Reviews with content warning for Injury/Injury detail - Emily Wilde's Encyclopaedia of Faeries

This is one of the books I give 5 stars and a sparkle for being one of the books that will stick with me forever. I absolutely adore Emily. While she is not canonized as having autism in the book, due to her difficulty expressing her emotions and communicating with others, I often refer to her as "Our Autistic Queen".

I loved how closely the village becomes with her by the end, and how even when thinking of how they have become her family, she is still lost on what degree of physical affection she should give them when bidding farewell. And after she chops of her finger to avoid the enchantment of the winter fairy king, and then goes to him anyway because she just "has to know how the story ends", I found myself screaming "Emily!" at midnight alone in my house. (Talking to yourself at midnight at book is a sign of a very good book.) I also loved the development of Wendall throughout the book. When he was first introduced, I thought he was going to be a dry, doting scholar. But with the name-dropping of him being fae at the beginning of the book, to the characterization of his combination laziness and obsessive-compulsive cleaning and sewing disorder, I fell in love. His charm and Emily's wit make such a beautiful combination, and his proposal was the chef's kiss. I love how well they balance each other out, especially seen in the scenes when he helps her integrate with the village and when she forces him to do proper fieldwork. And while the footnotes were annoying to being with, I liked how they not only added to the validity of Emily's character, but also set up the second book.

All in all, one of the best books I've ever read. I will mourn this series when it is finished, but love it all the while as I wait for more.

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emily_caitlin's review

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adventurous funny informative medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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shaylatrumpower's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny informative lighthearted mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This is one of the most delightful books I've ever read. Emily Wilde and Wendell Bambleby are the most adorable characters in completely different ways. I love their dynamic and I usually try not to describe things with tropes but they are a pure grumpy/sunshine friendship if I ever came across one. Their banter had me kicking my legs in glee at times.
I enjoyed the plot. While the journal narrative is too precise to be believable as a genuine journal, I found it to be engaging and a perfect fit for the story and the footnotes are a lot of fun. Fawcett obviously put a lot of research into faerie lore. She includes many well known faerie myths while putting her own spin on them and it works well. She does not stray from the darker side of faerie lore either, which I appreciated.
The villagers, while mostly side characters, were well developed. Poe the brownie
This is my top read of 2024 so far.

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gardens_and_dragons's review against another edition

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adventurous funny lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Very enjoyable! I really liked the curmudgeonly professor Emily Wilde, her dog Shadow, the charming Brambleby, and all the villagers in this novel. It was an interesting premise of a faerie bargain story, the way her research of Faeries takes her to the cold village of Hrafnsvik, where she is adding additional research for her encyclopedia on folktale creatures. Except, in this world, everyone knows that the fair folk are real and dangerous.

I would say that this is mostly a lighthearted cozy fantasy with a small bit of romance, but it does have some dark parts, as the faerie are chaotic creatures that have their own morals and rituals.

Also yeah, I loved the main love interest: he’s great, he’s charming, he’s sees Emily for who she is and loves her anyways.

"You don’t have to stay with me."

"I prefer your company, Em."

"Over the company of a tavern filled with a rapt and grateful audience? I’m sure you do."

"Over anyone else’s company."

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bcvogel90's review against another edition

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adventurous funny medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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kiwij96's review against another edition

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adventurous lighthearted relaxing medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

A couple of things: books need to stop being advertised as romantasy when the only "romantic" event was the FMC saying she liked the MMC's hair, and the MMC professing his love for the FMC out of absolutely nowhere. Considering that even in the book summary, it says "she'll have to unlock the greatest mystery of all - her heart", Emily Wilde barely unlocks her personality.

I genuinely do not know what the plot was supposed to be: academic fantasy; romantasy; general fantasy. Because it began as a light fae academia, and slowly but surely descended into chaos by page 200. Somehow it ended up in Cruel Prince territory with absurd professions of love, an act of self mutilation, and fae royalty. Also the events of the last 100 pages were so erratic and at times out-of-character for the FMC, it didn't suit the story at all.

The events of the story happened at odd paces, with weird and vague descriptions on how conclusions were being made, and also events just being too conveniently solved. For this reason I don't thing the diary entry style of chaptering did it any favours.

This would have worked so much better as a rivals to friends type relationship in an academic setting for sure. There was no chemistry between the characters for a romance to be justified in 315 pages personally.

That said though, it was a great concept and I would probably read again (just in case it was a result of reading it out of season with this having a more winter vibe), and I liked the idea of the academic research into different fae cultures. I am hoping the sequel explores this in more depth. The worldbuilding was fantastic, the writing was mostly descriptive and was easy to read at a nice pace. Just kinda lost the plot a bit towards the end there. Could definitely have been more academic.

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bearwithhat's review against another edition

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adventurous funny lighthearted mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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