

If you're into character-driven fantasy with a strong mythological thread and just the right amount of romance and suspense, I highly recommend this one. It’s one of those stories that sticks with you long after you finish.

5 at what age do babies learn to float out of 5.