#Emily wilde's compendium of lost tales spoilers

[msunitedstatesjames]

You know, I gotta say, nobody has ever done the immortal boyfriend with a mortal girlfriend trope better than the Emily Wilde books. Their relationship isn't some edgy, drama filled sex romp where everyone is unbelievably hot and cool. (Not to hate on those stories if that's your thing, to each their own.) They're literally two people who respect each other for their respective abilities and personalities. Emily is a devoted academic with little interest in anything but her area of study (which sort of happens to include Wendell). Wendell, despite being an exiled prince of Faerie, is just a lazy, slightly ridiculous dude who likes nothing better than being cozy and following his girlfriend around while she does research. He also happens to be insanely talented with a sword and with magic, but somehow that never makes him seem like a badass, just even more ridiculous.

And though the Fae in this book are often described as sort of unearthly beautiful, it's really never meant to be sexy. They're beautiful by and large in a cold and terrifying way. Like, they might drag you around partying for a while, but then they slit your throat and hang you from a tree with no warning at all, and your friends and loved ones never know what happened to you. And the story does address this as a legitimate concern in terms of Wendell's and Emily's relationship. It's totally possible that he could some day become a mad King of Faerie, and her friends try to warn her repeatedly. Wendell is aware of their warnings, and in some stories the love interest would storm about in anger and disbelief that anyone could doubt him or he would laugh it off, but Wendell being Wendell, he's pleased that her friends care enough about her to voice their concerns and he acknowledges that this is a real threat. In the end, he knows Emily is a genius, and he trusts her to stop him from tumbling headlong into disaster, as she's done time and time again. And Emily does consider these concerns as well. But if Emily is anything, she's confident in her knowledge and abilities. She doesn't refuse to believe that her beloved is incapable of being like other Fae, quite the opposite, she acknowledges his occasional strange, uncanny otherness multiple times and the fact that he could go mad. She does everything in her power to keep this from happening, and we have every reason to believe that this will continue to be the case.

Then there's the age old issue of human/immortal age gaps that so many similar books face. Emily Wilde books side step this issue nicely by making Wendell very similar in age to Emily. He's not some 500 year old dude hitting on a 30 year old, he's a teenager when he's driven out of Faerie, and he ultimately comes of age in the human world at about the same time as Emily. This takes away the kind of creepy aspect of someone hooking up with someone young enough to be their great-great-grandaughter, and it gives a nice excuse for Wendell to be less cruel and mad than other Faerie monarchs as well.

And even though I keep saying these books don't make the Fae sexy, that's not to say the books are sterile and chaste. Emily and Wendell do eventually have a sexual relationship, but it comes along very naturally, from people who start out as coworkers and academic rivals and grow to become friends and then partners and then co-rulers and spouses. When they have sex it just feels like two people who love each other and enjoy each other's company, not like some wild outburst of edgy, sexy, repressed desires. (Again, no hate if that's your thing.)

And maybe the best thing about their mortal/immortal relationship is that Emily doesn't have to change herself or abandon everything she held dear for Wendell. Emily goes through a brief phase where she tries to fit into the beauty standards of the Fae, and then she quickly realizes that's stupid and she's better off being herself. And Wendell never cared about any of that at all, he's too busy just adoring her scholarly obsessions. Many stories ask the mortal heroines to leave behind their loved ones and lives for their immortal lover, but again, Emily Wilde does it better. Wendell immediately recognizes that academia is Emily's first love. He sets her up with a library, endless journals, and most importantly, multiple points of access to the mortal realm, where she can go to research in peace, continue her connection with Cambridge, publish her work, and of course, present at the occassional academic conference now that her career has taken off.

Emily Wilde got her man, a throne, and a flourishing career. Our girl really can do it all.

[ratherhavehopewithyou]

“And what sort of queen would that make me?”

He looked perfectly earnest as he leaned in to kiss my cheek.

“Mine.”

(Edit to add this quote is from Emily Wilde’s Compendium of Lost Tales!)

