I picked up this book because I was writing a review of The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches and in the “you may also enjoy” box were two other books that I had very much enjoyed, as well as this one. And, conveniently, it was on sale on Amazon, so I thought I’d take the chance.
I should have enjoyed the book more than I did. It’s got everything I love – an academic protagonist, an interesting fantasy world, a slow-burning romance, but, for some reason, it just didn’t quite gel for me. Maybe it was the Cambridge background, where terms not used in British academia kept cropping up (we don’t have tenure, and Professor means something very different here than it does in North America. That bothered me much more than magic or a woman happily accepted in academia in what feels like the early 20th century.
I did quite like our protagonist, Dr Emily Wilde, though. She’s a bit monomanical, focused on her career and learning about the faeries of her world. She’s read widely and would be considered the foremost expert in the field, if it wasn’t for her youth, and the sexism (although this is downplayed in the book). The book sees Emily head to what seems like their version of Iceland to investigate their fae, known as the Hidden People, which haven’t really be documented. She’s quite disgruntled when her colleague, the suave and handsome Wendell Bambleby turns up, with a pair of postgrad students in tow.
I’d probably consider Emily to be somewhere on the spectrum, since she’s very intelligent, but not really good with people, and she manages to offend her hosts on her very first evening, without really realising what she’s done.
Something I like about the book is that it not only makes it clear that Emily is both very intelligent, but that people around her, including fellow academic, Wendell, acknowledge and respect that intelligence. There’s no dismissing and sneering just because she’s a woman. I’m also a sucker for found family, and after the misunderstanding in the village is sorted out, this plays out quite strongly.
I think I should maybe read the book again at some point, since I may just not have been in the right mood the first time around.