A wholly bewitching cozy fantasy with an academic bent, the heart of a fairy tale, and a brilliant protagonist who's jumped high up my list of favorite fantasy heroines. I was absolutely charmed, and can't wait to read Emily Wilde's next adventure!

Highly recommended to fans of Sorcerer to the Crown, Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, and the Scholomance trilogy - or anyone who enjoys a good fairy tale.

Thanks to the publisher for the advance review copy!

I've seen so many reviews rating this book 4.5/5 stars, so I don't know if it's just me or if I just wasn't in the right mood when I read this book, but this book was fine. It was cute. Nothing super high stakes, a very nice read. But I didn't think it was amazing or genre-changing. It was original, I'll give it that, but it was just... fine.

4.5 stars rounded up.

Well, it was as wonderfully delightful as everyone told me it would be. Emily is a great protagonist, full of gumption and awkward around people though she has a good heart behind that brilliant brain of hers. Wendell, well, you can't help falling in love with him just like everyone else (Emily included) and their romance was so sweet, charming, and full of witty banter.

As a lover of all things folklore, I was in heaven with how much Fawcett was able to squeeze into this book. It's the perfect length with perfect pacing, managing to cover an absolute ton of myths, stories, and folklore tidbits from all over the world while keeping the story going.

Though I will say the beginning was a tad bit slow for my taste (I think I had to get used to the journalistic bend of the prose.), once Wendell was present I was all in for the rest of the time and hungry for more at the end. I was over the moon to know there will be a book 2.

I absolutely recommend this to any fantasy romance reader. It's a perfect book, even with the slower start for my taste, and I couldn't be more pleased by it. Absolutely, totally delightful, charming, and enjoyable.

Note: I received a free electronic edition of this book via NetGalley in exchange for the honest review above. I would like to thank them, the publisher, and the author for the opportunity to do so.

Unfortunately this book was a DNF for me. Sometimes in a novel there are just so. many. words. I like writing that is more spare. Giving it 3 stars, because I just don't think this one was for me. I was provided an ARC of this book by Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Disclaimer: NetGalley provided a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review, but I ultimately borrowed the audiobook from the library.

This is the second time I've started this book. I'm a huge mood reader, and the first time, I wasn't feeling it. Emily Wilde's tone is very dry and academic, and I just couldn't get into it, and I put it aside for a few months.

This second time, I enjoyed it! I was listening to the audiobook, and the narrator did a great job of keeping an academic tone, but also letting emotion creep in (within character) as needed throughout the book. I'm looking forward to listening to the second book when it comes out in January of 2024 as well.

I found this book hard to get into. I tried many times, but it didn’t hold my attention. I like books with faeries and magic, so I expected to enjoy it very much. Right now, it is a dnf, but I hope to try again, in the future.

<b> <I> Thank you so much to Net Galley, the author, and the publisher for providing me with a free copy of “Emily Wilde's Encylcopaedeia of Faeries” by Heather Fawcett in exchange for an honest review. All of the following opinions are formulated on my own. Any quotes in this review should be cross-referenced with the final copy for any possible edits.</I> </b>

<b> Overall rating: </b> 4 out of 5 stars

<b> Favorite quote(s): </b>

<b> Do you need to read the series this spinoff is based on?: </b>

<b> My review: </b> Everyone knows I love a good fairy book and this book checked the box. This story begins with a 1900s Cambridge fairy studying professor named Emily. Much like many academics, Emily is good with literature yet not people. Emily visits a village I cannot spell and is met by her infuriating research rival Wendell. We watch a romance form between Wendell and Emily as she tries to figure out the mystery he is shrouded in.

<b> If you liked the following, you will probably like this book: </b>
<i> -Godkiller
- the Fox Glove King
- Mysteries of Thorn Manor and an Enchantment of Ravens (turned Adult)</i>

<b> Will I finish the series? </b>
Yes! I can't wait for the next one.

<b> Notable Themes, Elements, and Tropes: </b>
- THERE IS A DOG
- Fae and Magic
- Light and Dark Academia
- Mythological Lore
- Cozy Read

I really wanted to love this. I thought I would, I was prepared to be obsessed, to reread this every year, but I can't.

