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Emily Wilde
Mar. 30th, 2024 07:53 pmI recently discovered BookTube (yes, I know...) and one of my favourite content creators - TheBookLeo - runs a monthly book club with her Patreon supporters. So, I joined up - and this month's book was Emily Wilde's Encyclopaedia of Faeries by Heather Fawcett.
I couldn't find it in either Enfield's bookshops or library, so I got the e-book version, which was probably a mistake, as I've never got used to reading e-books, especially on my phone. I started it on 19th March and stopped on 21st March, then read a whole different book in the next four days. But I didn't delete the download or decide to give up on Emily Wilde altogether. Then, in the five days before the book club meeting, I had an awkward (but serendipitous) gap while waiting for the next book I was planning to read to arrive in the post (which it still hasn't). So, I went back to Emily Wilde and read the rest of the book, finishing just in time to join the online book club meeting!
So, my thoughts...
The book tells the story of scholar Emily Wilde, who travels to a snowy locale to study the local fae, so as to be able to complete her encyclopaedia of faeries and hopefully obtain the respect of her scholarly peers back in Cambridge. One of her colleagues, Wendell Bambleby, gatecrashes her research and much banter and bickering ensues. Bambleby's presence turns out to be quite useful, though, when Emily ends up in trouble in the land of the faerie.
My biggest obstacle to enjoyment of this book was one of my worst pet peeves. The book is written in the first person and, on the second page, Emily tells us it's intended as a scholarly journal, to help her organise her field notes, or to provide a record of her trip for colleagues back home if she's kidnapped by faeries and never seen again.
As with every journal-based fiction book ever written - nobody writes full direct action scenes and complete records of conversations in direct dialogue in a journal - even a personal journal, and especially not a scientific one! She also records all her thoughts and feelings, including her annoyance at and attraction to Bambleby, as well as all sorts of other things that aren't remotely related to her research.
Very annoying!
The use of journal entries, written by Emily (and in some cases Bambleby) after the fact, also completely destroys any sense of tension when either of them is in danger or particularly exciting things happen - because we already know how it ends before the retelling begins.
However, once I'd decided to let that go and just try to enjoy the story - I mostly did. Emily and Bambleby are both great characters and I love their dynamic. The worldbuilding is fun, the villagers (and their changing attitudes towards Emily) are awesome.
I have to admit I wasn't expecting the two protagonists in a very cozy (see point above about lack of tension) fantasy to be so morally grey, though! Two villagers are abducted by faeries and Bambleby suggests he and Emily just pretend to go looking for them and then come back a few days later, claiming failure, rather than actually trying to save them. And the only reason Emily does go to look for them is so that she can try and find the faerie realm and do more research for her book...
It lost me a bit at various points along the way - and Emily too, it seems. At one point, Bambleby gives her his journal so she can catch up on some events and, when the extract finishes, it says: "I was skimming now..." Yes - me too! Not such a great endorsement of the author's storytelling - by the author herself...
There was also an issue with one of the characters being called Aud, which I continually misread as 'And', so that was confusing...
But I loved the dog. There's some great, totally un-commented upon queer representation. And, though I didn't feel as if the romance aspects were particularly credible in the way they developed, I did appreciate the status of the relationship at the end of the book.
I also really enjoyed TheBookLeo's book club meeting - and discussing the book with other people made me feel more warmly towards it overall by the end.
So, a light, largely entertaining read. But I was happy with where the story ended up, and I wasn't massively invested, so I won't be reading the others in the series.
I couldn't find it in either Enfield's bookshops or library, so I got the e-book version, which was probably a mistake, as I've never got used to reading e-books, especially on my phone. I started it on 19th March and stopped on 21st March, then read a whole different book in the next four days. But I didn't delete the download or decide to give up on Emily Wilde altogether. Then, in the five days before the book club meeting, I had an awkward (but serendipitous) gap while waiting for the next book I was planning to read to arrive in the post (which it still hasn't). So, I went back to Emily Wilde and read the rest of the book, finishing just in time to join the online book club meeting!
So, my thoughts...
The book tells the story of scholar Emily Wilde, who travels to a snowy locale to study the local fae, so as to be able to complete her encyclopaedia of faeries and hopefully obtain the respect of her scholarly peers back in Cambridge. One of her colleagues, Wendell Bambleby, gatecrashes her research and much banter and bickering ensues. Bambleby's presence turns out to be quite useful, though, when Emily ends up in trouble in the land of the faerie.
My biggest obstacle to enjoyment of this book was one of my worst pet peeves. The book is written in the first person and, on the second page, Emily tells us it's intended as a scholarly journal, to help her organise her field notes, or to provide a record of her trip for colleagues back home if she's kidnapped by faeries and never seen again.
As with every journal-based fiction book ever written - nobody writes full direct action scenes and complete records of conversations in direct dialogue in a journal - even a personal journal, and especially not a scientific one! She also records all her thoughts and feelings, including her annoyance at and attraction to Bambleby, as well as all sorts of other things that aren't remotely related to her research.
Very annoying!
The use of journal entries, written by Emily (and in some cases Bambleby) after the fact, also completely destroys any sense of tension when either of them is in danger or particularly exciting things happen - because we already know how it ends before the retelling begins.
However, once I'd decided to let that go and just try to enjoy the story - I mostly did. Emily and Bambleby are both great characters and I love their dynamic. The worldbuilding is fun, the villagers (and their changing attitudes towards Emily) are awesome.
I have to admit I wasn't expecting the two protagonists in a very cozy (see point above about lack of tension) fantasy to be so morally grey, though! Two villagers are abducted by faeries and Bambleby suggests he and Emily just pretend to go looking for them and then come back a few days later, claiming failure, rather than actually trying to save them. And the only reason Emily does go to look for them is so that she can try and find the faerie realm and do more research for her book...
It lost me a bit at various points along the way - and Emily too, it seems. At one point, Bambleby gives her his journal so she can catch up on some events and, when the extract finishes, it says: "I was skimming now..." Yes - me too! Not such a great endorsement of the author's storytelling - by the author herself...
There was also an issue with one of the characters being called Aud, which I continually misread as 'And', so that was confusing...
But I loved the dog. There's some great, totally un-commented upon queer representation. And, though I didn't feel as if the romance aspects were particularly credible in the way they developed, I did appreciate the status of the relationship at the end of the book.
I also really enjoyed TheBookLeo's book club meeting - and discussing the book with other people made me feel more warmly towards it overall by the end.
So, a light, largely entertaining read. But I was happy with where the story ended up, and I wasn't massively invested, so I won't be reading the others in the series.
