Emily Wilde’s Map of the Otherlands - Heather Fawcett - ★★★★

AUTHOR: Heather Fawcett

SERIES: Emily Wilde, #2

GENRE: Fantasy

RATING: 4 stars.

In a Nutshell: A worthy sequel in the Emily Wilde series. Retains most of the feels. Enjoyed it almost as much as Book One. Good for cosy fantasy readers. Can’t be read as a standalone. The series doesn’t end here!

Note: This review contains minor spoilers from Book One: Emily Wilde's Encyclopaedia of Faeries.

Story Synopsis:

1910. Set about a year after the events of the first book, Emily is on the quest to find the hidden door to Wendell’s faerie realm, while still avoiding a commitment to him by agreeing to his marriage proposal, and also working on a new project: a map of the various faerie realms known to humans. But all plans go askew when some mysterious assassins invade Cambridge to attack Wendell. Emily decides that they need to travel to Austria immediately, not just to evade the dangerous attackers but also because she believes that the door to Wendell’s realm lies somewhere in the Austrian Alps. Will Emily be able to figure out the faerie doors in the Alps and find the right one before the danger to Wendell’s life looms even larger?

The story comes to us through the first-person journal entries written by Emily as a part of her research.

Bookish Yays:

😍 This book works excellently as a sequel. It continues from the end of the first book and offers hints, wherever needed, of what happened earlier. There’s no wastage of time with extensive character build-up or plot recaps. It also doesn’t rush things to an end but brings the current arc to a proper close, while setting up the foundation for what’s next in store. I love it when sequels don’t just rehash events from the earlier book, but take the plot as well as the characters ahead. (For all these reasons, this book shouldn’t be read as a standalone.)

😍 Emily begins the same as before – an obstinate organiser who finds it tough to let go of her sterner side even in relaxed moments. It is a treat to see her let go of her grim façade and give in to her emotions as the story progresses. Wendell is as amazing as in the first book, probably even better. We get to see a lot more of his fae side in this sequel, and what a delight it is!

😍 The banter between Emily and Wendell is as strong as ever. Their repartee offered the perfect light relief in the first book, and the same continues in this book as well. I love their individual character development, but as a pair, they truly shine.

😍 I remember asking for MORE romance in my review for the first book. (If you know me, you will know that I NEVER ask for MORE romance!) The sequel satisfied me by upping the couple-connect but not letting the romance overrule the core storyline. You might be disappointed if you were looking for more spicy stuff, but as we hear the story only through Emily’s journal, she obviously keeps things clean, which is perfectly fine by me.

😍 There are a couple of new major characters in this sequel, of whom Emily’s young niece Ariadne leaves the strongest mark. Her bubbly and youthful enthusiasm offers the perfect counterfoil to curmudgeonly Emily.

😍 The first book showed the presence of several magical creatures, but those were nothing in comparison to the beings of this sequel. The magic becomes much darker, and the creatures also get more dangerous, but I’m not complaining! Shadow’s name deserves a mention in this comment because he is the best of them all!

Bookish Mixed Bags:

😐 The initial 25-30% doesn’t feel like journal entries. The language is too descriptive, and every conversation is in detailed direct speech, both of which make it appear like a typical first-person narration than like journal writing. It is only afterwards that the content feels more journal-like in its tone.

😐 The book begins at a great pace and maintains this until about 40% or so. Then the going becomes somewhat tedious. The final 25-30% gets the speedometer back up. So you need to have much patience in between, because not much happens and what little happens, happens slowly.

Bookish Nays:

😒 The human characters other than Emily and Ariadne don’t have much to do. Emily’s fellow professor Farris Rose has a stronger role, but not as developed as it could have been. The Austrian villagers are barely present, unlike in the first book where we had many memorable locals. I’d have loved for more local interactions to vary the monotonous plotline in between.

(On an aside, the professor’s being referred to as ‘Rose’ often confused me as I kept picturing a woman on seeing that name.)

😒 Emily has a tendency to add extended footnotes to her journal entries. This is much better than her modus operandi in the first book, where she diverged into lengthy appendices containing faerie stories. But the footnotes are still distracting, and mostly unused in the plot. After a point, I just stopped reading them, and don’t feel like I missed out on anything essential.

All in all, I had had high expectations from this book after enjoying the first book to a great extent. Despite the somewhat sluggish pace in between, the sequel managed to keep me mostly happy. I can’t wait to see what awaits Emily and Wendell in the third book of this series. Fingers crossed that it will be the final one!

Strongly recommended to those who have read and loved the first book of this series. If you are a cosy-fantasy-with-quirky-characters fan, make sure you read both books!

My thanks to Little, Brown Book Group UK, Orbit, and NetGalley for the DRC of “Emily Wilde's Map of the Otherlands”. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book.