This book was absolute perfection! I'm always a bit nervous going into the second book of a series - but Heather completely turned that fear on its head.

This book picks right back up with Emily and Wendell's shenanigans - but this time, we venture to Austria. I love the witty banter, I love that it is written in journal format, I love the endnotes, and this story was amazing! It kept me up way past my bed time needing to know what happened!

Emily Wilde’s Map of the Otherlands picks up a few months after the previous book ends. Emily has her position at the college, and Bambleby awaits her answer to his proposal. Emily is applying her knowledge to solving the mystery of getting Wendell home, but there are forces trying to get rid of Wendell.

If you liked the last Emily Wilde bok, you will like this one. I loved this one even more. There are new characters that are interesting and unique. There is a new town and village and new local fae to deal with. But the old crew still has their moments, and blends together beautifully. The romance develops nicely, and doesn’t take up too much time.

There is honestly not much I can say about this book except if you loved the first one you will love this one. Maybe even better than book one.

Emily Wilde continues to steal my heart. Emily and Wendell just a bit after we left them and we get a peek into their lives at Cambridge. Their chemistry remains immaculate throughout this book and I just can't help but love them and their story and relationship more with each page.

Emily's research of faeries is everything I wanted to do as a child who firmly believed they were real. I wish an encyclopaedia or map book such as Emily's had existed for me to pour over during those years.

The new characters of Farris Rose and Adelaide as well as the villagers we meet in this new destination are wonderful additions to the research expedition and I'm so glad they're around to prevent this from becoming a story strictly about Emily and Wendell, with neither ever interacting with anyone other than each other (as is often common in romances and especially sequels to romances).

All in all, this book was the perfect cozy hug to start my year (despite the gruesome scenes) and I absolutely cannot wait for book 3!

Dare I say this second installment in the Emily Wilde series is better than the first?

We once again find ourself at Cambridge, where Emily has finished her most recent publication of her encyclopedia of fairies. Wendell is still being Wendell, though there are increasing rumors by the day of his fae nature. Emily’s niece, Ariadne, is attending college and is one of the top students in the Dryadology department.

The search for the secret back door to Wendell’s kingdom intensifies as his murderous step-mother begins to send assassins to the college. Their jobs (as well as their lives) are in danger as the head of the department threatens to terminate them due to falsified research by Wendell.

Emily and Wendell find themselves with two more companions on their journey to find the nexus door which is hidden in the remote part of the Alps. Along the way, they meet unlikely friends, learn more about the fae, and Emily gains firsthand experience to assist in her newest project - a map of the otherlands.

The danger, drama, and action are ramped up in the book. Emily is just as knowledgeable and meticulous, but is now working with different character dynamics. Her niece, Ariadne, is an overeager assistant and Dr. Rose, head of the department, is just as stubborn as can be. There is romance, intrigue, mystery, and as always a lot of folklore. Fawcett does an incredible job of building an enticing world of magic and fantasy all while maintaining the research and scholarship components that you’d expect from a professor.

I found myself constantly on the edge of my seat and I can’t wait to (hopefully) return to this world in the next installment of the series. I need more of Wendell and Emily’s story - and I need to know if Wendell regains his throne!

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballentine, Del Rey for a free digital copy of this book. This is my honest review. Publication date: January 16, 2024.

This is such a cozy fantasy series to read. I absolutely love Emily Wilde, a no-nonsense and serious scholar and her charming almost-fiancé, who also happens to be heir to a Fae kingdom.

The two are back at Cambridge following their last wild adventure, but trouble continues to follow them in the form of an assassin who wants to kill Wendell and prevent him from making a claim to his throne.

Filled with many delightful characters old and new, this is another fun romp of a book that will leave you wanting more!

Emily Wilde's Map of the Otherlands picks up with Emily Wilde and Wendell Bambleby after the events of the Encylopaedia of Faeries. Both are teaching at Cambridge when assassin fairies are sent after Wendell by his stepmother. The attack speeds up their plan to find the door to Wendell's kingdom.

