A review by mooshake
Emily Wilde's Compendium of Lost Tales by Heather Fawcett

adventurous funny lighthearted medium-paced

5.0

he healed the dog as a wedding gift..... i am unWELL

i'm sitting at my desk with a massive knot in my throat lmao. i can't believe this is the end! what a privilege it is to find something that feels like it was made for you. this series is a love letter to all the faerie stories i grew up with.

admittedly, this book does have a different vibe from the other two books, as in there’s one major threat instead of two or three mini mysteries. i do wish we could've had a bit more emily and wendell page time. i also missed wendell's customary 1 journal entry contribution to the group project, but i see why heather fawcett decided against it this time around.

but again, everything i adore about emily wilde towers over any complaint. i remain so impressed with heather fawcett's ability to cleverly tie things back to previous instalments, including one reveal halfway through that got a massive OH SHIT out of me at like.. 11:30 pm. the characters are delightful (at least twice fawcett decided it would be a lovely idea to put my heart through the shredder

i have more grey hairs than i started with because of worrying if shadow was going to make it to the end and wendell’s death was VERY MEAN >:(

); and as always, the prose is prosing.

i love emily and wendell so much. their relationship and love for each other is divine :'). obsessed with that cranky yet kind faerie scholar and her melodramatic emotional support himbo. no emily, wendell's taste in silly romance novels isn't questionable- it’s iconic, actually! seeing emily's growth as a character from book 1 to book 3 was the most rewarding part of all. i'm gonna miss my babies deeply.

final instalments rarely wind up being my favourite, and i think i need to ruminate on where compendium falls in my rankings, as i do think it comes last atm (picking between encyclopaedia and map is the closest i've come to the feeling of picking a favourite child). but i felt the same about map immediately after reading it, and that went on to ruin my entire 2024 reading year after giving it a few days. so if you see me rereading this very shortly, that’s why. for science. 

maybe it's too early to call, but i don't care! this is my favourite trilogy ever and i'm going to treasure it for years to come.

generally, i am of the opinion that stories are given meaning when they end and authors should know when to leave well enough alone. but the ending is open ended enough for more potential adventures sooo........  👉🏻👈🏻 emily wilde my mother please come back