Emily Wilde’s Map of the Otherlands by Heather Fawcett

Synopsis

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—she just wrote the world’s first comprehensive of 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.
 
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. So despite Emily’s feelings for Bambleby, she’s not ready to accept his proposal of Loving one of the Fair Folk comes with secrets and danger.
 
And she also has a new project to focus a map of the realms of faerie. While she is preparing her research, Bambleby lands her in trouble yet again, when assassins sent by Bambleby’s 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 Bambley’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.

Review

5 stars.

I got an uncorrected proof from Orbit Books and I couldn’t be happier! Emily Wilde has been one of my top books and I wanted to know what her next adventure would be!

The first thing to know is that this second instalment is true to the first book! This is still a cozy fantasy with our “grumpy/sunshine” duo.

The grumpy being the still curmudgeonly professor Emily Wilde and the sunshine is professional dazzler Wendell Bambelby, faerie king in exile.

Emily is still socially inept, loving books and her studies better than human interaction. She remains rigorous and thorough in her research uninterested in life’s comfort.

While Wendell, as it will be discovered, is approximative and flamboyant, never hesitating to fabricate his data. He is still very much in love with coffee and can’t stand an abode in disarray nor clothes in tatter!

I love Emily and Wendell’s dynamic.

In this second instalment, as Emily’s encyclopaedia is finished, she embarks on a new project that she hopes will also help Wendell go back in his faerie realm: making a map of all the known faerie realms and their doors.

The matter becomes even more urgent when Wendell ‘s mother in law sends assassins his way and that it becomes clear his life is in grave danger!

Off they go to the Austrian Alps accompanied by Emily’s niece, Ariadne and by an unwanted Dr Farris Prose who will both prove helpful…somehow.

What follows is a story “à la Indiana Jones” but Heather Fawcett’s style!

It’s packed with action, dangers, astonishing scenes like a faerie boat unleashed in a Cambridge museum in a desperate attempt to defeat Wendell’s assassins, enchanted pencils turning into swords (Emily’s of course as she has always one at the ready whereas Wendell keeps misplacing his), new faerie lore to get to know (most are blood hungry), great banter and lessons to learn.

Cherry on top here, Wendell will be the damsel in distress, all magic wielder that he is while no nonsense Emily will be his knight in dusty armor!

And for romance lovers like me, let’s not forget the suspense of knowing if Emily will finally accept Wendell’s marriage proposal!

I read that book in one sitting and I already can’t wait for the third one!

Thanks for reading.

Sophie