I found the book well written and beautifully descriptive though very slow at times. Parts seemed to take forever to get through while the conclusion happened quickly. Slowness aside, I think it's perfect for cozy fantasy readers who want to curl up and take their time with a book.

Wow. How often is a sequel even better than the first book? Not very often. But I believe this one is better than the first. I loved this book so much! If you haven’t read the first book, read it posthaste and then dive into Emily and Wendell’s further adventures. I cannot wait for the next book!

Thank you to Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine, Del Rey and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this book.

Title: Emily Wilde's Map of the Otherland
Author: Heather Fawcett
Genre: Fantasy
Rating: 4 out of 5

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: 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.

This was a fun read! I enjoyed the first book, Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Faeries, and this book just continued the fun. Emily felt like she’d loosened up a little bit and learned to be around people better, but she was still a bit awkward and fumbling. When she tends to overthink things, she gets herself in trouble, but her instincts are good. This was a fun adventure;

Heather Fawcett is a bestselling author who lives on Vancouver Island. Emily Wilde’s Map of the Otherland is her newest novel.

(Galley courtesy of Random House-Ballantine, Del Rey in exchange for an honest review.)

(Blog link live 1/18).

4.25 stars

Thank you so much for the chance to get an early copy for review. My full thoughts will be posted on my blog and highlighted portions for other review locations.

The setup for these novels being in journal format is interesting. Everything is always related after the fact. However, once the initial entry begins it does begin to feel more like a current event.

Our character does appear to have some growth from the last novel. She is more aware of her faults and tries to be better. There is also a very stubborn streak to be correct in this one. Such as instead of working with Rhodes she goes with her ideas. Then in the end he is the one that finds he was mostly wrong. She does start to see Rhodes is correct in some aspects at least.

This book does seem to read much faster than the first novel. Individual journal entries might be either slower or action-based. However, most of the big hurdles of the story don't even come up until the last fifty or so pages then it’s a race to the end but with a bit glossed over to only be summarized. While I love the entries from Wendell's perspective, it is a breakoff in the tale's momentum.

Based on how this one ended I'm not sure how the story for the final book is going to be set up. I am excited to see how this trilogy will come to an end though.

Emily has to be one of my favorite fictional characters of all time. Her dry humor, her intelligence, and her bravery are just some of her winning features 🩵 Fawcett writes with such detail and beauty - I am amazed once again by the detailed footnotes, the unique nature of journal notes to tell a story, and all of the unanswered questions that remain and leave me desperate for book three! I loved this book just as much as the first, and loved getting to know Emily and Wendell even better, as well as a new cast of characters (Orga being one of my new favorites!). Can’t wait for book three.

Thank you to Random House and NetGalley for the ARC.

It’s no secret how much I loved Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Faeries–the faerie academia Howl’s Moving Castle successor of my dreams–so I was nervous to see how the second book in the series would follow up such a smashing personal hit.

Honestly, why was I even worried. Map to the Otherlands follows again Emily and Wendell as they try to outrun and outsmart a Wendell’s stepmother, who would rather her stepson go sink in a ditch. The book *delightful*. ALL of the giddiness and ingenuity of the first, but now steeped in a world we love and want to (sometimes) walk into. It brought me so much joy to watch Emily and Wendell’s relationship develop, they had me absolutely unhinged.

In summary: I was constantly checking the page count while reading hoping this book would not end. I have never in my life wished so strongly I could re-experience a series anew. Everyone go read it and then come talk to me about it IMMEDIATELY.

