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unluckycat13's review against another edition
This book sucks. This is a romance novel masquerading as a general fantasy story, but containing basically every negative romance trope. Main character fails to do something and needs the man to rescue her? Consistently. One wonders how she even survived in the world before he got there. There are worse issues in the book though.
It's also unclear how such an amazing person, who's so powerful, the most knowledgeable about fae in the world, the most competent, the most talented, able to do so much on a shoestring budget and often mostly alone, is so widely disrespected and unknown. I applaud an author who makes being a woman or LGBT not subject to discrimination and prejudice, but the author surely must understand those are the reasons why a character in this situation would normally be disrespected and have their work ignored. Even the authors this book is in homage to faced this situation, and it is why their books are like that both in how they're written and the general reception.
What we have here is the most talented and amazing woman to ever live, who is more impressive than many of the impossible folk tales she collects, who is smarter, harder working, more talented than seemingly any of her peers, with singular insight lacking by everyone else in the world-- And no one knows or cares who she is. Not the fairies, not her colleagues, all cause she's not very sociable? Come on.
To add to that, the earth shattering nature of her adventures and finding in this book (which surely continue into the future books, but seemingly mostly didn't happen in any previous book) paint a picture of her life as just starting with this book. It breaks the illusion that she's a character with an entire life prior.
One of the larger disappointments in this book for me, aside from the romance, is the fairies. Poe is honestly quite the interesting creature... Who ultimately is just a human being who looks weird. As you get to the courtly fae, they indeed are also just dudes. Even the things it describes in them such as their moody natures where their emotions flip on a dime is something probably anyone could observe in other human beings. Sure we can't create ice swords from tears (oh wait, we can do that too), but they're just attractive people. It's baffling.
Ultimately this book is only fulfilling if you're reading it for the romance where Emily comes to realize how awesome and actually flawless her male companion is (for even his flaws are really just also awesome and endearing), and love him. Any other aspect of this book will be a let down as it increasingly goes in the direction that you can read in just about any het-romance book.
Shout out to the moment where the main character mentions that Irish folk lore seems to have been "christianized" at some point but she doesn't know why, how, or by who. Is that supposed to be a character flaw on her end or is the author making a joke?
I also feel compelled to add there is a scene where they torture a child which did not sit right with me. The child is not evil, the child is literally abandoned by his parents and hated by his foster parents. He's probably one of the more innocent people in this book and is looked down on with more disdain than the courtly fae who are hollowing people out for fun. When you add to this that changelings were kind of historically just an excuse to torture autistic or otherwise disabled children, the distressing aspects of the scene are renewed. It pushes Emily over an event horizon of not just being a little immoral or maybe having her own sense of justice, she's quite explicitly a little bit evil although the book would not present her as such. This book in general seems to have very little empathy towards children. I realize not having much empathy is a trait Emily has at the start which she slowly learns to get over as she becomes more suitably womanly for her male love interest, but I think this book is particularly weird about children.
It's actually unclear in general what causes Emily to grow a heart here when she seemingly never had one before except that it makes her more feminine to contrast against her suitor.
It's also unclear how such an amazing person, who's so powerful, the most knowledgeable about fae in the world, the most competent, the most talented, able to do so much on a shoestring budget and often mostly alone, is so widely disrespected and unknown. I applaud an author who makes being a woman or LGBT not subject to discrimination and prejudice, but the author surely must understand those are the reasons why a character in this situation would normally be disrespected and have their work ignored. Even the authors this book is in homage to faced this situation, and it is why their books are like that both in how they're written and the general reception.
What we have here is the most talented and amazing woman to ever live, who is more impressive than many of the impossible folk tales she collects, who is smarter, harder working, more talented than seemingly any of her peers, with singular insight lacking by everyone else in the world-- And no one knows or cares who she is. Not the fairies, not her colleagues, all cause she's not very sociable? Come on.
To add to that, the earth shattering nature of her adventures and finding in this book (which surely continue into the future books, but seemingly mostly didn't happen in any previous book) paint a picture of her life as just starting with this book. It breaks the illusion that she's a character with an entire life prior.
One of the larger disappointments in this book for me, aside from the romance, is the fairies. Poe is honestly quite the interesting creature... Who ultimately is just a human being who looks weird. As you get to the courtly fae, they indeed are also just dudes. Even the things it describes in them such as their moody natures where their emotions flip on a dime is something probably anyone could observe in other human beings. Sure we can't create ice swords from tears (oh wait, we can do that too), but they're just attractive people. It's baffling.
Ultimately this book is only fulfilling if you're reading it for the romance where Emily comes to realize how awesome and actually flawless her male companion is (for even his flaws are really just also awesome and endearing), and love him. Any other aspect of this book will be a let down as it increasingly goes in the direction that you can read in just about any het-romance book.
Shout out to the moment where the main character mentions that Irish folk lore seems to have been "christianized" at some point but she doesn't know why, how, or by who. Is that supposed to be a character flaw on her end or is the author making a joke?
I also feel compelled to add there is a scene where they torture a child which did not sit right with me. The child is not evil, the child is literally abandoned by his parents and hated by his foster parents. He's probably one of the more innocent people in this book and is looked down on with more disdain than the courtly fae who are hollowing people out for fun. When you add to this that changelings were kind of historically just an excuse to torture autistic or otherwise disabled children, the distressing aspects of the scene are renewed. It pushes Emily over an event horizon of not just being a little immoral or maybe having her own sense of justice, she's quite explicitly a little bit evil although the book would not present her as such. This book in general seems to have very little empathy towards children. I realize not having much empathy is a trait Emily has at the start which she slowly learns to get over as she becomes more suitably womanly for her male love interest, but I think this book is particularly weird about children.
