Emily Wilde's Map of the Otherlands by Heather Fawcett

This early review copy was gifted to me by Del Rey Books through NetGalley. This in no way impacts the rating of the book. All of my reviews contain my honest opinions.

Title: Emily Wilde's Map of the Otherlands

Series: Emily Wilde

Author: Heather Fawcett

Release Date: January 16, 2024

Publisher: Del Rey Books

Genre: Fantasy, Romance

Source: digital, NetGalley

TW: blood, violence

Synopsis

An intrepid professor must uncover faerie secrets in the delightful and heart-warming second installment of the Sunday Times bestselling Emily Wilde series.

Emily Wilde is a genius scholar of faerie folklore, and has catalogued many secrets of the Hidden Folk in her encyclopaedia with her infuriatingly charming fellow scholar, Wendell Bambleby, by her side.

But Bambleby is more than just a brilliant and unbearably handsome scholar. He's an exiled faerie king on the run from his murderous mother, in search of a door back to his realm.

By lucky happenstance, Emily's new project, a map of the realms of faerie, will take them on an adventure to the picturesque Austrian Alps, where Emily believes they may find the door to Bambleby's realm, and the key to freeing him from his family's dark plans.

But with new friendships for the prickly Emily to navigate and dangerous Folk lurking in every forest and hollow, Emily must unravel the mysterious workings of faerie doors, and of her own heart.

Thoughts

I don’t know why I thought this book couldn’t possibly be better than the first one, but my goodness, what a terribly wrong assumption that was!

First, I just want to say that I adore Poe, he’s so sweet, and I’m so glad he made an appearance. Usually I struggle with the side characters like Poe, especially when they’re of a different species—they’re more often than not written like obnoxious toddlers, but Fawcett has such a whimsical way of writing the common fae that, even though the some of them are vicious and violent one moment, they are adorable and endearing the next.

I also love the way Emily is written. She’s like the fantasy version of Evelyn O’Connell from The Mummy. There is something about stubborn scholar heroine that just speaks to my heart and strikes a sense of feminine pride.

And let’s not forget Wendell! He again proves himself the dashing, bumbling sidekick.

One of my favorite aspects of Heather Fawcett, though, is the number of new words I have learned from reading her books. Emily Wilde’s Encylopedia of Faeries added five new words to my vocabulary while Emily Wilde’s Map of the Otherlands has added four. It’s usually rare that a book contains a single word I’ve not encountered before, let alone multiple. It’s always exciting to discover new words and be challenged when reading.

I am so excited to see where their story goes next. The adventures of Emily Wilde, Wendell Bambleby, and company have rooted themselves in my heart and my imagination. This series is a high recommend for fans of Charlie N. Holmberg and The Cruel Prince as well as fans of Indiana Jones and Evelyn O’Connell.