Emily Wilde's Map of the Otherlands

I knew you were the real threat. Mortals always are, aren’t they? If you read the stories. The arrogant faerie prince who can make gold from straw is always undone by the humble miller’s daughter, not some powerful rival of his own stature.

For some reason, this one took me a lot longer to get into than the first installment. When I read the first book, I was instantly enchanted by Ljosland and pulled in by Emily's starting situation: a grumpy, possibly neurodivergent scholar just trying to get locals to help her gather information for her book. From there on, everything else just added to the enchantment. Here, Emily's surrounded by a small team of characters from the get-go, the new locations are often charming but just don't hit all the right buttons for me like Ljosland did, and just like the first time, the journaling format isn't very easy for me to handle when there's so much dialogue. 

Still, after a slow start, I appreciated many things about this book and will definitely read on when the journey continues. Wendell was absolutely my favorite here—I enjoyed learning more about him, both as a person and in terms of all his fae mysteries. I liked the way his and Emily's relationship developed, too, with how they grew closer and closer while still retaining that fun snarkiness they inspire in each other. I also loved the inclusion of Emily's niece Ariadne as Emily's assistance and how their relationship changed gradually throughout the book. Also, Ljosland with its old familiar faces, human and fae alike, wasn't entirely absent from the story, yay for that.

And then, of course, all the fairies! New types of them, new secrets of their realms, all of that was incredibly fascinating. There's still that blend of the Fair Folk being pretty scary in a dark fairy-talish way and the general coziness of the story, and I'm so here for it.