I read this book after seeing it discussed by a book YouTuber. Emily Wilde’s Encyclopedia for Faeries is apparently popular on BookTok, and with all due respect to the TikTok community, I wasn’t hugely optimistic that it would be up to my standards. I’ve previously reviewed another wildly popular cosy fantasy novel, Legends & Lattes, and I wasn’t that impressed. I was expecting to feel similarly about Emily Wilde’s Encyclopedia of Faeries.

Instead, I found myself very charmed by this novel. This is exactly what I think cosy fantasy should be. A fun, character-driven story that has stakes, but the stakes never get too high. When the stakes are high, the reader knows that all will be well in the end.

The characters are really the highlight of this book. Emily isn’t super likeable as a person, but she’s a very good protagonist. Meanwhile, Wendell Bambelby (whose ridiculous name actually makes a lot of sense for his character) rather reminded me of Howl from Howl’s Moving Castle.

Plotwise Emily Wilde’s Encyclopedia of Faeries isn’t the strongest. Especially the ending felt rushed and not super satisfying. If the plot had been the main selling point of the book this would have bothered me more. It’s not, though, which makes me a little more forgiving.

I would say this book is great for fans of the cosy fantasy genre, as well as people who loved Howl’s Moving Castle or the work of Naomi Novik. Granted, this novel doesn’t quite have the depth of something like Spinning Silver, but in many ways it scratches the same itch.