Emily Wilde's Encyclopaedia of Faeries

What a romp! I listened to this one as an audiobook, then read the next one in the series on the page, because I couldn't devour it fast enough. Fans of Susanna Clarke's Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell, Terry Pratchett's Tiffany Aching series, and Naomi Novik's Spinning Silver will adore this. It alternate-history earth, with deep fairy folklore, engaging characters, laugh-out-loud moments, and true feelings of danger.

Emily is awkward and completely focused on her work, and I relate SO MUCH to that. I wanted to be her best friend, so spending a little over 300 pages with her was a no-brainer. The book starts slowly and reads a bit like an old-fashioned fairy tale, the scary kind where there really IS something waiting in the dark, and the magical creatures aren't there to help you.

Throughout the book, Emily starts to make connections with people (and creatures) who love her for her. And she also learns that maybe she can bend a little, make some compromises… show more.

I love the way this cosy fantasy immerses you in the world. Not only is the description of Ljosland evocative and irresistible, but the cultural scope of faeries and the academia around them are so well fleshed out. The footnotes add to the story and the immersion rather than detracting from them. And don't get me started on Wendell, my new favourite book boyfriend!

I immediately loved this book for its alternate history, detailed folklore, and dark academic vibes. I connected with the complex characters and a strong female protagonist who was fearless of social expectations. The unique combination of folklore and an archaeology background that I share with the author Heather Fawcett was something I found familiarity with instantly.

I enjoyed the alternate history where dark academia met with the more traditional Gaslamp-style fantasy fiction to create something new. This combination of dark academia, marginalized voices, and alternate history is a style I enjoy delving into the past in new, unusual ways and… show more.

I fell in love with the protagonist, Emily Wilde, right away. She’s smart and focused, and utterly unaware of how she presents to the world or how to react to it. She is a dryadologist, that is, she studies Faeries and other Folk which, in the world of the book, are real. Despite the huge dose of magic that exists in the book, it doesn’t read like fantasy. Written in diary form, my heart ached witnessing Emily’s personal and professional struggles to understand what’s going on around her.

She’s immensely talented, stronger than she realizes, and her personal quirks that… show more.

I didn’t know how badly I needed to read the journal of a Cambridge professor until I got ahold of this book. It helps that her area of study is faeries and that her academic rival and love interest is an eccentric, self-absorbed charmer of a “man” (see footnote: exiled fae) who ends up enraptured by his human.

This book is filled with genuinely beautiful prose that often topples over into ridiculousness, a perfect blend to make me devolve into chuckling while also falling in love with the characters and the spooky, wintery world they adventure through.

I love faeries and folklore, so the concept of a lady professor who studied faeries immediately piqued my interest.

In this tale, Emily, who has devoted her life to her academic studies, journeys to a remote region to document the faerie life there and discovers far more than she bargained for—changelings, faerie rulers, and all sorts of unnatural dangers.

Through it all, she’s accompanied by her dog—and of course, there’s more to his nature than is immediately apparent (I won’t say more to avoid spoilers). The use of folklore, the academic protagonist, and the adorable dog companion made the Encylopaedia… show more.

Like the fictional Emily Wilde, I’m a scholar who’s captivated by elves and faerie lore. I’ve visited out-of-the-way villages on icy islands in the far north, like Emily’s Ljosland, looking for the hidden folk. But Emily, unlike me, actually found them—or they found her—putting her and her friends in peril of their lives.

Author Heather Fawcett’s love and respect for the ancient lore of the north shines through in this wonderful exploration of friendship and belonging. I’ll be looking for the sequel.

OMG, this book is such fun! I love fantasy, but there's only so many times you can read about someone saving the world… sometimes it's good to have a smaller focus.

Emily Wilde is an intrepid Victorian academic, and the book is her research diary (complete with footnotes) of a field trip to the village of  Hrafnsvik to catalogue the local faeries.

I loved Emily's spiky character – she's not very good with normal people – and the slow development of her relationship with Wendell Bambleby, who she suspects of wanting to steal her research.

The writing is lovely, both… show more.

This was a captivating story about a professor who is an expert on all things faerie and her adventures to investigate the faeries who live in the harsh winter climate of Hrafnsvik.

Emily was such a relatable character and I personally felt that we had a lot in common with the way we think and navigate life. The world of faerie was mysterious and beautiful, and Emily and her companion from university are such a fun pair to follow on their adventures. I’d definitely recommend this to someone who loves fairy stories and scholarly adventures!