Emily Wilde series book 2

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What is Emily Wilde’s Map of the Otherlands by Heather Fawcett about?

Emily Wilde’s Map of the Otherlands is the second book in the Emily Wilde series. I was lucky enough to receive an eARC via Netgalley.

Emily Wilde, a brilliant scholar of faerie folklore, collaborates with the charming Wendell Bambleby to document secrets of the Hidden Folk. However, Wendell is not just a handsome scholar; he’s an exiled faerie king fleeing his murderous mother, seeking a portal back to his realm. Emily’s new project, a map of faerie realms, leads them to the Austrian Alps in search of the door to Bambleby’s realm. Amidst new friendships and lurking dangers, Emily must decipher the workings of faerie doors and confront the mysteries of her own heart.

My thoughts on Emily Wilde’s Map of the Otherlands by Heather Fawcett

I found even more enjoyment in this one compared to the first book (which I also enjoyed, just to clarify)! It maintains the cozy mystery feel for me, but with an added layer of historical fantasy as it unfolds in the early 1900s with the existence of often malevolent Fae. This second installment delivers everything I craved more of in the initial one, particularly delving deeper into Emily and Wendell’s relationship and the individuals within their familial and social spheres. Naturally, new compelling secondary characters are introduced, and I hope they become fixtures in future installments.

Without revealing too much about the first book, I appreciated the shift towards more personal reasons rather than purely academic motivations behind Emily’s “field research” this time. The journal format and quirky footnotes are still present, but now there’s more at stake, extending beyond Emily’s professional reputation.