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A review by liv_easton
Emily Wilde's Encyclopaedia of Faeries by Heather Fawcett
adventurous
dark
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
I really enjoyed the journal/bibliographic style of this novel! This really gave me the feeling of being back in an ethnography class, with Emily’s science-first but bias-aware mindset. Explicitly journal or diary-style books can get a bit saccharine or melodramatic for my tastes, and I felt like between the science journal styling and Emily’s voice, the narration of this book avoided that well.
As always, I love stories that use folklore as a foundational element of the world, but I also liked the rest of the world building regarding the faeries. I’m excited to read the next book to see it expand further, since we did focus only on one group of faeries, but I had a great time both with the stories Emily inserted to give context to the faeries she encountered and the faeries themselves.
I also really liked the dynamic between Emily and Wendell. For one thing, it was so refreshing for a faerie character to finally not fall in love with a 16-19 year old girl?? In addition to being less creepy, it made the romance feel a bit more grounded and practical, which is important given the heights to which the rest of the plot goes. They’re also just a silly duo, with Wendell being so capricious and Emily so predictable. Also, dude who sews is a massive win so that’s fun!
My hesitance to give this a full five stars comes from the climax, specifically with Emily’s insistence that “this isn’t how the story is supposed to go.” I don’t mind the set up, but I found the payoff to be a bit meh. Perhaps it’s a hazard of Emily’s journal voice, but the whole ending of that tale (which the king was the big bad for the entire story!! If there is drama it goes here!!) fell a bit flat, even though Emily’s interference in her own escape clearly gave the village the best ending to this story.
On the whole, though, I really enjoyed this as a light, escapist type of novel that is more concerned with telling a good story than leaving you gasping from plot twist or weird reveals, and that should always be celebrated.
As always, I love stories that use folklore as a foundational element of the world, but I also liked the rest of the world building regarding the faeries. I’m excited to read the next book to see it expand further, since we did focus only on one group of faeries, but I had a great time both with the stories Emily inserted to give context to the faeries she encountered and the faeries themselves.
I also really liked the dynamic between Emily and Wendell. For one thing, it was so refreshing for a faerie character to finally not fall in love with a 16-19 year old girl?? In addition to being less creepy, it made the romance feel a bit more grounded and practical, which is important given the heights to which the rest of the plot goes. They’re also just a silly duo, with Wendell being so capricious and Emily so predictable. Also, dude who sews is a massive win so that’s fun!
My hesitance to give this a full five stars comes from the climax, specifically with Emily’s insistence that “this isn’t how the story is supposed to go.” I don’t mind the set up, but I found the payoff to be a bit meh. Perhaps it’s a hazard of Emily’s journal voice, but the whole ending of that tale (which the king was the big bad for the entire story!! If there is drama it goes here!!) fell a bit flat, even though Emily’s interference in her own escape clearly gave the village the best ending to this story.
On the whole, though, I really enjoyed this as a light, escapist type of novel that is more concerned with telling a good story than leaving you gasping from plot twist or weird reveals, and that should always be celebrated.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Blood