Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Faeries

I'm probably a biased reviewer but this hit the spot for me on so many levels. 4.5/5.

I went into it completely blind but having heard generally good things about the book. Immediately, I was immediately caught by the trope of “female academic in a (sometimes fantasy) field in an AU of historical Europe”, which is something I've generally enjoyed in the past starting with Elizabeth Peters's Amelia Peabody series (studying Egyptology), Deanna Raybourn's Veronica Speedwell series (studying butterflies), and also Marie Brennan's The Memoirs of Lady Trent series (studying dragons). All of these female academics, as well as Emily Wilde, are generally curmudgeonly and a little prickly, with a bit of the modern 21st century “strong independent woman” vibe, but tampered with a hilariously sardonic voice that often makes their perspectives very enjoyable to read. Plus, most of these female academics are generally too busy ruminating about their field of choice in the book that there isn't too much time to keep dwelling on female independence and hitting the reader over the head with it - I prefer messages like this to be a normalized background theme rather than being too on the nose. The male love interests in these books always develop a healthy respect for the female protagonist (primarily because there would be no realistic way she could fall in love with a person who didn't), and having to keep a respectful distance from them and letting the love line develop on both people's terms.

So all that was done and great. It was only half way through that it suddenly struck me for the first time that this book was... basically a retelling of Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones, which also happens to be one of my favourite books of all time (and was before the film even came out). I later learnt that this was confirmed by the author in an interview, but I was really happy that the parallels were subtle enough that it took me half a book to figure it out, but obvious enough that I could feel the strong influence for sure even before I read any interview with the author. I've read so many HMC retellings at this point and feel that the best ones are the ones that don't market themselves as such, so I was delighted that this came through so subtly and so creatively too. As the plot develops, the book's parallels with HMC became more and more obvious, but I wasn't mad, and frankly I enjoyed the book even more after that.

The narrative of this book is generally quite slice of life, as it should be given that it is a journal of an academic in the field. There is a lot of information about the faeries in her world, but I thought it wasn't too info-dumpy and gave a lot of substance to the world-building. In particular, I enjoyed the kinds of faeries that inhabited this world too. Faeries are a pretty popular fantasy race to include in books these days, but they're often just another variation of the uber-hot elf trope. But in this one, faeries are much closer to the ones you might come across in actual fairy tales from the centuries ago. They're at best tricky to deal with, but can be downright dangerous, horrifying, cruel (and not in a oMg-sO-hOt way), and sadistic. Some of them are even described as looking like nightmare fuel. I love that, not everything and everyone has to be hot humans in a fantasy romance book.

And then, of course, there's the romance. I liked a lot about how understated it was, there wasn't any particularly huge dramatic moments, and we don't have the female protagonist conveniently but unrealistically not guessing a lot of things about the male love interest. She's intelligent and she's a scholar, so of course realistically she's going to have suspicions about certain things, not least his feelings for her long before he declares it, rather than be caught by surprise. It sacrifices the drama of the moment a bit, but I much prefer this.

So overall I really enjoyed this one. I am a little worried about the sequel though - often times a book that uses a tried-and-true formula from another book tends to flounder when it has to carry on from there onto a sequel because then they're on a bit on untested ground, but nevertheless I'll definitely be reading it when it comes out next year.

A slow start, slower than Howl's Moving Castle, which is the book I'd say is most similar/comparable. Our narrator isn't very friendly or really have much to recommend her, except for her passion for studying faerie. As with Howl's, the story picks up with Wendell's appearance, and it is their dynamic that compells you to devour the rest of the book. By the end, I felt like I read a satisfying sibling of Howl's Moving Castle, and given I'm obsessed with the book and movie editions, please take that as a compliment! Definitely a slow burn, as well, we will have to wait for the second book to get anything past a kiss on the hand or cheek. I really hope we'll get something a bit more, that Emily will thaw and allow herself to feel her feelings rather than deliberately shove them away. It's almost as if she's under a spell of her own making, that.

This was an adorable, lighthearted read that was amusing at times. I relate well to characters who are not very socially inclined but seem to have been taken under the wing of an extrovert.

There was a bit of adventure in the second half, but overall a delightfully easy read! I’m looking forward to the next books to see what other journeys Emily finds herself on!

A good book. Easy to read. The story is a very heart warming one too. Even though there are so many dangers involved, Em's adventures with Wendell were somehow delightful. The simple love of the villagers and the imagined life rules of the faeries were quite enchanting. I would definitely love to continue this series. 

This is another great book in the cosy fantasy, low stakes trend.

Emily is a Cambridge professor, working on gathering data about fairies, to compile an encyclopedia on the subject. Her studies brought her to the northern Norway, where she hopes to find evidence on the illusive Hidden Ones.

The story is told through her thorough and extensive journal notes, in a tone aligned with the 1909 setting.

The book is slow paced and it took me a bit to warm up to Emily character, and the writing style. After Wendell enters the story, things start to warm up, and Emily experiences several interesting and magical encounters that made me start enjoying the book.

