Reviews

If you liked #1, you'll probably like this more.

The remarkable thing here for me is the consistency of tone, as if Fawcett has all this crystal clear in her mind, and can describe it consistently because it was real.

Yes, it's a cozy. Nothing really bad is going to happen to these nice people, and the bad ones will of course turn out to be just grumpy. But still, the many conflict scenes don't have obvious solutions and serious inconvenience is certainly possible.

I liked that Wendell's magic comes at a cost. Magic without that is just narrativium.

I liked that Emily is a complete dorkette but is the "nevertheless she persisted" type. I liked how she learned that her problems with other people were at least half at her end.

Points for umpteen kinds of fae, each different, and the recognition that they are what they are, and what we see as evil is not necessarily so for them.

And Poe is developed well here. More please.

Finally, in the queen's court, I liked that there were people all along the pro-queen, anti-queen spectrum plus a few who were actually fairly decent people/creatures.

Sure, I'll read #3. These books won't change the world but they are a pleasant break fron other stuff, and Fawcett has clearly defined her own world here.

mssliss's review against another edition

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adventurous medium-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? Yes

3.5

trickylemon's review against another edition

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adventurous informative lighthearted reflective relaxing medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

helloitskel's review against another edition

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adventurous hopeful inspiring mysterious tense 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

kappafrog's review

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adventurous dark funny informative mysterious slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

This was a great read! It was a slow start, but once we got to Austria, it was great. I adored the autumnal Austrian atmosphere. It made for such a spectacular setting! Rose was a great character addition. I liked that while he could be infuriating at times, he also added useful and different perspectives. I also enjoyed the development of the romance between Emily and Wendell. The return of Poe was a lot of fun, and the different Folk we met here were imaginative and terrifying as well as amusing and enigmatic.

My only real gripe with the book was that Emily was so awful towards Ariadne. All Ariadne did was show excitement and helpfulness, and Emily referred to her as a brat multiple times. I wish Ariadne had actually held her accountable for that. It made Emily very unlikeable at times - that and her stereotyped ideas about cats.

It was too bad that Eichorn and de Grey became such unlikable characters after all the excitement of finding them, but I still enjoyed their part in the novel.

Oh, and the author still seemed surprisingly unfamiliar with some of Cambridge's academic quirks, such as having 3 terms instead of 2.

laurensatterwhite's review

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3.0

3⭐️ || i could happily read fifty more books about emily and wendell. i was disappointed that emily wrote the most intense part of her journal while half asleep, but oh well

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