Emily Wilde captured my entire heart in this beautiful story.
This is exactly my kind of book–steeped in fairy folklore where the fae are whimsical and clever and full of myths and wickedness and tricks and utterly unreal levels of magic. And I adored the set up of this! Emily Wilde is a human professor (an antisocial, introverted one at that) whose lifelong aim is to complete the first ever comprehensive encyclopaedia of faeries. She does plenty of field work, tons of studying, and she views faeries through a very scientific lens. It was honestly such a unique and compelling story and I loved the framework.
The book is also told in journal entries. I do like this style of format, and it allowed us to be very intrinsically swept up in Emily’s thought processes and made her a very deeply empathetic character despite her stand-offish presentation.
Emily travels to a remote village in Scandinavia called Hrafnsvik as she works to complete her encyclopaedia, and the setting is so wintery and chilled and frosted over with ice. You can feel it on the pages. There is also a cosy element to the story overall, with the aesthetics of the cosy cabin and bookish scenes. It was giving Light Academia too, tbh, which I thoroughly enjoyed.
“One doesn’t need magic if one knows enough stories.”
“The Folk were of another world, with its own rules and customs—and to a child who always felt ill-suited to her own world, the lure was irresistible.”
The story mainly features Emily and Wendell Bambleby, another professor from Cambridge who invites himself along on her expedition and who she is frustratedly annoyed at because she’s sure he’s trying to take credit for her work. They have a sort of frenemies-rivalry going on, except it’s mostly in Emily’s head (lmao). Wendell is just the most flamboyant eccentric academic idiot to grace a page and I absolutely loved him from the start. (Think Howl from Howl’s Moving Castle, basically, and you’ve got the vibe.) He is the sunshine to Emily’s grump. He is the extravagance to Emily’s frugal reservations. They are SUCH opposites, that they’re a total delight on page together.
I’ll also take a moment to say I suspect Emily was coded as autistic, and I’m unsure if that was intentional on the author’s part. As an autistic individual myself, I found the rep interesting, not bad, though not exactly landing true autism…so I wonder if Emily is just meant to be very introverted. Something to muse on, and I’d love to hear other readers’ opinions.
The overall plot is not face-paced, but I loved that. I loved the cosy village scenes, and the discovery of new fairies, and the pauses for Wendell shenanigans and the adventurous twist at the end. It’s infused with magic and told in such a lovely voice, and I throughly enjoyed every page.
Read it for:
♡ fairy tale vibes and folklore stories
♡ sunshine x grump (light) romance
♡ cosy dynamics and wintery setting
♡ stiff, grumpy characters learning to be loved
♡ light academia meets fairy tale magic
♡ journal entries format
Beautifully written, with characters you’ll grow so fond of, this is the whimsical yet cosy fantasy I have been craving and couldn’t love it enough!
Thank you to Orbit UK for the copy!
goodreads | blackwells | amazon | orbit uk
published January 10, 2023
I saw the autism-like coding, too, and it came across as very unintentional, and honestly, it irritated me. It really stopped me from being able to engage with the story, because it just constantly felt like the other characters were taking advantage of Emily’s ignorance (and because she was so book smart, being a professor and all, that definitely felt like her lack of social skills was played for laughs). I really, really struggled with this one – when it should’ve been light and fun – because of that.
There is a sequel coming in January 2024
Ooh I didn’t know it has a wintry setting, I thought it’s more fall atmosphere. Sounds like a perfect winter TBR for me!
Yesss it’s super wintery and snowy and I loved that cosiness!
ahh, I absolutely loved this book! I went into this with no expectations and I was so positively surprised! I am now very excited for the sequel and to see more of Bambleby <3 😀
same!! Am counting down till the sequel!
Emily reads as very true autistic to me. I’m also autistic, and she’s me to a “T” even with the same SPINS, career (academic research), peer difficulty, etc. It’s uncanny. It’s like a self-insert character of myself, except I’m not the author.
The second book explores some of her flaws more as well, and relationship with a family member that I also relate too.
I think she’s absolutely autistic, just not EVERY autistic person (as no character can be) and, refreshingly, a complex character that isn’t just shoving together every autistic stereotype (i.e., Sheldon Cooper).
If the Author isn’t autistic, even possibly unbeknownst to herself, then she has depicted Autism with a stunning respect and depth and vision that I would have never believed possible from an allistic person. In such case, she deserves all the more credit for so beautifully writing beyond “what one knows” better than some authors write an autobiography.
That’s so interesting you feel that way. I’m also autistic (as I said in my post) and I found it very noncommittal rep (if that’s what it was) and not relatable at all.