I appreciate how hard working and dedicated Emily is, and how perfectly her personality is complemented by Wendell's.
I wish we had more of Wendell's POV as it should help readers warm their hearts to his character, and fully believe his character ARC. He reminded me a bit of Howl, so I would definitely recommend this book to Howl's fans.

I loved that the book interspersed Emily adventures with some fair folk stories, showing the parallelism of what was happening with some traditional fair folk lore.

Although I never visited Norway (it's on my bucket listo though), Heather's writing made me feel there. I could easily picture the setting and it brought me wonderful memories of Iceland.

This is a book written to slow us down. Recommend for fantasy and cosy fantasy readers, with a cup of a hot beverage of your preference.

I would like to thanks Little, Brown Book Group UK, Orbit and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

P.S: I would also like to thanks my wallet, and Amazon delivery system to my kindle, as I forgot I already owned the book when I requested the ARC. I guess this proves I really wanted to read this book

 This originally appeared at The Irresponsible Reader.

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What’s Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Faeries About? 

Emily Wilde is a dryadologist. Imagine, if you will, what post-Darwin scientists and naturalists were doing for the study of plants and animals in the late nineteenth/early twentieth centuries; or what Carter and the rest were doing in Egypt; but dryadologists are studying fairies (oh, in this world, they are as real as the tomb of Tutankhamun—she’s not a literary theorist). Humans have been dealing with fairies for centuries, but what we know about them is really limited. Mostly left to legends, tales told around the fire or in an inn—where a third or fourth-hand account is rare and as close to an eyewitness as most people will ever get. Emily and her counterparts throughout the world are seeking to bring that to an end. She has a position at Cambridge but is hoping her current project is the kind of thing that will secure her tenure and allow her to further her research. 

Her project is the first comprehensive Encyclopedia of Fairies (hence the title). She could publish what she has now and probably receive scholarly acclaim—and tenure. But she’s driven. She’s a completist. And, to be honest, she has a little bit of an ego and she wants more than probable acclaim. So she rents a small shack in a Norwegian village for a few months to try to find, interact with, and document the least-understood fairies in the world. The northern Hidden Ones (both the common and regal varieties) are powerful and secretive. They don’t interact much with humans—and when they do, it’s generally bad for the humans. If Emily can be the first to get any scholarly research done, it will definitely put her on the map. 

Sadly, as good as she is at dealing with and understanding Fairy, Emily is bad with humans. She has no people skills, is aware of it, and doesn’t care. But in this inhospitable climate, she really needs help to survive—much less to learn a lot about the Hidden Ones. 

Thankfully (?), soon after her arrival, a colleague/competitor—and her only friend—gatecrashes her trip and takes up residence in her shack with her. Wendell Bambleby is the very picture of a Victorian gentleman-scholar. He’s a charmer, and soon has the villagers eating out of his hand. He’s also pampered and demanding (would probably have been considered a bit of a dandy at the time)—and has a really hard time not wrapping his head around things like cooking for himself, working to keep the fire burning, etc. He’s decided that he’s going to collaborate with Emily (not really caring if she agrees) and that their work in Norway will be the thing to help him reclaim some academic respectability following a scandal. 

He may be under a cloud, but Wendell has connections and can open doors for Emily to get her the audience she really needs. So she accepts his proposal to collaborate, assuming she’s going to do almost all of the work. 

Things ensue. I really can’t say more than that. 

Poe 

The first fairy that Emily meets is a young brownie—she ends up referring to him as Poe. It’s great to see her in action with him. it shows that she does know what she’s doing—we don’t just have to take her word for it (not that we have any reason to think she’s lying, but it’s good to know). 

Poe really ends up showing us so much about Emily—and other characters, too. He’s ultimately so integral and important to the novel—and in a very real sense, not important to the plot in any way. But through his interactions (both that the reader sees on the page and those that happen “off-screen”) with various characters, so much of the plot becomes possible and the reader gains a whole lot of insight. Really, he was well, and cleverly, used by Fawcett. I can’t say it better without spending a few hundred spoiler-filled words, but the more I think about him, the more impressed I am by Fawcett. 

Knowing More than Emily 

Around the time—probably a little before—I figured out that the story of the novel isn’t really what you think it is, I figured out a couple of things that Emily is utterly blind to for a very long time. 

Knowing more than a protagonist can be frustrating—I spend a lot of time yelling at detectives in mystery novels in particular. But sometimes, it can be fun watching them catch up to the reader. Fawcett’s able to draw humor from us knowing things that Emily doesn’t. It also helps us empathize with both Emily and other characters as we see her work through various situations and conversations. 

And then, when Emily catches up with the reader—and reality—it’s all the more satisfying. Most/all of what we know that she doesn’t really wouldn’t be that believable if we learned it when she does. We get to spend many pages urging, “Come on, come on, come on…open your eyes/pay attention/etc.” And then, finally, cheer when she does. It’s the closest many readers will get to the position of a sportsball fan yelling at their TV to communicate to someone in a stadium miles/states away. 