[unhinged-soapbox]

I have just started "Emily Wilde's Compendium of Lost Tales," and from what I can tell, the vibes of this book are just gonna be:

Wendell: My dear! We are taking back my kingdom! Isn't this just splendid?

Emily: First of all, you are an idiot. Second of all, I love you. Third of all, what have I gotten myself into? I'm so horrified and also intrigued but seriously mostly horrified.

Which frankly is pretty much on par with the rest of the series.

[the---hermit]

18|04|2025

Slowly crawling back here to post to talk about books, because ngl, I missed it. At the moment, weirdly enough I only have one book on my currently reading and it still is Emily Wilde's Compendium of Lost Tales. This is the third and final book in this series, and despite me being a little over 100 pages into it I am not vibing with it. I loved the previous two books, and flew through them, but I am so stuck with this one. I don't even feel like picking it up. It is partially due to my mental health and energy levels at the moment, but also I feel like it's also this book's fault too. It's been very slow so far and I don't really see where it's going? Not much has happened so far, which also makes me wonder why this book exists in the first place. Maybe this could have been a very good duology? I feel like it's dragging a lot, idk. If someone has read the whole series and can give me some spoiler free opinions that would be lovely. I am really hoping that the plot will start doing something for me, because I want to read so bad, but at the same time this book is not keeping me interested to have a good reading session.

[hexxxcapades]

get you a lover that will preserve the bones of his enemies for your dog's enjoyment

[brontesauruses]

Emily vs. the information sciences

Emily Wilde's Encyclopaedia of Faeries (Emily Wilde #1) - Heather Fawcett

Emily Wilde's Map of the Otherlands (Emily Wilde #2) - Heather Fawcett

Emily Wilde's Compendium of Lost Tales (Emily Wilde #3) - Heather Fawcett

[scienter]

I finished Emily Wilde's Compendium of Lost Tales a week ago, and it's another win for me! So glad I started this series last year. It's delightful and enchanting without being overly saccharine.

Here's my reaction/thoughts to the third book (SPOILER WARNING):

Wendell’s true name is Liarth! Like Emily, I still think of him as Wendell though. lol

Wendell reads romance novels. Of course, he does.

Wendell had the bookbinders make a room full of journals for Emily, and made a doorway to England for her! Aww, he's so scared that she'll be unhappy and leave him thoughtful.

Wow. Wendell offers to return to Cambridge if Emily doesn’t like Silva Lupi. She’s more important to him than returning home. Not too surprised. I don’t think Emily was unhappy in Silva Lupi. She’s overwhelmed and intimidated by the whole thing because she’s out of her element. She needs time to adjust.

Farris Rose was friends with Emily’s grandfather! That’s why he involved himself in her personal and professional life. I knew he was acting out of concern in book 2, it just wasn’t clear exactly why. Oh yes, a fairy killed his friend, Edgar, but the story doesn’t explain why he offered to write the foreword to her book, mentor her, and join her quest when a word of warning/unsolicited advice would suffice. This little nugget of backstory gave Rose a solid reason/motivation for butting into Emily's life.

I enjoyed Emily and Wendell’s little wedding. Emily would not want a big, dramatic wedding. She’d like something simple and small.

It felt like the author emphasized Wendell’s Faerie nature in this book more than the previous ones. Which makes sense considering he's back home. In the previous books, Wendell tries to fit into human society, fooling everyone except Emily and Farris. In Silva Lupi, he can be his full faerie self (e.g., openly using his magic, engaging in faerie customs, no longer feigning interest in scholarship). Wendell feels more like a faerie in this book. There’s no pretense. (at least this was my perception - ymmv)

Niamh is a good addition to Emily’s circle of friends. Emily should have more scholarly friends who she can talk to.

I appreciated Emily and Wendell’s character growth in this series. Emily expanded her circle of friends beyond Wendell, and Wendell let go of his snobbery/disdain for common fae.  Solid character development is always a win.

Amazingly, I don’t hate any of the characters in these books. None of them annoyed me. None of them made me want to skip a chapter. None of them made me root for their death. That's noteworthy because annoying characters are one of major reasons I DNF books/series. Not a problem here though!

