The Bibliophile's Bookshelf

Title: Emily Wilde’s Map to the Otherlands

Series: Emily Wilde #2

Author: Heather Fawcett

Genre: Adult, Fantasy, Romance

Rating: 4.5 stars

Review:

Emily Wilde is a renowned scholar of Faerie who just published the first comprehensive encyclopaedia of faeries. She learned many secrets about the faeries and her former rival Wendell Bambleby. When mysterious fae come after Emily and Wendell at Cambridge, Emily must uncover their secrets before it’s too late.

Characters

Emily Wilde: Emily is still wonderful. She is stuck in her ways and focused on her work. She was starting to branch out more this book, but she never strayed from who she was. I love Emily and her personality, which is very realistic.

Wendell Bambleby: Wendell wasn’t in this book to the same degree as he was in the first book. He was still a big part of the story, but he became ill fairly early in the story, which affected the rest of the story. He was still fun and full of banter, though.

Shadow: Shadow is still one of the best book dogs ever. It was stated many times throughout the story that he was getting older, but I felt this could have been shown more. There was one scene that showed how protective Shadow could be and I thought it was nicely done, especially how Emily felt afterwards.

Farris Rose: Farris Rose is Wendell and Emily’s boss at Cambridge. He starts off as very grumpy and having unfavorable feelings towards Wendell and Emily. Quickly into the story, you learn the reason behind his feelings. I think you got to know him better throughout the book, but it could have been better done.

Ariadne: Ariadne is Emily’s niece and research assistant. She is very positive. It doesn’t really ever develop beyond that. There were hints that there was more to this character, but I don’t think there was a lot of time to develop her more.

Story

I loved the first book in this series, and I loved this book, but it was hard for me to get into it.

This book was good, but a little slow. New characters where introduced, though I wish they were more prominent, especially the villagers. In the first book we got to know the villagers on a deeper level than we got in this book.

Wendell is my favorite character, and I missed his snarky behavior. Emily and Wendell still had their banter and adorable relationship, but he was indisposed for much of the book.

I still get confused when reading Fae stories, and this book was a little more confusing than the first book. I did enjoy seeing more of Wendell’s homeland and his family. I also love that he has a cat! So excited for that development in the next book!

Emily Wilde’s Map of the Otherlands was a wonderful sequel to an amazing series. The characters were amazing and further developed from the first book. The storyline was intriguing, though slow to get started and confusing in parts.

For anybody looking for a cozy, fantasy book, this is for you!