It's actually unclear in general what causes Emily to grow a heart here when she seemingly never had one before except that it makes her more feminine to contrast against her suitor.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse
Minor: Child death and Alcohol
Romancesophiesmallhands's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
lighthearted
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Kidnapping
Moderate: Blood, Violence, and Gore
Minor: Vomit, Child death, Death, and Child abuse
gillian_aftanas's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Kidnapping, Murder, Blood, Body horror, Injury/Injury detail, and Violence
Moderate: Gore, Animal cruelty, Confinement, Death, Grief, and Animal death
Minor: Child death, Mental illness, Torture, Vomit, and Cursing
bxnny's review
adventurous
dark
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Animal cruelty, Kidnapping, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Gore, Death, and Torture
Moderate: Violence
pandemonicbaby's review against another edition
adventurous
inspiring
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Never underestimate the power of an autistic bitch with a special interest in faeries
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Murder, Gore, Grief, Confinement, Death, and Kidnapping
Minor: Child death, Animal death, Cursing, and Alcohol
hopeless_kitten's review
adventurous
funny
informative
lighthearted
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
I had tried to read faerie genre books before and I could not sink my foot into it completely. This book has by far been my favorite.
Emily Wilde is a woman (30 years old) who struggles with the theatrics of academia and being taken seriously as a researcher. As a person not in academia, but has great appreciation for research, this was an interesting read. There were words here and there that went over my head at first, but overall the theme was a good read.
Wendell is a character and I enjoyed his presence. Themarriage proposal scene was quite hilarious and it seemed quite on brand for Emily to wind up in another situation like that.
Emily Wilde is a woman (30 years old) who struggles with the theatrics of academia and being taken seriously as a researcher. As a person not in academia, but has great appreciation for research, this was an interesting read. There were words here and there that went over my head at first, but overall the theme was a good read.
Wendell is a character and I enjoyed his presence. The
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror
Minor: Child death
letheaster's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
I enjoyed this book immensely. Emily and Wendell had an excellent dynamic with each other, the writing was well executed, and overall the story was just a lot of fun.
Emily was very clearly autism-coded, and I just really appreciated that aspect of her character as well.
Overall, I just truly enjoyed this story and it may be one if not the favorite of the books I've read in the past few years. I very rarely talk about the books I am reading to my family, however with this one I could barely restrain myself. This book appealed to me greatly.
Emily was very clearly autism-coded, and I just really appreciated that aspect of her character as well.
Overall, I just truly enjoyed this story and it may be one if not the favorite of the books I've read in the past few years. I very rarely talk about the books I am reading to my family, however with this one I could barely restrain myself. This book appealed to me greatly.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Injury/Injury detail, and Kidnapping
Moderate: Death
Minor: Animal death and Child death
dogoodwithbooks's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
During an expedition to Hrafnsvik, Ljosland, Cambridge professor Emily Wilde uncovers unknown secrets of the fae world she has spent her whole life studying as she tries to save Hrafnsvik from the Hidden Ones alongside her colleague and frenemy Wendell Bambleby.
Emily Wilde's Encyclopaedia of Faeries is an interesting take on the fantasy genre: a low-stakes novel that's not quite so cozy and is a perfect blend of magical realism and Victorian elements. Written entirely from journal entries during Emily's time in Ljosland, the epistolary format works really well for this book as readers are transported in the intricate world-building behind Fawcett's fae world.
Additionally, Emily is such an interesting narrator for this book, and provides a unique POV throughout the book. While Fawcett doesn't say that she's autistic in the book, as an #ActuallyAutistic reviewer, one can notice that there are some of her attributes are similar to other autistic individuals. Regardless of whether Emily is autistic or not, Fawcett does a stellar job with detailing Emily's growth throughout the book as she learns to open herself up to others.
That being said, if you're looking for a low-stakes fantasy novel with fae, cozy aesthetic with dark undertones and a hint of romance, and/or a strong female protagonist (who may be autistic), you would probably enjoy reading Emily Wilde's Encyclopaedia of Faeries.
Emily Wilde's Encyclopaedia of Faeries is an interesting take on the fantasy genre: a low-stakes novel that's not quite so cozy and is a perfect blend of magical realism and Victorian elements. Written entirely from journal entries during Emily's time in Ljosland, the epistolary format works really well for this book as readers are transported in the intricate world-building behind Fawcett's fae world.
Additionally, Emily is such an interesting narrator for this book, and provides a unique POV throughout the book. While Fawcett doesn't say that she's autistic in the book, as an #ActuallyAutistic reviewer, one can notice that there are some of her attributes are similar to other autistic individuals. Regardless of whether Emily is autistic or not, Fawcett does a stellar job with detailing Emily's growth throughout the book as she learns to open herself up to others.
That being said, if you're looking for a low-stakes fantasy novel with fae, cozy aesthetic with dark undertones and a hint of romance, and/or a strong female protagonist (who may be autistic), you would probably enjoy reading Emily Wilde's Encyclopaedia of Faeries.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, and Blood
Moderate: Murder, Violence, Vomit, and Animal cruelty
Minor: Alcohol, Animal death, Child death, and Ableism
aileron's review against another edition
adventurous
lighthearted
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail and Kidnapping
Moderate: Confinement, Murder, Death, and Violence
Minor: Animal death, Blood, and Child death
evbyrd's review
adventurous
dark
lighthearted
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty and Violence
Minor: Confinement, Suicidal thoughts, Child death, and Death