Emily Wilde's Encyclopaedia of Faeries

"If anyone were to claim greater happiness in their careers than I do in poking about sunlit wild woods for fairy footprints I should not believe it."I enjoyed the whimsical nature of the book. I enjoyed the grumpy x sunshine trope, with Emily being the grump & Wendell the sunshine. I had an enjoyable time reading it & I'm excited to start on the next book. I do have some qualms with, The Faerie King. The book was a steady pace & then speeds past the conflict before ending. It felt like I was reading something different & it brought me out of the story a bit.There were a couple scenes of violence I wasn't expecting, it wasn't descriptive. Dare I say, a bit comical.Content: strong language, God's name in vain | death | violence | same sex relationship of a side character | kisses only (+ mentions of one night stands)

I devoured this book in a day and went back to read it again. What a treat! I'm thrilled the sequel is lined up, and hope it'll be a series. There's plenty of action (fair warning some of it gets very dark and scary), and plenty of coziness with its late fall early winter darkly gorgeous Norwegian setting.But at its heart, this is a book about scholarship, storytelling, and our long love affair with the mysteries of faeries. I read it with the same joy I read Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norell (though it's much shorter it does use footnotes to add to the story), the Penric and Desdemona novellas, the recent Hart & Mercy and Vespertine, and of course Howl's Moving Castle. The dynamic between the two main characters is very witty snarky Howl and Sophie.Set in a more broad-minded 1909 than we actually had, this is a book for those who love smart brave somewhat emotionally awkward heroines in the middle of a friends-to-lover very slow-burn romance they're too self-berating and obsessed with the importance of their own work to recognize.The intrepid "all about the science" adjunct Professor Emily Wilde is eager to finish the last chapter of her encylopaedia of fairies by doing successful research on the "Hidden Ones" unique to this far north land. She hopes not only will her book (which has taken her ten years to research and write), secure her full professorship at her beloved Cambridge, but her reputation as the foremost researcher of dryadology (the study of Fairies).But upon arriving in the tiny town of Hrafnsvik on the far north Norwegian island of Ljosland near the Arctic Circle, Emily immediately puts her foot in her mouth with the locals and makes her life much harder than it has to be.Coming to her rescue a few days later is her spoiled and impossibly handsome colleague the famous Professor Wendell Bambleby (who's already tenured at 29 to her untenured 30, ouch), who's recently gotten into a bit of trouble for possibly fudging his findings. She's sure he's there to hang onto her superior research coattails, and winnow in her book, but Bambelby proves very useful.He's so good at charming others to do his bidding that Emily secretly wonders if he might not be a member of high fae himself...I adored her rich descriptions of the location, the strange, marvelous, and sometimes very scary different types of fairies, and Bambleby's need to beautify what surrounds him, whether it's a cottage on a mountainside or Emily's sweater.

I love this book perfectly cozy read

I am not finished with this audio book yet but I sure am loving it! The accent of the reader makes it simply come to life!

Em is planning to do some serious research. She has obtained a cottage to do her field studies. Getting to know the locals is not her best talent. And within this setting the adventure begins. The book is filled with changelings, faerie kings, townspeople of all shapes and sizes and her best friend, Wendell. And, of course, her dog who is particularly special. Book one of a series of three. Worth reading if you enjoy fantasy.

I wanted to 5 star this review so bad based on reviews, but it just can't happen. Now, please understand this author is incredibly talented, writes beautifully, and I loved the story idea, which is why I pushed through- and for Wendall's sake. I really disliked the main character, Emily. I feel like the author thought she was writing a nerdy professor, but the actions of the protagonist( I guess you can call her that even though, to some degree, she is also the bad guy) were so immature, selfish and, at times, mirrored behavior of a sociopath with her lack of feeling toward others. She allows Wendall (a really well-written character) to save her, pine after her, while she girl bosses her way into destruction for herself and others and learns nothing. Emily had zero character development, and she grew better in no way. She will use people and drop them with hardly a thought. I was down with this at first thinking what a beautiful redemption story this was going to be, chipping the literal and figurative ice off her heart, but no. Nothing changed. I know there are others in the series, but while the author is a wonderful writer, I don't trust her enough with these characters to give any more time to a story I feel will have a self-centered ending.

