Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Faeries, by Heather Fawcett, is the one book on my NetGalley shelf that I did not look forward to reading. I mean, who wants to read an encyclopedia? Most are filled with important facts, presented in an extremely dry manner. Still, I had agreed to read the book and I do my best to keep the agreements I make.

Finally, I harrumphed my way to my comfiest chair and opened my Kindle to The Encyclopaedia of Faeries. That is when the book grabbed me by the collar, shook me for my insolence and pulled me in so hard that I did not emerge until I finished the entire book.

Boy, was my impression of the title wrong!

Emily Wilde is a Dryadologist (one who studies Faeries and their civilization), and is setting off on a quest to gather information for her comprehensive encyclopedia of all things faerie, and faerie folk.

Her journey, with her trusty dog Shadow, takes her to the snowbound mountains of Ljodland. Her destination, a dusty cottage/shack in the small village of Hrafnsvik. Emily is looking for a never before discovered faerie clan and anything new in the realm of the folk.

The cottage is cold, the hearth barren and dirty. There is no food. Emily must rely on the kindness of the family she is renting the cottage from to provide food, logs, and supplies. She also wants to trade with… No…

Wait.

Can’t tell you that… Spoilers, sweetie.

Instead of going any farther into the book, here are my impressions. I am new to Heather Fawcett, so I took the title literally. You know the phrase “never judge a book by its cover?” That applies to this one. And it is absolutely brilliant in all respects.

Heather’s storyline is superb! The characters are three dimensional and relatable. I was drawn in immediately to the story and fell in love with Emily’s dog, Shadow.

The backdrop for the book is beautiful and appeals to my love of the northern regions. Heather paints a word picture of a village that was so believable that you feel like you’ve grown up there.

As I read, I felt as if I knew and cared for each character that I met. It was easy to envision the cold, snowy landscape. I could feel the dust in the cottage and smell the hearth and the food.

Dr. Wendell Bambleby, a co-worker of Emily’s, who shows up midway through the book, is a delightful homage to a typical college Professor.

He is eager to gather information to write a paper for an upcoming conference on Dryadology. His personality is likable, joyful, and mixed with a hint of magic. Dr. Bambleby stole every storyline he appeared in.

But wait… This book is an encyclopedia, right? There is no intrigue, danger, or romance in normal encyclopedias, is there? Maybe not in a world book encyclopedia, but that is not the case in Emily’s Encyclopaedia.

Perhaps the book is magic. It definitely cast a magical spell over me. I can hardly wait for book two to arrive. (It’s coming out soon!)

One thing I truly learned by reading this book is that not everything is as it seems.

This was a magical read! The writing was excellent and it was very entertaining. I highly recommend it.

I’m sad to say I was a tad disappointed by this one. I’d heard such great things and I kept waiting for it to capture me, but it only did for very brief moments. I think much of that comes down to the narrative style—a series of journal entries—that lacked emotion and urgency. Clearly plenty of other readers have really enjoyed this one so this might come down to my own personal preference.

EMILY!! I loved this so much. Like a warm hug on a cold day, this is cozy fantasy at its finest. A wonderful grumpy/sunshine romance, dark faeries, and small community full of characters; this was just fabulous. Can’t wait for book 2!

<i>ARC Provided by NetGalley<i>

This is a fantasy novel about Faeries. It was fun to read. Especially when she had two fairy kings who wanted to marry her.
Del Rey and Net Galley le me ad this book for review (thank you). It will be published on January 10th.

She is writing a book about faeries. She looks for them and often finds them. She has many little stories about them. Some are kind and some are evil.

She got the King of Faeries out of the tree he was captive in and he wants to marry her. Se tells him she's already been promised to marry another. He doesn't care...

It's an interesting tale and you won't forget it soon...

A gorgeous read -- beautiful and haunting, and I adored the epistolatory style of narrative. The letters really made it stand out as a unique fantasy work.

It’s giving the Cruel Prince vibes but make it adult! Cozy fantasy, academic rivals, found family & lots of magical creatures! A must read romantasy 😍

I was looking forward to an enchanting, interesting take on faeries––unfortunately, this one missed the mark for me. This is far more of a cozy story than the cover indicates upon first glance; fans of character-driven, more lighthearted reads will enjoy this.

I loved this journal style narrative and I loved the input of Wendells entries, too. I definitely did not see this story going in the direction that it did, but I loved it!

4.5 stars

Emily Wilde's Encyclopaedia of Faeries is perfect for readers who want cozy fantasy vibes with a little bit more grit and plot. With a very unique encyclopaedia/journal writing style the story has a bit of a slow start. However, once the chaotically charming Wendell Bambleby is introduced the story gets a lot more interesting. Once he arrived I didn't want to put the story down. Honestly, it feels very fitting that the book would have a slightly boring start because Emily can be rather hard on herself. As the story is told through her journal entries it is kind of perfect that the story doesn't get interesting—for use and for Emily—until Wendell arrives.

Fawcett crafts a stunning atmosphere in the wintery countryside of Hrafnsvik. The journal entries create a light academia tone to the story that works wonderfully with our two academic leads. I love how Fawcett played with the fact that the story was told through journal entries later in the story. I really appreciated that Emily Wilde's Encyclopaedia of Faeries explores the darker fae like those in folktales rather than the romanticized fae that are popular in fantasy right now. The darkness of the creatures worked really well with the cold, wintery setting.

