fairies – Down the Rabbit Hole

Series: Emily Wilde #2

When mysterious faeries from other realms appear at her university, curmudgeonly professor Emily Wilde must uncover their secrets before it’s too late in this heartwarming, enchanting second installment of the Emily Wilde series.

Emily Wilde is a genius scholar of faerie folklore—she just wrote the world’s first comprehensive of encylopaedia of faeries. She’s learned many of the secrets of the Hidden Folk on her adventures . . . and also from her fellow scholar and former rival, Wendell Bambleby.

Because Bambleby is more than infuriatingly charming. He’s an exiled faerie king on the run from his murderous mother, and in search of a door back to his realm. So despite Emily’s feelings for Bambleby, she’s not ready to accept his proposal of marriage. Loving one of the Fair Folk comes with secrets and danger.

And she also has a new project to focus a map of the realms of faerie. While she is preparing her research, Bambleby lands her in trouble yet again, when assassins sent by Bambleby’s mother invade Cambridge. Now Bambleby and Emily are on another adventure, this time to the picturesque Austrian Alps, where Emily believes they may find the door to Bambley’s realm, and the key to freeing him from his family’s dark plans.

But with new relationships for the prickly Emily to navigate and dangerous Folk lurking in every forest and hollow, Emily must unravel the mysterious workings of faerie doors, and of her own heart.

Overall Recommendation:

Emily Wilde’s Map of the Otherlands dives straight back into the beautiful and whimsical world of Emily and her dryadology discoveries in the early 1900s. It’s everything I loved about book 1 but perhaps a little less loaded in everything. In this new setting in Austria, I liked how plot points left unresolved earlier are now coming into play. Overall, a masterful storytelling that leaves me wanting book 3 immediately.

I was so so lucky to have gotten my preorder copy of Emily Wilde’s Map of the Otherlands early to read it before it came out. The journey begins several months after book 1 concludes with Emily and Wendell on the hunt for hidden faerie doors so they can find a way into Wendell’s kingdom.

This book introduces new characters I adored like Ariadne, Emily’s niece who wants to be a dryadologist just like her. It also brought some characters I’m withholding judgment on so far, such as the old-fashioned, cantankerous Professor Rose, one of Emily and Wendell’s colleagues. On this new adventure, the stakes are still high as Wendell’s being tracked by his stepmother’s assassins.

In the mountains of Austria, Heather Fawcett continues to weave more legend and lore in Emily’s new journal dedicated to her research for a map of the faerie kingdoms and secret doors into them. I still love all the footnotes but I found there were less than its predecessor. In fact, that’s probably the one reason I couldn’t give this book a full 5 star rating. Everything felt just less than the first book. There were less character building interactions with the villagers, the pacing wasn’t quite as fast, and the worldbuilding wasn’t as heavy (though I suppose that’s a good thing for those who thought book 1 was an info dump).

Emily and Wendell’s connection continues to be strong as they face looming attacks from Faerie. The tension between them isn’t as present now that they’re not quite rivals anymore, but Wendell’s proposal still hangs over their heads with Emily sorting out her feelings. I do think the romance continues to be the perfect amount balanced with the fantastical elements of the story, with this book taking their romance further.

I will say my favourite part is the way Heather brings together plot lines from earlier that were left open and have now become important in this sequel. Emily’s knowledge of faeries and her fearlessness continues to help her in the varying situations she and her companions find themselves embroiled in. I wish there was a little more action in this book but I suppose it happens when it’s only book 2. I honestly can’t wait to see where this series takes us. It’s definitely an auto-buy series for me.

5 star, adult

Review: Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Faeries by Heather Fawcett

October 9, 2023October 9, 2023 Andge @ Down the Rabbit Hole

Series: Emily Wilde #1

A curmudgeonly professor journeys to a small town in the far north to study faerie folklore and discovers dark fae magic, friendship, and love in the start of a heartwarming and enchanting new fantasy series.

Cambridge professor Emily Wilde is good at many things: She is the foremost expert on the study of faeries. She is a genius scholar and a meticulous researcher who is writing the world’s first encyclopaedia of faerie lore. But Emily Wilde is not good at people. She could never make small talk at a party–or even get invited to one. And she prefers the company of her books, her dog, and the Fair Folk.

So when she arrives in the hardscrabble village of Hrafnsvik, Emily has no intention of befriending the gruff townsfolk. Nor does she care to spend time with another new arrival: her dashing and insufferably handsome academic rival Wendell Bambleby, who manages to charm the townsfolk, get in the middle of Emily’s research, and utterly confound and frustrate her.

