Stevie‘s review of Wicked Fox (Gumiho, Book 1) by Kat Cho
Contemporary Young Adult Fantasy Romance published by G.P. Putnam’s Sons 25 Jun 19
My favourite trickster character from international folklore is the nine-tailed fox, a trope I’m most familiar with in the form of the Japanese kitsune. So I was very excited to spot this retelling of the Korean version of the legend: the gumiho (or kumiho in some renderings into English). As I’ve read next to no fiction set in Korea (present day or otherwise), the setting of this novel gave me an additional incentive to read it. The story begins with our heroine making use of both modern technology and ancient magic to track down an evil man.
Gu Miyoung is a gumiho and, like all of her kind, she needs to feed on the energy of humans in order to survive. Unlike the others – including her mother – she refuses, however, to take innocent lives or to inflict a painful death on her victims. This means she can only hunt at full moon – when her powers are strongest – and relies on a young shaman, who can communicate with the recently deceased, to find evil men to kill, thus bringing closure to their victims. While tracking her latest prey, Miyoung strays deep into the forest and encounters a human boy who is being attacked by a dokkaebi – a goblin. Miyoung rushes to aid the boy, and although she eventually kills the dokkaebi, the magic it uses in the fight causes her to become separated from her yeowu guseul – the fox bead believed to house a gumiho’s soul. Fearing that the boy has seen too much, Miyoung swears him to secrecy before making a rapid exit, hoping never to see him again.
Ahn Jihoon was in the forest to exercise his grandmother’s dog. After his encounter with two beings he’d previously thought only existed in the bedtime stories told to him by his halmoni, he returns home expecting never to see the girl again. However, he meets her twice in rapid succession: once in a dream and then again the next day at school, where she is introduced as a new transfer pupil. Jihoon tries to befriend Miyoung and is at first rebuffed, although she is eventually forced to recognise that she needs the support of Jihoon and his friends if she is to avoid the attentions of the mean kids at school.
Outside school, Miyoung and her shaman friend search for ways to replace the yeowu guseul – stashed safely in one of Miyoung’s pocket – in its rightful place within Miyoung’s body. Their search for information and talismans to help in their proposed ritual leads them into contact with more legendary beings, as well as with friends and enemies from Miyoung’s past, and that of her mother. Meanwhile, a detective is investigating the mysterious deaths of a number of men in and around Seoul, and his suspicions fall upon both Miyoung – as perpetrator – and Jihoon – as one who is helping a criminal evade justice.
Things get ever more complicated for our protagonists as their families get caught up in both searches, and some of their supposed friends turn out to have ulterior motives that are at odds with their claims to be helping. Eventually, all this outside interference puts the lives of Jihoon and his halmoni at risk, and Miyoung is forced to choose between her mother and her former friends, as well as her new friends.
I enjoyed this book a lot, especially the glimpses into different aspects of Korean life and folklore. Some parts of the middle section – after the big showdown between Miyoung and her mother – dragged a little, and it was difficult to know how much time had passed. On the other hand, I liked that all loose ends appeared to have been tied up by the final chapter, allowing the book to stand alone if need be, although the epilogue then hints at more adventures to come.
Grade: B
Summary:
Eighteen-year-old Gu Miyoung has a secret–she’s a gumiho, a nine-tailed fox who must devour the energy of men in order to survive. Because so few believe in the old tales anymore, and with so many evil men no one will miss, the modern city of Seoul is the perfect place to hide and hunt.
But after feeding one full moon, Miyoung crosses paths with Jihoon, a human boy, being attacked by a goblin deep in the forest. Against her better judgment, she violates the rules of survival to rescue the boy, losing her fox bead–her gumiho soul–in the process.
Jihoon knows Miyoung is more than just a beautiful girl–he saw her nine tails the night she saved his life. His grandmother used to tell him stories of the gumiho, of their power and the danger they pose to men. He’s drawn to her anyway.
With murderous forces lurking in the background, Miyoung and Jihoon develop a tenuous friendship that blossoms into something more. But when a young shaman tries to reunite Miyoung with her bead, the consequences are disastrous and reignite a generations-old feud . . . forcing Miyoung to choose between her immortal life and Jihoon’s.
Read an excerpt.