I was not at all eager to start this book, having falling in love to the point of literary evangelicalism for the first book of the series, Emily Wilde and the Encyclopaedia of Faeries. After reading this dazzling, near flawless fantasy, I did not want to risk disappointment from any of the small defects, inconsistencies and rushed narratives often found in sequels. But of course, it was impossible to stay away, with a brilliant, antisocial, passionately curious and irascible lead character like Professor Emily Wilde, along with her dog, Shadow, a huge half blind aging fairy hound, and her fellow colleague, the charming insouciant deposed fairy king, Wendell Brambleberry, who is barely holding on (or caring to hold on) to his disguise as a Professor of Dryadology at a Victorian-era Cambridge. Despite his entreaties, Emily has not agreed to marry Wendell who seems quite enchanted by her, but she has agreed to help him find an unseen door and a path back to his violent and very dangerous kingdom in Ireland, the Silva Lupi, now ruled by his brutal stepmother, who murdered Wendell’s entire family in her desire for the throne. On the surface Emily does this for scholarly interest, to map out an unknown area for future study, and a desire for an academic scoop, but slightly below the surface are her complicated feelings for Wendell, and her knowledge of the very poor track record of mortals who get romantically entangled with the Folk. And there are flies in the magic ointment and roadblocks everywhere, from malevolent magical attacks at Cambridge, to unexpected traveling companions, including Dr Farris Rose, the curmudgeonly department head who is wildly suspicious of, yet intrigued by Wendell and Emily’s quest and insists on joining them. The journey takes them to a near inaccessible village in the Swiss Alps, which is haunted by ghostly scholars caught in a time loop, and hunted by a variety of deadly deceptively cute and feral creatures, who venture out as soon as the sun sets. And Wendall is increasingly ill from a hangover that has turned into some unknown ailment, and a troubling new side of Shadow is revealed. As Emily closes in and is closed in by the puzzle of the door, she is forced to make some risky and terrifying decisions; her prized scholarly objectivity is challenged by the extreme hazards of her circumstances, and by an equally great danger, the vagaries of her heart.

Fawcett executes the epistolary style of Emily’s narration to perfection. She has created a singular cantankerous, exacting yet tender voice for Emily which effortlessly captures the distinctive 19th-century literary diction. It is a wonder how Emily’s dry, understated and often droll commentary, replete with scholarly footnotes, can slowly uncoil the plot, stippled with imagery, ending at breakneck speed, while never sacrificing character development or complexity. Oh and it’s funny too, though with razor sharp teeth. Once again the true horror in Emily’s often disturbing adventures is the fact that they’ve ended... at least for now. So highly recommended. My thanks to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group, Del Rey Spectra.

This is the second book in the series, and it’s possible I liked it even more than the first.

We begin with Emily and Wendell, still un-engaged, back at the college. Emily’s book has been published, and she’s working towards her next which will be an attempt at a fae map collection. Shadow, of course, remains as close companion. Emily’s niece Ariadne is now attending college and made herself useful as top student and very motivated constant assistant. Wendell’s identity is a little less secret, as rumors of his being fae have spread.

The search for a back door to Wendell’s home intensifies as his stepmother has sent assassins to their college. Less urgent, but no less upsetting - their jobs are in danger as claims they’ve falsified research are made by department head Dr Farris Rose. When it’s clear Emily and Wendell will have to undertake a journey to find the nexus door leading back to his home both Rose and Emily’s niece insist on joining them.

Like the last book, there’s adventure to be had, and friends (and enemies) to be found in a remote location. I found Eichorn fascinating in particular.
Their search for the door is also a search for Dani De Grey who is suspected to be the last person to have seen the nexus before disappearing, adding another layer of mystery.
The danger and drama is kicked up a notch in this book, and I enjoyed it So Much - I wouldn’t say there’s a cliffhanger exactly, but the ending definitely has me want more of Emily and Wendell’s adventures!

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House for the Arc!

It was so nice to read more about Emily and Wendell. I'm not a big romance fan, but this had just the right amount (very little).
As this is the 2nd book in the series, I won't give details.
They are still searching for the door to Wendell's kingdom. I loved their adventure! I also liked all the different fae introduced in this one.
I've been a fan of this author for quite a while, and she just keeps getting better.

