Emily Wilde's Map of the Otherlands by Heather Fawcett

Pages: 352 

Publisher: Orbit 

Released: 11th of January 2024 

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 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.

What I Have to Say 

This was a great sequel. It sank me back deep in the world of Emily Wilde. I loved many of the same things as I did from the first book, the science of it all and the fact that Emily's character was an introvert and sometimes got cranky, which is rare to see in books! 

It wasn't quite as good as the first though that might be nostalgia talking. The first one had a cosy charm to the cabin that Emily and Bambleby were staying in that just sang to my heart. This one, though it came close, was just missing a tiny bit from the first book. 

I still loved it so much though. While not quite hitting the high standards the first book left, it did still have plenty of charm and whimsy that contrasted nicely with the action and led it to be a beautiful book. 

I can't wait for the next book in the series! 

 5 stars 

My thanks goes to Orbit and Netgalley for providing me with a gifted copy of this book for review. 

 

The Sinister Booksellers of Bath by Garth Nix

Pages: 416 

Publisher: Gollancz 

Released: 23rd of March 2023 

There is often trouble of a mythical sort in Bath. The booksellers who police the Old World keep a careful watch there, particularly on the entity who inhabits the ancient hot spring. Yet this time it is not from Sulis Minerva that trouble starts. It comes from the discovery of a sorcerous map, leading left-handed bookseller Merlin into great danger. A desperate rescue is attempted by his sister the right-handed bookseller Vivien and their friend, art student Susan Arkshaw, who is still struggling to deal with her own recently discovered magical heritage.

The map takes the trio to a place separated from this world, maintained by deadly sorcery performed by an ancient sovereign and guarded by monstrous living statues of Portland Stone. But this is only the beginning, as the booksellers investigate centuries of disappearances and deaths and try to unravel the secrets of the murderous Lady of Stone, a serial killer of awesome powers.

If they do not stop her, she will soon kill again. And this time, her target is not an ordinary mortal.

What I Have to Say 

I'm really enjoying this series. The characters are fantastic, the story has enough twists an turns to make the ending unexpected without making it seem too far out and it has wonderful pop culture references that make the 80s setting pop with life. 

Merlin is a fantastic character. His quirky fashion sense, unpredictability and hints and gender fluidity come together to form a character who I very quickly came to love. Along with Susan and Vivien, he fends off threats that come after them. 

Parts of this book took place in Bath, as you can tell from the title and it really did well to show off the wonderful bits of a city I love. I loved reading about bits of the city I knew, though it left me desperately craving Sally Lunn's buns! 

If you haven't started this series yet, I would really recommend you do so ASAP! 

4 stars 

My thanks go to Gollancz and Netgalley for providing me with this copy for review. 

The Thorns Remain by JJA Harwood

Pages: 416 

Publisher: Magpie 

Released: 16th of February 2023

From the Sunday Times bestselling historical fantasy author of THE SHADOW IN THE GLASS comes a tour-de-force of faerie bargains, perfect for fans of THE INVISIBLE LIFE OF ADDIE LA RUE, MEXICAN GOTHIC, and TEN THOUSAND DOORS OF JANUARY

A dance with the fae will change everything

1919. In a highland village forgotten by the world, harvest season is over and the young who remain after war and flu have ravaged the village will soon head south to make something of themselves.

Moira Jean and her friends head to the forest for a last night of laughter before parting ways. Moira Jean is being left behind. She had plans to leave once – but her lover died in France and with him, her future. The friends light a fire, sing and dance. But with every twirl about the flames, strange new dancers thread between them, music streaming from the trees.

The fae are here.

Suddenly Moira Jean finds herself all alone, her friends spirited away. The iron medal of her lost love, pinned to her dress, protected her from magic.

For the Fae feel forgotten too. Lead by the darkly handsome Lord of the Fae, they are out to make themselves known once more. Moira Jean must enter into a bargain with the Lord to save her friends – and fast, for the longer one spends with the Fae, the less like themselves they are upon return. If Moira Jean cannot save her friends before Beltine, they will be lost forever…

Completely bewitching, threaded with Highland charm and sparkling with dark romance, this is a fairytale that will carry you away.

TW: obsession, toxic relationship, sickness, death, injury, brief suicide mentions, grief 

What I Have to Say 

This is how to do fae romance right. It was obsession, it was tricks, it was every twisted thing I want from a fey who's become interested in a human. It was good because it wasn't love. It wasn't treated as love. I didn't like the ending, but up until that it was everything I wanted it to be. 

I loved the relationships that Moira Jean had with different ones of the fey. The brownie was my favourite. I also loved how the changeling flirted with her and made the book so much gayer. I like how Moira Jean's bisexuality was acknowledged in a way that fitted in with the times though I do wish there had been more of it. 

Moira Jean's grief made her character and I don't think she would have been the same without it. It was a good way of getting more romance into the book because there were flashbacks. I don't think it would have been the same book without it. 

All in all, I really enjoyed this book and I hope there'll be more in the genre like this. 

4 stars 

My thanks go to Netgalley and Magpie for providing me with this copy for review. 

Emily Wilde's Encyclopaedia of Faeries by Heather Fawcett

Pages: 336 

Publisher: Orbit 

Released: 19th of January 2023 

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, Shadow, and the Fair Folk to other people.

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. 

What I Have to Say 

This is the faerie book I've always wanted. Forget the smutty soap opera's that fill the shelves these days, this takes faeries back to their roots and shows you the charm of a good faerie story. It also was fantastic that they made a alternate historical setting where women were respected scientists and LGBTQ+ side characters were accepted without question. It's refreshing to have a world where such prejudices aren't around. 

