Emily Wilde’s Map of the Otherlands is the second book by Heather Fawcett in a series following Professor Emily Wilde and Wendell Bambleby, dryadologists from Cambridge as they research and document the Fae of various parts of the world. These books are written as if it is Emily’s personal journal used as she makes notes and recounts events whenever possible during her fieldwork. If you haven’t heard of the series I recommend checking out the first book Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Faeries, these are great reads and utilization of the journal format is a refreshing changeup in book formats. I received a galley copy of the book some time last year and have only just now been able to get around to reading it this month, just in time to review it immediately after the book’s release (January 16th).

Roughly a year after the events of the first book, we start this story at Cambridge as we discover that Emily and Wendell are preparing to conduct field research in the Alps in an effort to locate what they believe to be a nexus of faerie doors leading to all sorts of faerie realms, in hopes they will locate a back door into Wendell’s old kingdom so he may return from his exile after his stepmother had his family assassinated,. Wendell wishes see his homeland once more, his beloved Fae cat, as well as potentially rule it with his mortal love by his side, who understands the way of the Fae often better than most Fae themselves. Emily’s niece Ariadne is both a new Dryadology student and excited to tag along as a sort of assistant to her aunt despite Emily’s objections, as does the head of the Dryadology department Dr. Farris Rose. Rose is a quite curmudgeonly man who Emily rather despises threatens to have them both fired, Wendell for being Fair Folk (and often embellishing his research), and Emily for working together with him therefore by proxy she must be enchanted and/or also committing various levels of academic dishonesty. After a disaster at the university, Emily and Wendell convinced the board that their actions in Ljolsland must have angered some Faerie and for the safety of the students they need to conduct research in the Alps to potentially locate some Fae that are able and willing to assist them if they earn their favor, stopping any other potential directed danger toward them and through proximity any students or faculty. Of course this isn’t totally false, they DO believe they will find a nexus or some sort of door into Wendell’s realm so they can deal with his stepmother.

While the first book in the series was a bit slow to start, this started up quick and from the moment I started reading it I didn’t really want to stop. This is such a fantastic read and I hope look forward to reading more of Heather Fawcett’s works in the future. 10 out of 10 stars, its a blast to read and absolutely work checking out.