Series: Emily Wilde #3 (Not Standalone)
Publication Date: 11th Feb 2025
Genre: Historical Fantasy, Romance
3.2 Stars
One Liner: Oh, Emily!
Emily and Wendell (with some reinforcements) enter his kingdom to stake claim to the throne. Of course, it’s not easy. Emily, with all her scholarly interest in the fae world, doesn’t feel comfortable being a queen. However, she has no time to deal with this. Wendell’s stepmother has placed a curse on the kingdom. They need to use all her knowledge and Wendell’s powers to break the curse and save the kingdom.
The story comes in Emily’s first-person (through her journal writings).
My Thoughts:
Well, I’ve been excited to read this since I finished book #2. I had to wait for a while but I did get approved for the ARC and then planned a buddy read with Rosh (we read the previous books together). Sadly, the results are mixed.
The book takes off where the second one ends (though it took me some time to remember that part). Anyway, I soon got into the setting and the mood. The stakes were high this time, and I was ready for a lot of danger and action.
Somehow, the pacing was decent for the first 10% and then became slower than a snail. Since the previous two were also slow, I was sort of used to it. It does get better in the last quarter.
There’s some action here and there with Wendell showcasing his swordsmanship. However, it is not as much as I hoped for.
But… my major disappointment comes from the execution of the premise. The stepmother’s curse, fighting her, etc., should have been more gripping and engaging. Instead, we get a mild version (the whole book has YA vibes) with more focus on scholarly research than actual implementation. Balancing both elements might have helped. The action, when it takes place, is short and over in a few paragraphs. Easy peasy and convenient!
Instead of having so many developments and rushing through them with easy solutions, there should have been one or two tension-filled dark scenes with details.
For a book with such high stakes, the approach is more of a cozy fantasy. This was supposed to be the last of the trilogy, but I feel there will be more books. Even the open-ish ending (also lukewarm) gives the same feeling.
What with Emily and Wendell being a couple, we don’t get much banter either. Also, they don’t spend time together much. The only highlight of this is Wendell’s letters to Emily. Those were adorable.
Shadow and Orga were cool (Orga was a lot more fun). Poe had a tiny role but shined in it. Snowball had more space and brought some laughs. Not sure about say about Deilah’s character either. What was the purpose? It would make sense if there was another book with her having some role. She couldn’t have been only for comic relief surely?
To summarize, Emily Wilde's Compendium of Lost Tales wasn’t as good as the previous books but managed to be a decent read. I like it okay but man, I wanted so much more! Might as well give us book four next.
Thank you, NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group (Del Rey), for eARC.
#NetGalley #EmilyWildesCompendiumofLostTales
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