Book Review: Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Faeries by Heather Fawcett

Emily Wilde's Encyclopaedia of Faeries
by Heather Fawcett

Book title: Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Faeries
Author: Heather Fawcett
Genre: Historical fantasy
Published: January 10, 2023
317 pages
My rating: 4/5

“There was something about the stories bound between those covers, and the myriad species of Folk weaving in and out of them, each one a mystery begging to be solved. I suppose most children fall in love with faeries at some point, but my fascination was never about magic or the granting of wishes. The Folk were of another world, with its own rules and customs – and to a child who always felt ill-suited to her own world, the lure was irresistible.”

Young Cambridge professor Emily Wilde travels to the distant northern village of Hrafnsvik to prepare the final chapter of her Encyclopaedia of Faeries. She has no intention of befriending any of the local townsfolk, nor does she wish to spend any time with her insufferable rival, Wendell Bambleby, who suddenly arrives at the village. But as Emily begins to uncover the secrets of the Hidden Ones, the most elusive of the faeries, she must learn to accept the villagers’ friendship and help if she wants to escape the faeries’ enchantments.

Heather Fawcett’s Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Faeries is a cozy light academia fantasy full of magic and faeries. I loved the main character, and her social awkwardness reminded me of myself. Her growing friendships with the rest of the cast of characters were adorable. I also enjoyed reading the book’s first person diary-style description of Emily’s experiences and the footnotes on fairy lore. This book formed a nice contrast to the dark academia vibes of my previous read, R.F. Kuang’s Babel, and I must say I prefer light academia myself. This book made a perfect cozy fall read.

I Finished Draft 2 of Pride and Prejudice Retelling (A Writing Update)

After three months of editing and revising, I finished the second draft of my modern retelling of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. This is a nice side project while my main WIP, Project Prehistory, is resting. This week, I edited the last five scenes, and now the retelling is off to my critique partner for feedback. I should be ready to send the manuscript to beta readers in November.

If you want to see more about what I've been up to in the writing vlog below.

Book Review: Babel by R.F. Kuang

Babel by R.F. Kuang

Book title: Babel
Author: R.F. Kuang
Genre: Historical fantasy
Published: August 23, 2022
544 pages
My rating: 4.5/5

“That’s just what translation is, I think. That’s all speaking is. Listening to the other and trying to see past your own biases to glimpse what they’re trying to say. Showing yourself to the world, and hoping someone else understands.”

Robin Swift, an orphaned Chinese boy, is brought to London by his new mysterious ward Professor Lovell. After training years in Latin, ancient Greek, and Chinese, he enrolls in Oxford University’s prestigious Royal Institute of Translation, also known as Babel. Besides being the world’s center for translation, it is also the center for silver-working, a magical way of manifesting the meanings lost in translation. This makes Babel the principal assistant in the British Empire’s quest for colonization. As a Chinese man raised in Britain, Robin soon realizes that serving Babel means betraying his motherland. But can a student stand against an empire?

Babel is a dark academia historical fantasy about colonialism, oppression, and colonial resistance. The themes this book tackles are hugely important, and Kuang does a great job exploring the complex intersecting identities of her main characters. Unfortunately, this is one of those books where I feel the literary merit of the book was higher than my enjoyment of it.

Favorite Classics: Henry Fielding

Joseph Andrews and Tom Jones by Henry Fielding

Henry Fielding (1707–1754) was an English writer and a judge known for his use of satire and humor in his works. I’ve read two of Fielding’s novels, and one of them is among my favorite classics. I'll talk about my favorite book, Tom Jones, first, even though it was actually published after Joseph Andrews.

September Wrap-Up and October Hopefuls

September reads

September Wrap-Up

• Finished: 7
• Started but not finished: 2
• Total pages read: 2,509
• Average rating: 3.83

September was a bit of a hit and miss for me in terms of reading. I finished a lot of books and read a lot of pages, but rating-wise, it wasn’t a great month. I did read one book I loved, Marjan Kamali’s historical fiction The Lion Women of Tehran (5/5 stars). I also finally finished my Jane Austen July classic, Frances Burney’s Cecilia (4/5 stars). The rest of the novels I finished, however, were somewhat disappointing reads. I finished two fantasy books: a romantasy The Hurricane Wars by Thea Guanzon (3.5/5 stars) and a historical fantasy The Winter Goddess by Megan Barnard (also 3.5/5 stars). I also listened to one audio book, a Finnish translation of This Is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone (3/5 stars). You can click the links to read more about my thoughts.

Book Review: The Lion Women of Tehran by Marjan Kamali

The Lion Women of Tehran by Marjan Kamali

Book title: The Lion Women of Tehran
Author: Marjan Kamali
Genre: Historical fiction
Published: July 2, 2024
327 pages
My rating: 5/5

“Someday, you and me – we’ll do great things. We’ll live life for ourselves. And we will help others. We are cubs now, maybe. But we will grow to be lionesses. Strong women who make things happen.”

Seven-year-old Elaleh “Ellie” Soltani’s comfortable middle-class life is upended by the unexpected death of her father when she and her mother are forced to move to a poorer neighborhood. In school, she meets Homa Roozbeh, and the two girls become best friends to Ellie’s mother’s dismay. Together they play games and dream of becoming lion women of the first generation of working women in Iran. Opportunity allows Ellie to return to her earlier lifestyle, and memories of Homa fade, until years later Homa suddenly reappears in her life.

The Lion Women of Tehran is a historical fiction by Marjan Kamali. Told mostly from Ellie’s point of view with a few chapters from Homa’s perspective, this coming-of-age story follows the two Iranian girls from the early 1950s, when Iran was modernizing, to the early 1980s and the aftermath of the Islamic revolution.

Reaching the Midpoint of a Pride and Prejudice Retelling: A Writing Update

I've been busy with my multiple writing projects lately. Project Prehistory is still resting after I finished the fifth draft, but I have been doing query prep, researching for agents, and drafting a query letter and synopsis. I have a query letter critique scheduled in late October, so I still have plenty of time to polish the letter before the critique.

I finished final edits to a cozy fantasy short story and sent it to a literary magazine. Unfortunately, I got an almost immediate no from the magazine. Now I have to wait for another magazine to open their submissions.

Most of my writing time I've spent editing the second draft of a modern Pride and Prejudice retelling. I reached the midpoint a couple of weeks ago, and I'm now securely in the latter half of the story. The second half needs a lot more work than the first half, but I'm slowly working through it.

You can find out more about what I've been up to in the writing vlog below.