Emily Wilde's Encyclopedia of Faeries, By Heather Fawcett


I recently finished the book Emily Wilde's Encyclopedia of Faeries, By Heather Fawcett for my book club. I really enjoyed this book. I liked it so much, that when I found out that its sequel is being released in January of 2024, I pre-ordered it immediately. 

The main character, the Emily of the title, is capable, logical, and no nonsense, which I liked quite a bit. She's also neurodivergent. I've never read a book with a clearly (defined) neurodivergent character before. Her neurodivergence is primarily a lack of being able to read social cues. This apparent drawback is actually quite a boon when it comes to dealing with faeries. Much like the character Sunny Nwazue, and the other magical characters from the Nsibidi Scripts Series by Nnedi Okorafor, Emily's handicap is actually her greatest strength. I always enjoy reading how someone's gift is what they initially think is a drawback.

The book is packed with adventure, but it's also really funny, and made me chuckle quite a bit.  The humor comes from the interactions between Emily and her colleague/only friend/frienemy, Wendell Brambleby.  Brambleby isn't really her frenemy, but he does annoy the tar out of Emily with his antics, and since he's a bit full of himself, her witty rejoinders to his comments are very amusing.  I started the book by traditionally reading it, and then switched to the audiobook.  I had to switch back to reading the book when I realized I probably wouldn't finish listening to it in time for book club.  I enjoyed both listening and reading this book.  My only critique of the audiobook were the sections where Brambleby was the narrator.  I imagined his voice very differently, and didn't like the actor who narrated him in the audiobook.

This was a fun one.  It wasn't too heavy, pretty light in fact, and it was hard to put down once I really got into it, which was maybe a quarter of the way into the book.

Here's the Goodreads link for those interested in the synopsis: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/60657589-emily-wilde-s-encyclopaedia-of-faeries

Here concludes my latest Unasked for Book Review.

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