But as Emily gets closer and closer to uncovering the secrets of the Hidden Ones–the most elusive of all faeries–lurking in the shadowy forest outside the town, she also finds herself on the trail of another mystery: Who is Wendell Bambleby, and what does he really want? To find the answer, she’ll have to unlock the greatest mystery of all–her own heart.

Overall Recommendation:

With Emily’s unique voice set in a beautifully imaginative historical world where faeries live among us, Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Faeries stands itself firmly out among the crowd. Perfect for an autumn or winter read, this book transports you to this alternative history in early 1900s through Emily’s eyes as a researcher of the fae. I loved the extensive world building and Emily’s grumpy character to Wendell’s bubbly nature. The romance was slow burn while the world takes centre stage, but this is everything I could ask for. This is how a cozy historical fantasy should be done!

The hype was real with this book when it first came out, and I’m never too certain if I want to jump on board the hype train while it’s still hot. However, my workplace book club voted to read this so I gladly decided to pick it up now, a little behind most others, and I’m so happy I did.

Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Faeries is the perfect blend of coziness for an autumn/winter read, intrigue into the world building full of all sorts of faeries, and slow burn romance that makes me want to giggle like a young schoolgirl swinging her feet happily. To describe everything that I feel for this book is not going to be easy, but I can describe the tropes I found I really enjoyed.

Starting with characterization, our protagonist Emily is a grumpy introvert with perhaps more than a dash of social anxiety and a huge love of rational thinking. Think Kathy Reich’s protagonist Temperance Brennan kind of awkwardness and love for scientific discovery. I rather enjoyed Emily’s character, from start to finish. She grew a lot in her experiences at Ljosland as she hoped to finish her encyclopedia with an entry on the Hidden Ones found in this sub-Arctic country.

To balance her character, her mysterious colleague and sometimes rival, Wendell Bambleby was an enigma from the start. Bubbly personality that could charm pretty much anyone once he got started, he was the complete opposite of Emily in pretty much most ways. While he enjoyed his work on faeries, he was noted to have many students help him with the “hard” work and may have fabricated data for a study or two (whoops). His teamwork with Emily, though, was one of my favourite things. This was the true definition of a grumpy and sunshine couple, and I loved seeing their banter that brought out Emily’s snarkiness and his teasing. For fans of romance, I will say this was a very slow burn romance that barely constituted much in this book, however, I wouldn’t want it to change a thing as it sets the stage for so much more we can expect in the next book.

The mystery surrounding Wendell, as hinted in the synopsis, doesn’t actually come at the end but gradually builds which was a delightful surprise. It’s not that we know everything, but it’s enough to draw us forward for what’s to come. I thought that was beautifully done by Heather, and she may be an author to love based on this alone.

Other tropes I loved that was featured heavily is the concept of found family. Emily never made ties with the villagers in the remote locations she did field work for her research. She did her thing and left, no emotions or strings attached. But in an isolated place like Ljosland, when things go awry (and oh boy, do they have some interesting misadventures), you need someone to count on besides yourself. I really enjoyed seeing these secondary characters blossom a little, and how they brought out Emily’s softer side that wasn’t so rigid in empirical thinking.

The pace and world building were excellently done as well, something I find can be quite hard in books. Written as a detailed journal with dated entries, it never quite felt like the story was too long or the author dumped a load of information about the world for the sake of knowledge alone. References were made, including little intriguing footnotes, that made me want to know more instead of reading paragraphs full of descriptions that made me yawn. I thoroughly enjoyed this method of giving us information while being true to Emily’s experiences and her voice. If you’re a fan of Piranesi, I would think this similar writing style would be of interest to you.

I’ve done all this talking and I haven’t even gotten to the faeries yet. Honestly, even if this wasn’t a faerie book, there are just so many things to love already. But as it is a faerie book, I will mention there is so much creativity and imaginative thought put into this story. From different faerie stories collected Emily has collected in her research travels to the different species and their unique attributes/weaknesses, even the randomest details in Emily’s notes she references could play a larger role in the overall story than we know. The faeries range from scary/violent to little common fae I would love to meet. Heather has put care into describing them and crafting this folklore feel around everything. If I had to absolutely pick my most favourite element of this book, I’d have to go with this.

I could go on and gush more, but I will end off saying this book more than meets the hype. You may not think of yourself as a historical fantasy kind of reader, but you wouldn’t know until you try. There are so many elements here to love. In a similar vein to Rebecca Ross’ A River Enchanted, there’s not only magic in the story, but there is magic in reading the book itself.

3 star, YA

Review: The Iron Sword by Julie Kagawa

May 14, 2022May 14, 2022 Andge @ Down the Rabbit Hole

Series: The Iron Fey: Evenfall #2

As Evenfall nears, the stakes grow ever higher for those in Faery…

Banished from the Winter Court for daring to fall in love, Prince Ash achieved the impossible and journeyed to the End of the World to earn a soul and keep his vow to always stand beside Queen Meghan of the Iron Fey.