[babblinbook]

Miraculously happened across Compendium of Lost Tales in the wild early and at the start of my happenstance three day weekend, no less ✨

[geraniums-red]

Heather Fawcett - Emily Wilde's Compendium of Lost Tales

Book 3 in the Emily Wilde series

This was not the book I expected it to be. The general tone is that of a travelogue that happens to be set in a fantasy land, rather than the sort of escalating and compounding problems that I'd expect to find in the final book of a fantasy series. I also thought it was less funny than the earlier books.

However, once I took it as the book it was rather than the book I expected, I did enjoy reading it. I'd hesitate to call it cosy fantasy, as there is far too much murder and destruction going on for it to count as 'low stakes', but it feels like a nearby genre. Slow fantasy, perhaps. I liked the descriptions of folklore and scenery, and the sequential nature of the problems encountered meant I could read it at a sedate pace rather than feeling that I needed to rush through it to the end.

Recommended, but be prepared for it to be a little different from the earlier books in the series.

[onlydivinething]

finished emily wilde's compendium of lost tales and I can safely say that emilywendell is officially one of the ships that will live in my head rent free for the rest of my living days

spoiler in tags

[ultimate-queen-of-fandoms2]

Not me casually ordering and reading Emily Wilde's Compendium of Lost Tales only to find out after finishing it that for some reason it's released a month early in Sweden and now I can't talk about it with anyone bc spoilers xD

It's so good btw I love this series so much

[arendaes]

February reading wrap-up! I didn't read as much as I wanted to; Avowed really absorbed my attention during the week I had off and I didn't touch a single book that week 😅 That said, it was a really good reading month! Thoughts below the cut.

The Bride Test was the book I read for the IRL book club I attended. It's a contemporary romance, and I really liked it! The premise made me a bit wary at first, as "arranged marriage" is not a trope I thought I'd like. Thankfully the author assuaged my reservations early on, and there was a lot I really enjoyed about this book. I found the main characters easy to like and root for, one of the supporting characters was hilarious and made me laugh out loud several times, and overall I think Helen Hoang did a good job writing a sweet rom-com that tackles some sensitive subject matter in a nuanced way. I gave it a 3.75 out of 5 as there was one subplot that didn't work for me and I did find some of the adult content to be a bit much.

Now, The Two Towers I have thoughts on. Obviously I'm familiar with Lord of the Rings because of the films, but this is my first reading of the trilogy and. I'm gonna be honest with you all. I find Tolkien's a bit long-winded for my tastes. I still enjoy the story for the most part, I just find how much time we spend on certain things to be a bit...unnecessary, I guess? The pacing is also very slow, which isn't something I typically enjoy. THAT SAID, I do still love the story and the characters. Standouts for me were the scene in Fangorn Forest where Gandalf kinda trolls Aragorn, Gimli, and Legolas before revealing he's alive; everything about Merry, Pippin, and the Ents; and Frodo and Sam's trials and tribulations with getting into Mordor with Gollum as their guide. I gave it 4 out 5 stars.

Last, I literally just finished Emily Wilde's Compendium of Lost Tales earlier tonight. This was such a wonderful send-off to this trilogy. I continued to love and adore Emily and Wendell, both together and apart. Heather Fawcett really wove the plot of this last book so well; the foreshadowing really helped create the impact she wanted, and the prose and pacing was fantastic. I want to keep this spoiler-free since this book just came out, but I will say...Wendell is definitely what I want from more love interests in romances. He knows Emily so well, and his gesture at the end of the book actually made me a bit emotional. Anyways, 5 out of 5 stars, this trilogy definitely has a future as a comfort read series for me.

Next month I'll be reading Educated by Tara Westover (for book club), Wild Dark Shore by Charlotte McConaghy (won a copy of the audiobook through StoryGraph) and potentially Heavenly Tyrant by Xiran Jay Zhao (pending library hold). Also Monstress by Marjorie Liu - I expect I'll be posting a lot of books in next month's wrap up lol

[ratherhavehopewithyou]

Wendell to Emily

[the-knightmare]

@daddygrandpaandthebeaver tagged me to share some of the books from my TBR list for the year.

