I really wasn't the biggest fan of the format and the writing. While I don't inherently dislike stories being told through journal entries/written accounts, it unfortunately didn't work very well for me here. The main con of the format for me is feeling like you're never there with the characters in the present; the fact that events are being retold by the characters rather than experienced with the characters made moments of suspense fall really flat for me. On top of that, Emily's own voice as a scientist felt very dry and just wasn't very fun to read. It didn't impact my reading experience too negatively until I read the chapter written from Brambelby's POV and noticed just how much of a breath of fresh air it was. 

Even though I feel like the book's worldbuilding should've felt like it had a lot of depth just by the sheer fact that there's so many footnotes telling the reader about the lore through mentions of other scientific works, it felt way too arbitrary for me. I wish the book had had more setup or exposition in some areas, because oftentimes when the characters encountered a roadblock the solution for said problem felt like it was dropped into their laps, rather than being a rewarding follow-up on something that was established earlier in the book. However, the book heavily plays with the idea of the world of the faeries being capricious and arbitrary, so I don't want to fault it too much for it; it might have just been a narrative choice that didn't work for me as a reader. 

To give the book some credit, it isn't all bad. Some moments had a really cozy atmosphere and I liked seeing the mystery unfold. I also absolutely adored Poe and Brambleby as characters and I think they singlehandedly saved this book for me.