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Book Reviewed by: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 everything: 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.
Excerpt
The Otherwhere Post by Emily J. Taylor
Maeve always carried the love letter with her. She knew every ink stroke by heart, that it took twenty-three seconds to unsheathe the brittle paper from the envelope and read the tender words penned by her mother to her father ages ago. It was all she had left of her parents.
Today, however, it sat like a weight at the base of her right pocket.
Tucking her rust-red braid into her coat collar, Maeve hurried up the rain-slicked cobblestones of Widdick's Close until she crested the hill near her flat.Autumn air clung like wet leaves to her tongue. Bleak ocean winds beat her cheeks, and the city of Gloam spread out before her: blackened stone university buildings tangled between steep roads that ran together like an ink spill. The city of Gloam in Leyland.
It was such an ugly world.
Maeve imagined she could see the two other known worlds of Inverly and Barrow wrapped over ...
Maeve begins to dig into her father's past and discovers more than she bargained for. Filled with mystery, loss, and unique magic, The Otherwhere Post is a solid sophomore novel for Emily J. Taylor. Taylor writes a solid mystery, with shocking revelations that feel natural to the progression of Maeve's search. Although these emerge slowly at first, the world building and character development keep the story moving; the slower moments convey emotion and remind readers of the loss and trauma the characters have experienced. Taylor's novel is fantastical, clever, romantic, and utterly enthralling. The Otherwhere Post will appeal to fans of mystery, romantasy, and dark academia and leave them wanting more of this magical world...continued
Full Review
(707 words)
(Reviewed by Jordan Lynch).
Jessica S. Olson, author of A Forgery of Roses
Unique, whimsical, and utterly spellbinding, The Otherwhere Post kept me captivated until the very last page. Emily J. Taylor is as much a magician with her words as are the characters she writes. A triumphant sophomore novel that asserts Taylor as one of YA's most compelling storytellers. Lyssa Mia Smith, author of Revelle
A high stakes, deliciously dark tale of a young woman risking it all for the truth. From its brilliant magic to the torturous slow burn romance, The Otherwhere Post mesmerizes from cover to cover.
Emily J. Taylor's sophomore novel, The Otherwhere Post, is an academic young adult fantasy filled with haunting secrets, a fascinating magic system, and a sweet slow-burn romance. Taylor has shared that the idea for the story struck in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown. Between quarantining and the sleep deprivation that comes with having a newborn, Taylor says she felt like she was living on a planet apart from all her loved ones. A banal trip to the mailbox, however, sparked an idea: a magical post office that delivered letters to other worlds. But how do you make a story about a postal service, even a magical one, interesting?
You pair it with an intriguing lead. "An image formed in my mind," says Taylor, &...
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