The best thing I can say about this book is that the prose is gorgeous. The writing is vivid, elegant, and often literary in tone. The author clearly has a gift for language, and there were passages I wanted to reread simply because of how beautifully they were crafted.Unfortunately, that beauty comes at a cost. The narrative often takes a lot of space to say very little, so I felt like I had to work through pages of description or anecdote just to get between actual events. The story frequently stops for side stories, faerie lore entries, and long anecdotes, which—while sometimes charming—ultimately drag down the pacing.The characters are quirky and interesting, and I can see why readers enjoy them, but I found them hard to situate believably in the supposed year of 1909. If this is truly meant to be our world, the historical feel wasn’t strong enough; if it’s a fantasy world, that wasn’t made clear enough either. It left me in a strange middle ground that felt inconsistent.Overall, I can understand the appeal, but I honestly don’t know why so many people have raved about this book. For me, it was “okay, but only just so.” The prose is excellent, but the story itself is slow, dull at times, and never fully pulled me in. It felt more like work to read than the immersive escape I usually hope for in a good fantasy.

It was good in its own way. I enjoyed the Faerie stories. I liked the main character's banter. The town people were interesting. The whole enchanted Ice King wedding was so so.

I did enjoy reading this story by Heather Fawcett. Emily travels to Ljosland so study the faeries there for her encyclopedia. This is a very Cozy read.

Very interesting book-the author did a great job of cutting off scenes when she knew they were getting boring. Great plot and fantastic character development. Bonus points for adding lesbian characters in an time where they weren't accepted openly. The secondary characters as a whole were great and added to the story without overwhelming the main characters.

4* – Great story line, characters, human and non, as well as sweet momentsFirst, I love the cover of this book. The black background sets the tone and the intricate corner images almost resemble hands but also have qualities of antlers which creates a very magical feel. The center circle with the almost hand-like white bone-ish fingers also look like roots which once you read the story give more meaning. I love the flowers.Heather Fawcett arranges this book so that we get the story through journal entries written by the main character, the “curmudgeonly” Emily Wilde. Curmudgeonly is a great word to describe Emily who lives in her head with her scholarly thoughts much of the time paying little attention to social norms. She prefers the company of her dog and her books, and perhaps the faeries she meets, to that of humans.Emily has a friend and colleague, Wendell Bambleby, that joins her very early in her visit to Unsland (sp?) where the village of Hrafnsvik, which to me seemed very much like Iceland, much to Emily’s chagrin.The reason I only give this book 4* instead of 5* is that it had a slow start. Emily’s initial interaction with all the town’s people, and their hard to pronounce names, seemed long and I almost stopped reading . I feel like this could have been more condensed. In the end, I loved the relationships these characters formed. I loved the narration for this book. The British accent was appropriate but not so heavy as to take away from the story and added to the book’s feel and authenticity.Once the action began, I was quickly drawn in. Heather Fawcett had great descriptions that lent the scenes amazing visualization. The plot moved at a good pace after the initial section and was surprising. I was listening to the book so don’t often pay attention to how much of a book is left. The last big “adventure” for Emily was a surprise for me. I didn’t see that plot line coming and I always enjoy an unexpected twist to a story.

