I read Emily Wilde's Compendium of Lost Tales.
What is the book about?
Emily Wilde is a renowned dryadologist who goes on a mission to help take back the throne of a faerie kingdom with her fiancé, a exiled faerie king named Wendell. Emily Wilde’s Compendium of Lost Tales is the third book in the Emily Wilde series.It starts off in a home near Wendell’s kingdom.They enter the kingdom and start going towards Wendell’s castle. They take over the throne a little too easily, soon they find out that Wendell’s stepmom put a blight over the land as she goes into hiding. Will Wendell and Emily be able to stop the curse from spreading throughout the realm and possibly destroying it?
Scroll to the bottom of the page to see my final thoughts and total score for the review.
Me reading the book. Shhh... I don't wanna hear any spoilers.
What are my favorite things?
One of my favorite things in the book is Wendell and Emily’s relationship. They do anything and everything to stick together and there is no pointless drama. There are a few times in the story where Emily doesn’t feel good enough for Wendell but he always shows that he is truly in love with her, no matter how many times someone tries to tear them apart. Wendell picks out the most thoughtful wedding gifts for Emily, like an endless supply of journals, a door to a cottage in Ireland (where Wendell is from) with a cottage where Lilja and Margaret are staying, and my favorite a private tutor who teaches Emily words of power like the one that helps heal Shadow. (Or helps him live longer)
I also liked that the curse in the story could be solved by reading ancient stories that are based on the fae. I didn’t expect Farris and Ariadne to show up in this book since it took a while for them to be in traduced but I’m glad they came. I liked that Farris let Emily figure out that he knew her grandpa and that he kept one of his journals. They used to be best friends. This let me know that Farris was closer to 70 years old rather than 50. This also connected some dots to the first book and reviled that Emily’s Grandfather had a collection of faerie books that she read as a kid and inspired her to become a dryadologist. There were several “ah ha!” moments in this book that evenly closed off some mysteries of the first books and this book its self.
The point in the book where Emily finds out The Lady in Crimson is her grandfather's faerie love intrest.
What are my dislikes?
One of the things that I didn’t like in the book was that it was so slow in the beginning. This made it hard for me to want to read it. I also feel like there wasn’t enough time with Wendell, although I did like hearing Michael Dodds narrate for Wendell during the letter scenes in the audio book. Also I feel like the third ark with Queen Arna being rescued from the veil did not need to be there. I felt like it was a little forced and made the story a bit too long.
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My final thoughts?
Overall I enjoyed the book. It was a great ending to the series. I think it is wonderful, fun cozy fantasy and adventure book that could be read by anyone who is 13 years old or older. It is a well written book and series with lovable characters, wonderful magic, world building and imagery.
My Score: