EMILY WILDE’S MAP OF THE OTHERLANDS by Heather Fawcett – Review

I received this book for free from the Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

EMILY WILDE’S MAP OF THE OTHERLANDS by Heather Fawcett – ReviewEmily Wilde's Map of the Otherlands by Heather Fawcett
Series: Emily Wilde #2
Published by Del Rey on January 16 2024
Genres: Adult, Fantasy
Pages: 342
Format: ARC
Source: Publisher
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five-stars

The nitty-gritty: Emily Wilde and friends return in this whimsical, magical sequel that succeeds on every level.

“I have never felt so spent. Yet I must write what happened—for how else will it be known? Already the details drift from my mind like dandelion seeds scattered by the wind. The price of too much time spent in Faerie—yet at least I have kept my sanity.”

Emily Wilde and Wendell are back with some new friends in this worthy sequel to Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Faeries, and the stakes are even higher than the last book. Even with lots of danger and high stakes, though, this book still feels like a cozy fantasy, mostly due to Heather Fawcett’s brilliant writing skills and engaging characters. There’s a lot to love, and if you’re a big fan of the first book, you will love this as well.

Do be aware of minor spoilers for the first book.

We meet up with Emily and Wendell in Cambridge, where they both work in the dryadology department studying the Folk and their history. Wendell had proposed to Emily at the end of the last book, and Emily is still mulling that question over in her head, not at all sure what she should do. Meanwhile, she’s agreed to help Wendell find the door to his faerie realm, where he used to be faerie royalty. Wendell’s stepmother took over his throne, and he wants it back, but locating his door won’t be easy.

Before they can begin their search, Wendell is attacked in the halls of Cambridge, a vicious faerie attack that can only mean one thing: his stepmother has sent assassins to kill him, so that she can remain on her stepson’s throne. Emily is more determined than ever to find Wendell’s door, but she ends up taking along a couple of unwelcome companions: Dr. Farris Rose, Emily’s department head and Ariadne, her young niece. Rose thinks Emily faked her last paper, and he isn’t inclined to believe anything she says. Ariadne is nice enough, and she’s very smart, but she grates on Emily with her endless questions and enthusiasm about faeries.

Emily believes they might have more luck locating Wendell’s door if they can find the nexus, a hub of sorts where multiple faerie doors connect. But the nexus is just a rumor, and the only way to locate it will be to retrace the footsteps of the scholar who went looking for it long ago—and disappeared without a trace. With assassins on their tail, the four set out to find the door, but end up finding much more than they expected.

Once again, Fawcett immerses the reader in a fantastic world, made even better because Emily has intimate, first-hand knowledge of the fae. In the last book, she was working on the world’s first faerie encyclopaedia, and because it was so successful, she’s decided to map all of the known faerie realms and doors (the Map of the Otherlands from the title), a huge undertaking that requires a lot of travel, as you can imagine. I loved the scholarly approach to doling out world building details to the reader, as Emily has a vast supply of faerie facts in her head, yet the author never needs to resort to info-dumping to convey that information.

The story is told through journal entries from Emily’s point of view, and I loved being in her head again and listening to her wryly funny observations. We get to experience all the angst and drama she’s going through, which was quite fun. First, she and Wendell have declared their love for each other, but Emily isn’t sure she wants to be a wife at all. She’s also dealing with Rose and his threats to fire her, as well as trying to get along with Ariadne, who never seems to stop talking (Emily is the quiet sort who enjoys her own company). Her interactions with Wendell are priceless. They bicker like an old married couple at times, but it’s all in good fun, since they really do care about each other. Let’s just say I laughed out loud a lot while I was reading this book! Emily also has to deal with the fact than someone is trying to kill Wendell, and that just won’t do at all. I loved that Emily takes on such an important roll, caring for Wendell when he’s gravely injured and trying to save him from an unknown, mystical curse. Wendell has his moments, after all he is faerie royalty and has plenty of his own magic. But it’s Emily who pulls everyone together in the end.

As much as I loved the human characters, I still have a soft spot for Shadow, Emily’s dog companion (who isn’t actually a dog at all!), and Poe and Snowball, a couple of faerie friends she makes. Poe returns from the last book and helps Emily a great deal, and Snowball is a new character, a fox-like fae who stole my heart.

There’s plenty of danger and tension as well, so don’t think it’s all cozy romance and cute faeries. Emily and her friends have some nail-biting adventures in the faerie realm that had me worried about the characters’ fates, but she tempers these scenes with humor, so the reader isn’t too worried about them. The last chapter gave me a warm glow and was the perfect way to wrap up this magical story. It’s safe to say if you loved Emily Wilde and the Encyclopaedia of Faeries, you won’t want to miss this sequel.

Big thanks to the publisher for providing a review copy.

Posted January 15, 2024 by Tammy in 5 stars, Reviews / 23 Comments

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23 responses to “EMILY WILDE’S MAP OF THE OTHERLANDS by Heather Fawcett – Review”

  2. Pages and Tea

    I’m so glad this is as good as the first book because I’m pretty sure that will become one of my books of the year. Perhaps this will join it too.
    For some reason I’m really glad Poe is back, I liked him as a character, and Shadow too. Add in more fae animal type characters alongside the wonderful Emily and Wendell and I think I’m going to like this 😀
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  6. todd

    I don’t think I’d have been nearly as open to a “cozy fantasy” if I hadn’t decided to try Legends & Lattes and loved it. But now, I just might give this series a chance, too. My world is slowly expanding. 🙂

    Reply
  13. Lynn Williams

    I love this series. I mean, it makes it difficult because I’m kind of bouncing up and down now waiting to see what comes next – but what a great feeling really.
    She has a fantastic turn of phrase, my type of storytelling voice and of course I adore the journal style.
    Lynn 😀

    Reply

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