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ewalkergrace's review against another edition
adventurous
hopeful
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Injury/Injury detail, and Kidnapping
Moderate: Animal death, Violence, and Confinement
Minor: Alcohol
jessiereads98's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
I really enjoyed this book. The autistic representation in the main character, Emily Wilde, is really well done. It does not feel clunky or heavy handed or like a caricature. The character is also more than just her autistic traits. I also thought the world building in this book was really well done. The fae and their magic system were compelling while feeling familiar. The exposition fit into the story naturally. Wendell Bambleby is more Emily’s academic nuisance than academic rival. There were things brought up like his fraudulent research which seemed like a big deal, but weren’t really explored beyond being mentioned. Although, I suspect those things may be explored more in future books. Overall, this story weaves together romance, community, adventure, and folklore in a way that is fun and interesting.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Animal death, Blood, Confinement, Kidnapping, Injury/Injury detail, and Violence
Minor: Medical content, Gore, Alcohol, Body horror, Murder, and Child abuse
kbairbooks's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
funny
mysterious
relaxing
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
I really enjoyed this book despite having a little bit of a hard time getting into it at first because of the academic verbiage. Despite said academic verbiage, I felt like the details and descriptions of environments and things and people and customs were quite lovely. I love the small town, Village vibes and the found family aspects, and I also loved what I perceived to be great autism representation. I love how the villagers grew to understand and love Emily, regardless of her difficulties, and struggles with communication. I love that she equally grew to love them in a way she had never anticipated. I also would have loved to see an explicit scene? At least one. I don’t know, but I felt like I missed out on that opportunity lol. I also don’t entirely know what the conclusion of the scene at the castle was near the end, but despite that, I am still pleased with the ending. I really enjoyed this book, and I really enjoyed the characters, and I really enjoyed the connections to the characters as well as between the characters to each other and I’m very excited for book two.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, and Violence
Moderate: Alcohol and Child abuse
beautifulpaxielreads's review against another edition
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
Emily Wilde's Encyclopaedia of Faeries (hence Emily) was pretty much a delight from start to finish.
Set in the early years of the twentieth century, it follows the titular Emily, one of the foremost scholars in the study of faeries, rivalled only by her colleague, the infuriatingly handsome and charming Wendell Bambleby, who for all of his charisma Emily finds just the slightest bit uncanny.
Emily has just arrived in the tiny village of Hrafnsvik on the island of Ljosland (a fictional place which from the descriptions of the landscape and character names seems to be based on Iceland) from her native England, where she intends to research the lives of the island's faerie-folk for the world-first faerie encyclopedia, which is very near to completion.
She is also not a people person, preferring to spend her time either buried in paperwork or trampling through the countryside, making a study of the beings that look set to be her life's work. The village folk of Hrafnsvik do not know what to make of her and her - to them - odd behaviour.
Emily thinks her trip to Hrafnsvik will be like all the other field trips she has made - uneventful and productive. But she is soon to be proved wrong in the most spectacular, infuriating and heartwarming of ways.
Is it obvious how much I enjoyed this? Freya Marske, the author of A Marvellous Light, describes Emily thus:
Set in the early years of the twentieth century, it follows the titular Emily, one of the foremost scholars in the study of faeries, rivalled only by her colleague, the infuriatingly handsome and charming Wendell Bambleby, who for all of his charisma Emily finds just the slightest bit uncanny.
Emily has just arrived in the tiny village of Hrafnsvik on the island of Ljosland (a fictional place which from the descriptions of the landscape and character names seems to be based on Iceland) from her native England, where she intends to research the lives of the island's faerie-folk for the world-first faerie encyclopedia, which is very near to completion.
She is also not a people person, preferring to spend her time either buried in paperwork or trampling through the countryside, making a study of the beings that look set to be her life's work. The village folk of Hrafnsvik do not know what to make of her and her - to them - odd behaviour.
Emily thinks her trip to Hrafnsvik will be like all the other field trips she has made - uneventful and productive. But she is soon to be proved wrong in the most spectacular, infuriating and heartwarming of ways.
Is it obvious how much I enjoyed this? Freya Marske, the author of A Marvellous Light, describes Emily thus:
...winter-sunshined, sharp-tongued and footnoted academia, full of field trips and grumpy romance.