Emily and Wendell highlight very different sides of academia and their dynamic was so fun to read. You can tell that they have a long history with each other. Admittedly it does make a few of the romantic moments feel a bit sudden. As readers, we have only seen them together for a short time so it would have made more sense for some of these moments to happen in the later books. However, I adore their relationship and had so much fun reading both their banter and the softer moments between them. Wendell is an enchantingly chaotic character who reminds me a lot of Howl from Howl's Moving Castle (the book). Get yourself a man that will kill for you AND tailor your clothes. I do wish that one of the big reveals about Wendell had happened later in the story. Honestly, it was pretty obvious but it would have been fun to play with the "is it/is it not" element for a little bit longer. Their banter about the topic was some of the best and I would have loved more of it. However, I am sure that we have much more to learn about Wendell in the next book.

The more time passes the more this book grows on me. I would highly recommend this book to fans of Half a Soul by Olivia Atwater. Emily Wilde's Encyclopaedia of Faeries balances darker academic elements with an endearing romance resulting in an atmospheric and engaging read.

This was truly such a cozy read! Very low stakes which is perfect if that’s what you’re looking for, but due to that, the beginning did seem quite slow and it took awhile for me to truly enjoy the story. I did find the lore very interesting and thought the stories intermixed into her journal entries were interesting. I would definitely recommend this to someone who is looking for low stakes fantasy or a cozy light read.

• In a library full of repeated plot lines this was a breath of fresh air.
• The perfect lighthearted vacation read.
• Although opposite settings, I couldn’t help but be reminded of Jungle Cruise. -Honestly, Emily Wilde’s Encyclopedia of Faeries would make an excellent Disney movie.
• 4 out of 5 because the ending and somewhat expected romantic declarations all felt rushed, empty, and odd.
• I look forward to book two.

A quirky and entertaining read that
will work well for a wide range of fantasy readers. Well developed
characters with interesting writing. It gets a bit dark at times, but I really enjoyed it.

Thoroughly enchanting, this novel captured my attention the moment I opened it. I love everything to do with fairies and this book provided me with an alternate world I could view them in. Beautifully written.

Emily is traveling to Hrafnsvik to study and interact with the "hidden ones" or Faeries of the area to complete her "Encyclopaedia of Faeries". She is happiest with her books and her dog Shadow and would rather talk to one of the Fair than a regular person. She is also delighted to be away from another academic, Wendell Bambleby.

The locals are not all that welcoming. She's expected to chop her own wood for the fire. Then Wendell Bambleby shows up to "help" her. She's made one Fair friend she calls Poe. She discovers a changeling in the area who is making the family it's with miserable.

The title of this book seemed enchanting to me and I think I was hoping for just a little more. I liked it but I didn't love it and I'm not overly attached to any character in the book.

If you are looking for a cozy winter fantasy, look no further! Emily Wilde's Encyclopaedia of Faeries follows a professor of Cambridge who studies faeries with a single-mindedness that often leads her to falter in social situations. Overall, this is a charming, low-stakes, slightly quirky fantasy with a side of romance.

While this is not what I normally read, I did enjoy it. However, I did find the plot dragging at times and the writing a bit too wordy for my preference.

Dr. Emily Wilde, PhD, is a dryadologist heading to a remote Nordic island to research the local faerie population for her master work with only her dog for company. She makes good progress in her first few days with the local Fae, but perhaps less than ideal progress the villagers. Emily's manner (which is never called out as such but is portrayed as at least slightly neurodivergent) and her inability to recognize social cues leaves her in a chilly shack with little wood, burnt food, and no help, and she doesn't know what she's done wrong. Still, she's furious when her socially charming colleague, Wendell, descends uninvited on her trip with two grad students, all expecting to live with her. She's continually displeased with his lackadaisical approach to science and academics, but with his help she uncovers far more than she'd anticipated between the village and the local Faerie population.

So yes, in this Victorian-era fantasy, Cambridge has an entire field of study for Faeries, and it is wonderful. Emily and Wendell are hilariously snarky with each other. Emily is amusingly aware of her shortcomings when she's being a person (as opposed to a scientist), and her awkwardness gets her into all sorts of trouble. In a beautiful blend of Nordic tale and cosy romance, Emily Wilde's Encyclopaedia of Faeries has a mix of dark moments set against the backdrop of Norse stoicism and icy winter, but it also has lovely moments of connection for Emily, who seems better at getting along with the Fae than she does with humans.

Written in a diary format, this book is fast paced and, much like time spent in the Fae world, is likely to make you lose time. I lost sleep on Friday night and no little time on Saturday afternoon because I couldn't put the story down. Fawcett's Emily Wilde is a fabulous character, and I can't wait for the second book in this series. Emily Wilde's Encyclopaedia of Faeries is available now. Go read it: it's lovely.

Related: how does one petition the local university to include "Dryadology" as a major? I'm all for it!

Emily Wilde's Encyclopaedia of Faeries; Book One of the Emily Wilde Series by Heather Fawcett was an absolute treat! One of the most magical books I have read this year so far. A very special book that belongs on every library shelf! I felt so lucky to get a copy for myself! I have shared on my goodreads, bookstagram, and booktok!

I very much enjoyed Emily Wilde's Encyclopedia of Faeries! I thought it was such an original story. Emily and Wendell were so much fun together and I laughed so many times at how different the two of them were. My only criticism would be that I felt it was too slow and I found myself skipping parts because I was getting bored. I thought the ending was so cute and I am excited to see where the story goes!

Just pretty slow. I wanted to like this, but I think after this and The Grace of the Wild Things, I have to admit this author is just not for me.