Re-read March 15 2025: I really enjoyed this quite a bit more on the second go-around, which might be a lesson on how I read things a bit…speedily, and therefore don’t always fully grasp what it is I’m reading? Or I do, but in my rush to read for the next plot I’m not always luxuriating?
Or maybe it’s just that now I appreciate all the parts to come–all the little jokes and references that do actually pay off. And, more relevantly, the little nuances that I’d legitimately completely forgotten about. Why did Poe give Emily a loaf of bread with cheddar bits? Because that’s their agreement, he gives Emily bread and she gave him a beaverskin and then a bearskin. And then when she left him, she also got the key to his place, which is what she used [redacted].
If you read the review below, you’ll see that I called the magic system well grounded, and on reflection I double down on this statement. It’s not only grounded, but it’s based in something so logical that it seems like the only possibly type of magic system. Of course Fae who care not for any laws and rules wouldn’t be bound by them either. Emily is a pre-eminent dryadologist because she’s memorized a slew of stories and practiced how not to panic when encountering faeries.
I’m also even MORE a fan of Wendell’s adoration of her this go around. In my mind he looks like the actor Charles Mesure, but with golden hair. I cannot tell you why, but that is the truth.
Bumping up to five stars. Well worth it.
Original review here: Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Faeries by Heather Fawcett – wicherwill Book Review – Cannonball Read 17
