I read Wicked Fox back in May for my mini-reading challenge. If you’d like to view my post on that, here’s the link. Its sequel, but marketed as a companion novel, Vicious Spirits came out last month. There will be slight spoilers to both books here.
Vicious Spirits begins a few months after the ending events in Wicked Fox. This time, instead of Miyoung and Jihoon being the main characters, they’re the side characters while Somin and Junu take the lead. While I like Somin, and it was interesting learning more about Junu through his POV, I missed having Miyoung as a main character. However, there were snippets of her POV throughout the book.
The small ragtag group of friends are picking up the pieces and trying to heal from what occurred at the end of Wicked Fox. But strange things are happening as a tear between the world of the living and that of the dead opens up. An old friend, a reaper, warns Junu what’s causing it and that it needs to be resolved within 7 days, creating a deadline for our heroes before one of the might die. As a consequence of the tear, spirits are manifesting more frequently, affecting mortals. This leads to a nice conflict as both Somin and Miyoung are faced with literal ghosts from their pasts.
I related a lot to Somin’s character with how she puts the happiness of others above her own, even lying to Jihoon for years to protect him. Her constant need to be strong and there as a shield for her friends hit close to home. I loved watching her grow and learn from Junu how to be her own person. And watching the friendship strengthen between Somin and Miyoung was amazing. I love how they supported each other, not only with guy troubles, but general life problems as well.
Overall I did enjoy Vicious Spirits, but it didn’t measure up to Wicked Fox. The plot line was concise and had good continuation. Even the small twist near the climax surprised me and worked wonderfully. I thoroughly loved the expansion of Korean folklore and mythology throughout along with learning more about Junu’s dokkaebi history. I missed seeing Changwan after liking him so much and I wanted to learn more about the reaper Hyuk. There were hints through his conversation with others, but I wanted to know more about the reapers in general and Hyuk.
I give Vicious Spirits 4.5/5 bangmangi
Kaylen Azalea Grimm 