Notes from the Shelf

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Emily Wilde’s Map of the Otherlands by Heather Fawcett–
Whimsical & Dangerous
Genre: Romantic Fantasy
Pages: 370
Rating:  ★★★★★
Buy: Bookshop.org

This post contains spoilers.

Book Summary

Some hearts are maps. Some doors should stay shut.

Emily Wilde, world-renowned expert in faerie folklore, has finally completed her encyclopaedia of faeries. But her work is far from over. With trouble nipping at her heels—mostly in the form of one infuriatingly charming fae king—Emily sets her sights on charting the mysterious realms of the Folk.

Wendell Bambleby, Emily’s former rival and current complication, is still very much on the run from his murderous royal mother. When assassins crash their quiet life in Cambridge, the two are thrust into another journey—this time to the snow-covered peaks of Austria, where old magic lies buried beneath the ice.

In pursuit of a fabled door to Wendell’s realm, Emily must contend with treacherous faerie politics, strange allies, and feelings she’d rather keep buried. Because loving a faerie isn’t just inconvenient—it might be impossible.

Scholarly wit meets whimsical peril in this spellbound tale of maps, monsters, and messy emotions.

My Thoughts

I found this book to be darker and more violent than the first. I wouldn’t call this a cozy fantasy any longer. It’s quite dark at times and the descriptions of the faeries are more monstrous.

Emily and Wendell are also accompanied by her niece, Ariadne, and the dryadology Department Head, Dr. Farris Rose. I liked the addition of these two characters, although I thought her callousness to her niece was maybe a bit over the top. I can understand Emily not being very friendly toward the villagers in the first book, and could maybe attribute it to autism, but for her to not be concerned much for her own niece was a bit much.

At first, I didn’t like Dr. Rose as much, but by the end I thought he was a good character; he gave Emily some reality checks throughout the novel, which I think was a good foil to her general recklessness.

I loved that Wendell enchanted all of Emily’s pencils to be swords, I thought it was funny. I also found it nice for Emily to be the one to save Wendell this time, and the developing love between the two of them balanced out the more darker moments in the book.

The only thing I’m a bit confused on in the book is that at the beginning Emily booked a three-room cabin because Dr. Rose was not supposed to go with them, but then there are four bedrooms, and it is never brought up again. I’m wondering what that was about, or maybe it’s addressed in the last book, but it seemed weird. Also, every time Emily ran into Eichorn at the beginning, it seemed like he was warning her that she was trapped in an illusion, so maybe that’s part of it? Or maybe I’m completely off-base! I’ll have to read the third one to see how it turns out.

Final Thoughts

While Emily Wilde’s Map of the Otherlands takes a darker and more unsettling turn from the first book, it still maintains the heart of what makes the series compelling: richly imagined folklore, academic misadventures, and the ever-evolving dynamic between Emily and Wendell. The added tension, both emotional and magical, makes this installment feel more urgent and more dangerous. Though a few details left me wondering if reality was quite what it seemed, I’m intrigued enough to follow Emily into the next chapter.

If you want to buy Emily Wilde’s Map of the Otherlands by Heather Fawcett, consider purchasing it through Bookshop.org. Supporting this link helps sustain independent bookstores and keeps this blog thriving.

Read My Reviews on the Emily Wilde Series:
Book 1: Emily Wilde’s Encyclopedia of Faeries
Book 3: Emily Wilde’s Compendium of Lost Tales

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