Emily Wilde's Encyclopaedia of Faeries

I think the faeries may have enchanted my reading experience, because I enjoyed this novel so, so much.

Emily Wilde is an academic, and one of the best in her field - that being the study of faeries. She is writing an encyclopaedia on faeries and her work takes her to a very cold corner of the world - not only the climate, but also the people are rather chilly about her arrival. The story follows her and her fellow scholar Wendell Bambleby, who Emily may or may not like very much, as they try to learn about the faeries whilst also trying to build rapport with the local people and help them with their magical problems.

I love the formatting of this book - it is essentially written like a journal, and includes many footnotes and lore throughout, adding to the worldbuilding and general immersion. Never did I feel like having faeries in this world was odd or underdeveloped. They are a natural part of this world and the fact that we are learning about them alongside Emily, as even faeries don't know everything about themselves, was very interesting.

The characters are all great, obviously Emily and Wendell stand out a lot. I love the relationship they have and the dialogue between them was always a treat . I do feel like some characters were moved to the background a bit too much near the end, and I wish we could have seen more development for them.

Also, if you are someone bothered by slow pacing in books - you may not enjoy this much in the earlier chapters. It's a cosy read, and it takes its time to get going. As the story progresses, it does pick up the pace much more, so it's not bad at all.

Some questions have yet to be answered and it's so clear that this was just the first stop in a mystical journey for Emily, so I can't wait to get started on the next one!