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Reviews tagging 'Medical trauma'
Emily Wilde's Encyclopaedia of Faeries by Heather Fawcett
3 reviews
pvp_niki's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
lighthearted
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Confinement, Death, Medical trauma, and Injury/Injury detail
thefatgingerone's review against another edition
I wanted to love the book but the scene of torturing a changeling child really disturbed me. So much of the language used is similar to language that used to be used about disabled children and it’s clearly a metaphor for disabled children but the actions towards the child are disgusting and disturbing. The fact that the protagonist is never called out or faces repercussions for her actions was so upsetting to me. Ruined what would have been a lovely story.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail
beautifulpaxielreads's review against another edition
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
Emily Wilde's Encyclopaedia of Faeries (hence Emily) was pretty much a delight from start to finish.
Set in the early years of the twentieth century, it follows the titular Emily, one of the foremost scholars in the study of faeries, rivalled only by her colleague, the infuriatingly handsome and charming Wendell Bambleby, who for all of his charisma Emily finds just the slightest bit uncanny.
Emily has just arrived in the tiny village of Hrafnsvik on the island of Ljosland (a fictional place which from the descriptions of the landscape and character names seems to be based on Iceland) from her native England, where she intends to research the lives of the island's faerie-folk for the world-first faerie encyclopedia, which is very near to completion.
She is also not a people person, preferring to spend her time either buried in paperwork or trampling through the countryside, making a study of the beings that look set to be her life's work. The village folk of Hrafnsvik do not know what to make of her and her - to them - odd behaviour.
Emily thinks her trip to Hrafnsvik will be like all the other field trips she has made - uneventful and productive. But she is soon to be proved wrong in the most spectacular, infuriating and heartwarming of ways.
Is it obvious how much I enjoyed this? Freya Marske, the author of A Marvellous Light, describes Emily thus:
Set in the early years of the twentieth century, it follows the titular Emily, one of the foremost scholars in the study of faeries, rivalled only by her colleague, the infuriatingly handsome and charming Wendell Bambleby, who for all of his charisma Emily finds just the slightest bit uncanny.
Emily has just arrived in the tiny village of Hrafnsvik on the island of Ljosland (a fictional place which from the descriptions of the landscape and character names seems to be based on Iceland) from her native England, where she intends to research the lives of the island's faerie-folk for the world-first faerie encyclopedia, which is very near to completion.
She is also not a people person, preferring to spend her time either buried in paperwork or trampling through the countryside, making a study of the beings that look set to be her life's work. The village folk of Hrafnsvik do not know what to make of her and her - to them - odd behaviour.
Emily thinks her trip to Hrafnsvik will be like all the other field trips she has made - uneventful and productive. But she is soon to be proved wrong in the most spectacular, infuriating and heartwarming of ways.
Is it obvious how much I enjoyed this? Freya Marske, the author of A Marvellous Light, describes Emily thus:
...winter-sunshined, sharp-tongued and footnoted academia, full of field trips and grumpy romance.
I wholeheartedly agree with Marske that Emily is all of these things - and so much more. It's a grumpy romance between two opposite-minded but somehow compatible individuals (no, I won't tell you who, that would spoil), it's a well-thought-out fantasy of what faerie scholarship would look like if faeries actually existed and were studied, and most of all, it's the story of a young woman learning to accept love and friendship into her life. Although it's never stated explicitly in the book - it would be an anachronism given the time period in which the novel is set - I, like others, believe Emily's behaviour and characteristics to be neurodivergent, though specifics are unclear.
What is clear is that reading about Emily's adventures was a great deal of fun for me, and I can't wait to see what she and Bambleby get up to in the sequel.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Body horror, Death, Emotional abuse, Violence, Medical content, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Murder, and Alcohol
Minor: Cursing and War
Some of the faerie folk act in ways that are cruel. Humans can be abducted/possessed/left as empty vessels, or a combination of the three.