The New York Times bestselling author of Hotel Magnifique returns with another glittering dark fantasy about a deadly mystery that spans worlds and a teenage girl who must risk everything to uncover the truth.
Seven years ago, Maeve Abenthy lost her world, her father, even her name. Desperate to escape the stain of her father’s crimes, she lives under a fake name, never staying in one place long enough to put down roots.
Then she receives a mysterious letter with four impossible words Your father was innocent.
To uncover the truth, she poses as an apprentice for the Otherwhere Post, where she’ll be trained in the art of scriptomancy—the dangerous magic that allows couriers to enchant letters and deliver them to other worlds. But looking into her father’s past draws more attention than she’d planned.
Her secretive, infuriatingly handsome mentor knows she’s lying about her identity, and time is running out to convince him to trust her. Worse, she begins to receive threatening letters, warning her to drop her investigation—or else. For Maeve to unravel the mystery of what happened seven years ago, she may have to forfeit her life.
Seven years ago, Maeve Abenthy lost her world, her father, even her name. Desperate to escape the stain of her father’s crimes, she lives under a fake name, never staying in one place long enough to put down roots.
Then she receives a mysterious letter with four impossible words Your father was innocent.
To uncover the truth, she poses as an apprentice for the Otherwhere Post, where she’ll be trained in the art of scriptomancy—the dangerous magic that allows couriers to enchant letters and deliver them to other worlds. But looking into her father’s past draws more attention than she’d planned.
Her secretive, infuriatingly handsome mentor knows she’s lying about her identity, and time is running out to convince him to trust her. Worse, she begins to receive threatening letters, warning her to drop her investigation—or else. For Maeve to unravel the mystery of what happened seven years ago, she may have to forfeit her life.
Title: The Otherwhere Post
Author: Emily J. Taylor
Publisher: Putnam Sons Books for Young Readers
Expected Publication Date: February 25, 2025
Review:
Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Group/Penguin Young Readers Group for supplying me with an egalley of this book to read and give my honest review. The opinions expressed here are my own.
When the blurb says those loving Divine Rivals and A Study In Drowning will love this one, it could not have been more true. This book absolutely gives Divine Rivals vibes for me. I would venture to say you could also compare it to Curious Tides. I love dark academia. This one is a bit of a twist on most dark academia books I've read. The mix of mystery with a cool magic system layered with some nice world building really had me turning the pages.
Maeve is a main character you can definitely relate to. I love that she's not perfect. She has lived her life on the run since her father caused a terrible accident killing many people. She has no training in the magic system. She has no real money. And she's determined to keep her identity a secret. She does a lot of illegal things to get herself into the academic setting that will hopefully help her clear her father's name. While I loved the was the underdog, I will say all the things she gets away with are a bit over the top. She's never caught or found out. It just seems so impossible to me.
Tristan is a great character. I love that he is related to the man who runs the Otherwhere post and is in charge of the scribes. But he definitely is a rebel in his own right. I would have liked to see him use his magic more.
I enjoyed the romance that was built. It was light with a reliance on the chemistry and slow burn between the two characters.
I loved the layering of the worlds. How you have three different worlds lining up parallel. The one thing I would have liked to see is the background of these worlds. Taylor does a good job of building the world Maeve and Tristan reside in, but we don't know much about the other two worlds. I can easily understand not knowing the one which has been closed off, though Maeve lived there so I feel like flashbacks could have helped with that. But I didn't see much difference between the other two worlds.
The side characters were interesting. Lots of personalities were developed. I liked how Maeve was able to make friends, despite her secrecy with who she was. And especially since she didn't really have any friends prior to entering The Otherwhere Post.
I would have liked to see a bit more story revolved around the academia. We don't really see much of the students in class to get the sense of the academic setting outside of being told they are at a university.
The pacing of this one was really good. I didn't want to put it down. The mystery had me totally intrigued and the world was different from other fantasy worlds I've read in the past. The writing flowed really well.
The story does wrap up in the end, though I see the potential for other stories within this world that she has built. And it did feel just a bit rushed with everything tying up in a neat bow.
Overall, I really enjoyed this one. There are a few kinks and some plot inconsistencies that bothered me, dropping my rating to 4.5/5 stars. But I really liked the author's prose, so much so I decided to download the other books by this author.
If you're looking for something to read after your Divine Rivals hangover, this one will definitely fill that gap.
Author:
Emily was born and raised in California and has since refused to stay put. She's lived in four states and two continents, all of which have conveniently given her an endless amount of story fodder. She currently works as a creative director in Minneapolis, where she spends the long winters dreaming up glittering worlds to spin into dark tales.
Follow Emily on Instagram @emilycanwrite
https://www.instagram.com/emilycanwrite/
Follow Emily on Instagram @emilycanwrite
https://www.instagram.com/emilycanwrite/
No comments:
Post a Comment