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A review by mayajoelle
Emily Wilde's Encyclopaedia of Faeries by Heather Fawcett
4.0
A lovely, atmospheric, otherworldly story. The little nods to academia were sweet and true, the setting was appropriately chilling, the characterization was excellent, the plot was good without being overcomplicated, and the romance was refreshing and made me happy . I read this in less than 24 hours and look forward to the rest of the series.
My main complaint was with the attempt at historical accuracy; I found the language to be mostly twenty-first-century-appropriate, and the little nods to actual historical events were obscured. Why offhandedly mention the conflict between the church and the fae (which sounds really interesting) just once, then have a character named *squints* Krystjan? Which feels like a deliberate attempt to cloak the historical reality of Christianity in cool-sounding Nordic-esque spelling? Also Fawcett just doesn't know Latin (and apparently neither does her editor) because they try to pass off montibus as the nominative plural of "mountains" and lupi as the adjectival form of "wolves" (agreeing with silva, a noun which actually rarely occurs in the singular in Latin). And there's a lesbian couple thrown in the story just because, and no one questions or mentions it, which definitely makes sense in 1909 Iceland?? (And a last complaint, the love interest, an issue never really addressed. I hope this is explained or apologized for in the sequel.)
If you like Jonathan Strange, Shades of Milk and Honey, Margaret Rogerson, Olivia Atwater, or Marissa Meyer's Cursed, you might like this. It's not as good as Susanna Clarke but it's not utter fluff either. And yes I do have a weakness for tall angular curly-haired Faeries who speak three languages, are excellent tailors, beautify their living spaces, and are great swordsmen. :)
"Shall I make an appointment?" he said, then laughed. "Yes, I believe you would like that. Well, name the time when it would be convenient for you to receive a declaration of love."
**won a gr giveaway for this, was not required to review positively, now own a copy which looks very lovely and botanical on my shelf!**
Spoiler
(she's thirty, he's twenty-nine, despite having Powers he does not manipulate her, they kiss but do not sleep together)My main complaint was with the attempt at historical accuracy; I found the language to be mostly twenty-first-century-appropriate, and the little nods to actual historical events were obscured. Why offhandedly mention the conflict between the church and the fae (which sounds really interesting) just once, then have a character named *squints* Krystjan? Which feels like a deliberate attempt to cloak the historical reality of Christianity in cool-sounding Nordic-esque spelling? Also Fawcett just doesn't know Latin (and apparently neither does her editor) because they try to pass off montibus as the nominative plural of "mountains" and lupi as the adjectival form of "wolves" (agreeing with silva, a noun which actually rarely occurs in the singular in Latin). And there's a lesbian couple thrown in the story just because, and no one questions or mentions it, which definitely makes sense in 1909 Iceland?? (And a last complaint, the love interest
Spoiler
seems to have multiple one-night standsIf you like Jonathan Strange, Shades of Milk and Honey, Margaret Rogerson, Olivia Atwater, or Marissa Meyer's Cursed, you might like this. It's not as good as Susanna Clarke but it's not utter fluff either. And yes I do have a weakness for tall angular curly-haired Faeries who speak three languages, are excellent tailors, beautify their living spaces, and are great swordsmen. :)
"Shall I make an appointment?" he said, then laughed. "Yes, I believe you would like that. Well, name the time when it would be convenient for you to receive a declaration of love."
**won a gr giveaway for this, was not required to review positively, now own a copy which looks very lovely and botanical on my shelf!**