I was beyond excited to be thrown back into the whimsical world of Emily Wilde and Wendell Bambleby. We are introduced to so many interesting and fun characters as well as getting to revisit characters from the first book. Within Map of the Otherlands, we get a sense of familiarity from Encyclopedia of Faeries but also the thrill of new adventures and mysteries. We get to see the character and plot growth from book one to book two and it’s absolutely captivating. The details and imagery create visual scenes that leave you feeling warm and cozy inside and some that leave you sitting on the edge of your seat wondering what just happened and where is this going.

I’m absolutely in LOVE Emily Wilde’s Maps of the Otherlands and I cannot wait to see where the ending of this takes us in the next book (hopefully, I don’t know if Fawcett plans to continue)! I was left yearning for more with my unanswered questions and thoughts. This is definitely one of my top 5 star read right along with Emily Wilde’s Encyclopedia of Faeries.

Thanks to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Del Rey for an Advanced Reader Copy - pub date 1/16/2024. Seriously. Big thank you! I finished 2023 with the first book in this series and fell in love and, by some massive good fortune, I had this ARC all ready to go for the start of 2024. Some people might not thinking ending and starting the new year with Professor Emily Wilde is the warmest and most pleasant thing in the world (Wendell does but he is super biased) but I can't imagine a more magical and funny and tense and neurodivergent way of spending that weird time between the old and new year. In fact, it's a liminal time and, at the risk of sounding like our overly scholarly Emily, that is what the Fae are all about.

Just like the first book, this also takes the form of Emily's journal entries with an addition/intrusion or two from her colleague and would-be husband Professor Wendell Bambleby. Again this technique proves integral into making Emily more human and less robotic because you see firsthand how she thinks (neuro-spicy indeed) and how she consciously struggles with things like casual interaction and prioritizing and self-care. Emily's edges become so much more understandable and, while you still want to give her a kick at times over her handling her niece or a townsperson, you understand better why she can't act like you might want her to or why she sometimes can't "make things easier" on herself. She is herself and can't be anyone else, for good or ill. This continues to present an interesting sort of parallel with Wendell who bring his own issues and discordancy to the book. What with being a Faerie King (deposed) and being hunted by his stepmother and just being a raging extrovert, his own character quirks and ups and downs contribute to the push of the story.

The two are trying a new location as they search for Wendell's door back to his kingdom and, much to Emily's annoyance, they have acquired two more companions - her niece Ariadne and their department head Dr Farris Rose. This lends a new, interesting dynamic to the book as Emily has to deal with people who she acknowledges that she will have to deal with even after this research trip. There will be no getting the information and scarpering and forgetting the people (not that she managed that after the first book - adorably so she maintains a correspondence with Lilja and Margaret). Ariadne is, well, as like Wendell as a mortal can be and Rose is just what you would picture a crusty Victorian Department Head to be. It's delightful and sides to all characters come out unexpectedly.

Naturally, there is also a lot of action and more violence than the first book as the team meets new faeries and dangers and, of course, Emily takes her justified (but just overinflated enough to be dangerous) sense of her competence and knowledge and gets involved in another Faerie Land mess. This time is rather different, though, and you can tell that Emily has grown some. Part of this is a growing understanding of how the impossible works and part appears to just be Emily growing into a more rounded and successful human being.

Smidge of romance with a fade to black, some blood and violence, and lots of wonderful footnotes and fairy tales and folklore. Fawcett continues to build a gorgeous mix of scholarship and reality and fantasy, all sprinkled with the various folkloric inspirations from our world. My only concern is... How many more of these wonderful things can we expect?

Also don't worry. Shadow is still perfectly fine and perfectly adorable... You know, just like a big Black Hound can be. Plus he gets a new kitty friend! IYKYK.

The sequel to Emily Wilde's Encyclopaedia of Faeries picks up fairly soon after the previous installment ended. Although Emily is now focusing on creating a map of faerie doors, with specific intent to find the door to Wendell's faerie kingdom, this is written in the exact same style as the first book. Each chapter is a diary entry including extensive footnotes documenting her adventures.

