A monster - born of stolen souls, born to steal hearts.
A boy - captured by goblins, the sole wielder of a killer's heart.
One choice - an immortal existence for a single human life.
I recently read Wicked Fox by Kat Cho, and I have to say, it's pretty good.
Set in modern Seoul, Wicked Fox is the story of a young Gumiho (nine-tailed fox) named Miyoung Gu. Beautiful and powerful, she attends school by day, and hunts "evil men" by night. Having been raised in a human society, Miyoung loathes feeding on human soul, the only true way for her to feed. One night, while feeding, Miyoung is ambushed by a goblin, and caught in the crosshairs of the resulting fight is none other than a human boy.
Jihoon Ahn, none other than the aforementioned human boy, has it all. Brains, a heck of a backstory, an irresistible smile, and a problem.
A very big problem, in the form of a beautiful girl named Miyoung Gu...
I liked this book because it 1. Cleverly integrates ancient Korean folklore into the hustle and bustle of a modern-day romance, 2. The male lead (Jihoon) is often so very cliché, but not overwhelmingly so, 3. Miyoung falls considerably less into the trope-bin, which is an interesting contrast to Jihoon, and 4. It interweaves love and betrayal, especially non-romantic.
Ancient myths are hard to understand. With the rise of myth-based fiction, people are getting into learning about the stories of early people, but many still don't realize the depth and culture of those myths. In Wicked Fox, setting the story in Korea only makes the stories of the Dokkaebi goblins and mystical shamans all the more alive alongside steaming plates of tteokbokki rice cakes and dishes piled high with kimbap. As Jihoon stumbles ever deeper into the web of Miyoung's life, he knows there's always a hug and a warm meal waiting from his grandmother, his Halmeoni. (Until there isn't... but I'll leave you to read about it for yourself!)
Jihoon Ahn is probably what I'd consider a "dream boy" or a "prince charming". He's almost literally the stereotypical male-hero-guy-that-comes-in-to-save-the-beautiful-princess kind of person, and when he first meets Miyoung, I'm not gonna lie it is very enjoyable to read along as he chases after her and protects her from the unwanted eyes of jealous girls (and boys) at their school. As their story gets more complicated, however, a terrible secret is revealed (no, not that Miyoung is a gumiho, more terrible than that), unleashing a sequence of events that distances Miyoung from Jihoon, both figuratively and literally. This distance builds resentment within Jihoon, and when Miyoung returns, she struggles to regain his trust.
Miyoung Gu, on the other hand, breaks most clichés about being a strong, beautiful, powerful heroine. At the beginning, one might think she is quite like a typical main character - a monster who wishes to be human, a girl struggling with her own identity. Even after meeting Jihoon at school, she often seems like a character in a typical "sugar and fire" romance story: initially hostile and aggressive, leading towards an eventual ahhhh i'm in love with a stupid head ending. That kind of story is often lots of cheese and too much cringe. However, the reader will soon realize that she is no ordinary romance story character. She has so much more depth and personality, rounding out her power with a sometimes heroic, often selfish conscience. However, all of her flaws only serve to make her more human, more like the conflicted youngling she is, torn between her monstrous vessel and her human kindness.
NON. ROMANTIC. LOVE. AND. BETRAYAL. Can you believe? Alongside the aforementioned "distance" (read the book to find out what this means!), Miyoung and Jihoon both have questionable pasts, leading to both of them forming relations with sketchy people. In Miyoung's case, her mother's own tragic history catches up with her, causing some major plot turns. In Jihoon's situation, the fact that his parents haven't been mentioned yet is a source of suspicion... And in the story, this fact is mirrored and is an emotional weakness for Jihoon, later exploited by perpetrators of a climactic incident.
With all of this in mind, I'd definitely recommend this book.
Happy reading!
Elan Pan
A boy - captured by goblins, the sole wielder of a killer's heart.
One choice - an immortal existence for a single human life.
Night and darkness made a believer of everyone.
I recently read Wicked Fox by Kat Cho, and I have to say, it's pretty good.
