Name: The God and the Gwisin
Rating: 3.833333333333333 (3 reviews)
ISBN: 9780593599686

Sophie Kim

The God and the Gwisin

In this swoony sequel to The God and the Gumiho, a trickster god must work with his reincarnated lost love to solve his brother’s murder on board a luxury underworld cruise ship. Seokga the No-Longer-Fallen is working on himself. Reinstated as a god, the trickster now attends much-needed therapy, even as he desperately searches for his lost love, Hani. But when the red thread of fate tangled around his finger—signaling Hani’s reincarnation—leads Seokga to a luxury cruise down the river of the dead, the woman he finds waiting for him isn’t Hani . . . she’s Yoo Kisa, and she has no memory of him. Yoo Kisa is exhausted with her afterlife. While she’d hoped the underworld would be peaceful, whoever she was in a past life racked up quite the karmic debt, and now she must pay it, working thanklessly aboard the SRC Flatliner. Even worse, the red thread wrapped around her pinky followed her into the underworld . . . and although her fated partner has found her, he seems to find her lacking. When the heavenly emperor is murdered aboard the ship, Seokga and Kisa must solve the crime before the cruise ends. As the mystery draws them closer, the god and the gwisin will have to decide what they truly mean to each other. But there’s something bigger at play aboard the SRC Flatliner, something that holds the key to Kisa and Seokga’s fated connection—and the fate of the mortal and heavenly realms.

Steph

Thank you NetGalley for the advanced copy! After what The God and the Gumiho put me through, I needed this ARC because there’s no way I was waiting to find out if my favourite god gets his happy ending. The God and the Gwisin picks up shortly after book one, with a heartbroken Seokga desperately searching for Hani. He’s so down bad he ends up in therapy—which is kind of hilarious but also refreshing? I love that the author chose to humanise him like that. Even gods need help sometimes. To get him out of his funk, his brother and therapist convince him to go on a cruise... where, surprise, someone gets murdered. So this turns into Death on the Nile but make it Asian, with gods, spirits, and magical creatures. The vibes? Immaculate. I loved the plot—it’s quirky, humorous, and feels like a cosy fantasy murder mystery. But as with the first book, the real heart of the story is Seokga and his love interest. Sophie Kim absolutely nails that emotional core again. If I had one tiny gripe, it’s the occasional tell-don’t-show moments. Sometimes I wanted the writing to let scenes unfold more naturally instead of summarising them. But honestly? That didn’t take away from my overall enjoyment. Loved this book. Loved the ending. My god is happy. I’m happy.

To be fair, I did really enjoy this book - the writing was still solid, there was another interesting murder-mystery, and the character development and progression from book 1 was solid. BUT. I LOVED the first book - it was honestly such a sleeper hit for me and an instant 5 stars when I read it. The enemies to lovers, grumpy sunshine, hard-boiled detective duo was just done so well, and I LOVED Hank as a character. I was really looking forward to her being reincarnated and seeing how that turned out but spoiler alert: it was boring. Sophie Kim made Kisa SO BORING, and uptight, and personally almost like she was the antithesis of Hani. Seokga and Kisa’s love doesn’t feel as earned to me, especially since they had the red thread of fate marking them as soulmates. And even though Kisa did come out of her shell a bit, it was just disappointing. Kim also made Seokga WAY more bumble-y detective-wise - to the point where he and the rest of the crew were making downright dumb decisions. I liked the villain and the ending, but it all felt too easy and like it was over in a flash. Not at all like how the first book was. I’m curious if there will be a third considering how this one ended, but I’m honestly not sure if I’d read it considering that I’m not that invested in Kisa and honestly I just miss Hani every time we’re in her head. 

The God and the Gwisin

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