Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Faeries by Heather Fawcett puts a bit of weirdness into the urban fantasy genre. It’s not urban – not even close – it’s a very pastoral story. It’s not contemporary, being set in the 1800s. However, it’s definitely not heroic fantasy or horror, and certainly fits more into some elements of urban fantasy than it does to the other subgenres I’m familiar with. It’s also very enjoyable.
The story is told not as a fictional encyclopedia, but rather as the field journals of Emily Wilde as she’s researching the encyclopedia, in this case on an expedition into rural Scandinavia, initially on her own, and later joined by her colleague Wendell Barnaby, who she has something of a tsundere crush on (currently in the heavy “Tsun” part of the relationship), and who she suspects has some connection to the Fae himself. Together they end up searching for the local fae court – the “Hidden Ones” and end up getting caught up in a local power struggle.
This is the part where I fully admit that I haven’t read anything by the Brontes or their contemporaries, and admit that my stating that this book feels like the author is trying to capture their voice in terms of Emily and Wendell’s relationship feels like a pastiche of that is based very heavily on my impressions of works of the period but without any personal experience. That said, without direct knowledge of the books of the period, it does feel like it captures the spirit of the period, but in a way that’s approachable to modern audiences.
It does get kind of slow during several parts early on as Emily tries to figure out the etiquette of 1800s Scandinavia, in less of a “Comedy of Manners” sense and more of a “this is kind of frustrating and feels like it’s there to stretch out the page count through miscommunication” kind of sense. Misreading social cues, failing to pick up local social mores, and that leading to miscommunications and failure to get across useful information is something that happens in real life – but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t make a part of the book frustrating.
I did enjoy the book, and I’m glad I picked this up for the Sword & Laser book club – and I’ve already picked up the sequel and intend to get around to it in the future.
Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Faeries is available digitally from Amazon and from Bookshop.org – buying anything through those links supports the site, and buying from the last will help support your local independent bookstores.