First of all, let me say that the author clearly has worked with university faculty. As someone who has worked for years with university faculty, Emily Wilde is an extremely accurate, though somewhat stereotypical, embodiment of an ivory tower academic researcher.Emily Wilde is a “dryadologist” which is a field somewhere between a wildlife biologist and a cultural anthropologist, but studying fae creatures.She embarks on a field study to a Nordic area village to study their local fae, and ends up way in over her head. She is very intelligent, but struggles with social skills and anything like common survival skills/outdoor skills. She is joined and assisted (like I said she gets in way over her head and has to learn to accept help from others) by her ginormous black dog Shadow, and her charming academic colleague Wendell.My two favorite characters are Wendell and the fae creature that lives in the tree that Emily befriends (she nicknames him Poe, since Fae don’t tell their true names).Emily is very prickly and stand-offish at the beginning, but as she gets in increasingly over her head with the local fae creatures, she realizes that she needs to accept help from her friend and the villagers. It’s very heartwarming. It’s fantasy, but like a dark academia type fantasy as opposed to a high fantasy.Plenty of fantasy, but no romantasy. Zero smut. Could be read by YA or a teenager with no issues.

This has been my favorite book I've read so far this year! I loved the premise and world that the author's created, and then I really loved Emily and Wendell's characters.Emily is so wonderfully unique as a female lead character. She is absolutely brilliant, but is unabashedly introverted and hopeless in any social situation, and her motives are solely to further her own understanding of the Faeries in hopes of writing her next great paper - which can seem cold to most others. Wendell is a perfect contract, and is so wonderfully spoiled, lazy and charming. Yet my favorite aspect of him is how much he appreciates Emily (and her personality) exactly as she is. The interactions and banter between her and Wendell are so much fun to read, and left me wishing for even more time with the two of them.I enjoyed the journal format of the book a lot more than I thought I would have. The first few chapters were a little slow and took me a bit to adjust to and get into. But by about the 6th chapter I was hooked and the flow was so smooth and quick after that, I finished it in less than two days.Overall, I just loved the style of writing, these characters, and the world that Heather Fawcett created. The best way I can describe it was that it felt so warm and cozy to ready in the best possible way, and I was not ready to be done with these characters.

Our heroine, Emily, is a quiet, scholarly bookworm, who prefers the company of books to people. She is an expert on the lives of faeries.“I wanted to understand the story. I suppose I thought about helping Aud and the others, but I won’t lie and say that I didn’t think about science first.” She decides to do research on the island of Ljosland to discover more about the Tall Ones, the nobility of the Fae. But then her monitor, Wendell Bambleby, decides to join her. She worries that he wants to take credit for her hard work.This reads like faeries are real and an excepted part of our world. So there is that part closely resembling to the Lady Trent stories. But it’s a different story of course. Who doesn’t wish faeries are real? Emily also has a big dog, Shadow. Such a good dog. We also learn about other fae like Brownies and changelings.Ljoslanders believe that volcanic boulders might be doors to Faeryland. So Emily is excited. However she misses her days spent in the library:“I felt a shiver of yearning for that musty, ancient place, a haven of quiet and solitude in which I have whiled away many hours.”It was amusing to see how uncomfortable she was with the local people. She knew more about the Fae than how to socialize with people. She did get along with Wendell famously though. Their constant bickering was funny and endearing. To her chagrin Wendell is a neat freak. This is a nice change that a man cares about orderliness and the woman just doesn’t have time for it because her job consumes her so.This was a delightful entry into the world of fae and faery. I enjoyed learning about different types and their descriptions. The characters are all endearing especially Emily and Wendell and Shadow and Poe, the brownie. I’m sure the second book will be just as lovely to read.

