Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Faeries

When it comes to books popular on the internet, I always wonder whether the appeal is due to it having marketable tropes or it genuinely trying to be a work of art. For this novel by Heather Fawgett, I still can’t really place my finger on which one. On the former’s side, this book does tick a lot of boxes for the viral fantasy book: an academic who loves books, enemies to lovers storyline, and of course, faeries. Maybe it is a carefully curated product, but I can’t really say that because of the latter. There is something about this novel that doesn’t feel soulless, and gives me the impression this is a story the author deeply wanted to tell. 

Right off the bat, I really love the prose. The first-person writing is rich without feeling dense and unreadable, and it characterizes Emily Wilde as a methodically-minded social recluse far better than an exposition dump could. That is truly great storytelling. I thought the ice-cold world Fawgett created was beautiful, and I enjoyed reading descriptions of the village and surrounding forest. The faeries are also written really well; as a reader, you can understand they are beautiful but capable of horrible things. That is a feat I don’t think regular old booktok books have accomplished (ahem, ACOTAR). 

But other than that, the story was merely ok for me. The characters were charming enough, but I didn’t really feel much as they went through their journey. This confounds me, because I would expect to empathize with a story about an antisocial nerd completely absorbed with nature, but I think the problem lies with the focus of the book being faeries. 

I have never been one for tales of fae; for some reason, that specific topic never hits. Of course, the Artemis Fowl series is not affected by this prejudice. I will worship Eoin Colfer’s trigger-happy military fairies for the rest of my life. Regardless, that may be the reason I didn’t connect much with this book. But I can definitely see how someone’s life could have changed after reading Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Faeries. It certainly has that level of writing and worldbuilding. 

This book gets a 7/10 due to my strange personal preferences.