Emily Wilde's Encyclopaedia of Faeries | Feature Friday
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- Опубликовано: 16 сен 2024
- Need an escape to the faerie realm? Let's dive into all the fae encountered in Emily Wilde's Encyclopaedia of Faeries by Heather Fawcett. Buy**: bookshop.org/a...
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I read this book immediately after howls moving castle bc while i liked howl+sophie, i wasn't crazy about the way it was written. Whereas this book delivered! I completely agree about emily and bamblebees dynamic. I also enjoyed how it had creepy moments but didnt indulge on them. I wish there were more books like this. Im not into romance books but i love a restrained romantic sideplot
For those who really liked Emily Wilde's Encyclopaedia of Fairies, I would recommend "A Natural History of Dragons: a memoir by Lady Trent" by Marie Brennan. It has similar vibes in the sense that it's the autobiography of a scientist, this time in this Victorian-esq fantasy land where it just so happen that dragons exist, in all sorts of places, different species of them in different environments with different cultural connections to the people who live near them. We start of with Lady Trent as a young child, see her become a dragon naturalist and eventually converge into her older self by the end of the series, the foremost expert on dragons in the land.
To be clear it's more science focused than Emily Wilde's book, which I personally loved, but some people found it boring. I think if you really enjoy biology and anthropology, you'll enjoy it a lot. It's amazing to see the scientific method applied to dragons of all things. There's romance but it's not at all the focus. And it's not as cosy as Emily Wilde's, there's plenty of politics, plenty of exploration of different lands and cultures, all sorts of adventures as well.
Nonetheless, Emily really reminded me of Lady Trent. She's not perfect by any means but she's passionate and brilliant and headstrong and pragmatic and rational to a fault and in many ways, she felt very real.
Also, there's drawings scattered throughout this book, beautifully drawn by Todd Lockwood. They are cleverly integrated within the story so as to serve as plot devices, help to visualise a lot of the fantastical sights described, and simultaneously serve as a beautiful surprise for when you turn the page and come across gorgeous rendition of the anatomy of a dragon, in the old Victorian naturalism style. I love it to bits really.
Highly recommend it.
Thank you for your review. You are much more eloquent than I could be. I’ve recently finished this book are very much enjoyed it. I came to it because of the taglines of Whimsey, Cosy Fantasy, Romance etc so I was surprised with some of the content. First, when she encounters the changeling and her treatment of it, and then later when being rescued by Bambleby in the woods. The sudden violence was a shock to me, and I think it was deliberately written so. I do not shy away from such descriptions or dark subject matter, but I wasn’t expecting it in this book as I’ve not seen it mentioned by anyone. I’m excited for the next book in the series.
That would definitely be a shocking moment if you went in with more cozy expectations! Thank you for the kind words!
Thank you for this analysis. Made me think of the book in a very different way. I am half way through and having to push on. I think I am not relating to Emily's character. I had a long relationship with a man with Aspergers. I think I can understand some of his thought processes with the help of this novel.
Thanks for sharing!
Omg its set in Iceland !
This was very helpful for me in deciding if I should finish the book. Its a little slow in the early-middlebfor me. I do like how Bamblebee describes Emily throughout. "dragon" "earthy-blooded" "curmudgeon" and "obtuse". So cute.
Glad to be of help!
Loved this book. You whipped through a lot of references to other novels. Can you list them? Also, if you haven't read Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik, it sounds right up your alley.
Oh yes; Spinning Silver is great!
Other books I referenced, sometimes indirectly☺️: The Stolen Heir by Holly Black, Veronica Speedwell series by Deana Raybourn (starts with A Curious Beginning), A Midsummer Night’s Dream, backlist Holly Black (Tithe series, The Darkest Part of the Forest), Melissa Marr (Wicked Lovely series), Karen Marie Moning (Fever series), Unseelie by Ivelisse Housman, Bambleby referenced as an Oscar Wilde-esque character (particularly thinking of the Importance of Being Earnest)
Cottingley fairies was a historical reference but also the 1997 movie FairyTale: A True Story
Hope that helps!
@@bookishmelodythanks for asking this, was about to do the same
New subscriber here!
Happy to have you!
Would you consider this a "portal fantasy" fairytale book?
Yes; if you consider entering a fairy realm as qualifying. But I find that stories that involve the fae that I’m most drawn to explore the kind of fraying of the edges of “reality” and the faery realm, so I don’t know if I personally would consider them traditional portal fantasies. But I haven’t caught how most people are referring to them ☺️