Slamming on the Brakes 

I did have one significant problem with this book. As part of her research—part of her life, really—Emily specializes in stories about faeries. She shares some of them as part of her journal. It makes sense, they serve both the character and the overall novel. They’re truly fitting. 

However. 

It was like slamming the brakes on. Everything that had been building, all the tension, the momentum, the development, and so on all came to a rapid stop. And then picked up again after the stories. It reminded me of a time in Kevin Hearne’s Hammered when everything stopped for some of the characters to tell stories. As fun as those stories were, it really made that novel hard to get through (that series went on for 6 more books, two spin-off series, and a number of novellas and short stories—so the jarring stop was obviously not too catastrophic). 

If the transition to them had been smoother—or maybe they had been more spread out. Just something, I probably wouldn’t have mentioned them—or I’d have talked about what a great way it was for us to get an understanding of the Northern Fairies without an infodump. Instead, it came across as a stumble—one that the novel recovered from nicely. But in the moment, it really bugged me. 

So, what did I think about Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Faeries? 

Stick with me for a minute—I could tell from the opening pages that this was a well-composed and well-structured novel full of fantastic world-building. But it took longer for me to move beyond appreciation and admiration for what was being done to really care about it. I did, though, the book started out slowly and picked up momentum as it went—and as it did, I got more and more invested (and my appreciation and admiration increased, too). Somewhere around the mid-point, maybe a little later, I was as invested as is possible and only my notes tell me it took time for that. 

I think I just used too many words to say—it’s a slow burn of a novel in almost every conceivable way. Not unlike Emily’s rented shack—it takes a while for a fire to really start heating the place, but once it has time, it’s nice and toasty warm. 

There’s a lot I’d like to talk about, but I’m not sure how. I can see later installments being easier, but so much of the novel is about beginnings. To really talk about it would be to discuss the last 20% of the novel. And no one wants me to do that. 

Just because of my own prejudices, I could spend a few paragraphs on her dog, Shadow, too. As much as he deserves them, I’m going to leave it with “he’s a very good boy.” I hope to see more of him in the books to come, too. 

This book is rich in character, story, world-building (and world-revealing), magic, and subtlety. I’m not sure if you can be rich in subtlety, but Fawcett pulls that off. This is absolutely something I recommend and imagine the next few months are going to be filled with people gushing over this. Readers of this post might as well get in line now to be one of those gushing. 

Loved it, very cozy, but also an interesting plot. Emily is great, her social awkwardness is very relatable (Is she autistic-coded? Doesn't get people/social cues, obsessed with one topic/special interest, very logical. Saying that as an autistic person myself, I got those vibes) and I like that she is very capable in her field. Also loved Wendell, he's just very charming and funny and their banter together is great. Not to mention all the villagers and Poe of course! Just really enjoyed this book, perfect if you want to read something fun and lighthearted, but still exciting.

Also I love Shadow, big dogs that are sweet and loyal but protective are the best.

Emily Wilde's Encyclopaedia of Faeries is a cozy read in which you follow an academic as she goes to a small remote community and tries to navigate the intricacies of human relations while also trying to learn more about the Faeries that inhabit this region.
The coziness of the first half of the book made the final few chapters feel quite rushed, but still enjoyable. There are parts towards the end that sound much more like book 2 material instead of a book 1 conclusion, but overall definitely worth the read for anyone into cozy fantasies and faeries.

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.

*****
A cozy, fantastical tale of adventure and emotion... or should I say practicality? Alone in its style within the genre, it sets itself up as a challenge many authors may attempt but few succeed. Fawcett engages with the audience in the most enjoyable research paper I have had the fortune to read. A tale filled with enjoyable and enriching world-building, a reasonably-headed MC who writes in an intriguing format that at times feels slightly stilted but oh, how genius Fawcett is to use those moments to garner imperfections within her characters. A thoroughly entertaining read, filled with feelings of warmth, and connection, to what the idea of family really means. I am delighted to know their story continues, and cannot wait to delve further into Fawcett's world building and style. Read in one sitting without a check on the time!

I appreciate the traditional depiction of the fae and the tales referenced throughout the journal. Unfortunately the rest didn't work for me. Emily goes to a northern island village just before winter and everything is terrible. The cottage, the food, the locals, the sheep, the pre-winter snows. I set the book aside for two weeks because the sheep were such jerks! Her coworker Bambleby showing up fixes some of those things and she can dedicate her energy toward complaining about him.

Emily ends up in peril and requiring rescue a lot. Her knowledge of fae stories helps resolve many conflicts but her overconfidence lands her in even more peril.

This is the second time I am reading this book - the first was for book club, and now to refresh my memory of it before jumping into the sequel.

I think I loved this book so much more the second time around than the first. When I read it last year, I had only rated it 3 stars, but it is definitely a 4-star book for me now.

I loved the world that Fawcett has created in this novel. I loved the characters - especially Emily. This cosy fantasy world is inhabited by faeries and other odd beings, filled with wit and dry humour. I enjoyed the banter between Emily and Wendell so much more this time.

I'm genuinely looking forward to book 2 now.