Me: I Don't Get It. I Thought I Was Doing A Lot Better Than I Was A Few Years Ago. I'm Like 10 Times

think about your blorbos ON THE CLOCK

Needed to get some ninths out of my system

Emily Wilde’s Encyclopedia of Faeries

By Heather Fawcett

Genre: Fantasy

Tl;Dr: 5/5

Synopsis: An epistolary story about a professor who travels to an isolated mountain town to study the Fae for her encyclopedia, but she learns about love, friendship, and community along the way

CW: Mild violence

Review: (Minor Spoilers)

5 Star TL;DR: believable and charming characters, a grumpy yet completely endearing MC, and a strong use of the journal format.

I found this book so immersive and charming. Scientific discovery as an ongoing narrative theme was relatable (as a scientist) and stayed relevant throughout without being grating. The other themes of coming to trust and rely on others and the importance of community, grew in intensity over the story. In that way, we were able to watch Emily’s heart soften and the world open up to embrace her. This is a slow paced fantasy, so we mainly get to watch Emily coming around to the idea of making friends and building meaningful relationships, alongside the magical action.

Emily was complicated and nuanced in such a beautiful and honest way. Although it is not confirmed by the author, Emily reads as autistic. I’m not autistic, so I can only speak from my outside perspective, but it felt real and not heavy handed (please let me know if I am way off here!). Because Emily was so realized, I found it easy to relate to her and root for her.

The Fae mythos was well thought out and integrated into the story. I don’t have a background in the Fae, so maybe I missed a few inaccuracies (ie. me not realizing that changelings are often used as a harmful allegory for transness, oof). However, as a package, the light magic system and fae mythos were compelling and fun to read about.

The romance was a big hit! Wendell and Emily are complete opposites, yet they function as perfect complements to each other. I love the level of tenderness that Wendell expresses for her and the resolute and pragmatic honesty that Emily brings in return. I was kicking my feet in delight. But remember, dear reader, I am a silly little goose.

Overall, I would recommend this to everyone, but especially people who like the Fae, light fantasy, or sweet romances.

youll be able to find books and movies and music that change your life until the day you die. that's pretty good

loons

Writers on a random Tuesday: Sits down, locks in, giggles, writes 10k, does not sleep

Also writers on a random Tuesday: writes one sentence and then stares into the abyss for five fours

“Public libraries are such important, lovely places!” Yes but do you GO there. Do you STUDY there. Do you meet friends and get coffee there. Do you borrow the FREE, ZERO SUBSCRIPTION, ZERO TRACKING books, audiobooks, ebooks, and films. Have you checked out their events and schemes. Do you sign up for the low cost courses in ASL or knitting or programming or writing your CV that they probably run. Do you know they probably have myriad of schemes to help low income families. Do you hire their low cost rooms if you need them. Have you joined their social groups. Do you use the FREE COMPUTERS. Do you even know what your library is trying to offer you. Listen, the library shouldn’t just exist for you as a nice idea. That’s why more libraries shut every year

ok so i think that my favourite fantasy subgenre is The Inherent Tragedy Of Being Born Into Royalty. which mostly means that i like to read about gay princes but with some nuance

Ok new game. What's the thing you're a fan of that you're the most pretentious about. NOT the most pretentious thing you're a fan of, I mean the thing that makes *you* act like one of those "oh yeah? Name five of their albums" people. There is a difference

the big three questions of media analysis: what the author wanted to say, what they actually said, and what they didn’t know they were saying