The writing is so over the top, it is not even poetic, just over the top.

"Bambelby and I entertained ourselves at the cottage by coaxing a recalcitrant Shadow into his new raiment, which was patterned with flowers and equipped with a jaunty hood. The dog hung his head in abject embarrassment until his tormentors deigned to relieve him of this woolen pillory, and he spent the next hour pointedly ignoring me."

That isn't cozy, that is excessive adjectives for the sake of filling space.

I found it hard to fully get into the story and ended up DNFing. This was simply not for me.

I love this book. I'm still thinking about it after reading it and considering rereading it. I'm also extra hyped for the next book coming out in this series. This is just so perfect, so charming and such a lovely, cozy fantasy with some romance that's so cute, and the world and atmosphere are so, so enchanting and amazing.

The characters are loveable and fun and it's great to see the relationship and banter between Emily and Bambleby. I also love the little village and the place that Emily stays in. I enjoyed the perspective from Emily with her expertise on the faerie folk in her journals and seeing the world through her eyes as she goes exploring, finding things, meeting faerie folk and her dog and everything.

If you haven't read this, you're missing out. I thoroughly enjoyed and fell in love with this and cannot wait for the next book. Thanks so much to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine for letting me read and review this delightful story. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I was a bit wary about reading this book based on the description, and it took me a while to finally start it. But once I decided to go ahead and take a chance on it, I am so glad that I did! The story of a prickly and standoffish professor who would rather research faeries for her encyclopedia than interact with humans, the book begins when Emily arrives in the wintry land of Ljosland in order to spend several months in the field studying the local Hidden Ones. Emily soon realizes the research will be more difficult than she first supposed, especially when she is unexpected and abruptly joined by fellow Cambridge professor Wendell Bamleby (whom Emily has long suspected is actually a member of the fae himself). Bamleby sets about endearing himself to the people of the local village while Emily focuses on discovering more about the local faeries, but Emily begins to realize that Bamleby might actually be an asset when Emily is confronted with locals who hold her at arms length, formidable arctic weather, and a changeling, missing villagers, a vengeful faerie queen and a faerie king imprisoned in an ancient tree.
Not long after beginning the book I found myself drawn into Emily's world, where faeries are an accepted--if little understood--fact. The book is told from Emily's point of view, from the scholarly journal where she records notes for what she hopes will be a work of grand scholarship: an encyclopedia of faeries. Emily's voice was extremely well-done, and it was not hard at all to understand her personality and the way she regarded her scholarship and her ability to function alongside her fellow humans. I enjoyed watching her relationship with Wendell grow and develop, as well as Emily's realization that she didn't have to do everything by herself all the time. Emily was endearing and relatable. And Wendell was a wonderful character as well. The author did a great job of creating someone who was intelligent, perhaps a bit foppish, a bit selfish, but also incredibly enchanting (!) and adorable. I found myself rooting for both Emily and Wendell despite their personality flaws, and I enjoyed going on this adventure with them.
My only issue with the book was the perhaps rambling way the plot flowed. There was not a real through-line with Emily's time in Hrafnsvik and the surrounding countryside. I found myself craving a true progression of action, with a clear beginning, middle and end. It seemed that Emily and Wendell found themselves completing many "side-tasks" and I kept wondering what the big final climax and denouement would be. But I also realize that this is the same nature as many folk- and faerie tales, that the author was just following a formula to relate her story to other ancient stories in the same genre. So I can appreciate what was going on here.
All in all, I would recommend this book. It was a fun read that would be great for a winter's day by a cozy fire. I will be looking forward to Book 2!

This type of cozy fantasy isn’t for me but I can see others enjoying it. The characters could not be as fleshed out because we were receiving an account of them through journal entries.

If you are looking for a slow burning, fun, and extremely heartwarming fantasy about friendship, family, love and making discoveries then I definitely recommend Emily Wilde's Encyclopaedia of Faeries.

