Emily Wilde's Compendium of Lost Tales - Heather Fawcett - ★★★.¼

AUTHOR: Heather Fawcett

SERIES: Emily Wilde, #3

GENRE: Cosy Fantasy

PUBLICATION DATE: February 11, 2025

RATING: 3.25 stars.

In a Nutshell: The third book of the Emily Wilde series. Not a standalone. Great characters,. Slow-ish pacing. Too convenient and flat in the plotting. Not as dark as could have been. Recommended in publication order only to those who are keen on completing the series. Not my favourite of the series by far.

(Note: This review might contain minor spoilers from the earlier two Emily Wilde books.)

Plot Preview:

1910. Emily still can’t accept that she might soon be the Queen of Faerie. An accomplished mortal scholar on faeries, she is now working on her biggest research topic – studying the faerie realm with her foe-turned-fiancé Wendell, who is making plans to recapture his rightful position as the King of Faerie. However, the duo soon learn that Wendell’s stepmother, the earlier queen, has placed a curse upon the kingdom. Wendell can use his magic to save his home, but that alone won’t be enough as the consequences are deadly. It is up to Emily to find the perfect story so that she can write a happy ending for her beloved.

Just as in the earlier books, the story comes to us through Emily’s journal entries written in first person.

This book is not to be read as a standalone work. It starts right at the deep end, continuing immediately after the events of the second book. As such, it ended up as a big test of my memory, which sadly didn’t come to my assistance. I regret the long gap I had between Books Two and Three because I didn’t remember the nitty-gritties of the earlier plot.

Bookish Yays:

😍 Emily as a character – a rare fictional thirty-one-year-old who acts her age. Though she is as focussed on her scholarly pursuits as ever, she is more open about showing her emotions. I love her character growth over the series.

😍 Wendell – the incorrigible fae king who has so many flaws and is still so appealing. This book shows both his practical and his wild sides.

😍 Most of the remaining characters, comprising a motley mix of human and courtly fae and common fae. The variety is extensive this time. Loved the reappearance of some beloved characters from the earlier two books.

😍 A special Yay to Shadow and Orga for being as awesome as always.

😍 The personal-journal approach to storytelling. Emily’s diary actually feels like a journal and not a novel. While her attention to detail can get tedious as well as a tad spoiler-ish at times, I still appreciate it as the writing is authentic to the source of information.

😍 The relationship between Emily and Wendell, which began as a one-sided attraction, turned into romance, and has now blossomed into love. I like how the relationship is based on their connection as well as their mutual need for and respect for each other. Wendell isn't shown as the ideal suitor just because he is fae. Emily isn't depicted just as the grump to Wendell’s sunshine.

😍 No needless recaps of the plotline of the earlier books. The author clearly remembers that this is part of a series, and she expects readers to enter into this story knowing what happened earlier. Though my memory failed me on this, I still respect this writing choice of maintaining proper continuity.

Bookish Mixed Bags:

😐 The plot is firmly Emily’s this time around. Though Wendell does have a strong role and there are several supporting characters, the story relies mainly on Emily to proceed. This feels a bit too limiting, especially for one reason: almost every decision taken by Emily is based on the titular “lost tales”. So much so that she is like a horse wearing blinders about only stories being able to help them out of the problems. I did like the cleverness of the lost tale itself, but I didn’t understand this narrow-minded over-reliance on the tale. It restricted the plot.

😐 Yet again, there are plenty of footnotes in Emily’s journal. Some of these (especially the lore) are interesting, but after a while, they just feel superfluous. Just as in the second book, I skipped reading the footnotes after a point and had no trouble understanding the main plot. (On an aside, I found it amusing to see Emily herself complaining about footnotes in her research books.)

😐 The pace is quite slow for most of the way, though the tempo jumps up during the few action sequences. The second half has much better pacing.

😐 While this is the most serious of the three books, it is also the lightest in terms of plot. The action scenes, when they do pop up, are gripping. However, they are far and few between, with most of the storyline moving ahead mainly on research and discussions. The potentially most dangerous sequence lasts hardly for a couple of pages.

😐 I missed Wendell’s bantering with Emily. Granted, the relationship has grown and they aren’t in that initial phase anymore. But it would have been nice to see more of those lovely teasing moments between the two.

Bookish Nays:

😒 The only new entrant to the cast is a disappointment. There could have been so much more to that character’s arc, but it was reduced to a discordant one-noted tune.

😒 The plot development is too convenient. Even when there are major confrontation sequences, the challenges pop up only from others’ malevolence, not from Emily’s actions or decisions. All her issues, no matter how troublesome, are resolved on her very first attempt at tackling them.

😒 The final chapter – such a flat and boring ending. Instead of ending on a high, the story ends on a mundane level. The endings of the earlier books were much better.

Basically, I had enjoyed the first two books of the Emily Wilde series, and had been looking forward this third book since a long time. The end result is decently good, but not great. I did like it, but overall, I am disappointed at how it didn’t live up to the earlier two novels.

While the story does reach an end, the ending seems like it has deliberately left the gates open for another outing. If ever it comes, I wouldn’t say no to another Emily Wilde book. In fact, I hope there is one more book in this series so that I can enjoy it and say goodbye to Emily and Wendell on a better and happier note.

Recommended to those who have read and enjoyed the earlier two novels of this series.

My thanks to Random House Publishing Group – Ballantine for providing the DRC of “Emily Wilde's Compendium of Lost Tales” via NetGalley. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book.

The Emily Wilde series:

Book One: Emily Wilde's Encyclopaedia of Faeries

Book Two: Emily Wilde’s Map of the Otherlands