Emily Wilde's Encyclopaedia of Faeries: the Sunday Times Bestseller

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Fawcett gives us a true deep dive into folk lore, not just from Hrafnsvik but all around the world, thanks in large to how she chose to style the book. Enchanting in every sense of the word, Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Faeries is a delight of snow-laden forests and changelings, folklore and fairy kings, meticulous footnotes and academic rivalry, and adventure.

They start off a little distrustful of Emily, sure that she will bring the wrath of the Hidden Ones on them, but the more time they spend with her, the more they come to hope that Emily might indeed be their salvation. And while, yes, this feels like absolutely the sort of attitude an English scholar in 1909 would have, why, when you’re doing queernorm, gender equalitarian past, did you have to leave that in?I gave it at a low 3 rating right now because I'm not sure it's low enough to warrant something in the 2 range, but I did not have a very good time with this and I'm glad it's over. The buoyant end promises further thrilling adventures filled with magic, fun, humour and hopefully even more of that delicious will-they-won’t-they romance. With a dedicated team sharing a passion for speculative fiction, Orbit is committed to broadening the audience for SF and Fantasy. It was never clear why Emily was rivals with Wendell Bambleby, and he was helpful to her throughout the book and did little things to make her time in this isolated town easier. That last point may seem trivial, and in fact it took me a while to notice when reading, beyond a vague sense of something being deeply off, but once I did realise, it was impossible to ignore.

Emily Wilde is good at many things, but dealing with people and the emotions that surely follow, is not one of them. I’ll also take a moment to say I suspect Emily was coded as autistic, and I’m unsure if that was intentional on the author’s part. However, soon she realises that Hrafnsvik is full of Fae mysteries and to unlock them, she needs the support of its residents. Nor does she care to spend time with another new arrival: her dashing and insufferably handsome academic rival Wendell Bambleby.

Oh, but the author repeatedly wants us to know it's okay because Emily's so much more logical than other people, and she doesn’t need anyone else’s feedback because she’s the expert (can you imagine my eye-roll? With degrees in English Literature and Archaeology, Heather published Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia Of Faeries in January 2023, and the sequel is coming up in 2024. There is not much focus on descriptions, but there is enough of it to make the little village come alive in our minds.