ARC Review: Emily Wilde’s Map of the Otherlands by Heather Fawcett

Synopsis

When mysterious faeries from other realms appear at her university, professor Emily Wilde must uncover their secrets before it’s too late in this second installment of the Emily Wilde series.
 
Emily Wilde is a genius scholar of faerie folklore—she just wrote the world’s first encylopaedia of faeries. She’s learned many of the secrets of the Hidden Folk on her adventures… and also from her fellow scholar and former rival, Wendell Bambleby.
 
Bambleby is more than infuriatingly charming, he’s also an exiled faerie king on the run from his murderous mother, and in search of a door back to his realm. Despite Emily’s feelings for Bambleby, she’s not ready to accept his proposal.
 
Emily has a new project to create a map of the faerie realms. While she is preparing her research, Bambleby brings trouble when assassins sent by Bambleby’s mother invade Cambridge. Now Bambleby and Emily are on an adventure to the Austrian Alps, where Emily believes they may find the door to Bambley’s realm.
 
But with new relationships for Emily to navigate and dangerous Folk lurking in every forest and hollow, she must unravel the mysterious workings of faerie doors, and of her own heart.

Rating

★★★★★

Thoughts

Thank you to Random House Publishing Group and NetGalley for providing me with the ARC for Emily Wilde’s Map of the Otherlands in exchange for an honest review. As a fervent admirer of Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Faeries, I was thrilled to have the opportunity to read this story ahead of its January 2024 publication.

I generally try to avoid including spoilers in my reviews, but I want to be extra cautious here since many of my bookish friends are fans of this series. I don’t want to ruin their experience of reentering the beautiful and dangerous world of our beloved Emily Wilde.

I will simply say that I wholeheartedly enjoyed this book as much as the first. The story flowed effortlessly in a satisfying direction, full of the expected adventure, mystery, romance, lore, magic, wit, and whimsy.

Happily, there is a third book planned, for which I will be eagerly awaiting.