I absolutely love this series! The first one was great and this one absolutely matched. It was a refreshing read - I love the whimsy and adventure. It has a cozy feel that left me feeling satisfied. Don’t get me wrong, it had all the adventure and mystery, too. The writing style just lends itself to feeling good as you read! I felt like we got to know Emily on a new level in this one and perhaps I like it even better than the first! The footnotes are *chef’s kiss*

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for this ARC.

I loved this book as much, if not more, than the first. It’s the perfect blend of cozy and adventurous. Adding more characters to Wendell and Emily’s duo worked very well. I simply cannot get enough of this series. It’s one of my favorites for sure.

Fantasy is a talk order to take on, and I am grateful to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC.

Fantastic follow-up tale with a wonderful atmosphere. World-building and characters were engaging.

This was just as fabulous as the first book! Emily and Wendell are still the perfect team as they (with a few additions) go to Austria to seek a door to Wendell's court amid the beautiful Alps!

Wendell has been poisoned by his court's current ruler, his stepmother. Assassins have also been sent, which, among other things, stress the importance of Wendell's fight to return to his kingdom. However, by the time they make it to the secret door in Austria, Wendell has been incredibly weakened by the poison, and Emily must figure out what to do.

This is another cozy fantasy that serves to illustrate the amazing creativity this author harbors for world building and character development. I absolutely enjoyed every single second of this sequel and can not recommend it enough to fans of the first book!

Out January 16, 2023!

Thank you, Netgalley and Publisher, for this Arc!!!

i think this is my favourite book of 2024, and it hasn't even come out yet. it's been a while since i read book 1, so slipping into emily wilde's world again was so dreamy. i love the howl's moving castle vibe and it's definitely one of my favourite series of the year!

I really really enjoyed this novel. Well written and a fantastic read. Bravo to the author for another fantastic release!

I definitely took my time with this book, as the pacing was slow at times. But like with the 1st book in the series, I was sucked into the pages every time that I returned to read more. There is something so unique and magical about this world, the research into the different fae realms, the intense world building. It captures whimsical fae lore at its finest and more successfully than any series with fae that I have ever read. I also loved the characters that were introduced in this sequel, and getting to learn more about Bambleby as well. 5 stars. I am looking forward to a reread!

I absolutely adored the imagery and storytelling in this work!! I felt enthralled with the story all its ups and downs. The way that the story brings to into a new world is one I can’t get enough of!

I’d love there to be more books like this!

If I have any critiques it would be I felt a little disconnected to the characters around the main one a few times. Their conversations would sometimes feel a bit forced but that wasn’t a common issue!

Thank you for providing me with the arc! I enjoyed it a lot!

This series has quickly become one that I adore and recommend for people that enjoy a cozy fantasy with a little romance, a lot of atmosphere, and a little bit of adventure and drama. This series is a little slow because Emily is a professor and scientist tracking down information about the fae of all kinds with her partner, Wendell.

In this book, Emily and Wendell are back on a journey to find Wendell's door to his Kingdom due to his mother hunting him down to keep him from the throne. Alongside them, Emily's niece tags along as well as Professor Rose on their journey to the Austrian Alps. After her last work she is not trying to create a map of the Fae worlds and where they connect to the human world while trying to find Wendell's door. This adventure leads to a lot of mystery and dangerous interactions with the Fae.

Heather Fawcett creates amazing characters that have realistic personalities and relationships with one another. Every person she writes is not perfect and that is what makes it approachable and cozy especially in a story that is based in fantasy or folk lore. I personally loved this book and can't wait for the next one, although I realize this type of book won't be for every fantasy reader. If you are looking for some fun and cozy fantasy vibes this would be great for you!

Thank you for the early review copy!

It was an absolute delight to return to the world of Emily Wilde. I love that this book maintained the cozy academic vibe of Encyclopedia but delved deeper into the more eerie unsettling parts of Faerie. I love this gorgeous atmospheric world and I desperately wish I could have stayed in it longer. I loved seeing some of the characters from the first book (Poe and Shadow will always have my heart) and the new additions to the cast were delightful. It was so entertaining to see Emily interacting and slowly developing relationships with other scholars (who weren't Wendell) and the dynamic that developed between her and Rose was fantastic. I love that the journal entries are more personal, given that she's now using them as an outlet for her thoughts and we see more of her emotional journey in navigating romance and friendship and coming to terms with her perhaps unhealthy obsession with the fae. As ever, Emily remains an ND icon and her prickliness makes me love her all the more. If you enjoyed Encyclopedia of Faeries, I highly recommend picking this one up!

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/5773005552

This was a very fun edition to this cozy fantasy series and I did enjoy it for the most part. There was lots of adventures and encounters with the fair folk and Emily and Wendell had lots of witty banter and intellectual jousting that I enjoyed. But I didn’t like this one quite as much as the first, and I can’t quite decide why.

Emily is still the same character that we all fell in love with in the first book, but she has shown some growth in this one. She is perhaps a tad less antisocial, as she does try to interact more with the villagers she encounters. But she mostly leaves it up to the other people she is with to charm and learn from the locals. She is also better at accepting help, not only from Wendell, but also others who she encounters along the way. Emily continues to look at the problems before her and to solve them in her own way. She is still headstrong and is more likely to run off without a plan, but she is learning that that maybe isn’t the best solution.