The Encyclopaedia of Faeries is such a joy! The main character, Emily, really doesn't enjoy being around people (I'm with you, Em). She is a dedicated researcher of the faerie world and goes to remote places to find out more. Her curiosity is overwhelming. Her drive to discover more and more about these fascinating and dangerous creatures inspires me.And then there's Wendell Bambleby. What a character! He is also a researcher but either makes up his findings or steals from others. He is very precious and cannot deal with even the smallest inconvenience or difficulty. Emily drags him along as he sniffles and pouts. He is wonderful (although I hope to never meet him).I think the aspect of this book that pulls me in the most is how committed the author (Heather Fawcett) is to making this seem like a real scientific diary that Emily is keeping. Emily is always looking for reliable information on faeries, which is very difficult because they live far away from humans and are able to seamlessly camouflage themselves in nature. And they love to cause problems for humans. This ain't Tinkerbell!So the book is written day-by-day as Emily learns more and more. There are even numerous footnotes that go into detail about certain fictional terms that the author has created, and referencing other (fictional) researchers' work, as you would expect from a scientist but seldom from a fictional story. As I said, it is a commitment.This has been a book for me to enjoy and sit with. I can relate to Emily's desire for isolation and her dedication to her friendly oafish dog, who accompanies her everywhere, but is also annoyingly loyal to the insufferable Bambleby. In fact, I really hope that every fiction book I read (or write!) from now on has at least one insufferable character!In summary, this is a lovely book. I felt like I had to write this review even though I'm not done the book (70% thru) because I appreciate it so much. Thanks to the author!

I can usually polish off a book of this length (353 pages) in three days. But for some reason, this one took me two solid weeks. It’s a slow read. Now, that doesn’t mean it wasn’t a worthwhile book; after all, I stuck with it and immediately started Book 2, the final installment in the duology.The book follows the efforts of Emily Wilde to complete her Encyclopedia of Fairies, and the story unfolds in prose that rings of journal entries, complete with footnotes. She references her travels through Europe with her longtime finicky university associate, Wendell (who is far more than he seems). There’s a nice undercurrent of attraction, friction, friendship, and banter between these two that’s endearing and totally enjoyable to read.The book references quite a few kinds of fairy folk, with a focus on their general bad behavior and how to prevent succumbing to their intrigues. In this case, Emily and Wendell travel north in search of the fairies of Ljosland, Norway. The villagers are a hoot. And rather fearlessly, Emily gets herself into trouble more than once with the magical Folk.The writing is wonderful, full of beautiful if somewhat erudite, turn-of-the-century language, lovely imagery, and clever dialog. Emily, the POV character, has a very distinct and witty “voice” which I loved. She and Wendell are thoroughly engaging, (more so than the plot). And they’re the main reason that I continued with the duology. Highly recommended to readers who enjoy great characters, beautiful writing, and witty dialog, and who don’t mind a slow pace.

This was such a fun read! I did not know what to expect going into this book; was is YA? Is it romance heavy? Is it written like an textbook at times? I had no idea but I did see amazing reviews so I had to give it a try!This was such an enjoyable reading experience and it has a cute story to it. This is not a standalone so it does end with more left to come, but the main story in this book is finished for the most part, so there is some closure.To answer some of my misconceptions from above: this book probably does feels more YA but do not let that stop you from giving it a try. There is a somewhat of a romantic plotline in this book but it is not overwhelming and it is not the main purpose of the story; it more of a side story. But I could see it getting more attention in the following books. And the writing style is supposed to be more journalistic but honestly the book feels like it written just like any other book other than the chapters are dated and sometimes the main character makes a reference to the chapter being an entry in the journal. There are no gaps in the flow of the story but it feels a little too detailed to be a journal—which is fine by me because I can read it like any other story.To give a brief synopsis, this book follows Emily Wilde who is a professor of the study of faeries. She then travels to I believe, a Scandinavian village, where she is trying to finish her encyclopedia of faeries but she needed additional research. Therefore, she travels to this village to hopefully come in contact with the village’s faeries. Her colleague, Wendell Brambleby ends up joining her and they are a great duo for just how opposite they are from each other.This story reminds me a little of Holly Black’s Cruel Prince series—not for the romance but for the world. The world is similar in both stories where it is our world but there is a faerie world within our world. Also the faeries are similar to each other to where they are more of the conniving, tricky and manipulative faeries. Emily knows the tricks and past stories of the faeries to where she can hold her own against them. She has the classic tricks of turning clothing inside out and holding a coin to not feel the influence of the faeries.I love these kind of faerie stories so I really enjoyed this book a lot. I do wish the second book was out now but I anticipate I will be reading the second book when it does! I recommend giving it a try if this sounds interesting to you!

