Completed
Waffle
0 people found this review helpful
Oct 16, 2021
24 of 24 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 7.0
Story 9.5
Acting/Cast 9.0
Music 9.5
Rewatch Value 5.5

A basic summary of what I thought of this drama

So I'm going to start off by saying that I loved the story of this drama. The plot was interesting and the strong leads made it very enjoyable to watch. I liked the chemistry between the characters and how ties formed over time and gradually and not all of a sudden love at first sight kind of thing. This made the death of the characters even more heart breaking and sad. Getting to understand each and every character's intentions and personality well.

I do have a few complaints though. The acting in the first 2 episodes could have been a little bit better although it wasn't bad. The drama also wasted far too much time having characters stare at each other to the point where I had to fast forward 20 seconds of them looking into each other's eyes which got a little annoying.

Other than that this drama was well thought out and very fun to watch. It made me frustrated, happy, sad and horrified at the right times. The one line of 'I don't want to be a sad memory' made me bawl my eyes out. The ending was sweet and cute so it tied everything up well!

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Completed
Zhaoul
0 people found this review helpful
May 20, 2018
24 of 24 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 10
Story 9.0
Acting/Cast 10
Music 9.0
Rewatch Value 9.0
At the time of the dramas release, I knew it was popular but I didn't bother thinking it was probably over hyped. Well, there's a legit reason this drama was so popular.

Historical dramas can be long and drag, but the fantasy element in this drama is the essential glue that makes this drama so capturing and addictive. The romance is the essence that doesn't allow you to turn away and the actors steal the show.

Suzy and Lee Seung Gi are the absolute cutest and perfect pairing in this drama.

The drama is filled with action, fantasy, comedy, emotional turmoil, melodrama, romance, character development and heart.

It's really well done and it definitely managed to hit an emotional chord with me.

I think it's one of those dramas worth watching as a drama fan if you haven't seen it already, especially if you are a big fan of romance.

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Completed
Purpleempress
0 people found this review helpful
May 9, 2021
24 of 24 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 8.0
Story 7.5
Acting/Cast 8.5
Music 7.5
Rewatch Value 7.5
This review may contain spoilers
I took up this drama knowing that it does not have a satisfying end. I am not a fan of historical dramas,yet I picked this up mainly because of the cast. Even though they showed two gumihos , I liked how the actors protrayed adding their own nuances .Both seungi snd jin hyuk were amazing as gumihos.The story is cute and easygoing without giving much heart attack.I liked the parts with kangchi and gon and their cat and mouse relationship.suzy did a good job potraying yeo ul. And I really hated the villain. As I said eariler ending is not at all satisfactory and it doesn't gave you hope and they again meet under peach tree during crescent moon which impiles another misfortune I guess . The action was not something you would go wow.But it is pretty good in ts own way. In conclusion if you want see an easygoing drama with cute romance and some action go for it. P.s prepare some tissues as well.

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Completed
Pnguyen104
0 people found this review helpful
Jul 27, 2020
24 of 24 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 9.0
Story 9.0
Acting/Cast 9.5
Music 8.5
Rewatch Value 9.5
This review may contain spoilers
Watching this drama I didn't know what to expect because this was my first time watching Lee Seung Gi and Suzy together. I was already sad by the parents story in the beginning seeing as how they got separated, a few years later we relive that story with Lee Seung Gi's character Kang Chi and Suzy which turned out to be the same fate and was heartbreaking in the end with her death which made me cry ugh don't you just hate sad endings? A little later they end up meeting again in the modern world which was something that they made up for her death. This drama was a bit frustrating because it took way too long for the villian to die and how he got away with so many evil sins and when he finally got what he deserved that sigh of relief came from my mouth because karma comes back to strike at him. I would say watch this drama despite the sad moments that happens in this it is still a wonderful watch to see.

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Completed
Charliebyrd
0 people found this review helpful
Sep 22, 2021
24 of 24 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 8.0
Story 9.0
Acting/Cast 9.0
Music 7.0
Rewatch Value 8.0
This review may contain spoilers

GU???