I wholeheartedly agree with Marske that Emily is all of these things - and so much more. It's a grumpy romance between two opposite-minded but somehow compatible individuals (no, I won't tell you who, that would spoil), it's a well-thought-out fantasy of what faerie scholarship would look like if faeries actually existed and were studied, and most of all, it's the story of a young woman learning to accept love and friendship into her life. Although it's never stated explicitly in the book - it would be an anachronism given the time period in which the novel is set - I, like others, believe Emily's behaviour and characteristics to be neurodivergent, though specifics are unclear.
What is clear is that reading about Emily's adventures was a great deal of fun for me, and I can't wait to see what she and Bambleby get up to in the sequel.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Murder, Emotional abuse, Medical content, Ableism, Alcohol, Body horror, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, and Violence
Minor: War and Cursing
Some of the faerie folk act in ways that are cruel. Humans can be abducted/possessed/left as empty vessels, or a combination of the three.chrisljm's review against another edition
adventurous
lighthearted
relaxing
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
A lovely soft fantasy that felt so comforting and the perfect read for a snow-filled winter.
It's stemmed in a world we're used to, but with the addition of fae and magic, so while there is world building and new myths to be learned, it still feels familiar. I loved the setting, the adventure, the characters, as well as the hint of romance we got to see.I wasn't convinced about that romance at first, because Bambelby didn't arrive on the scene until well into the start of the story, and I wasn't certain that the romance was between him and Emily until well after that. But the more I learned about them and saw how they interacted with each other, the more I came to adore their relationship and how they contrast each other. This book was enchanting and I eagerly await the next book in the series.
It's stemmed in a world we're used to, but with the addition of fae and magic, so while there is world building and new myths to be learned, it still feels familiar. I loved the setting, the adventure, the characters, as well as the hint of romance we got to see.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence
Moderate: Animal death, Confinement, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Blood, Animal cruelty, Murder, Death, Child abuse, Self harm, and Torture
Minor: Vomit, Alcohol, and Suicidal thoughts
krisalexcole's review against another edition
adventurous
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Kidnapping, Violence, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Murder, Alcohol, Animal death, Blood, and Self harm
sarahsbooklife's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
mysterious
relaxing
fast-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
4.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Murder, Death, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Blood, Confinement, Animal death, and Death
Minor: Alcohol and Violence
adancewithbooks's review against another edition
funny
informative
reflective
medium-paced
4.0
Thank you to Del Rey and Netgalley for the review copy in exchange for an honest review. This does not change my opinion in anyway.
Emily Wilde's Encyclopaedia of Faeries is an interesting story that goes from the focus on faeries to the development of our main character.
The story of Emily starts of slow. She shows herself as a professional in her diary entries that we get to read. She tries to keep her distance from the people in the town. But as she is in a very remote area, without a lot of extra help, she does need the towns people to survive. When her academic rival appears she has to step up her game. And once she does get more interaction with the towns people she finds it is not so easy to turn her back on the problems the faeries cause them.
Like I said, the story is slow and the diaries start with an air of professionalism. But around the midway mark you can see a change in her entries. They become much more personal, infused with her emotions and it adds so much more dimension to the story.
The faeries really are the backdrop to out introduction of Emily. She is not someone who is much used to other people and isn't nessecarily good at charming people. She prefers to have her nose in a book with her trusted sideick, the dog Shadow, next to her. Interacting with other people is hard and not something she can prepare herself for so she prefers to avoid it.
When Wendell comes into the story she tries to project a form of rivals onto their relationship while it is clear from the beginning that Wendell really doesn't feel the same way. Back in Cambridge they have breakfast and lunch together. But keeping an air of a rivalry between them from her side means that she can keep him at a distance. For those pesky feelings he seems to call up whenever he is near. Plus she thinks he is actally a court faerie who is banished. That probably doesn't help.
And yet Emily has so much to give to others. She's smart, blunt, honest and does have her heart in the right place. As much as the book tries to say she is only out saving the day because of academics I don't think that is true at all.
Emily Wilde's Encyclopaedia might have started out on faeries but it became much more about Emily Wilde.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder, Kidnapping, Blood, and Self harm
Moderate: Alcohol, Animal cruelty, and Ableism
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