This is where I think I deviate from popular opinion, because this format and writing style didn't entirely work for me in Encyclopaedia of Faeries, and still didn't quite click for me in Map of the Otherlands. I think if this appealed to you in the first book, you should have no issues with this one. However, I have such a hard time investing in any of these characters (yes, including Wendell), when they are all filtered through the lens of someone who doesn't quite grasp social cues, and is trying to document her own scientific observations with as little feeling as possible. I know that's the point, and that it's supposed to make it all very amusing, but it really falls flat for me.

This captures a similar vibe to me as the Veronica Speedwell series by Deanna Raybourn, however I think Raybourn is able to infuse just a little more depth of feeling and emotional investment than what is accomplished here.

I'm not entirely certain why I thought this sequel might be different from the first installment, but I really did want to give it an honest shot, thinking maybe it would just take a bit for the series to warm up for me. But unfortunately, I don't think I'll be continuing.

tl;dr this is more of the same, so if you loved the first book, you will likely love this one, and if you didn't care for it, I don't think this is likely to change your mind.

***eARC provided by NetGalley and Del Rey

Spice: 0/5-fade to black
Trigger Warnings: blood, injuries, death

I received an arc from Netgalley in exchange for a honest and fair review.
I absolutely adored this book.
I adored the first one and I have like this one a slight bit more.
First of all, this is a fantasy book with some romance. If you are going in just for straight romance, this not the book for you.

I am a huge fan of fae. I mean look at the second word of my username. It's sidhe. As someone who has read so many books written on the topic, I loved getting to see more of the fae you don't usually get to see in mainstream books. Emily remains a favorite character of mine as does Shadows. I adored Wendall. Rose got on my nerves and Emily's niece was a nice surprise.

We got to see some characters from the last book and I loved new ones we got to meet.
Overall, loved the book. Hope there is another!

3.5/5 stars

Thank you to NetGalley for the free eARC in exchange for my review.

I enjoyed my time reading this book overall. The charm is still there, the interactions and banter between Emily and Wendell is fun, and the book is overall quite easy to read. However, a couple things I did notice that I'm not entirely sure I loved this time around: the beginning of the book and the narrative device. The beginning was a bit over the top and felt a bit cheesy. Some of the encounters felt contrived, and the interactions between Rose and Emily felt silly and unreasonable. As far as the narrative device, I'm not sure that making it diary style entries really felt a convincing. It maybe would've made more sense if the author was using her diary entries for dates and events to help her write an autobiography, but it doesn't read the way a regular journal entry would. I know the author was trying to make it feel similar to the first book in the series, but I think it didn't work as well this time around. But overall it was still a great time. I do recommend still reading it.

Thank you to Orbit for an e-ARC of this book!

I ADORED the first book in this series and I absolutely LOVED this one! This was such an amazing follow up to the first book, and I can't even explain how much I adored it.

Things this book had that I adored:

➯ cozy fantasy vibes (all day long!!!)
➯ the best grumpy x sunshine duo!!
➯ Wendell (he gets his own line. I love him)
➯ Emily (she also gets her own line. I love her.)
➯ Shadow and Orga!
➯ Mummy/Indiana Jones like feeling

I actually adored every part of this book, it's hard to pick one thing without being too spoilerish, but suffice to say there is no part of this book that was bad.

There was action and adventure, there was mystery, there was a tad bit of romance, and it was all just...so...warm. I can't even explain how happy this book made me. It was like being wrapped in a warm snuggly blanket and being kissed by a cat. In other words, it was one of the most perfect books I've ever read.

This book also retained its atmospheric, and whimsical feeling the first book gave us, partially because it was written in an epistolary style. Once again, it worked so well for this story!

We did have a few additional characters in this book, and they definitely added a different type of humor and atmosphere to the book.

Speaking of atmosphere, I still love how the fairies are depicted in this book -- because they feel like a more "old style" fairy rather than what we've come to associate with fantasy "fae".

I REALLY REALLY need book three like now!

This really was an excellent continuation of the series!