The beginning is the closest Kdrama I've ever seen to a Xianxia Cdrama. It's starts off with the love story of Kang Chi's parents, but their accompanying love theme English choral music is dreadful! Thank God it's only for the first two episodes! Lee Seung-Gi just keeps going from strength to strength. He gives a magnetic performance that helps suspend your disbelief as the man is so charming & talented. Suzy Bae is very well cast as his leading plucky lady as they have incredible chemistry together, and it is a joy to watch their love unfold...especially that really long first kiss!!! Choi Jin-hyuk , plays his dad and in reality is only one year older than him! I wonder if he got a taste for playing supernatural roles through this, as he does seem to like them and well...he's really good at it and....ummmm....he looks smoking hot!!!
There are many memorable scenes & characters which make this drama so enjoyable. Despite the lightheartedness I actually find it to be quite a deep drama, in relation to how people react to the gumiho side of Kang Chi and you can put this into context in any modern hate crime and find solace from what they are saying.
The Turtle Ships & Admiral Yi are actually based on historical fact, which I found fascinating and a good intro into Korean history.
The Gu Family Book never actually makes an appearance and I wonder why it is actually the title, but it may just be a metaphor for love, as that's what keeps turning him back into his human form. Gu must stand for Gumiho, so it's their story which we are actually seeing that makes them human. As in the end when we see him in the future, he could have found the book in all those 422 yrs and kept it on standby for when he finally found Suzy, and then grown old with her. I have so many questions, but sadly no answers....there really should have been a Season 2 :(

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Ongoing 24/24
Panda Panda
0 people found this review helpful
Dec 16, 2020
24 of 24 episodes seen
Ongoing 0
Overall 7.0
Story 7.0
Acting/Cast 9.0
Music 10
Rewatch Value 6.0

Start getting interesting from episode 11

Getting to watch this series because I want to see Yoon Se Ah acting (love her acting especially in Sky Castle).

The first 10 episode, the story a bit boring, slow and like still trying to get into the right track. Only start from episode 11 then pace start to pick up and the story getting more interesting.

The thing I don't understand is why the story written in a way that fate of father and son is like inherited? the father died because of love, the son also suffers because of love. At the end of the day, the Gu Family Book is just a title, the series should be named as General Lee story :)
And funny thing is when YW got shot, she still can walk normally and eat until quite sometimes? Incredible, doesn't make sense

Acting : To me the acting of all the casts are good, especially Lee Seung Gi. Suzy acting a bit off. The rest of the cast thumbs up to the acting skill

The music are best! Especially Baek Ji Young, the queen of drama OST LOL

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Completed
Chloe Kaydee
0 people found this review helpful
Sep 15, 2021
24 of 24 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 8.0
Story 8.0
Acting/Cast 9.0
Music 9.0
Rewatch Value 5.0

If I Had To Choose Between A Korean Odyssey & Gu Family Book...

I would choose A Korean Odyssey.

Obviously the two shows are different and where one is a historical drama, the other isn't. However, they both have Lee Seung Gi playing the ML who is non-human.

Story: Don't get me wrong, I thoroughly enjoyed GFB and I didn't find myself bored or wishing for more throughout it. It didn't feel draggy and I don't feel as though it was lacklustre when it came to the romance - as other reviews have suggested. In some ways, this was a lot better than AKO and I also loved the communication and chemistry between the leads in this a lot better. But the ending did kind of ruin it for me (and not for the reason a lot of people probably think). I want to keep this spoiler free so I won't say anything except that it wasn't as beautiful and magnificent as the rest of the drama. Sure, there were plot wholes if you look closely, but that never took away from my enjoyment. Plus, I appreciated the amount of loyalty and trust present within the friendships/relationships. It was a nice break from other dramas that are built on miscommunication, misunderstanding, and lack of trust.

Acting/Cast: This drama was perfectly casted in my opinion. Most of the actors did amazing and even though I'm not really a fan of Bae Suzy's acting usually, this was probably my favourite performance from her. But that might have something to do with Lee Seung Gi being her partner; they had really great, believable chemistry.

Music: It was good but not amazing? It did it's job at the right moments and all that, but I've heard better soundtracks.

Rewatch Value: I gave this a 5 because of the ending and slow burn romance. It's not really something I think I would find myself rewatching. In saying that, I'm not someone who rewatches shows often anyway.

Overall: I would say this is definitely worth a watch. I genuinely love the drama and loved the experience of watching.

