Emily Wilde's Compendium of Lost Tales by Heather Fawcett Series: Emily Wilde Book #3
Published by Random House on February 11, 2025
Genres: Fiction / Fantasy / Action & Adventure, Fiction / Fantasy / Romance
Pages: 368
Format: ARC
Source: NetGalley
The third installment in the heartwarming and enchanting Emily Wilde series, about a curmudgeonly scholar of folklore and the fae prince she loves
Emily Wilde has spent her life studying faeries. A renowned dryadologist, she has documented hundreds of species of Folk in her Encyclopaedia of Faeries. Now she is about to embark on her most dangerous academic project yet: studying the inner workings of a faerie realm—as its queen.
Along with her former academic rival—now fiancé—the dashing and mercurial Wendell Bambleby, Emily is immediately thrust into the deadly intrigues of Faerie as the two of them seize the throne of Wendell’s long-lost kingdom, which Emily finds a beautiful nightmare filled with scholarly treasures.
Emily has been obsessed with faerie stories her entire life, but at first she feels as ill-suited to Faerie as she did to the mortal world: How can an unassuming scholar such as herself pass for a queen? Yet there is little time to settle in, for Wendell’s murderous stepmother has placed a deadly curse upon the land before vanishing without a trace. It will take all of Wendell’s magic—and Emily’s knowledge of stories—to unravel the mystery before they lose everything they hold dear.
Book Three of the Emily Wilde Series
Don’t miss any of Heather Fawcett’s charming Emily Wilde series:
EMILY WILDE’S ENCYCLOPAEDIA OF FAERIES • EMILY WILDE’S MAP OF THE OTHERLANDS • EMILY WILDE’S COMPENDIUM OF LOST TALES
My Review
I want to start this review by thanking Netgalley, Heather Fawcett, and Random House Publishing Group – Ballantine / Del-Rey for an ARC of this book. The third installment of The Emily Wilde Series was one of my biggest anticipated reads of 2025, so to say I was beyond excited to read this book is an understatement. It is best to read these books in order as they build on one another, but that just means you get to be in this wonderful world for that much longer, and what a wonderful world it is to be a part of. Now, with that being said, let me jump into my thoughts.
I think that Heather Fawcett did a great job of bringing this story full circle. I really enjoyed hanging out with some of the characters from the previous stories and getting to know the new ones introduced in this book. I enjoyed that she introduced some new fairies as well, and I loved seeing how they fit right into everything. I would say that the coziness from the previous two books is still present in this one; however, this book does take some twists and turns that I was not expecting. These twists and turns may have even brought tears to my eyes. The world-building, however, I am happy to say, was just as incredible in this book as in the past two, and the way she described it all made me want to jump right into the story. I mean, come on, who wouldn’t want to hang out with Emily, Wendell, and especially Shadow? Speaking of Wendell, I enjoyed seeing another side of him in this story, along with his beloved cat. He still may be one of my favorite characters in the series.
This book was everything I hoped it would be and more. It is safe to say that I enjoyed my read of this as much as the previous books in the series. I would highly recommend this book and really the whole series to anyone who is looking for a cozy fantasy with some fantastic characters and excellent world-building. If you enjoy fairies, magical creatures, academia, and adventures, then I think you will be happy with this book and this series. Until Next Time, Reader, Happy Reading.
Trigger Warnings:
- Violence
- Suicide
- Mentions of Death
- Poisoning