Book Review: Wicked Fox

“…But I’ve never heard of a person’s soul falling out.”
Quick Review: friends to lovers, #ownvoices, Korean urban fantasy, novelized manga

Wicked Fox
Kat Cho

Do you like slice of life, romance manga, but wish for something a little meatier? Do you like non-eurocentric mythos and #ownvoices works of supernatural YA fiction? Are you a fan of K-dramas? Wicked Fox is what you’re looking for as your next read.

Wicked Fox is the story of a nine tailed fox, or gumiho, Gu Miyong who makes the mistake of saving a human boy named Jihoon from a goblin in the woods after a recent move back to Seoul. Ordinarily, such indiscretion would be solved swiftly by her mother, the imposing and deadly Yena, but Miyong has bigger problems, her fox bead has come loose, and with it her ability to control the monstrous side of her as well. Starting a new school is always hard, but with Jihoon in her class and her fox bead loose, Miyong is in for a new kind of difficult as she struggles to keep these alarming secrets from her mother. Dark and murderous forces are gathering, can Miyong and Jihoon’s tenuous relationship survive the storm?

Holy high school drama, Batman. Wicked Fox, despite its Korean-supernatural premise, has a lot of high school melodrama. The same kind I’d expect out of manga or a K-drama, to be honest. In some ways, I found it to be a good example of “how to deal with bullies” on teen terms without involving an adult. Because it helps to have tools for dealing with assholes that don’t hinge on an adult believing you, or escalating the bullying as retaliation for reporting it if believed. Children are cruel. And Wicked Fox does a good job of exploring the cultural microcosm of what school is like when you don’t fit in.

It also does a good job of showing friends how to support someone being bullied, rather than trying to protect them and inadvertently making it worse. Which isn’t something that gets shown a lot in American media, to our detriment really. The friendship between Jihoon and Miyong has its ups and downs, to be sure, but their romance blooms in an organic way that doesn’t feel rushed. Time is an important aspect of the novel, so the passing of it makes their relationship feel realistic.

Additionally, if you’re a fan of shared umbrella tropes, there are more scenes that feel like they’ve been lifted from the pages of a manga as the romance between Jihoon and Miyong blossoms.

The plot structure of the novel was a little all over the place unfortunately. The beginning was very atmospheric, but also slow. So slow. I felt like I was really getting a glimpse at Seoul, but then the ending was just one plot twist after another. It was almost too much to keep track of everything that was happening. The reading time put in to get to that point was barely enough to justify it. I didn’t have a sense of closure with the ending either, and none of it lent itself to building excitement for a sequel.

Wicked Fox can, in my opinion, stand alone. The epilogue felt unnecessary and didn’t add anything beyond confusion to my reading experience.  In fact, I was happy to think of it as a standalone. I don’t know how Cho will expand on the mythos she’s working with in a way that doesn’t feel overshadowed by the character drama.

Overall, a good book that is ideal for readers looking to explore different cultures, and great for manga fans to transition into a “traditional” format. I probably won’t read the sequel, but that’s just me. This is a book that knows its audience well, and when the right person finds it, fireworks will happen.

Read-a-likes: Renegades by Marissa Meyer