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A review by displacedcactus
Emily Wilde's Encyclopaedia of Faeries by Heather Fawcett
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
If you've been waiting for a spiritual successor to Marie Brennan's Lady Trent series, here you go. In Emily Wilde, Fawcett gives us a similarly smart, curious, and driven character who is passionate about her chosen field of study. This time around, though, the subject is faeries, not dragons.
Look, I've been a geek about faeries since I was 16, so of course I have some quibbles with a few of the author's choices. However, by and large she sticks to the established lore, with some changes for the following reasons:
-Book takes place in a fictional country (but on earth)
-Faeries are known to be real and many humans have interacted with them
- A bit of artistic license
My biggest complaint is that I don't ship the central romance. I'd rather see those characters remain "frenemies", or have a romantic connection that built slowly over several books, so that it felt earned. Also (major spoilers for the romantic pairing and minor spoilers for events later in the book),I get the appeal of "monsterf*cking" content, but I have a real hard time with male love interests who fly into a rage and do major big-time violence when the heroine is threatened. Bambleby's massacre of the bogles who attacked Emily was outsized and scary. Suitable for a faerie, yes, but for a love interest? I'd be afraid about what he'd do to ME when I failed to live up to his romantic expectations in some way.
Look, I've been a geek about faeries since I was 16, so of course I have some quibbles with a few of the author's choices. However, by and large she sticks to the established lore, with some changes for the following reasons:
-Book takes place in a fictional country (but on earth)
-Faeries are known to be real and many humans have interacted with them
- A bit of artistic license
My biggest complaint is that I don't ship the central romance. I'd rather see those characters remain "frenemies", or have a romantic connection that built slowly over several books, so that it felt earned. Also (major spoilers for the romantic pairing and minor spoilers for events later in the book),
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child abuse and Violence
Shadow the dog is a very good boi and is never in any serious peril or danger.
There is a scene that involves dealing with a changeling to try to get the stolen child back, and Emily's action towards the faerie child were a little hard to accept. I suspect some readers will lose interest in her as a sympathetic character based on that.