Emily Wilde's Encyclopaedia of Faeries

Emily Wilde is a scholar from a 19th century Cambridge (UK), but in a world where the Fae are elusive but very much accepted as real. While continuing her work to complete the Encyclopedia of Fairies of the title, she travels to investigate the Fae of Scandinavia, and we follow her tale through her journal entries. What’s clever is a unusual and sensitive portray of Emily, who we see finally able to overcome some social ineptitude and start a slow-burning romance with her dashing academic rival and Cambridge colleague, Wendell, who of course has a mysterious background. My favourite parts were the Fae stories themselves (including the interludes outside the plot - literal stories within the story presented as journal footnotes); there’s nothing particularly new there, everything is very traditional folklore - it’s just very well done. What does jar is that the author clearly has no idea of Cambridge academia (tenure is a concept that is neither Cambridge nor period), although we don’t spend too much time in that setting for it to be the problem it could be. For an expert on the Fae, Emily does also find herself trapped and take odd actions just a little too easily. A lighter read, but with some memorable darkness and some humour, but not enough for me to instantly want to buy the sequel.

(This is my original review from Goodreads, I read it in January and reread it this December. Easily a book I'm going to continue returning to yearly.)

I went into this book highly skeptical of it being able to pull off the combination of academics and fantasy, but it is now easily one of my favorite books in its genre.

The characters each have their own voices and distinct characterizations; from gruff but kindhearted townsfolk, to the "mousy" but dedicated main character, to, of course, the flamboyant but loving love interest, who I found was delightful to read.

The world is as fun to read about as the characters. Fawcett has a beautiful way of narrating that makes everything feel fresh and interesting, which only makes it more powerful when the characters come upon anything magical in their environment.

The book isn't perfect. In some spots the story felt a little thin, like there wasn't really anything connecting a couple of the events to the main storyline. But that just meant that we got to meet more characters and find greater depth in characters we already knew, so I don't really have any complaints about that. The events were still engaging, but didn't always fit in perfectly with the main plot is all I'm saying.

5/5 for making me want to immediately devour the next book, for having the cutest love story I've ever read, and having me laying in bed giggling and kicking my feet while reading the bickering between the main characters. I recommend this book to anyone who is interested in a scientific approach to the fae, a fun frenemies to lovers story, and a plot that will have you loving every character for each of their quirks.

4.5 stars.

This first book in the adult series "Emily Wilde" was not perfect, but it's the first time I have read a book like this one, making it difficult for me to rate it. I see all the aspects which need some improvement and I see why this book doesn't work for several people. Nonetheless, I have enjoyed much more than I expected because I could relate to Emily. I will start listing the cons and then come back to the reasons why it is still worked out for me.

Most of the issues are just the consequences of the diary format. Emily brings with her a fieldwork notebook and we see her entries over a time of 6 months. This means that we have only Emily's point of view (besides for a couple of entries by Wendell), leaving the characterization of othe characters very limited. On the other hand, I noticed the efforts and the very well crafted writing to create depth.
Also, Emily feels very real and human with her imperfections and weaknesses. I could follow her reasoning and motivations.

The plot is, in my opinion, the weakest aspect of this book. The pace was very slow for the first two thirds and little happened, while the finale feels very rushed. I didn't mind though, because it mirrored the fact that Emily was getting adjusted to a new place, people, routine, etc. It also had this kinda of "cozy" feeling or "slice-of-life" vibe, which I enjoyed it. I would have appreciated some pages more to give more space to the conclusion. Also, where did the students end up? At the beginning it is mentioned that they were gone, but nobody cared about them.

To sum it up, I enjoyed the vibes and could connect with Emily in a way that rarely happens. Probably it's because I love dogs and I am doing my PhD, but I also shared Emily's curiosity. That made me stand the negative aspects much easier. If you are into a comfortable winter read with a nice protagonist and story, I would recommend you reading it.