Book Review: Emily Wilde’s Encyclopedia of Faeries by Heather Fawcett

Booktok and online book reviewers in general has really let me down. After years of reading really bad books that are highly praised, I finally gave up on trusting them. I really don’t like the books they review nor do I like the books they praise.

Even though I really don’t like the popular books, there are sometimes books that slip through the cracks and I end up liking it. Sometimes, I can see why they are popular, but I also don’t know how to feel about them. One of the books that have slipped between the cracks is Heather Fawcett’s Emily Wilde’s Encyclopedia of Fairies.

The book’s synopsis from Amazon is…

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, 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’ll have to unlock the greatest mystery of all—her own heart.

Contrary to my experience reading popular novels published in the past five years, the book is well written. There are no editorial mistakes in it. The way the story unfolds keeps the reader’s interest and there is enough information to be able to understand the magic system of this book. The pacing is faster in some places and slower in others, which I don’t mind at all. I think the parts that are slower need to be slower and the faster ones need to be faster. It is an interesting story and is different than other popular fantasy novels.

I really like this book. Out of the newer books that are popular online, this Emily Wilde’s Encyclopedia of Fairies is one of my favorites. There is open door romance scenes in the book, which I really love. If you are looking for a book with a very mild amount of romance, and the romance builds throughout the book as a secondary plot, then this is a great option for you. Just be forwarded that there are descriptions of blood and injuries that may be unpleasant to someone sensitive to them. If you are sensitive to this, then read with caution.

That’s all for now! Thank you for reading!