View source for Emily Wilde's Encyclopaedia of Faeries by Heather Fawcett

{{infobox1
|title=Emily Wilde's Encyclopaedia of Faeries
|author=Heather Fawcett
|reviewer=Ruth Ng
|genre=General Fiction
|summary=Full of faerie tales, magic, awkward social encounters and a lovely, but unusual, dog!
|rating=4
|buy=Yes
|borrow=Yes
|pages=336
|publisher=Orbit
|date=January 2023
|isbn=9780356519128
|website=https://heatherfawcettbooks.com/
|cover=0356519120
|aznuk=0356519120
|aznus=0356519120
}}

Emily Wilde is an expert academic scholar on faerie lore, and she has travelled extensively, and researched meticulously, to write her life's work, the very first encyclopaedia of faeries.  Whilst she is brilliant at research and speaking to faeries, she is not so good with people.  So when she finds herself far, far North in the small village of Hrafvsnik, having somehow offended the village matriarch, she is not sure what she has done, nor how to redeem herself and put her final investigations for her book back on the right track.  Enter Wendell Bambleby, her dashingly handsome and insufferable rival who arrives unexpectedly, all charm and delight, much to Emily's frustration.  But why is he here?  What does he want?  And what exactly is going on with the faerie folk around Hravsnik?

Written through diary entries, the book starts slowly, and initially, I wasn't sure I was going to enjoy it.  Emily is extremely difficult to like, and I wondered if I could make it past her prickles and stings to actually discover what the story was.  I struggled a little with the style of writing, and I didn't quite understand what was going on.  But then at some point after Wendell arrives in the village and begins to charm everyone around him, I realised that I was completely hooked and eager to know how things would turn out.  This is a story that manages to be part-academia, part-fantasy, part-social awkwardness and part-romance, all bundled up into a mystery adventure faerie tale!

Everything about the faeries is written as if it's completely normal for faeries and mortals to interact, and that it's well known that there are common fae and courtly fae, gift giving and receiving, as well as some faerie folk who are more malevolent than others.  I rather liked the little footnotes throughout the book, not just for the academic flavour, but because it immerses you deeper into the fantasy that faeries are real, because here are all these other studies that have been written about them!  The snippets of knowledge, the folklore and stories, are all really well done, and they build and grow through the story, with Emily's vast knowledge becoming ever-more important.

As Emily carries out her research, we learn alongside her.  We see her knowledge and expertise demonstrated in her dealings with the fae, though she is also still learning new things all the time.  Everywhere she goes, her dog Shadow goes with her, and there are hints at a mystery around who Shadow is.  Wendell is an engaging character, and I found myself equally charmed and infuriated by him, much as Emily is too.  The mystery around why he is there, and what he wants, grows through the story.  His presence brings lightness - to Emily's interactions with the villagers, but also to the book itself, since much of the humour revolves around Wendell's doings, and Emily's feelings about that!  No spoilers here, but the unfolding of the various layers of stories is very well done.

But what I especially enjoyed reading was Emily's developing relationships with the villagers, and the impact that they have upon each other.  Emily finds herself more and more caught up in their lives, and I too became more invested in them, and what would happen in their village.  There are moments of darkness through the book, and plenty of magic, but what I really came away with was a sense of warmth (which is funny, since the book is in the far North and in bitter winter!) but there was something about the slow burn of growing friendships that I found heartwarming, and I have to say I'm glad to see that there will be a second story for Emily and Wendell, since whilst it ended satisfactorily, I didn't feel like their own story was quite finished and I'd be happy to spend more time with them.

This is the perfect book for cold, winter evenings when you can wrap yourself in a blanket with a mug of hot chocolate, and some biscuits, and lose yourself in the mysteries of this faerie story. 

For more faerie mythology, you might also like to try [[You Let Me In by Camilla Bruce]] 

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[[Category:Fantasy]]