Emily is a professor of Fae studies at Cambridge University, and her ten year long project is almost complete: if she only could add an entry for the Hidden Folk on a remote Norwegian island in the arctic.She travels there to learn more, and is joined by her friend and colleague Wendell Bambleby.The two of them find themselves trying to work with a town that’s a little less than friendly, and endeavouring to help with some incidents attributable to the local faerie folk.Set in an alternate history, this book can be a little confusing if you try to apply our actual history to it- the 1909 of the book, is a vastly more “enlightened” time than our own.That being said, if you drop all expectations, you will actually enjoy the book. Strictly speaking, it isn’t a romance. Emily is neither normal in her handling of emotions, nor is she romantically inclined.She is a tough character though, quite ruthless in pursuit of her goals. Told almost entirely from her perspective, it’s a fascinating glimpse into a mind driven by academic achievements, and interspersed with her amusing and acerbic comments (I laughed at the one about Bambleby and the sheep).Wendell Bambleby is a charming character, seemingly feckless, definitely vain and lazy, but likable for it anyway. He is quite deceptive, and we learn some interesting things about him as the story goes on.Ultimately, it’s an entertaining read, definitely a fantasy tale rather than a romance, but one those who love “faerie” stories will undoubtedly enjoy.

Oh, what fun this book is! The story and the adventure begin when Emily Wilde heads to a remote, frozen Nordic land where she plans to live in a small village to conduct academic fieldwork. The twist is that her academic field is the study of fae and folklore. Emily is compiling an encyclopedia of faeries, and she is on the hunt for new information and new types of the hidden ones. The story is skillfully told through a mixture of journal entries and narrative passages. You will feel as if you know Emily with her social awkwardness, incisive academic analysis, and inherent kindness. Emily is a likable, strong female heroine whose strength is in her intellect and her character. The reader is immersed in a richly detailed world filled with ice, forests, mountains, a village, particular social conventions, and more. This well-built world is also well-populated with characters that you can believe and care about. It’s not long before Wendall Brambleby and two of his students unexpectedly arrive to share her tiny cottage and her research. I will not summarize the plot here, because the author does a wonderful job of letting things unfurl as the pages turn. Bottomline: I was swept away into the story and sorry when it ended. There is romance that is emotionally romantic and limited to a kiss or two. There is fantasy violence and interaction between fae and mortals that is often dark and threatening. Even so, this book is more heartwarming than grim. I will look forward to the next book about Emily and Wendall.

Emily Wilde's Encyclopaedia of Faeries follows 30 year old faerie expert and professor Emily Wilde and her annoyingly handsome colleague Wendell Bambleby as they set out to make discoveries about the faerie Folk of Ljosland, Norway, so that Emily can complete her lifelong passion project: the world's first encyclopedia of faeries.This is a world where faeries are as common as trees, and magic is well accepted. The characters are alive and well-rounded. Emily is incredibly socially awkward and self-centered, a typical bookworm and curmudgeonly professor to a T. But she is also endearing and relatable in her awkwardness. Bambleby is infuriating at times, wholly charming, and a great foil to Emily's follies. And who doesn't love a book with a big shaggy dog companion? I hope to see more of Shadow and his mysterious origins in a sequel. Also, the villagers of Ljosland aren't just names among the background; they're fully fleshed out characters.The premise is really original during a publishing time that is saturated with fairy books. I especially love the academic lens the story takes. I think my only issue with the storytelling is that I don't love that it's written in present journal entries recounting the past. A lot of the big showstopping events are kind of reduced in a passive voice. I also had a hard time really getting into the story until about halfway, because most of the time Emily was just getting acquainted with Ljosland, the people, and the Folk. Other than that, I had a great time reading Emily Wilde's. I think it's a perfect winter read, and I can't wait to see where the next one takes us!4.5 stars