Emily Wilde’s Encyclopedia of Faeries Review

Title: Emily Wilde’s Encyclopedia of Faeries

Author: Heather Fawcett

Publisher: Little, Brown Book Group Uk

Release Date: January 19th 2023

Number of Pages: 336

Genre: Adult, Fantasy, Historical

Goodreads Synopsis

A curmudgeonly professor journeys to a small town in the far North to study faerie folklore and discovers dark fae magic, friendship, and love, in this heartwarming and enchanting fantasy. Cambridge professor Emily Wilde is good at many things: She is the foremost expert on the study of faeries. She is a genius scholar and a meticulous researcher who is writing the world’s first encyclopedia for faerie lore. But Emily Wilde is not good at people she could never make small talk at a party – or even get invited to one. And she prefers the company of her books, her dog, Shadow, and the fair folk to other people. So when she arrived in the hardscrabble village of Hrafnsvik, Emily had no intention of befriending the tough townsfolk. Nor does she car to spend time with another new arrival: her dashing and insufferable handsome academic rival Wendell Bambleby, who manages to charm the townsfolk, get in the middle of Emily’s research, and utterly confound and frustrate her. But as Emily gets closer and closer to uncovering the secrets of the Hidden Ones – the most elusive of all faeries – lurking in the shadowy forest outside the town, she also finds herself on the trail of another mystery: Who is Wendell Bambleby, and what does he really want? To find the answer, she’ll have to uncover the greatest mystery of all – her own heart.

*I would like to thank Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with an eARC in exchange for an honest review*

We are only a couple of weeks into the new year and I can already say with certainty that this book will be on my favorites of the year list and possibly favorites of all time list.

This book follows Emily, a Cambridge professor who has spent her life studying the fae and is conducting research on the “Hidden Ones” to include in her encyclopedia of faeries. This story is told through diary entries which works really well for the story, it is slow paced and has a focus on the academic side of the fae. It reminded me a lot of A Natural History of Dragons by Marie Brennan which is another favourite of mine.

Emily was a great character to read from and honestly she kind of reminded me of myself a little. She isn’t the most sociable of characters preferring her own company and isn’t great at picking up social cues which causes some trouble with the locals in the village she is conducting her research in. She is also very single minded and most of her interest in the world around her comes from an academic lens.

Wendell on the other hand is very sociable, charismatic and chaotic. Honestly he gave me Howl from Howl’s Moving Castle vibes and I loved him from the start, he adds a sense of fun to the story.

I absolutely loved the romance subplot in this even though it only takes up a very small portion of the book. Emily and Wendell are complete opposites, she views him as her academic rival and he seems to be clueless to this fact. The dynamic this brings to the table is just brilliant.

Overall, this was another faerie book that I have completely fallen in love with (no surprise there honestly) and I can’t wait to pick up the rest of the series. I gave this 5 out if 5 stars.

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