Series: Emily Wilde #2 (Not a Standalone)
Publication Date: 18th Jan 2024
Genre: Historical Fantasy, Romance
4.2 Stars
One Liner: Entertaining
Emily Wilde is back in action and determined to find a door to the fae realm for Wendell Bambleby. She has been avoiding his marriage proposal, though she knows she feels a tingling sensation when with him.
However, the duo has a major task ahead, with Wendell’s evil stepmother sending assassins to murder him. The fae king’s life in the mortal world is in danger, and so is Emily’s life. They go to explore the Austrian Alps with interesting company, but the path home is filled with dangers. And, of course, can Emily decide what her heart wants?
The story comes in Emily’s first-person POV (in a journal).
My Thoughts:
After enjoying book one, I was excited to read this and meet the adorable Wendell again. I think I like both books equally.
There are quite many interactions with different fae creatures, most of them belonging to the dangerous kind. This time, we visit Austria in winter, so it is super chilly and foggy, adding to the risk levels.
The book has a few new side characters. While it takes time to warm up to Rose, Ariadne impresses almost immediately. She is Emily’s nineteen-year-old niece, a student at Cambridge, where Emily and Wendell are professors. I hope book three has this bubbly young girl.
Wendell is not his usual self (for certain reasons), but that doesn’t dim his charm. His obsession with cleanliness, love for food, and offhanded magic (which sometimes gives hilarious results) are lovely to read.
Emily is cool but can be so dense sometimes that it’s infuriating. She uses her brain cells only for research and studies, so even basic common sense can evade her at times. But that is her character arc and not something I complain about.
The pacing is an issue, though. While the first book was slow throughout, this one is uneven. The beginning went faster as if we were reading only a first-person POV and not Emily’s journal. That was more than fine for me. But the middle is slow and heavy. Many events seem to occur, though the story goes in circles, and the % doesn’t move. Finally, things get better in the last section.
The locals don’t have the same role or charm as the ones in the previous book. Shadow is his best, and we meet Poe again! There’s Snowbell, too, an addition to Emily’s fae friends. Then, we meet a few important characters who will play vital roles in the next book.
And oh, the banter between Emily and Wendell isn’t that great, but there is good progress in their ‘not a relationship’. Maybe a wee bit of romance, too, though this is Emily’s journal, and you will not get any details.
The last quarter of the book is really good. It ends right where it should, setting the stage for the (hopefully) last in the series. I have high expectations for the next one, given the high stakes.
To summarize, Emily Wilde’s Map of the Otherlands is an entertaining read with magic, faes, and danger. However, its main purpose is to connect the first and last books.
Thank you, NetGalley and Little Brown Group (Orbit), for the eARC.
#NetGalley #EmilyWildesMapOfTheOtherlands
***
My last read of 2023.
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