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Completed
ChocolateLover3000
0 people found this review helpful
Jan 28, 2019
24 of 24 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 8.5
Story 8.0
Acting/Cast 10
Music 7.0
Rewatch Value 9.0
If I was talented enough to write a drama, I would want to write a drama like Gu Family Book. It had so many elements that I love, romance, action and fantasy all against a historical backdrop. At times this story had a very epic feel like Star Wars or Lord of the Rings, though at the end it did not reach its epic potential, I did throughly enjoy this series.

The cast is amazing! Lee Seung Gi and Bae Suzy have crazy chemistry through out the series. I also appreciated that Suzy's character stayed a strong female character through out. Other notables were Yoo Yeon Sook and Choi Jin Hyuk in very attractive guy liner.

Just a warning, rape is implied a couple times through out the series. Nothing is shown but it is definitely implied.

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Completed
Sirenas
1 people found this review helpful
Oct 11, 2020
24 of 24 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 6.5
Story 6.0
Acting/Cast 7.0
Music 7.0
Rewatch Value 5.5
This review may contain spoilers
Very minor spoiler in this review:

I came to this series with hopes for some badass supernatural in a historical period but ended up with mainly lighthearted comedy, heavy romance, and just a bit of drama. It had potential but it was cluttered with both hits and misses.

Felt a pang of wanting to drop this within the first two episodes because the initial love story just didn't make much sense for multiple reasons. I needed to fill in justifications many times in the plot to continue watching. Example: For a being that supposedly has lived thousands of years, why would he feel the intense need to save his first human who wasn't really suffering that much comparably or even deserving of it? Love at first sight? Instead of being wise in all his years, he was too foolishly naive.

There was also almost no background story to many of the key characters which was really disappointing. The excess time spent on the romance and interaction of the second couple should have been spent on giving others some more depth. Although their coupled scenes weren't bad, I still fast-forwarded through a good portion of it. Fortunately the female lead was actually likeable, although they did water down her character near the end.

The transformation of our supernatural beings was just sad and really not believable when those around them supposedly became overly fearful of their "monstrous" image. They verbally tried to portray their "powers" as being overwhelming but it really fell flat when none of it really came into play during the fights. But at least it didn't fall into the tacky category.

Although there was little explanation of anything and the plot didn't flow very naturally, what saved the series was the camaraderie of all of our characters. The development of the relationship with our second couple was done much better than the first one. It was still fun to watch and I laughed out loud plenty of times. It's a good one for those looking for romance/comedy but not great for those looking for something with more action.

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Completed
Mimi Halo
1 people found this review helpful
Apr 2, 2016
24 of 24 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 10
Story 10
Acting/Cast 10
Music 10
Rewatch Value 10
This drama is one of the few..that has really kept me interested. Its very romantic and Action Filled. I Love the actors and the chemistry between the four main roles is really amazing. I recommend this to everyone.
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Completed
Natalie Lor
1 people found this review helpful
Oct 3, 2014
24 of 24 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 10
Story 9.5
Acting/Cast 9.5
Music 10
Rewatch Value 8.0
I LOVEDDD this drama so much! Choi Kang Chi ( Lee Seung Gi ) is the most charming character ever! I got instantly hooked the first episode! I STRONGLYYY recommend this drama! The cast is so charming and nice. Dam Yeo Wool ( Suzy Bae ) is so cute and clumsy I can't even. This drama has made me laugh and cry even. I recommend this drama very strongly!
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Completed
tariq
1 people found this review helpful
Mar 25, 2015
24 of 24 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 9.5
Story 9.5
Acting/Cast 10
Music 6.0
Rewatch Value 9.0
This review may contain spoilers
ohhhhhhh what can i say its a story about love, betrayal . for me this drama is 10/10 i cried lot of time and say y we human don't have heart to accept other i really love way they fall in love .

Lee Seung Gi
this is the 1st time i see his drama and i have to say he really the best acting totally fit in role if u see this drama girls really fall in love this guy :)


Suzy
this is the 1st time i see her drama and i fall in love with her. wow she is incredible actress mind blowing acting . i m crying like a baby ..

story
in this drama u can ask for every thing and u will be satisfied. the only thing i don't like is ending when suzy die

but its happy ending! :)

i really want next part
how they fall again

thank you

i hope i don't give u much spoilers

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Gu Family Book (2013) poster

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  • Score: 8.3 (scored by 21,248 users)
  • Ranked: #1065
  • Popularity: #275
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