Emily Wilde is capable, scientific and the perfect protagonist for this book. She isn't a simpering idiot caught up in over her head who still somehow manages to overcome all the odds, she knows what she's doing and is able to befriend, trick or charm the faeries on her journey to research them. But the character I loved most was Bambleby. Bambleby is wonderful. He infuriates Emily to no end and they snipe at each other constantly and his name is Bambleby! What better name is there than Bambleby? 

I also loved the dog, Shadow. My only criticism of this book is a small one and that is sometimes it seems the author has forgotten Shadow exists. There were a couple of scenes where I was distracted from what was happening because I didn't know where the dog was and why he wasn't intervening. There was one crucial scene where I think he should have done something at least. 

But that didn't take away my enjoyment of the book too much. It was still one of the best faerie books I have ever read. 

5 stars

My thanks go to Orbit and Netgalley for providing me with this copy for review. 

The Cruel Prince by Holly Black

Synopsis (from Goodreads)

Pages: 384

Publisher: Hot Key Books 

Released: 2nd of January 2018 

Of course I want to be like them. They’re beautiful as blades forged in some divine fire. They will live forever.

And Cardan is even more beautiful than the rest. I hate him more than all the others. I hate him so much that sometimes when I look at him, I can hardly breathe.

Jude was seven years old when her parents were murdered and she and her two sisters were stolen away to live in the treacherous High Court of Faerie. Ten years later, Jude wants nothing more than to belong there, despite her mortality. But many of the fey despise humans. Especially Prince Cardan, the youngest and wickedest son of the High King.

To win a place at the Court, she must defy him–and face the consequences.

In doing so, she becomes embroiled in palace intrigues and deceptions, discovering her own capacity for bloodshed. But as civil war threatens to drown the Courts of Faerie in violence, Jude will need to risk her life in a dangerous alliance to save her sisters, and Faerie itself. 

What I Have to Say 

I was surprised by how hard I found it to get into this book. Normally, Holly Black is an author who can capture me instantly and keep me hooked on a book, but I didn't really get that until the end, which was amazing. I wonder if maybe it was because of what this book was leading up to. There wasn't really a lot of story other than survival until half way through and even then, it didn't really heat up until the last few chapters, so it felt a bit like a setting up book for the next one than an actual book in it's own right. 

I liked that the obsession that Cardan has for Jude isn't romanticised. Throughout the book, he torments and abuses Jude and though it shown to come from feelings about her several times, it's never looked upon as something good. It's shown as love corrupted. It's like a hatred thing, he has such powerful feelings for her that he doesn't want to have that it turns into an intense hatred of her and until the end, she never sees it as anything but hatred and she continues to hate him through. I really hope this continues throughout the rest of the series and any relationship between them is shown as toxic and awful. 

I also loved the way that everything was turned on it's head and nothing turned out to be as it seemed. I think the first half of the book felt too simple for me. It was too easy to see who the good guys were and who were the bad. Black showed that things are never that easy in faerie and the people you expect to be good will always betray you. 

I'm looking forward to the next book, but I'm sad at how hard I found it to get into this one. 

My thanks go to Netgalley and Hot Key Books for providing me with this copy for review. 

Ned's Circus of Marvels by Justin Fisher

Synopsis (from Goodreads) 

Pages: 448

Publisher: Harper Collin's Children's Books 

Released: 30th of June 2016 

Ned Waddlesworth has always considered his world to be exceptionally ordinary. Until the day he discovers it ISN’T. AT ALL. Because on Ned’s thirteenth birthday he discovers that everything magical he’s ever read about or imagined is REAL.

And without him, the world will soon be engulfed in monstrous beasts and beings.

So with the help of a robot mouse, a girl witch and a flying circus unlike any other, it’s up to Ned to swoop in and save the day!

Roll up, roll up, and prepare to be AMAZED by Ned and the marvellous, magical, monstrous flying circus!

What I Have to Say 

This book was enjoyable, but it was one of those books that there's nothing really that sets it apart in my mind from all the other books I've read. It's just one of those books about a boy who thinks he's dull and ordinary and then finds out he needs to save the world. It's a great story, but there are tons of stories just the same on the market. 

I'm not saying that it's not worth reading. I'm sure that some people will find something to peak their interest. They might like the faery type creatures that are featured or the way the magic works. As I said, it's a perfectly written and well crafted story. It just fell flat for me. 

My thanks go to Harper Collins and Netgalley for providing me with this copy for review. 

Worlds of Ink and Shadow by Lena Coakley

Synopsis (from Goodreads) 

Pages: 352

Publisher: Amulet Books

Released: 5th of January 2016

Charlotte, Branwell, Emily, and Anne. The Brontë siblings find escape from their constrained lives via their rich imaginations. The glittering world of Verdopolis and the romantic and melancholy world of Gondal literallycome to life under their pens, offering the sort of romance and intrigue missing from their isolated parsonage home. But at what price? As Branwell begins to slip into madness and the sisters feel their real lives slipping away, they must weigh the cost of their powerful imaginations, even as the characters they have created—the brooding Rogue and dashing Duke of Zamorna—refuse to let them go.

What I Have to Say 

This book was a very slow start. I have to say, I spent most of the book wondering where it was going and how much knowledge the author had of the Brontës in order to write them. I don't have much knowledge of them other than their books, so I can't really say, but I would be interested to know what facts were real and what was made up.

As I said, it took a long time to pick up speed, but by the end I got into it quite a bit. I think at the start, it was so unclear where it was going. As it started to pick up, though I really got into it. I loved the ending, how their world began to change and the characters of the novels they eventually went on to write began to emerge from it.

I think I went into it thinking that I would see more of a world that I recognized, without realising that I wouldn't. As the novels I knew began to emerge, with characters such as Heathcliff starting to emerge from the story, it became much easier to enjoy.

I think this would be good for fans of the Brontës, though it may be better to read more than just a couple of books.