“ 𝙸 𝚕𝚒𝚔𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚠𝚊𝚢 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚝𝚊𝚕𝚔. 𝙰𝚗𝚍 𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚛𝚢𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚎𝚕𝚜𝚎 𝚊𝚋𝚘𝚞𝚝 𝚢𝚘𝚞, 𝚒𝚗 𝚏𝚊𝚌𝚝. 𝙸𝚜 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚗𝚘𝚝 𝚌𝚕𝚎𝚊𝚛 𝚋𝚢 𝚗𝚘𝚠?” 𝙸 𝚏𝚎𝚕𝚝 𝚕𝚊𝚞𝚐𝚑𝚝𝚎𝚛 𝚋𝚞𝚋𝚋𝚕𝚎 𝚞𝚙 𝚒𝚗𝚜𝚒𝚍𝚎 𝚖𝚎, 𝚋𝚞𝚝 𝙸 𝚑𝚒𝚍 𝚒𝚝 𝚋𝚎𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚍 𝚊 𝚖𝚘𝚌𝚔-𝚜𝚎𝚛𝚒𝚘𝚞𝚜 𝚎𝚡𝚙𝚛𝚎𝚜𝚜𝚒𝚘𝚗. “𝙸’𝚖 𝚗𝚘𝚝 𝚜𝚞𝚛𝚎.” 𝙷𝚒𝚜 𝚜𝚖𝚒𝚕𝚎 𝚌𝚑𝚊𝚗𝚐𝚎𝚍, 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚑𝚎 𝚝𝚛𝚊𝚒𝚕𝚎𝚍 𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚑𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚍𝚘𝚠𝚗 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚜𝚒𝚍𝚎 𝚘𝚏 𝚖𝚢 𝚗𝚎𝚌𝚔. “𝙻𝚎𝚝 𝚖𝚎 𝚜𝚑𝚘𝚠 𝚢𝚘𝚞.”
rating: ╰☆☆☆ ☆
OVERALL VIBES:
🧚 faeries
❤️🔥 slow burn
📚 cozy academia
🧝♂️ magical fantasy
🧭 adventure
⚔️ mild violence
🌎 world building
TW:
missing person, illness, poison, blood, gore, dismemberment, aging pets, murder
my synopsis:
Emily Wilde’s Map of the Otherlands by Heather Fawcett follows our brillant yet curmudgeonly professor & her former rival/faerie prince in yet another adventure in this charming second installment. Set in 1910, Emily has now finished her encylopedia of faeries and decides to continue her ambitious scholarly pursuits by completing her map of the faerie realms. While our genius Emily researches, her faerie prince eagerly awaits her answer to his proposal for marriage. All of this comes to a hault, when faerie assassins attack them at their university which forces our beloved duo to solve the mystery & uncover the secrets behind the assaults.
It’s not long before Wendell Bambleby, our exiled faerie prince, suspects that his murderous stepmother is the one behind this evil plan, so it is decided that to reclaim his throne he must find the door back to his realm. This quest aligns with Emily’s goals to find the nexus, which is a door that leads to several realms & to ultimately, complete her map of the Otherlands. With the help of her esteemed colleague, Rose, her overly-enthusiastic niece, & her loyal companion, Shadow, the group sets off for another quest where danger lurks around every corner. Emily must face the perils of folklore, and the even more perilous navigation of her relationships. She must come to terms with how she truly feels about Wendell whilst solving the mysteries that lie within the faerie realms.
What I adored:
Fawcett’s prose & storytelling
The writing is so vividly intelligent, whimsical & playful that you cannot help but wish to devour it all! There is true artistry in the manner in which she writes. Fawcett captivated me with her horrifying yet beautiful descriptions of these magical realms and the creatures who dwell there. Her imagined folklore created a cozy yet thrilling escapism that made it impossible not to indulge in!
Emily & Wendell
I simply adore these two. There are complete & utter differences between them, but somehow it makes it all the more heartwarming. Emily is a detached, scholar (who quite frankly doesn’t seem to know what the definition of fun is) whilst Wendell is a flamboyant, charismatic, *dramatic*prince who has no qualms of displaying his affections for her. Their banter is one of my favorite aspects of this book and charms me every time. This is truly a prime example of how opposites attract & I’m here for it!
Strong fantasy elements✨🧚
The sequel of the Emily Wilde series contains so much folklore it makes me so happy. I am a glutton for beautifully descriptive fantasy, world building & this book gives just that. Between the vulpine, fox-like fae, the owl guardians with spider legs, trolls, tree faeries, a river magically appearing in Cambridge University, it’s just too much fun! We delve into the magic systems a bit more as well. & of course, I am in love with Emily’s Grimm, Shadow always & forever <3
What I disliked:
How slow is too slow of a burn? ❤️🩹
SHEESH. I understand that Emily has yet to realize her feelings for Wendell & she does make great strides in her character development, but my goodness is it slowwwwwwww (lol). She is so focused on her research & she is overall quite awkward. Emily has a severe lack of human emotion with all of her relationships throughout the duology & its a bit painful after awhile. I’m hoping the next installment has more romance now that she has admitted her love for Wendell.
The pace is also slow in general
In the beginning, I was completely bewitched by this book & its enchanting world, but about 40-50% of the way, I almost DNF’ed. I felt as though everyone was searching for the nexus and once they found it the book was over. I wish they found the nexus a bit sooner & then as a reader get to truly experience the magic of it. Meh. It picks back up at the end, but the pace did disappoint which resulted in this book dropping from a 5 to 4 star rating.
The irrelevant missing professors
A significant portion of this book focused on two professors lost in faerie which seemed completely beside the point to me. One was essentially stalking Emily & haunting her with gibberish riddles which made no real sense while the other was absentmindedly clawing at her cottage door? (lmao) it all seemed utterly bizzare and in the end, yes they helped her find the nexus, but they were rescued & showed no gratitude. The mysterious, lost professors were found & then their characters were flat. It felt like an afterthought & quite frankly, really dumb. (sorry!) If you’re going to throw in a mystery of lost professors that haunt you, at least make them interesting!
Overall, this was a highly anticipated read for me & it was so charming! I thoroughly enjoyed the cozy academia fantasy elements & I am very much looking forward to the next book in this series! ✨🧚🧝♂️
✿.:**:.☆*.:。.✿.:**:.☆*.:。.✿ .:**:.☆*.:。.✿
﹋﹋﹋﹋﹋﹋﹋﹋﹋﹋﹋
➵ 𝚄𝚙𝚍𝚊𝚝𝚎 𝟸.𝟸𝟷.𝟸𝟺
I have been so excited to read this since I’ve pre-ordered it & oh, how I’ve missed Emily & Wendell’s banter! Fawcett’s wildly witty and brillant writing is breathtaking. I may finish this within a day or two I cannot put it down!
﹋﹋﹋﹋﹋﹋﹋﹋﹋﹋﹋
➵ ᴜᴘᴅᴀᴛᴇ 𝟸.𝟸𝟶.𝟸𝟺
why am I so obsessed w/ this book already? ✨🪐🧚♀️