Scholarly Fae, Court-Scheming Fae, or Steamy Enemies-to-Lovers? Pick Your Team! ✨ > Likes and Comments

Osiyo, fellow court members! (That's hello in Cherokee.)

I'm reading two books right now, Emily Wilde's Encyclopaedia of Faeries and Blood and Oath, and they got me thinking about all the different flavors of fantasy we love.

Team Scholarly Fae: Emily Wilde studying the fae with notebooks and footnotes, where every rule and bargain matters and one wrong word could cost you everything.

Team Court-Scheming Fae: the beautiful, cruel, power-hungry courts of ACOTAR, The Cruel Prince and Liar in the Hollow Court. Politics, betrayal and a whole lot of yearning.

Team Steamy Enemies-to-Lovers: Blood and Oath, where the tension is so thick you could cut it with a dagger. (I'm still reading, so no spoilers, please!)

So I have to ask:

1. Which team are you on, and why?
2. Who is your favorite fae or fantasy love interest of all time?
3. Which fantasy court would you survive in, and which would eat you alive? 😅

I'll go first: right now I'm Team Scholarly Fae. I love that Emily's fae feel ancient and dangerous, like they came straight out of folklore. But I'll never say no to a dark, scheming court (Night Court, I'm looking at you), and Blood and Oath is pulling me toward Team Enemies-to-Lovers fast!

Can't wait to read your answers!

Wolf

I would choose Team Scholarly Fae. What interests me most is the tension between recording a rule and discovering that the record is incomplete. A notebook, archive or field guide can make a magical world feel coherent, but it can also reveal how much the observer has misunderstood. That creates a different kind of danger from court intrigue: the character may act carefully and still fail because the classification itself was wrong. I also like folklore-inspired beings that remain partly resistant to explanation; complete certainty can make them feel less ancient and unsettling. Do you prefer fae rules that can eventually be mastered, or rules that remain contradictory depending on who tells the story?

Team Court-Scheming for me, mostly because I can't resist a book where every compliment is a trap. Cardan from The Cruel Prince is my favourite fae love interest by a mile, he's so awful for so long that the slow turn actually lands. And I'd last about a week in the Night Court, I'd say the wrong thing at dinner and that would be it. Enjoy Blood and Oath, no spoilers from me!

Team Scholarly Fae, with a court-scheming chaser.

J.W.'s point about the record being incomplete is the one that gets me as a writer. A field guide is a claim about the world, and the best moment is when the world refuses to match it. Court scheming does the same thing with people: every compliment is a document you have to read for what it leaves out, which is why "every compliment is a trap" (Oleks) lands so well.

Question for both teams: which is scarier - a fae who lies only by omission, or a scholar who is completely, confidently wrong?