Holy shit, she's done it again!!
Emily Wilde, now a successful author and lauded academic is resting easy in Cambridge after her previous adventure in Emily Wilde's Encyclopaedia of Faeries. Not only that, but she's taken up a new research project: looking for a pathway into the faerie kingdom of her charming academic-rival-turned-friend Wendell Bambley. As the true heir to his lands, Wendell finds his life, and more importantly, his comfortable home at Cambridge, under threat from faerie assassins. Emily will stop at nothing to help him reclaim the throne (and get another book out of the process). But she's facing much greater dangers, an intrepid niece assistant, the threats of academic misconduct, and worst of all: the idea of answering Wendell's marriage proposal.
The second book in a trilogy tends to be cursed with being a low point, mostly focused on bridging the gap between the first and last book without boring readers in the meantime. But Fawcett succeeds where many fail in creating an adventure that felt on par with the first novel and still leaving room for a successful finale in the next book. Again, I was charmed by the format and style of "Emily's" writing, with her footnotes and references to other dryadology texts. I don't think I'll ever get sick of that! Moreover, she does a satisfying job expanding the worldbuilding and folklore in ways that might make some of the book's twists feel predictable, but only because they fit so snugly within the world's logic. And still, she manages some moments of actual surprise.
As I mentioned in my review of Emily Wilde's Encyclopaedia of Faeries, Fawcett treats folklore and fairy tales with a kind of gravitas and reverence that a real academic might, and this is visible in her worldbuilding and characters. Emily's research methodologies get contrasted with a variety of viewpoints in the sequel, ranging from established academics to townspeople who've had firsthand experience with the faeries Emily is researching. And while, like all real life academics, Emily stubbornly believes she has the only correct answer, Fawcett is unafraid to prove Emily wrong and make her reconsider her tactics and approaches in ways that feel satisfying.
Thankfully, I already have my hands on the third book so I won't have to wait too long to see how this series wraps up! And then I can get excited for Fawcett's upcoming title, Agnes Aubert's Mystical Cat Shelter. This author is quickly becoming an auto-read author (not auto-buy, though, because they're expensive) for me!
Thanks for reading! See you next time,
Aleks
Book Info:
Title: Emily Wilde's Map of the Otherworlds
Author: Heather Fawcett
Published: January 16th, 2024
Publisher: Del Rey Books
Pages: 339
