Tell me if these buzzwords resonate with you: academia, winter in Scandinavia, mischievous, evil, fairies, whimsical magic, and adventure. Yes? This tickles your interest? Well then Heather Fawcett’s newest novel Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Faeries is a book for you. I’ll be honest — I wasn’t exactly sure what to expect when the book dropped this January. I knew I liked the dark academia genre (when it’s well done) and faeries/folklore have always been a favourite of mine as well. I figured there’d be little chance of me disliking it, and I was right.
The protagonist, Emily Wilde is a young, grumpy, and serious Cambridge professor with an I-have-something-to-prove-at-all-times personality. She sets off on an expedition in the cold north with her giant and loyal four-pawed partner Shadow, with the intention of studying the “hidden ones” and compiling the very first encyclopaedia of Faeries. At first her narration comes across as arrogant, dry, and slightly narcissistic. It even made me reconsider whether or not I wanted to keep reading; but shortly into the book — before I could make the mistake of stopping — she is joined by her frenemy/coworker Wendell Bambleby. I think that Wendell, who has a very contrasting personality, could very easily be a tiresome character on his own; but the blend of the two characters is what had me smiling and even laughing out loud at times.
Writing characters who get on each other’s nerves is a balancing act — make them too mean and the humour can get lost, while jabs that are too subtle may be read as flirtation — yet, this is where Fawcett excelled. She kept the jabbing, pranking, and backhanded compliments in harmony with the characters and the story.
The story provided a decent amount of mystery and action with side plots and side characters that were nice enough. The action, pace, and adventure components made for a very engaging read that could be binged in an afternoon or spread over a week without losing too much sizzle.
Hardcovers today typically come with dust covers, and as barbaric as it might seem to you, I never keep mine on. I don’t toss them either as I’d feel bad trashing such artful covers, so I do the one thing I excel at: I hoard them in a drawer. This was pleasantly not needed for Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Faeries as the hard cover itself is beautifully decorated and there was actually no dust cover in sight. The book is written in a daily journal format. This makes each chapter a short read, which I’ve always preferred when I’m busy as I do not have to wait 15 more pages for the next chapter break. The journal (written in the voice of Emily) has footnotes on folkloric details for those not well versed in dryadology, which benefitted me as a reader. Lastly, the book was not too long, making it a short and engaging read.
Overall it was a good little winter read, and as this is the first in a series, I will be looking forward to the next one.
