A review by orionmerlin
Emily Wilde's Encyclopaedia of Faeries by Heather Fawcett

informative mysterious reflective relaxing slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

Characters – 7/10
Emily Wilde is a fascinating protagonist if you enjoy characters who are so academically inclined they might actually perish in the wild due to sheer incompetence in basic survival. She’s smart, yes, but also socially inept to the point of frustration. The “quirky, bookish scholar who doesn’t understand humans” trope is beaten to death here. Wendell Bambleby? Entertaining, sure, but he gets by on charisma alone, and it’s painfully obvious that we’re supposed to find him mysterious when he’s really just a fae drama queen. The villagers? Half of them might as well be labeled “Suspicious Local #1” and “Grumpy Farmer #3.” The book teases depth with some characters (Thora, Aud) but doesn’t quite get there.
Atmosphere/Setting – 9/10
If you wanted a vacation to a bleak, ice-covered Nordic village without the hassle of frostbite, congrats—this book delivers. The setting is vivid, immersive, and packed with tiny details that make it feel lived-in. The folklore integration is top-notch, and Fawcett clearly did her homework. That said, while the atmosphere is beautifully crafted, it sometimes takes the lead role at the expense of, you know, actually moving the story forward. There’s only so much appreciation I can have for poetic descriptions of snow before I start checking my watch.
Writing Style – 7/10
Fawcett’s writing is elegant, but wow, does she love an academic tangent. I respect the commitment to the “dry, analytical scholar’s journal” format, but at times, it sucks the life out of the story. I don’t need a dissertation on faerie taxonomy when the actual fae are right there doing terrifyingly weird things. The prose is well-crafted, and dialogue flows naturally, but the writing occasionally gets bogged down by Emily’s constant over-explaining. Sometimes, I just wanted the book to get out of its own way and let the story breathe.
Plot – 6.5/10
Look, I’m all for a slow burn, but this is less “simmering tension” and more “waiting for water to boil while the stove is on low.” The setup is strong—isolated village, mysterious fae, a researcher who’s a little too confident in her ability to avoid disaster—but then it meanders. The tension builds in theory, but not always in execution. By the time something dramatic happens, I felt like I had spent hours in a beautifully written holding pattern. The climax is solid, but it doesn’t quite feel like the satisfying payoff the book wants it to be.
Intrigue – 6/10
Did I feel an overwhelming need to pick this book up at every spare moment? Not really. The world is fascinating, but the pacing is so leisurely that my attention wandered. Some moments spark genuine curiosity—Emily’s first real brush with fae danger, the creepy hints about Bambleby, the unsettling fate of that poor hollowed-out girl—but they’re scattered between long stretches of field notes and faerie anthropology lectures. The stakes are often so subtle that they feel borderline nonexistent.
Logic/Relationships – 7/10
The faerie lore and internal world logic? Fantastic. The human relationships? Pretty lukewarm. Emily’s dynamic with Bambleby is entertaining in a “banter-heavy, will-they-won’t-they, oh-he’s-definitely-hiding-something” way, but it doesn’t really evolve. Finn is just… there. The villagers react to Emily exactly how you’d expect them to react to an outsider poking at ancient local secrets, but that initial distrust never deepens into anything more complex. And Emily? She barely changes at all, which makes her arc feel frustratingly static.
Enjoyment – 7/10
I liked it. I didn’t love it. The book is undeniably smart and atmospheric, and I appreciate how it takes folklore seriously, but it’s also painfully slow at times. There were moments where I felt truly engrossed, only for the pacing to lull me back into mild detachment. It’s a good read, but not an addictive one. I’d recommend it to fans of slow, detailed, academia-heavy fantasy, but if you’re looking for something fast-paced or emotionally intense, you’ll probably get impatient.
Final Verdict: 7/10
Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Faeries is like a gorgeously written research paper that occasionally remembers it’s supposed to be a novel. It’s packed with beautiful descriptions, fascinating lore, and a unique protagonist, but it’s also slow, sometimes self-indulgent, and more interested in world-building than driving the plot. Worth reading if you love immersive folklore-heavy fantasy, but if you need a propulsive story, this one might test your patience. 
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