This is the second novel in the Emily Wilde series from Heather Fawcett, a bestselling Canadian author of juvenile, teen, and adult novels.
Emily Wilde, a genius scholar of faerie folklore, has just finished writing the world’s first encyclopedia of faeries. She’s recently returned from an expedition with her fellow scholar, Wendell Bambleby. On the expedition, she confirmed her suspicions that Bambleby was of the folk himself. In fact, he is an exiled faerie king on the run from his murderous mother and in search of a door back to his realm. Emily realizes that despite her feelings for him, she’s not ready to accept his proposal of marriage, as there are still too many secrets and dangers. Now she’s working on a project to create a map of the realms of faerie. While preparing her research, Bambleby lands her in trouble yet again when assassins sent by his mother invade Cambridge. Suddenly, Bambleby and Emily are off to the Austrian Alps, where Emily believes they may find the door to Bambleby’s realm and the key to freeing him from his family’s dark plans. After settling into a cottage and meeting the townspeople, Emily and her companions begin lurking in every forest and hollow, searching for the Nexus, a faerie door that leads to multiple realms. Unfortunately, the fairies are not welcoming, especially after nightfall. When disaster strikes and Bambleby becomes gravely ill, Emily must strive forward on her own to save him and his fairy realm.
This is a fantastic sequel to the beloved novel Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Faeries. The world-building and character development are much more expanded in this book, and the audience learns a great deal more about Bambleby’s previous life in the fairy realm. The story continues an overall narrative of Brambleby finding a way back to his realm, but what really makes this book so fascinating is Emily’s new endeavour of mapping out the doorways to the fairy realms. The book also spends more time in academia, and we get a glimpse into a lecture hall and museum during some very dramatic scenes. A new journey is catapulted forward after Brambleby is attacked by fairies sent by his stepmother, and the story moves to a picturesque town in the Austrian Alps, a stark contrast to the frozen landscape in Book 1. As the story unfolds, Emily and Brambleby’s romantic relationship progresses, but their interactions are still filled with affectionate bickering, scowling, and exasperation. Now there is also an evident undercurrent of love between them, as Emily is trying to wrap her head around marrying a fae prince who is feared and revered.
Narrators Ell Potter and Michael Dodds return to deliver excellent performances. Ell Potter fully embodies Emily with all her quirks, impulsiveness, and frustrations in a performance filled with drama, emotion, and satirical humour. Michael Dodds’ performance shows more diversity and emotion in this one, as we see a more vulnerable Brambleby due to his health crisis. Overall, this was a resoundingly successful sequel, possibly more interesting than the first novel. If you haven’t read or listened to this series, what are you waiting for? The audiobook is definitely the preferred medium to enjoy these books with such expert narrators at work!