Set in modern Seoul, Wicked Fox is the story of a young Gumiho (nine-tailed fox) named Miyoung Gu. Beautiful and powerful, she attends school by day, and hunts "evil men" by night. Having been raised in a human society, Miyoung loathes feeding on human soul, the only true way for her to feed. One night, while feeding, Miyoung is ambushed by a goblin, and caught in the crosshairs of the resulting fight is none other than a human boy.
By the end of the lunch rush, he'd almost completely forgotten about fox-girls and goblins.
Jihoon Ahn, none other than the aforementioned human boy, has it all. Brains, a heck of a backstory, an irresistible smile, and a problem.
A very big problem, in the form of a beautiful girl named Miyoung Gu...
I liked this book because it 1. Cleverly integrates ancient Korean folklore into the hustle and bustle of a modern-day romance, 2. The male lead (Jihoon) is often so very cliché, but not overwhelmingly so, 3. Miyoung falls considerably less into the trope-bin, which is an interesting contrast to Jihoon, and 4. It interweaves love and betrayal, especially non-romantic.
Ancient myths are hard to understand. With the rise of myth-based fiction, people are getting into learning about the stories of early people, but many still don't realize the depth and culture of those myths. In Wicked Fox, setting the story in Korea only makes the stories of the Dokkaebi goblins and mystical shamans all the more alive alongside steaming plates of tteokbokki rice cakes and dishes piled high with kimbap. As Jihoon stumbles ever deeper into the web of Miyoung's life, he knows there's always a hug and a warm meal waiting from his grandmother, his Halmeoni. (Until there isn't... but I'll leave you to read about it for yourself!)
Jihoon Ahn is probably what I'd consider a "dream boy" or a "prince charming". He's almost literally the stereotypical male-hero-guy-that-comes-in-to-save-the-beautiful-princess kind of person, and when he first meets Miyoung, I'm not gonna lie it is very enjoyable to read along as he chases after her and protects her from the unwanted eyes of jealous girls (and boys) at their school. As their story gets more complicated, however, a terrible secret is revealed (no, not that Miyoung is a gumiho, more terrible than that), unleashing a sequence of events that distances Miyoung from Jihoon, both figuratively and literally. This distance builds resentment within Jihoon, and when Miyoung returns, she struggles to regain his trust.
Miyoung Gu, on the other hand, breaks most clichés about being a strong, beautiful, powerful heroine. At the beginning, one might think she is quite like a typical main character - a monster who wishes to be human, a girl struggling with her own identity. Even after meeting Jihoon at school, she often seems like a character in a typical "sugar and fire" romance story: initially hostile and aggressive, leading towards an eventual ahhhh i'm in love with a stupid head ending. That kind of story is often lots of cheese and too much cringe. However, the reader will soon realize that she is no ordinary romance story character. She has so much more depth and personality, rounding out her power with a sometimes heroic, often selfish conscience. However, all of her flaws only serve to make her more human, more like the conflicted youngling she is, torn between her monstrous vessel and her human kindness.
NON. ROMANTIC. LOVE. AND. BETRAYAL. Can you believe? Alongside the aforementioned "distance" (read the book to find out what this means!), Miyoung and Jihoon both have questionable pasts, leading to both of them forming relations with sketchy people. In Miyoung's case, her mother's own tragic history catches up with her, causing some major plot turns. In Jihoon's situation, the fact that his parents haven't been mentioned yet is a source of suspicion... And in the story, this fact is mirrored and is an emotional weakness for Jihoon, later exploited by perpetrators of a climactic incident.
With all of this in mind, I'd definitely recommend this book.
Happy reading!
Elan Pan
While I typically don't read books that are so otherworldly- with like goblins and stuff- this does seem like an interesting book. I love the format you wrote this book in- it makes the story seem very interesting. I will say though- if you're adding accents (you really don't have to be that extra lol) make sure the font stays the same bc it can be kinda distracting to read like that
ReplyDeleteAh yes, sorry about that. That was very unintentional, and I'll try to get it fixed!
DeleteUpdate: went through the (rather buggy) HTML, removed some extremely unecessary subclasses, and it should be fixed. Thanks for letting me know!
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