These are the books I'm most excited to get to this year:

The Parliament by Aimee Pokwatka (spoiler, already finished and enjoyed it)

Black Tide Son by H. M. Long

The Possession of Alba Diaz by Isabel Canas

Bochica by Carolina Florez-Cerchiaro

The Witch's Lens by Luanne G. Smith

Emily Wilde's Compendium of Lost Tales by Heather Fawcett

How to Summon a Fairy Godmother by Laura J. Mayo

The Fox Wife by Yangsze Choo

[pagesandpothos]

12 5-star Predictions for 2025

I have several books that I am very excited to read in 2025 and some of those I'm nearly certain are going to become new favorites.

Here are twelve books that I plan to read in 2025 that I think might be new 5-star reads. Many are new releases and some are older books that I haven't gotten to yet, but all sound great and have me excited to read them!

A Drop of Corruption by Robert Jackson Bennett: This is the sequel to The Tainted Cup, one of my favorite books of 2024. The first book was an easy 5-star and I think this one will be too.

Emily Wilde’s Compendium of Lost Tales by Heather Fawcett: This is the third book in a series. The previous two books were both 5 stars for me. I adore Emily and Wendell, and this whole series is so charming. I can't imagine not loving the third book too.

The Spellshop by Sarah Beth Durst: I got this book for Christmas and I've only heard good things about it, so I feel like I'm going to love it. I've been really enjoying cozy fantasy lately and I've heard this is one of the best of the genre!

Winter’s Orbit by Everina Maxwell: This is a book that I've owned and had on my TBR for way too long. I'm determined to finally read it (and its sequel) this year. I'm planning on reading this soon and I hope I love it as much as I suspect I will!

A River Enchanted by Rebecca Ross: This is another that I've owned and wanted to read for over a year. This sounds beautiful and I really want to finally read something by Rebecca Ross. I got this and the sequel from Book of the Month, and I almost always love their picks!

When the Tides Held the Moon by Venessa Vida Kelley: This is a queer romantasy that releases in April. The early reviews for this are great and so many of my favorite authors have recommended it. I'm so certain that I'm going to love this that I've pre-ordered the signed hardcover even though I already have a digital ARC. This sounds beautiful and hopeful, and I can't wait to read it! I genuinely think this will be one of my favorites of the year.

The Martian by Andy Weir: I loved Project Hail Mary, so I think I'll love this one too. I've never seen the movie so I'm going in mostly spoiler-free and I'd really like to read it before I accidentally read a spoiler somewhere.

A Taste of Gold and Iron by Alexandra Rowland: I loved Running Close to the Wind, so I plan to read more Alexandra Rowland books this year. This one is the one I am most certain will be a 5-star but I really think I will love all of their books.

Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo: I feel like I'm the last person on earth to read this but it is 100% finally happening this year. Based on how beloved this series is, I'm certain I will love it too. I'm excited to finally understand the hype.

The Entanglement of Rival Wizards by Sara Raasch: This is an Achillean rivals-to-lovers romantasy written by the same author who wrote The Nightmare Before Kissmas and Go Luck Yourself. I gave both of those books 5 stars so I think I'm going to love this one too. This combines so many of my favorite things (wizards, elves, academic rivals...). I read the short snippet that's included at the end of Go Luck Yourself and pre-ordered it immediately!

Hemlock & Silver by T. Kingfisher: I love everything T. Kingfisher writes and this one sounds really exciting to me. It's a "Snow White" retelling and possibly a portal fantasy too? Heather Fawcett's review compares this to Nettle & Bone and says it's one of her new favorites by T. Kingfisher, so I've got high expectations!

A Gentleman's Gentleman by TJ Alexander: This is another that I have a digital ARC of and am really excited to read. This comes out in March and is a trans Regency romance. I've been in the mood to read more historical romances, so this sounds exactly what I'm looking for. Plus, I always love books with queer joy!

[hexxxcapades]

only you, emily wilde, could be excited about becoming the queen of a fairy kingdom for the sole reason that it's a prime opportunity to study fairy politics