For the Fae are ever malicious and tricksters and one or more might have their eyes on Emily herself.

I was really excited about this book and started the eARC from NetGalley but slowly put it to the side. Academic grumps they may be, but these two have a friendship that makes me wish for someone that would battle faerie assassins for me. In fact, her life is in jeopardy more than once over the course of this story, yet she seems to navigate it all so well.

Note: While reading this book with Rebecca, we had a couple of conversations about whether Emily is supposed to be written as neurodivergent. FYI for romance readers: this is a historical fantasy with (very enjoyable) romantic elements, not a romance. She also notices some odd things in the village, indications of humans that have been bewitched by the fae.

Review policy: I only review books that I love, which is why you'll only see 4 and 5 star reviews here.With a fantastic range of international bestsellers, including Jim Butcher, Trudi Canavan and Brent Weeks, and exciting new talent such as Ann Leckie, James S. I recommend this book to anyone who loves light fantasy, great characters, great world building and very good writing. I told her early into reading that I was having trouble with this book and she so sweetly volunteered to read it with me and I am so grateful to have had someone to rant with! But as Emily gets closer to uncovering the secrets of the Hidden Ones – the most elusive of all faeries – she also finds herself on the trail of another mystery: who is Wendell Bambleby, and what does he really want? The story follows Professor Emily Wilde, a dryadologist, on fieldwork out in Ljosland (which appears to be a fake Scandi island, using the name of a real town in Norway) to uncover details of a particular type of faery for her great work – the first real encyclopaedia of all faeries.

Such a method really suits the story, especially as our main character, Emily, is quite a reserved character and so without this we wouldn’t have got to know her quite as well.

While this approach leads to some foreshadowing of what happened that day, it also ensures a focussed narration due to Emily’s very nature. R. Melling’s Chronicles of Faerie, the fantasy genre is populated by thrilling and enchanting tales of fae folk.

I would still recommend giving this a shot if you enjoy a cozier, slower fantasy with low stakes and light romance. If that were actually the case, I would take serious issue with this entirely cliched and narrow representation of people who live with this condition.

When the ever-charming Bambleby also turns up at the village, Emily knows she has to make some tough choices.