Wendell is still delightfully fun, even though he is having issues with his magic. He so flamboyant and enigmatic with his personality that he instantly charms almost everyone he meets. I love that he finds little ways to improve their surroundings with and without magic, although his insistence that everything is filthy, when it is perfectly clean, is a bit annoying. I love his relationship with Emily and how patient he is with her. The love they have for each other is evident even when they are at odds in the way to go about things.

We are introduced to two new characters that I also really like, Ariadna and Dr. Rose. Ariadna is Emily’s assistant and also her niece. Emily at times is not very nice to her, but I think she means well and only has her best interest at heart. Ariadna is young and still hasn’t learned that the fae are not to be trusted, but she is a delight in all of the scenes she is in. Their relationship improves over the course of the books. Dr. Rose is the head of Emily’s department and insists on coming with them on their adventures. He isn’t very likable, but he does end up being someone they can trust and depend on.

We meet lots of new creatures in this story and finally get a glimpse of Wendell’s home. Some of the new creatures are quite terrifying, but some soon become new allies. We also have an appearance from Poe, who was in the first book, which was wonderful. I also really like that Emily has kept in touch with the friends she made in the first book, and they help her out as well.

The story is again told through journal entries, which I still love as a way to tell this story. Hearing about Emily and Wendell’s encounters with the fae in this manner makes it more interesting and humorous. The author does a great job of describing the scenes and surroundings that the characters find themselves in. You almost feel like you are in the Swiss Alps yourself! I also really like her footnotes, although the formatting of those needs some work, which I’m sure will be fixed in the final product.

Overall, this was a great second installment to this series. Although I still love the first book more, this one does have its charms. I am looking forward to the next one and finding out what happens to Emily and Wendell as they embark on a new adventure.

This is a great series, and it's possible I enjoyed this book more than the first! I love how abrupt, reason-focused, and pragmatic Emily is, and her character is especially great opposite Wendell's suave, polished, and penchant-for-cleanliness personality. The Folk they come across continue to be interesting beyond the annoying sparkle-fairy-Lisa-Frank vibes -- I love the horror the author has included in their features and ways of being. There's an Eldritch-quality about them, except on a smaller scale, if that makes any sense at all. I look forward to the next in the series!

I enjoyed this book more than the first - such a cozy and atmospheric vibe! I wouldn’t say it’s super action packed, it focuses more on characters and relationships. This was a great continuation of the story and highly recommend.

3.5 stars - If you enjoyed Emily Wilde’s Encyclopedia of Fairies, there is no doubt you do not want to miss this second book in the series. There is a new objective and quest, with a few new side characters, but the same whimsical and cozy vibes from book one. We get a little bit more back-and-forth between Emily and Wendell, but I so wish we could get more from his POV.

Map of the Otherlands starts off at a faster pace than book one, but it does slow down in the middle, at least to me. The plot covers a lot of ground and sets up for what should be a very exciting book 3 in Fairie! Thank you to Random House and NetGalley for an ARC to enjoy and review.

4/5 stars. I really liked it! A great follow up to the first book. Full of adventure and fun, and I just adore these characters. It was fun to revisit this world.

This series continues to be an absolute pleasure and, in my opinion, the top of the current cozy fantasy trend. I loved the personal stakes and the authentic and delightful development of the relationship between Emily and Wendell. So often second books feel disappointing, but Heather Fawcett takes what she did in book one and gives us more of the same and, dare I say, even better. I can't recommend this highly enough to anyone who wants a cozy read that still manages intelligence and depth.

Continuing where they left off in book 1, Emily is now seeking to add to her map of Faerie. Emily continues to be as stubborn and oblivious to social etiquette as ever. Also, in this book you will get more of Wendell's backstory.

This was everything I could have asked for in the second book of Emily Wilde and her academic discoveries of the Faerie World. I especially loved that the stakes were raised a bit, and we got to see a little bit more feeling in her relationship with Wendell. This series is funny, sweet, and so soft and cozy; some of the best comfort reading.

I already can't wait for book 3.

Thank you to Randomhouse Ballantine and Netgalley for a digital copy of this book in advance for review!

-Netgalley Arc Review-

Ohhh now this is what I want out of a book with faeries.
It's also one of the rare examples where I enjoyed the sequel infinitely more than the first book (I liked the first one too but the characters and progression of this book felt so much more satisfying)

This book gives the vibes of that Dragonology book, its so well done and realistic despite its unreality.

* I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley. Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for this book. All thoughts are my own.

While I did enjoy this book more than the first one, I don’t think I’ll continue reading the series if there are more books. I enjoy the characters, but I think books set this far in the past (and dialogue that comes with it) just really aren’t for me. I can see people loving this book, especially if they loved the first. I do think it’s a fun book to read and that’s why people will love it.

Would recommend if you’re into a cozy fantasy.

In this installment of the Emily Wilde series, Wendell is struck down by poison right before assassination attempts begin against him. With his magic causing him to become sicker with every use, Emily, Wendell, and a ragtag group embark on a quest to find the door to all the faerie realms- the hypothesized nexus- and a cure for Wendell.

Told through journal entries sprinkled with footnotes, this was a delight to read. I thoroughly enjoyed the first book and am so glad the second kept to the high standard. I am neither a huge historical or cozy fantasy fan, yet this series has a hold on me! When I saw the end note saying there would be a third, I audibly cheered!

The development of Emily and Wendell’s relationship was swoon-worthy, and the newest additions to their found family are just wonderful!

Please don’t kill Shadow, I will simply perish.