Case Study: Emily WIlde's Encycopedia of Faeries by H. Fawcett

Introduction

2025/05/04

Case studies are almost like my review of a book I recently read and is fresh in memory. Some of it will be impressions and other more elaborated, however it will be reviewed through the lens of a writer. Such that what I liked, learned and would avoid doing in my writing (as a personal preference not because there is anything wrong with it).

THERE WILL BE SPOILERS FOR THE ACTUAL BOOK!

Setting, theme and tone

• Low Fantasy
• 1900s post Victorian
• (Dark) cosy-ish fantasy
• Scandinavian inspired setting
• Academic field expeditions
• Folklore
• First person POV
• Ambition vs social acceptance

Well done aspects

• Journal style retelling, suits the academic premise well
• Includes footnotes and 'appendix'
• Botanical image chapter header icon (same image throughout)
• Introverted, dark thinking female lead
• Great descriptions of character impressions about the current mood/other characters to set the tone of the dialogue
• Minor romance was endearing for the most part and did not take over the narrative
• I was cackling a good few times

Could be improved aspects

• Tiny, almost indiscernible asterisk in text
• Prose can get a bit lofty and flowery at times (remains period and thematically appropriate though)
• Minor romance had some dubious moments (Wendell's promiscuity followed by sudden love confession and marriage proposal???)
• Some plot developments were also a minor head scratching moments (Emily's kidnapping)
• Ending felt like it was a bit cut off at the knee
• I was like: "Oi! What happened at the conference? I want to know!"
• Would have liked footnotes for some of the non-English text as well as a clear title header for the appendix section.

Lessons learned

• I was very on the fence about getting this book for fear of it being either some weird angsty teenage romance or those absurd toxic/kinky romantasies. But this book exceeded my expectations completely as it was neither of those and was more concerned with the characters, plot and staying true to the academic pursuits of knowledge about faeries.
• The author took a big risk here, which was another reason I was drawn to the book. The female lead being not only an introverted scholar, but a Dark thinking type as well.
• The book was very nostalgic, both for that thrill of scientific discovery, putting pieces of knowledge together like a puzzle and sticking to traditional folklore depiction of faeries. The author being both an archaeologist and a writer shows in the way she was able to make something like scholarly pursuits interesting and engaging in a story setting (however, I am likely a bit biased in this seeing as I come from an academic background as well).