When we set out on our expedition, I was expecting either a scientific triumph or utter catastrophe. Well, I should have expected both.
Emily Wilde's Encyclopaedia of Faeries
by Heather Fawcett
Genre: Cosy Fantasy
About: Emily Wilde has travelled to a far off mountainous village to research the Hidden Ones; the most elusive of the Fae. Any knowledge she can obtain will do wonders for her career. She is therefore deeply suspicious when her Cambridge colleague (and possibly Fae in exile) joins her on the expedition. But as they begin making discoveries, Emily finds herself drawn into village life and, worse of all, inside of a Fae story all of her own...
Thoughts
Well this was lovely. At first I did find it quite slow paced (it's cosy fantasy so although the stakes do pick up, they do so after a few cups of teas and some village stew) but by the end I was so invested in the story. Or rather, stories. There's a whole patchwork of tales in here and I found the lore utterly fascinating. The Fae in these pages are not as sweet as the book cover suggests, though there are some sweethearts among the ghouls - I'm of course talking of Poe, who deserves a whole wardrobe full of beaver and bear skins.
Wendell is also quite charming. Although I did struggle to picture him as handsome. His vibe and dialogue just classified him - in my mind - as the old scholarly type with a bit of a beer belly and a dusty, unkempt appearance. A description he would be mortified to read, but for the beginning of the book he's quite lazy and old fashioned. It did help to get some passages in his POV, that took some years off him, and the romance between him and Emily did become adorable enough that I tried very hard to picture him as the beautiful, royal Fae with some of the Irish rogue about him. Though honestly, there's nothing wrong with an old and out-of-shape scholar finding love. I liked both Wendells.
Overall, this had charm, humour, romance and cunning. Emily's journal is, thankfully, more entertaining than it is academic and her topic of study has endless possibilities - or perhaps doors to follow... I'm very much looking forward to more adventures!
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