Ratings:
Goodreads: 4/5
Storygraph: 4/5
My Rating: 4/5
Synopsis:
Emily Wilde is a professor who is on her own expedition in Hrafnsvik to find a rare kind of faerie, the Hidden Ones. While on her own expedition her rival/friend joins her, Wendell Bambleby.
My Review:
This was the first bookclub book that I had chosen for my little group and I honestly fell in love with the book quite quickly. It might have just been her charming dog right from the get-go! Besides her dog, however, Emily Wilde is an interesting character. She perceives herself as a lone-wolf. The adventures she goes on is mostly down by herself for the fact her students don’t even want to join her. She doesn’t do well with talking to other people, but she easily gets along with the Fae that she is always getting herself involved with. Her encyclopedia is filled to the brim with information on the Folk and how different they all are including their cultures. When she arrives at Hrafnsvik, the first few questions she asks is what kind of Faeries are around in the area. Although she is the main character, we can’t forget the best side character which is Wendell Bambleby. Wendell is an interesting character in the fact he is overwhelmingly good-looking and charming, even though he is kind of a dick. Besides him being a dick, he is honestly a great side character to Emily Wilde’s timid-ness.
The setting is kind of bland, but it makes a lot of sense considering where they are at. They are basically looking for frost Faeries. So, they are exactly where that is. A land of just snow. There really isn’t much else. They are either in a beat up shack by themselves, because Bambleby’s own students dipped on him when they couldn’t stand the cold conditions anymore, or they are outside in the forests or in the frosty plains. There are a few times where they end up in Faeries circles/lands and end up crossing over into the Fae world from portals.
At least there was a clear plot, in fact, it is right in the synopsis (spoiler, sorry). They literally find the Hidden Ones. Not only find them, but help them with their own problems so that the Hidden Ones stop kidnapping the villagers' children and stop a never-ending winter. Besides that, there are a few twists (if you can call them that) where Emily Wilde has a theory that Wendell Bambleby is a lost Fae king, which turns out to be true. Besides that minute detail, the plot is quite clear from the very beginning, it is just whether you want to stick to it on the journey. Which the actual reading is quite fun considering most of the time it is just Bambleby flirting with Emily but she sees it as bickering.
I would say that I enjoyed this particular book, but it wasn’t my favorite. I have read a lot of fantasy novels and stories from free books on Wattpad, to children’s books, to the books I have read in my own collection. I will say it is more of a cozy fantasy read because you already know what is happening and what to expect. I think the only difference is at the end Emily Wilde agrees to help Wendell Bambleby find his lost portal back to his kingdom so that he can rule again. (Which I believe continues on in the second book which I will have to read!) Overall, if you are looking for a cozy fantasy and something that isn’t too serious, I highly recommend this book!