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

Emily Wilde's Map of the Otherlands
Author: Heather Fawcett
Series: Emily Wilde (Book 2)
Publication: Del Rey (January 16, 2024)

Description: When mysterious faeries from other realms appear at her university, curmudgeonly professor Emily Wilde must uncover their secrets before it’s too late, in this heartwarming, enchanting second installment of the Emily Wilde series.

Emily Wilde is a genius scholar of faerie folklore who just wrote the world’s first comprehensive encyclopaedia of faeries. She’s learned many of the secrets of the Hidden Ones on her adventures . . . and also from her fellow scholar and former rival Wendell Bambleby.

Because Bambleby is more than infuriatingly charming. He’s an exiled faerie king on the run from his murderous mother and in search of a door back to his realm. And despite Emily’s feelings for Bambleby, she’s not ready to accept his proposal of marriage: Loving one of the Fair Folk comes with secrets and dangers.

She also has a new project to focus on: a map of the realms of faerie. While she is preparing her research, Bambleby lands her in trouble yet again, when assassins sent by his mother invade Cambridge. Now Bambleby and Emily are on another adventure, this time 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 relationships 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.

My Thoughts: In the second book in the Emily Wilde series, Emily is determined to help Wendell Brambley, her friend and fellow scholar, find the lost door to his faerie kingdom. He was overthrown by his stepmother when his father died and fled to the human world. He must find a door to his kingdom if he wants to overthrow her. Especially since she is now sending assassins to Cambridge to get him out of the way.

Emily is a genius at research and has decided to follow the path of noted scholar Danielle De Grey who disappeared in the Austrian Alps while searching for a faerie door. The need is urgent because one of the assassins managed to poison Wendell causing his magic to become unreliable. 

Besides Wendell, along on the journey are Emily's niece and assistant Ariadne and her department chair Dr. Farris Rose. And, of course, Emily's dog and grim Shadow is along with them too. After making their way to the Alps they discover that the area is littered with doors and the various creatures that make use of them. finding the correct door, the one that leads to Wendell's kingdom, isn't going to be an easy task especially since Wendell is getting weaker with every day that passes. 

It will be up to Emily to enter into Wendell's kingdom alone to retrieve the object that can cure him of the poison that is killing him without becoming enchanted herself. And why not take care of the evil stepmother and get material for several scientific papers at the same time?

The worldbuilding is wonderfully creative in this story, which is told through Emily's journals, completer with footnotes. There were so many wonderful creatures and situations. I greatly enjoyed Emily who is a focused scholar and very single-minded about her research. I liked her awkwardness when she needs to step out of place as a scholar. 

Favorite Quote:

It is in part, I suppose, that the thought of marrying anyone makes me wish to retreat to the nearest library and hide myself among the stacks; marriage has always struck me as a pointless business, at best a distraction from my work and at worst a very large distraction from my work couple with a lifetime of tedious social obligations.

I received this one in exchange for an honest review from NetGalley. You can buy your copy here.