I received an ARC of this novel from NetGalley in exchange for my honest opinion.
The sequel to Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Faeries, Emily Wilde’s Map of the Otherlands is a a masterful continuation of Emily and Wendell’s story beginning some months after their return to Cambridge. Emily is happily working on her next project, a comprehensive map of Faery places, and teaching her usual classes. She’s picked up a new assistant, her niece Ariadne, and she’s wrestling with whether she really wants to marry a member of the Folk, particularly an exiled member of the Royal Court of one of the most dangerous Fae realms in Ireland. When Wendell’s stepmother sends assassins to Cambridge to take him out before he can challenge her for the throne, Emily decides the best way to keep Wendell alive is to begin her next research sabbatical in the Austrian Alps. She’s determined to find a back door into Wendell’s realm, fallowing the footsteps of famous researchers who disappeared in the area some fifty years earlier. Unfortunately, her prime rival at Cambridge is also the head of her department, Professor Farris Rose, who invites himself along on the journey, to Emily’s protest. Emily has to contend with frightening, people-eating Faery creatures, a niece she doesn’t know how to manage from a personal or professional perspective, a boss who highly disapproves of her relationship with a High Court Fae, and an ill colleague/partner who keeps asking her to marry him. It’s an adventure full of complications.
I have to say, I adored this book. Fawcett’s writing is incredibly witty, her characters all grow and have their own space to take up without feeling like a supporting cast, and she’s built a superbly blended world of academia and myth. Oh the commentary on the pedantic aspects of court politics and academia is just as fun to read as Emily’s socially awkward inability to make a decent first impression. I laughed out loud more than once, and am wholly satisfied by the ending. I usually try to critique something in a story, but honestly I just can’t with this book. I loved every line, I think Fawcett’s writing is lyrical and completely engaging, and I lost sleep reading, which is the highest compliment I can give any writer.
I read both of the Emily Wilde series through NetGalley ARC, but these are both books I have (or will have when released) hard copies on my limited shelf space at home. This is a five star novel, and I can’t wait for book three, which I hope is in the works. If you want a fabulous adventure with magic, danger, otherworldly animals, drama, a little romance, and a whole load of smartass conversation with a no-nonsense woman at the center, this series is for you. Emily Wilde’s Map of the Otherlands will be released in January, 2024.
No Pithy Phrase 