The Best Cozy Fantasy Review

A Spoiler Free Review of Emily Wilde’s Encyclopedia of Faeries by Heather Fawcett

Title Information

Publisher’s Synopsis

Cambridge professor Emily Wilde is good at many things: She is the foremost expert on the study of faeries. She is a genius scholar and a meticulous researcher who is writing the world’s first encyclopaedia of faerie lore. But Emily Wilde is not good at people. She could never make small talk at a party—or even get invited to one. And she prefers the company of her books, her dog, Shadow, and the Fair Folk to other people.

So when she arrives in the hardscrabble village of Hrafnsvik, Emily has no intention of befriending the gruff townsfolk. Nor does she care to spend time with another new arrival: her dashing and insufferably handsome academic rival Wendell Bambleby, who manages to charm the townsfolk, muddle Emily’s research, and utterly confound and frustrate her.

But as Emily gets closer and closer to uncovering the secrets of the Hidden Ones—the most elusive of all faeries—lurking in the shadowy forest outside the town, she also finds herself on the trail of another mystery: Who is Wendell Bambleby, and what does he really want? To find the answer, she’ll have to unlock the greatest mystery of all—her own heart.

My Review

The way this series had me in a choke hold I did not expect! I love an academic and Heather Fawcett delivered not one but two in this academic rivals cozy fantasy. Written as a series of diary entries I was at first a little sad thinking I was going to miss large portions of the world having a limited point of view, but I was so wrong. In fact, the writing style and narrator choice was one of my favorite parts about this book. Emily is a no nonsense type of character. She is serious about her scholarship and it is clear that she doesn’t make time for much else including learning how to interact with others. 

Her social abilities being less than perfect strikes me as ironic that she can be such an expert in interactions with the Fae but not with her own species. Her academic rivalry with Bambleby is made even more interesting because where her social skills are lacking Bambleby has more than enough to compensate for her. Almost, but not quite, a grumpy/sunshine trope. It is more of a no nonsense academic and an overly charismatic (does minimal work to too much fanfare) academic. 

I enjoyed that even in diary entry format Emily keeps a lot of her plans to herself, which creates a lot of tension and surprise as the plot unfolds. Her cunning way of outsmarting everyone around her is not in any way pretentious but instead is akin to the delight of unearthing some long lost bit of knowledge that becomes the final piece in a puzzle. And this book is riddled with academic puzzles, rich folklore, lush landscapes, and a bit of danger. 

Emily also handles her most serious pitfalls with quite a bit of dry humor that adds to my love of her character. What could be a devastatingly dire situation she takes in stride with self reflection and a “Yup, that’s me. If you’re wondering how I got here…” attitude. 

Her chemistry with Bambleby is giving all the things you want in a cozy romance. While not the brooding sort per say, he reminds me of Howl from Howl’s Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones. The charisma, the overconfidence, the taking care of you behind the scenes and you didn’t even realize it until it was right in your face. Emily is stubborn to a fault and Bambleby finds that to be her most endearing quality besides her intelligence. He is her biggest puzzle to date which never ceases to exasperate her throughout her journey in Hrafnsvik. 

While it is a romance, there is so much more happening that the romance is almost a secondary plot to Emily’s academic field study of the local Fae. These Fae aren’t cute little faeries, they’re sharp fangs and long talons, horrors in the night, and dangerous folk tales. Parts of this book had me on the edge of my seat in suspense wondering if this romance was going to turn into a tragedy. The balance of suspense, comedic relief, and romance was nothing short of perfect.

When I closed this book I thought to myself, this is the best cozy fantasy I have ever read and immediately searched for the next book in the series, which I also promptly devoured. If you are looking for your next cozy read for fall and haven’t read this one yet, don’t miss out.