Overall Rating: ★★★★✬ (4.75) 🡢 Book One with 5 stars, Book Two with 4.5 stars
Themes: friendship, personal growth, found family (this book is less about themes and more about character development!)
Moods: adventerous, light-hearted, funny (at times), mysterious
Pacing: Medium (in both books it starts slow, but gets faster near the end)
Who should read it: anyone interested in a story including adventerous professors of dryadology uncovering mysteries of faeries – a lot of banter, coziness, lovable villagers, and charming landscapes. anyone that loves cozy fantasy will adore this series!
Plot or Character Driven: a mix of both!
Coffee or Tea book? fruit tea, with strawberry jam bread!
“I wish to know the unknowable. To see what no mortal has seen, to— how does Lebel put it? To peel back the carpeting of the world and tumble into the stars.”
I picked up Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Faeries just after finishing Blood Over Bright Haven (by M.L. Wang). Without getting into it too much, Wang’s book was beautifully written with a powerful narrative; however, it contained heavy themes that I was looking to take a little break from after I finished it. I had had Emily Wilde on my TBR list since last year, but had almost written it off thinking it sounded like something I would have enjoyed more when I was a preteen (not quite sure what I was thinking when I first read the blurb for the book, but I thought it would be a lot more like Keeper of the Lost Cities by Shannon Messenger). For the last few months I had been reading darker fantasy, contemporary fiction, and dystopian novels, and was looking for a book that would be easy to digest.
So, I began my journey into Heather Fawcett’s world. Two books later — plus a week after finishing — I still think picking up the Emily Wilde series was my best book decision of 2024!
(Alas, this will be more of a microreview – school is keeping me busy!)
What I Loved:
- character dynamics ⫸ Apart from the main characters (Emily and Wendell), the side characters are also quite loveable! I especially loved the friendships that Emily formed with the villagers in the first book (like Lilja!). And how could I forget Emily’s eventual fondness for Poe?
- character ages ⫸ I loved that the characters are older than me – I’ve slowly been outgrowing all the protagonists i rooted for growing up (looking at you, Harry Potter, Percy Jackson, etc.), so this was nice to see. People over the age of 20 can successfully be main characters in fantasy books!
- setting ⫸ Nordic and Germanic villages. Cottagecore atmosphere through and through with beautiful descriptions of the scenery – you’re in for a treat!
“The loveliness of the view outside stopped me in my tracks. The mountain fell away before me, a carpet of green made greener by the luminous dawn staining the clouds with pinks and golds. The mountains themselves were lightly ensnowed, though there was no threat of a sequel in that cerulean canopy. Within the hinterlands of the prospect heaved the great beast of the sea with its patchy pelt of ice floes.”
- genre fusion ⫸ Fusing academia, fantasy, and adventure. I really enjoyed the analytical approach to faerie mythology as an academic myself!
- realistic characterizations ⫸ I found Emily very relatable. She is an introverted academic that really just wants to throw herself into her work. She also isn’t pitched as a perfect protagonist – she has difficulties communicating her thoughts and feelings to others and thus often comes across as a grouch. But the important part is that she accepts and works on this, so she is still likeable!
- lessons ⫸ I may be reading too much into this, but I feel that these books have an underlying lesson in kindness, as well as growing into yourself and the people around you. This definitely adds to the coziness and feel-goodness of the read!
“If you do not admit kindness from others, you cannot be surprised when they fail to offer any.”
- romance ⫸ Unlike other reviews of this series so far, I don’t feel like feel the romance came out of nowhere, just that it was told from Emily’s side of the story and not Wendell’s. Given Emily’s inclination to logic instead of emotion, to her, friendship and teamwork was a better basis to a relationship than a grand romantic realisations. I feel that this is an excellent representation of how some people in the real world fall into love themselves.
- comedic dialogue ⫸ These books definitely could’ve been written in a much darker tone. However, I very much enjoyed the lightness of the dialogue; probably even more so because I started this right after finishing Blood over Bright Haven (a post for another time perhaps?). We have Wendell’s flamboyance and Emily’s sarcasm to thank for that – see quotes below!
“This was Bambleby, after all — my only friend. (God.)”
“Get inside! You’re bleeding!”
“I will not bleed any less indoors, you utter madwoman.”
- a good ending ⫸ I felt I could count on a nice ending from these books – call me childish, but I definitely welcomed the pace, easiness, and comfort of these stories (especially given the others I read recently: Babel and Never Let Me Go, for starters!)
- writing style ⫸ The prose is captivating and the author’s voice/tonality/ is powerful. Usually all the books I love have this attributed to them!
- sidequests! ⫸ Not everything felt like it was constantly pushing for the plot to move forward. I felt this also contributed to the easiness and warmth of the books.
- portrayal of faerie ⫸ All I can say is that it was an exciting twist on things that really brough folklore alive!
What I Wished/Hoped For:
- I liked the second book ever so slightly less ⫸ I think this is because I was partial to the nordic/icelandic setting of the first book. We also got to see a lot more of the villagers in the first book, and I definitely enjoyed the times when Emily and Wendell went on adventures by themselves the most. I wish these translated over the the second book more faithfully, but this is just my opinion!
- I didn’t quite understand the journal format ⫸ How does she remember all the conversations and details? Emily writes as if she’s a removed narrator of her own story. The narration style could easily have been changed – but I guess this isn’t quite a wish! The style is easy to overlook (I could totally chalk it up to Emily being a genius). Plus, I enjoyed the footnotes and whenever the occasional Wendell POV was added as a sneaky stolen journal entry!
Even with some of the very minor aspects I didn’t love, this series has so so SO many good things about it! If you’re on the fence about starting the series, this is your sign to dive right in without looking back. Fall/Winter are definitely the best seasons to read this series given its warmth.
Lastly, this series isn’t even over yet – this is one of the rare times where I will be counting down the days for another book without forgetting about a series entirely. I’ll be first in line for Emily Wilde’s Compendium of Lost Tales when it comes out!
Momo's Musings 