Member Reviews
A perfectly whimsical conclusion to the light academia series about a scholar of folklore and the fae prince she loves. Emily Wilde has spent her entire life studying fairies but now she must embark on her most dangerous academic project yet: studying the inner workings of the faerie realm as its queen. Along with her former academic rival now finance she is immediately thrust into the deadly intrigue of the courts.
Here she finds a beautiful nightmare filled with scholarly treasures with which to document and avoid for survival. Emily has been obsessed with faerie stories her entire life but she feels just as out of place here as she did in the mortal world. With a deadly curse placed upon the land it will take all her fiancรฉโs magic and her knowledge of stories to unravel the mystery before they lose everything they hold dear.
It would seem our awkward professor feels just as out of touch in the faerie lands as she does the mortal world which is equally endearing as it is understanding. If one were to find themselves whisked away to become a fair queen it would be a dream come true and a waking nightmare attempting to navigate court politics and faerie tricks.
A book so endlessly enchanting and vividly descriptive that youโll walk away half ensorcelled as if you truly had walked unknowingly through a faerie door. If only there was a way to stay there without the story ending but even so it was a perfectly enchanting ending.
๐๐ก๐๐ง๐ค ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ ๐๐๐๐ก๐๐ญ๐ญ๐ ๐๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ญ๐ซ๐๐ฅ๐ข๐ (๐๐ซ๐๐ข๐ญ) ๐๐จ๐ซ ๐ ๐๐ข๐ ๐ข๐ญ๐๐ฅ ๐๐๐ฏ๐๐ง๐๐๐ ๐ซ๐๐๐๐๐ซ ๐๐จ๐ฉ๐ฒ ๐ฏ๐ข๐ ๐๐๐ญ๐๐๐ฅ๐ฅ๐๐ฒ ๐จ๐ ๐๐ฆ๐ข๐ฅ๐ฒ ๐๐ข๐ฅ๐๐'๐ฌ ๐๐จ๐ฆ๐ฉ๐๐ง๐๐ข๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐จ๐ ๐๐จ๐ฌ๐ญ ๐๐๐ฅ๐๐ฌ ๐๐ฒ ๐๐๐๐ญ๐ก๐๐ซ ๐
๐๐ฐ๐๐๐ญ๐ญ
I absolutely adored the first two Emily Wilde books so was excited to read this one. This book jumps straight into the action with Emily and Wendell heading to his castle to take back the throne. In fact I had to go over the last book to remind myself of the storyline.
However from this action packed start the story slows down a lot in the middle with a lot of courtly intrigue and weeding out of traitors still loyal to the previous queen (Wendell's stepmother) and a curse affecting Wendell's kingdom.
Without spoiling some major plot points some of the major events in the book seem to be glossed over fairly quickly including working out who the traitor is as once they are discovered nothing much happens to them.
I also felt the same about a certain characters death as the incident seemed to be resolved fairly quickly which left it seeming not very heartfelt.
The ending too was a little underwhelming.
Overall I quite enjoyed this book but it felt more like a middle book than the end of a series
sooooooooo, does the series end here or is there a fourth book coming?
I really enjoy this series, the world they exist in, and this book is no exception to that. However, I think this book mayyyyyy be my 'least favourite' out of the 3! (book 2 is my favourite and I devoured that one!)
It is very action packed and more tense compared to the previous two in the series, and at times, felt a bit off? As in maybe a bit harder to follow since it's mostly in the faerie realm compared to the real world? I can't fully explain how I felt, maybe because I read this one digitally compared to physically for the other two, I felt as if this one was much more fast paced and less "cosy fantasy". It felt as if some things were missing too, for e.g., more communication between Emily and Wendell about her transition to a queen? What I'm saying is that some of the plot points felt a bit unresolved and I think this does leave the door open for a possible 4th book.
If this is the end of the series, it is still a fitting ending, and wrapped up decently well. Though I do wish there was an epilogue if this is the end.. As I've said, I would've preferred a bit more communication to finish it off, but still pretty satisfied! I think readers of this series will generally enjoy this book and seeing where the story goes and wraps up.
Thank you NetGalley & Hachette Aus/NZ for the arc!
3.5 / 5
Sadly I think that this might be my least favourite in the series. Wendall just seems so immature in comparison to the previous books and there just wasn't any chemistry between Emily and Wendall. I felt that there was more chemistry between Emily and Shadow (the dog/grim). The story also felt a bit nonsensical but I guess that's to be expected from a story set in Fairie.
Thank you to Netgalley and Hachette for the eARC and because it's taken almost 3 weeks but my window is finally fixed, I have given an honest review
Emily Wildeโs Compendium of Lost Tales is the third instalment in the spellbinding series. After absolutely devouring the first two books, I was eager to get my hands on the third, and it did not disappoint. I absolutely love the way Heather Fawcett writes, creating such a cosy tale that is compulsively readable.
Sigh.
I need to take some time to recover from coming to the end of yet another Heather Fawcett novel. She has embroidered an incredible world of faerie, academia and adventure. The characters are well fleshed out and I may have had glassy eyes reading about Shadow.
The character Emily reminded me of other great characters like Don Tillman (The Rosie Project) and Elizabeth Zott (Lessons in Chemistry) that stay with you well after you have finished the book. I much prefer a fantasy world because you never know what is going to happen when you open that door or find unusual eyes watching you!
Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity to read this earlier than the print date for an honest review. Iโm excited to add the print copy to my personal and school library. Yes, this will be highly recommended by me.
I absolutely love Emily and Wendall! This is such a great third book, I love that we get more and more Fae as we go on!