Book Review | Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Faeries by Heather Fawcett

Today’s review is for a super sweet and cosy little fantasy, Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Faeries by Heather Fawcett.

I’d been looking forward to this one for a while, and it was a book I took my time with to thoroughly enjoy the cute moments.

Read on for my full review if you’re interested!

About the Book

Title: Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Faeries
Series: Emily Wilde #1
Author: Heather Fawcett
Publisher: Orbit Books
Release Date: January 19th 2023
Pages: 336
Source: ARC provided by the publisher (this in no way affects my review which is honest and unbiased) Finished copy special edition purchased by myself!
Rating: ★★★★☆

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 the start of a heartwarming and enchanting new fantasy series.

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 encyclopaedia of 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 arrives in the hardscrabble village of Hrafnsvik, Emily has no intention of befriending the gruff townsfolk. Nor does she care to spend time with another new arrival: her dashing and insufferably 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 unlock the greatest mystery of all–her own heart.

Review

Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Faeries is an absolutely enchanting story from start to finish.

It’s written in the style of field notes, if such notes were written by someone who has a compulsion to log absolutely everything in a first person journalistic way. Such a method really suits the story, especially as our main character, Emily, is quite a reserved character and so without this we wouldn’t have got to know her quite as well.

Emily is a scholar who struggles when it comes to socialising, unless the topic surrounds faeries as she’s dedicated her life thus far to studying them. Back at Cambridge, she had a sole friend called Wendell, who also happens to be her rival. Emily and Wendell are basically like chalk and cheese, he’s enigmatic and loves to be the centre of attention, embellishing every story (even if it’s for an academic paper). Even though he spends a large portion of his time trying to wind up Emily, I couldn’t help but love him from the very start.

Emily has an extremely ambitious aim, to create an encyclopaedia of faeries as the book’s title suggests. This has led her to visiting the small village of Hrafnsvik and, subsequently, Wendell ends up following her in a similar vein as to a lost puppy. Coincidentally though, Emily already has her trusty dog Shadow with her! And if you also like dogs, you’ll love him.

It doesn’t take too long for Emily to realise that Wendell’s aid is for the best though, his reputation would aid her considerably and he has the villagers fall in love with him rather quickly, which helps her get the much needed interviews she needs for her research.

There’s more to Wendell that meets the eye though, and Emily tries oh so desperately to ignore it (she has her research to focus on, after all) but sparks fly between the two constantly, and not everything can be ignored.

Alongside all of that, the village isn’t having the best of luck when it comes to their local Folk! Emily isn’t there to help them, but can she stop herself from doing so, especially knowing that helping them may also help her research?

All in all, I really enjoyed Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Faeries, and I’ll most definitely be picking up the next story to see what’s next for Emily, Wendell and Shadow!