Publication: 18th January 2024 – Orbit
An intrepid professor must uncover faerie secrets in the delightful and heart-warming second instalment of the Sunday Times bestselling Emily Wilde series.
Emily Wilde is a genius scholar of faerie folklore, and has catalogued many secrets of the Hidden Folk in her encyclopaedia with her infuriatingly charming fellow scholar, Wendell Bambleby, by her side.
But Bambleby is more than just a brilliant and unbearably handsome scholar. He’s an exiled faerie king on the run from his murderous mother, in search of a door back to his realm.
By lucky happenstance, Emily’s new project, a map of the realms of faerie, will take them on an adventure to the picturesque Austrian Alps, where Emily believes they may find the door to Bambleby’s realm, and the key to freeing him from his family’s dark plans.
But with new friendships 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.
I am so excited to return to the world of Fairies and see in what troubles and adventures Professor Emily Wilde and the exiled faerie king Wendell Bambleby get into.
Since returning to Cambridge University, Emily and Wendell have been searching for the door that will take Wendell back to his kingdom to reclaim his throne, but his evil stepmother has sent assassins after him, turning a lecture into chaos. Expecting more assassinations attempts, Emily and Wendell travel to Austria to follow the steps of a famous scholar who disappeared many years before, in the hope to find the door to Wendell’s kingdom, and they are accompanied by Emily’s loyal dog Shadow, Ariadne, Emily’s nineteen-year-old niece and an enthusiastic student of Dryadology (the study of faeries and fae), and Dr. Farris Rose, the pompous Department Head at the university. As they embark on an intrepid journey full of adventure, magic, and danger, Emily and Wendell’s relationship deepens as she also learns to navigate new friendships.
I enjoyed Emily Wilde’s Map of the Otherlands as much as the first one, Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Fairies. I adore the characters of Emily and Wendell and I loved how their romance developed. Slow-burn, but so cute and adorable: Emily is still her serious, awkward, and reserved self, while Wendell is still charming, witty, over-dramatic. I was also delighted for the return of Poe, the adorable Little Folk who is always happy to help Emily, and I enjoyed the addition of new characters for a more entertaining and intriguing narrative.
Enchanting and well-written and perfect for fans of fantasy and historical novels, Emily Wilde’s Map of the Otherlands left me eagerly waiting for book 3!
A huge thank you to Orbit and NetGalley for providing me with a proof of this fantastic novel.
Book After Book 