The McNicholas Milestone

By Hailey McPheron

Disclaimer: This review contains spoilers about the plot and background. This book review is solely my opinion after reading the book. 

Get your compasses, your quills, and your ink ready for another journey, mapping the otherlands with none other than Emily Wilde. Heather Fawcett released the second edition of her series in 2024 titled Emily Wildes Map of Otherlands.  

This book was harder to read than the first book, Emily Wilde’s Encyclopedia of Faeries, and took a bit longer to read. Towards the end I struggled to pick it back up but once I did, I finished and I’m not disappointed. The way Heather Fawcett has written this trilogy is outstanding. Wilde loves to write journals, so the book is written as a journal, but it trips over the boundary of past and present, which I love.  

This story takes place in 1910 starting off at the campus of Cambridge where she and Wendell Bambleby work. Wilde is heading off to meet Bambleby but runs into a stranger who is holding a ton of ribbons. He says a few unclear directions and states that he needs more ribbons, then leaves. Wilde goes to meet Bambleby at a cafe to have breakfast and talk about their new expedition to the Alps where they hope to find a nexus to Irelands faerie lands. They talk about the lost professor Danielle De Grey who had been looking for the nexus (a portal to other realms that faeries often use), the faerie species “Fauns,” and her lover who looked for her Eichorn. At the cafe, a student comes up to them telling Bambleby what an inspiration he is before losing her train of thought and runs away. As it turns out, rumors have spread about his real identity from their last trip to Hrafnsvik.  

Wilde returns to her office after their talk at the cafe with her niece Ariadne, who is her assistant and is taking dryadology classes. Ariadne gives her the maps that Wilde requested that De Gray had made.  They are then ambushed by the department head Dr. Farris Rose who accuses her and Bambleby of falsifying her book and two articles written by Bambleby. Rose decides to sit it on Bambleby’s class as does Wilde to try to get the message along to not say anything wrong. In the middle of the class, faerie assassins, called “Grey sheerie” from Bamblebys home, break in and the class flees. They try to assinate Bambleby, but he quickly grabs Wilde’s pens as he had enchanted them to shift into a sword. He fights them then drowns them as that is the only way to kill them. As Bambleby tires, they run into the museum as more of the faeries follow them. They succeed in drowning them all but have made a mess of the museum. Before they leave, Wilde quickly grabs and enchanted faerie collar for Shadow that she had wanted to borrow.  

Wilde, Bambleby, and Ariadne meet at her office preparing for their journey to the Alps with the goals of finding the nexus to Bamblebys realm, Wilde’s new book, a map of the other lands, and the long-lost professors De Grey and Eichorn. Rose insists he joins the group, and they have to let him show him they don’t fake their work. They head home and pack, then the next day they set off for the train. 

The Ribbon man appears to Wilde once again until Ariadne comes in and starts talking to Wilde when he disappears. Rose then wakes up after the two of them are on the train and has a heated discussion with Wilde about falling in love with a faerie king (Bambleby). After their argument, she goes to wake up Bambleby, who slept through the morning. As she opens the door, she is greeted with a forest environment. While sleeping,  Bambleby accidentally enchanted the room to be like his home. Upon coming closer, she sees a faint set of black birds on his chest. Wilde theorizes that he had been poisoned by faeries hired by his stepmother on his birthday. Ariadne helps the two clean the room, setting it back to its original look. This reminds her that she does need to be careful of Bambleby for he is a part of the courtly fae.   

They get to the cottage in St. Liesl where they settle in and receive gifts from the Haas family who owns the cottage. As the days follow, they explore numerous faerie doors in the land. After Bambleby, Ariadne, and Wilde explore the landing, finding 14 in total, they head back to the cottage where Rose awaits. They talk about their findings; Rose apologizes then they all head off. In the morning, Rose and Wilde try to explore the lake until they are attacked by a “Fox faerie.” They headed back to the cottage as soon as they could, nearly escaping by using Wildes enchanted cloak from Bambleby. Bambleby tries to heal Rose the best he can with his dwindling magic, and after that scene, they are greeted by another visit by the ribbon man.  

Once that is over, Ariadne, Rose, Bambleby and Wilde set off to explore the faerie doors again, knocking at each door and checking if it is a faerie home and not a door to another realm. They come upon a door and Bambleby knocks, which then sets off an angry sleeping faerie. They go soon not wanting to further anger the faerie, but they are faced with another set of assassins from his stepmother.  Bambleby teleports them repeatedly which causes the poison to be even more apparent. The birds once again appear on his chest and Wendell passes out.  

Wilde goes to find the nexus turning in her favor with the “Fox faerie” who had been trapped in Wilde’s coat. Snowbell the faerie leads her to a portal which takes them to the winter lands to meet her old faerie friend Poe who she hopes has a remedy for Wendell. He gives her a few cakes and bread and promises information on the portal to Ireland’s faerie lands.  

Once getting back, the cakes help Bambleby a little, but he is still poisoned, so Wilde finds the ribbon man and Wendell helps pull him out of faerie, which also decreases his magic, and soon they find the long lost De Grey. De Grey gives them the directions to the nexus, and they set off on a new adventure.   

As Wilde realizes they don’t have a way to heal Bambleby, she remembers something that Bambleby had said. Ariadne and Emily take off on a quest to find the one thing that rids Bambleby of the poison. The pair travel to Irelands faerie lands after guidance from De Grey and Eichorn. This book is full of trickery, chases, and the way of ruling the throne.