This review may contain spoilers for the first two books in the series, so be warned!

“I must write it down. For it is in writing that I will discover a way out. A door within the story. There is one.

It cannot end here.

Yet some stories do.”

Emily Wilde, now a renowned Dryadologist at Cambridge University is about to embark on her biggest and most dangerous adventure yet—— to enter the Fae realm and study their courtly ways—as their Queen. Wendell, her ever so charming and rather laid back fiancé, is shall we say not quite up to the task of being a monarch, but with Emily by his side he does his best to step up to his new role. Yet the Fae realm is in disarray, a rot is spreading and the lands are succumbing to poison. Wendell’s stepmother has unleashed a curse and it is up to Emily and Wendell to break it before the entire realm is destroyed. 

Emily Wilde’s Compendium of Lost Tales by Heather Fawcett is an enchanting romantic light academia which swept me through hidden doors to magical realms. 

Throughout this series I have grown so attached to Emily and Wendell, yes they have always had their differences, but as a couple, they balance each other out in such an endearing way. In this final instalment, upon entering the Fae world Emily is faced with an array of delightful wonders and creepy horrors. Yet her biggest worry is that she is not adequate enough to be a queen, that she does not know enough, that she may not belong. In turn Wendell worries that Emily’s not happy being away from the mortal world. Emily spends a large majority of time fretting over her worthiness, over the curse and over Wendell and this causes her to be away from him often whilst Wendell frets over Emily’s happiness. My slight gripe here was that Emily and Wendell do not spend enough time together content to be with each other and well… happy. I would have preferred a few more romantic scenes included. Having said that, the romance and romantic gestures that Fawcett injected were wonderful. Wendell, being more magically powerful in the Fae world, creates little havens for Emily to retreat to such as a library filled with journals or a door leading to a cottage in Ireland providing her with a little slice of the mortal world. Through Emily’s worries and fears we know she loves Wendell dearly and her way of showing support and protecting him is to learn all she can about the courtly Fae, to arm herself with knowledge of the realm’s ways. 

What I loved about this novel was that we get a more in depth look at the Fae world including its magic and its varied inhabitants. This does mean that it is the slowest paced out of the three books, and given that there is a race to save the end of the Fae world Fawcett doesn’t deliver a sense of urgency, instead the narrative plods along at a gentle pace. Surprisingly, I didn’t mind this at all because this isn’t an all guns blazing kind of read, it is cosy fantasy and so Emily tackles her problems in a scholarly way—with research. Initially Emily spends much time with Wendell walking through the Fae lands, coming across various species of fae and various flora and fauna. Emily‘s new home is surrounded by fox Fae, fauns, butter faeries and boggarts, trees that have eyes, and hidden doors at every corner. The more we discover through Emily the more enchanting and unsettling the worldbuilding becomes and I loved this contrast, it was exactly what I had been hoping for. Every corner of this place is filled with strange and dazzling fantasy, there’s a great balance between beauty and creepiness and I just loved picturing it all. Honestly, this series would make a great anime adaptation. 

“The politics of Faerie-indeed, everything about the place-revolves around stories. Stories shape the realms and the actions of those who dwell there.

Some of those stories are known to mortals, but many others have been lost, both to us and the Folk.”

The most predominant theme within the narrative was, in true light academia fashion, about the importance of stories, of the knowledge they give, the warnings they deliver and the things we learn from them. This last instalment actually includes many staple themes from fairytales—an evil stepmother, a curse, a royal wedding and a sacrifice. Almost all the stories Emily comes across warn humans of the great risk when living amongst the Fae and eventually these warnings seep under her skin causing her doubt. Yet not every tale has to end in bloodshed and death. This is a story of introverted Emily, a scholar who preferred the company of books to people, finding not only love but friendship through the journeys she’d had, through the stories she’s lived to tell. Fawcett shows us that some stories have a happy ending and this is the book where Emily and Wendell search for theirs. 

“It was not that my worries vanished-no magic could manage that. I only realized how much smaller they were than the world that lay before me. A world that I wanted, even after all I had seen, and amidst such a thicket of danger. I wanted it very much. And I especially wanted to share it with Wendell.”

The Emily Wilde trilogy has given me much joy and escapism over the course of three books. Each instalment has great humour, scholarly characters to love, a mesmerising world and the exact right amount of cosiness without being sickly sweet. I have truly come to treasure this series. 

ARC provided by Nazia at Orbit Books in exchange for an honest review—thank you for the copy!

Emily Wilde’s Compendium of Lost Tales is available now – you can order your copy on Bookshop.org