I received this book for free from the Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Emily Wilde's Compendium of Lost Tales by Heather Fawcett Series: Emily Wilde #3
Published by Del Rey on February 11 2025
Genres: Adult, Fantasy
Pages: 368
Format: Finished hardcover
Source: Publisher
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The nitty-gritty: Adventure, danger, magic and a touch of romance, Emily Wilde’s Compendium of Lost Tales brings all these elements and more together in this satisfying series conclusion.
“I must write it down. For it is in writing that I will discover a way out. A door within the story. There is one. It cannot end here.
Yet some stories do.”
I have enjoyed my time with Emily Wilde immensely, and now Heather Fawcett has wrapped up her magical, funny, feel-good series in a very satisfying way. Emily and Wendell are back, along with some old favorite characters and new ones as well, but unlike the first two books, Emily steals the show this time, and I grew to love her even more. Make sure you read this series in order, though, you wouldn’t want to miss anything!
Please note, because this is book three in the series, there may be minor spoilers ahead for the first two books.
We pick up right after the end of Emily Wilde’s Map of the Otherlands. Wendell and Emily are headed to Wendell’s faerie kingdom to take back his rightful place on the throne, after the demise of Queen Arna, Wendell’s evil stepmother. Emily, though not yet married to Wendell, will rule at his side as Queen, although she’s feeling a bit uneasy about this idea. But when they arrive, they are shocked to discover that the forests of the kingdom are beginning to die, and that the sickness is creeping closer and closer to the castle. Before he can settle into his new roll as King, Wendell knows they must figure out how to stop the sickness before the castle itself disappears.
Emily Wilde’s Compendium of Lost Tales moves at a slower pace than the first two books, so I’ll admit it was a bit hard to immerse myself at first. We also get quite a bit of faerie politics in this book, since most of the story is set in the realm of the Folk and Wendell is faced with his new responsibilities as King. That, along with Emily’s ubiquitous footnotes, made the beginning a little shaky for me. Luckily, things smooth out and the pace picks up once the quest part of the story takes off.
Once again, Heather Fawcett’s imaginative world of the Folk comes to life on the page, and I’ll admit I’m going to miss this world now that the series is over. From creatures that are familiar to me (brownies) to the unfamiliar (tree fauns), Fawcett’s faerie creatures are beautiful, ugly, kind and deadly, and each one has a peculiar otherworldliness to them that added a bit of unknown danger to the story. I also loved the way Wendell and Emily travel through the doors between faerie and the real world, which are constantly moving or changing appearance. Even with an underlying sinister feel, this darkness is offset by Fawcett’s witty dialog and the warmth of the relationships between her characters.
Emily takes center stage in this book, and I think I loved her even more. She’s been forced out of her comfort zone—her cozy office at Cambridge where she’s an expert in dryadology—into some very new experiences. For one, her relationship with Wendell is headed towards marriage, and she isn’t completely sure how she feels about that. Emily is the best kind of female character, one who has a purpose and passion in life outside of romance and knows she doesn’t need a partner to be happy. However, she is deeply in love with Wendell, and so she manages to have the best of both worlds, but not without some struggles, of course.
As you can tell from the title, Emily has decided to compile old tales of the fae, tales that have been lost over time or simply passed down aurally and never written down. In her research, she finds a story that almost mirrors what Wendell is going through with the dying forests, and she makes an intuitive leap that perhaps the answers they are looking for can be found in such a tale. I loved this idea and thought it was handled brilliantly.
And I can’t end this review without mentioning my favorite animal character of the series, Emily’s “dog” Shadow (who is actually part fae). She has had her loyal companion for many years, and she notices that Shadow is starting to slow down and it’s worrying her. Of course it worried me too, but Wendell has a wonderful surprise for Emily at the end of the story that brought tears to my eyes. I know the series is over, but I’d love to see more adventures that star Emily and Shadow, so fingers crossed that the author will take pity on us readers!
If you’re a fan of fae fantasy with wonderfully drawn characters and lovely writing, you don’t want to miss this series.
Big thanks to the publisher for providing a review copy.
Wonderful review, I’m glad you enjoyed this one too. I thought you’d particularly like that last gift of Wendell’s and also found it incredibly heartwarming. I liked Emily even more here too but then she did irritate me slightly with her attitude towards her niece in the middle book. I think I also loved seeing her form a friendship too though with someone who shared her academic passion. And I loved the clever way that stories were worked into this one, even if it did leave me with a constant sense of dread throughout. Like you I’d love more books set within the world and I sincerely doubt that we’ll be alone so maybe we’ll get lucky and more will follow.
I really didn’t care for her relationship with her niece either, but overall it was such a small thing. The rest of the series is so good:-)
I’ve been wanting to read this series since the first book came out but I still haven’t gotten around to buying myself a copy. It does sound like such a wonderful world to dive in to. Maybe 2025 will be the year?
It might be the year! It’s definitely worth reading at some point:-)
Ooh, can’t wait! This is the next book I’m planning to start. I honestly had no idea that this was the final Emily Wilde book — I’m sad at the idea of the series ending, but it’s exciting to see such a positive review!
I could be wrong and maybe it’s not the last book, but the ending sort of felt that way.
Excellent review as always. I didn’t mention it in my review but I’d love to see novellas in this world.
Anne – Books of My Heart
That’s a great idea, I would read novellas too!
Great to see such a good review for a book I’m looking forward to reading. It’s a shame this is possibly the last we’ll see of this world and these characters but I’m looking forward to whatever Fawcett writes next
I do hope there are more stories. There is so much more she could write about:-)
I loved the first two books in this series and am looking forward to reading this one, too. Emily is such a great character! I love her and her ‘dog’, and the way she and Wendell spark.
I love their spark too:-)
This sounds like a lovely conclusion for this series! Emily is a great character, and the romance here adds to her story without defining her personality and it is not so common! Thanks for sharing!!
Yes exactly! I loved how independent Emily is.
It makes me very happy to see how much you enjoyed this one.
Lynn
So good!
Even though I put aside this series after the first book I still love seeing how much you’ve enjoyed it. Makes me smile.
And I love the quote you chose.
I’m glad I read the series, and now I’ll be looking for more books by this author.
I am so happy you loved it Tammy! I just began that one yesterday!
I’m looking forward to your review!
Yeah I probably would have bumped my rating to at least 4.5 had the beginning been more exciting. The rest was great but the start was so slow I actually grew bored!
Love the cover and sounds like a good fantasy, great review!
https://lisalovesliterature.bookblog.io/2025/02/03/book-blitz-with-giveaway-be-in-my-bubble-by-maya-mason/