Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Faeries
Cambridge professor Emily Wilde is a genius scholar who is writing the world’s first encyclopaedia of faerie lore. And Emily lives for her work: She emphatically prefers the company of her books, her dog, Shadow, and the Fair Folk to other people.
So when she arrives in a hardscrabble village in the far north, Emily wishes only to focus on her studies. She certainly doesn’t have time for another new arrival: her dashing and insufferably handsome academic rival Wendell Bambleby, who manages to charm the townsfolk, muddle 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 must unlock the greatest mystery of all - her own heart.
~~~~~
This book had so much Spiderwick Chronicles nostalgia and it’s the first true fae story that follows the real lore from our world in a very long time. I’m all for fantasy fae universes but there’s just something that hits different about the dark faerie lore of our world. I really loved the academic aspect of it and the setting in a far northern Scandinavian village. It felt so isolated that anything could happen. I did not, however, like the love story. The love aspects of this book were the comedic relief. Which I found very odd. It just didn’t have enough depth and because of that seemed pretty unbelievable, especially given that Emily came off as aromantic throughout much of the book and Wendell was very shallow and narcissistic. Without the romance, this could have been a great book, but I still enjoyed it anyway.
We start with Emily travelling to a small village to finish her encyclopaedia that she has spent much of her life working on and, due to her social ineptitude, she’s immediately ostracized to the point of cruelty in my opinion. However I found this really reflected the extreme emotional measures characters take in old fairytales. There being such an easy sway between “good&evil” with no grey areas allowed. Not long after her arrival, her academic rival/frenemy, Wendell also arrives. And he is preppy, self involved, and lazy. I didn’t like his characterization at all even if some moments between them were cute for humours sake. He does go a long way in helping Emily win the villagers over but it’s ultimately Emily and her curious nature that unwittingly wins them over.
I liked the faerie creatures. The changeling plot as well as the introduction of brownies and the inclusion of actual village fairytales in the narrative made it such an immersive read. I also think this being written as if it is Emily’s journal recounting her adventures made it all the more real, but you also have to take into consideration that because of this, we’re getting a very biased viewpoint. Is this why the towns people seem so cold/Wendell seems so self involved? Because we’re only getting her thoughts on the matter and, when it comes to human behaviour, she’s not exactly that observant? It’s because of small things like this that I think this book was a lot deeper than it’s given credit for. It’s not just a cozy fantasy or a fairytale romance. The best parts of this book were the underlying themes.
I did not like any of the characters. As a character driven girlie, that’s a big deal to me on whether I enjoy a book or not. However, the faerie aspect of it was so well done that I enjoyed the book even while not enjoying the characters. Emily was very cold and calculated. Although she helps the villagers, the only thing she truly cares about is getting answers to her theories and hypothesis. In this, her and Wendell are the same because all he cares about are his own self interests. This makes them the perfect match, however if that’s what we’re calling romance, the bar is in hell. Wendell spends so much time wooing other women and BRINGING THEM BACK TO THEIR SHARED COTTAGE while secretly having been in love with Emily is the grossest red flag I’ve seen from a “cozy” fantasy yet. And Emily going from not having human emotions besides annoyance to having found family and a massive love interest in only a couple of chapters was the most jarring part of this book. I think if the author sticked to a reluctant friendship and kept these two as antagonistic friends who were both entirely selfish, it could have had a great premise for an “anti-hero” character arc but the love story stomped on that.
All in all it was a great trip down memory lane and a nod to old faerie folklore but the execution could have been more deeper and meaningful. The characters needed more depth, the relationships needed more time to build, and the love story should have been left out of it. I also think this could have been a stand alone, I see no reason why there should be a sequel so that took away from it a bit for me as well. I rated this 3 stars.