Now he faces even more incomprehensible odds. Their son, King Keirran of the Forgotten, is missing. Something more ancient than the courts of Faery and more evil than anything Ash has faced in a millennium is rising as Evenfall approaches. And if Ash and his allies cannot stop it, the chaos that has begun to divide the world will shatter it for eternity.

Book 2 in the Evenfall series and I’m starting to wonder if perhaps this series has started losing its charm on me. The Iron Sword marks the 9th book – NINTH – in this Iron Fey world Julie has created. Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely adored it. Fairies were all the rage in the early 2010s, and may be making a mini comeback with the surge of some popular series recently. Yet there’s just something off that made me enjoy this book less than I had anticipated.

First off, let me just say that I absolutely ADORE Ash. He had his own POV book once before, in the fourth book of the overall series, and I gobbled it up like a pie straight out of the oven (not that I do that often). While Meghan was a fine protagonist, I wanted to see the world as he did, this old fey who had lived many human lives and seen the inner workings of the Winter court. He was their cruel prince (ha ha) until he fell in love and sought to become partially human by gaining a soul.

Fast forward some other doomsday prophecy the entire gang defeated – did I mention I missed the middle series and have yet to read them because I didn’t like Meghan’s brother who had grown up to be a very surly teenager? – and now there’s yet another problem coming to bite the entire land of fey known as the Nevernever. Does anyone get a break? Clearly not as Robin Goodfellow aka Puck so cheerfully pointed out. He was the protagonist of book 1 in this Evenfall series which was fun and wild as I imagined he would be, but I was more surprised and eager to know Ash would be the main POV here.

Now, I find myself here with very uncertain thoughts even after some time towards this book.

The nostalgia factor was definitely high with this one and I can’t fault it for leaning into it. Familiar faces from ALL the books make its way into this storyline and it was great to see. Julie is an excellent storyteller and can weave all these appearances as part of the plot. I didn’t mind that at all. I fell back into this world like it hadn’t been a decade since I first found this magical realm just under the human eye.

Likewise, Julie is great with the plot in the sense that it always feels like an adventure. From trekking through the Between to search for Keirran to finding interesting sources in the human world to aid them on their quest, the gang never stays just in one place or with just one task. Things move along and that’s GOOD. However, sometimes it felt like their tasks were very minor and we didn’t really get to see what it was leading towards until near the very end. Maybe this once didn’t bother me if this was a normal pattern before, but it definitely wasn’t my favourite thing to get to the climax and only then feel the adrenaline surging for “the end of the world”.

Also, how many times can the world be ending? I swear, each of these 3 series faces one doomsday prophecy and it’s starting to get old. Does nothing else exciting besides the ENTIRE fate of all the worlds happen to them all?

The only saving grace for this book and its rating is definitely because of Ash. The first prince I ever loved (who wasn’t human). Can exhibit sweetness but only to those he really cares for, and full of disgruntled charm and deadly grace in fighting. I liked that it explored his struggle with his darker, Unseelie side he thought had been vanquished when he earned his soul. Book 1 explored it with Puck which was a highlight for that book, but I liked the internal monologue we got to see up close for Ash who on the outside wouldn’t voice a thing about what was going on inside.

The ending was also just starting to get exciting. At least now I know what the heck Evenfall is, and so does the entire gang in the story, so I’m hoping the next book (please say it’s the last one in the series) will at least move into the penultimate battle against this new Big Bad. I will make one comment and say that no matter how many offshoots and tangents this series goes, Julie’s writing leaves doors open like this where it can be explored if given the opportunity. I don’t think she intended 9 books for this world, but the fact that little Easter eggs were hidden to explore further from even the very first book shows the breadth of her imagination for this world she’s built. And that, at least, is something to look forward to.

Overall Recommendation:

I’m happy to say The Iron Sword held up well with its portrayal of Ash who now gets the hot seat POV again while bringing in all the old faces from all the previous books together for another doomsday adventure. If it weren’t for him and the dive into his internal struggle against his old nature, I’m not sure what I’d do. Written in Julie Kagawa’s style, the nostalgic OG group sets off on another adventure through the Nevernever and the human realm to seek out the meaning of Evenfall and how to prevent it. Some of the earlier quests felt a little unnecessary and slow but the climax proved interesting enough to continue as they race against yet another end of the world scenario (hopefully their last one). While it’s becoming clearer that I’m outgrowing this series a little, I’m glad to see I haven’t outgrown Ash. If I could bottle up Ash into all the books I read, I wouldn’t have a problem with that at all.