October, 1909 Professor Emily Wilde is in the completely unpronounceable place Hrafnsvik, Ljosland searching for the Hidden Ones, a species of faerie. This is to be the last chapter in a nine year project. This is her life. She is a cantakerous , careless and uncaring about her appearance, socially inept, standoffish, awkward, and one of the foremost authorities on those magical creatures. She travels with her old boarhound Shadow who is frightening in appearance and much much than he appears. They are inhabiting a simple cabin in a rustic village which is a far cry from her rooms in Cambridge, England. So far the story is straightforward and while marginally interesting and informative is it also dry. Enter “Bloody Brambleby” or the thought of him.

When Wendell Brambleby finally shows up things start to get more interesting because he is everything that Emily is not, He is a golden boy, literally and figuratively. He is spoiled but very sociable and is able to connect with all the villagers Emily has alienated. There is magic in the air, in the trees, in the hollows and fields. Fairy Kings entrapped in trees and brownies hiding and popping out as needed and evil tall ones lurking. There is a story here but I am not sure of its relevance only that it was fun and it appears that there may be a sequel.

Thank you Del Rey/Random House and NetGalley for a copy.

I normally like magical realism and fantasy books, but for some reason I didn’t care for this one and found several things off-putting about it. I was hoping as I continued it or got close to finishing it that that would change but to no avail. Surprisingly I feel like this may actually work better as a limited TV series or movie with the right special effects and actors and be better than the book.

I think I read this at the wrong time because I feel like I would normally love something like this but I just... didn't. You have to really be in the mood for a cozy fantasy and I just was not into it. Gonna come back and reread it at a later time.

Loved this one, funny, cozy, low stakes some romance. Really enjoyed it and did not think I would!! Would really love to read #2!! Will definitely share!

This book reminded me a lot of Marie Brennan's Lady Trent/Dragon books, only with fairies instead. Emily Wilde is a lady naturalist of a sort of 19th century time period alternate world whose life goal is to create a comprehensive reference for all types of faeries ever encountered. She is prickly, plucky, and a perfectionist.

Emily spends this book in a sort of alternate Iceland, where faeries are seen as a fact of life instead of folklore. These fae can be quite dangerous, though, and the native inhabitants of the island where Emily intends to spend the winter doing her research have a few concerns about what happens if Emily stirs them up.

Emily is fairly hopeless with social cues and doesn't do well with connecting with the villagers upon whom she must depend for supplies and support. She has worked so hard to not be pigeonholed in a traditionally feminine role that she hasn't developed the smoothing over social skills that most women are expected to master.

However, Emily also has a rival/partner/nemesis/mentor named Wendell Bambleby. Emily does not expect to see him while she works on her research because she is living under primitive, uncomfortable conditions and Bambleby adores his creature comforts. But, suddenly, there he is. The two of them work strangely well together, considering their vastly different personalities and the suspicions that Emily harbors about Bambleby.

I found this to be a charming book! It hits on a bunch of stuff that I will love if given a chance: Regency/Victorian naturalism, intrepid lady scientists, folklore/mythology, maybe a bit of romance? It has to be done right for me to adore it and this book nails it IMO.

This was an amazingly fun read. Initially I thought the book was going to be about a character researching to disprove the existence of fairies (don't know why, I even read the synopsis multiple times) but this epistolary novel was full of fairy shenanigans, human shenanigans, so much magical mystery. The characters are fun, from Emily's almost problematic desire for knowledge, to the town folk who resemble secondary characters from a small town romance (everyone knows everyone and everything). And the sprinkling of romance made me squeal for more. What a great adventure, historical fantasy (with a little romance!).

I am new to writings by Heather Fawcett and didn't know what to expect with this story. I kept hearing about this book and saw some beautiful special editions of it. With that said, I wanted to form my own opinion of this book and managed to avoid spoilers. I was very surprised by the writing style and structure of this book. I liked the characters and felt the author did a really good job of creating a world that was easy to envision and felt real. It is definitely worth reading.

This book was SO fun to read. I love Heather Fawcett's writing. I've read her other books and they were just as good!

I loved Emily's character and Wendell's as well. What a fun duo to read about. I'm glad to see a second book will be released!