BookBrowse Reviews The Otherwhere Post by Emily J. Taylor

BookBrowse:

Emily J. Taylor's sophomore novel blends fantasy, loss, and dark academia into a thrilling mystery.

Maeve Abenthy has spent the past seven years hiding her identity to avoid being connected to her father, who broke one of magic's biggest rules, thereby destroying a world and most of its inhabitants. When Maeve unexpectedly receives a mysterious letter claiming her father's innocence, she sets out to uncover the truth. But when her quest requires posing as an apprentice for the Otherwhere Post, the magical postal system whose couriers can travel between worlds, Maeve is quickly discovered as an imposter by Tristan, her mentor. Aided by Tristan, who keeps her secret, 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.

This world's unusual magic system, called scriptomancy, uses inked words to harness magic through marks known as scribings; scribings can be used to track down individuals, share memories, or create corporeal beings out of ink. Most interesting are the traveling scribings, which allow the couriers of the Post to travel between and deliver letters to the two remaining parallel worlds. Although scriptomancy is introduced in the book's first chapter, the specifics of the system are interwoven into Maeve's education at the Post, allowing readers to feel as if they're attending scriptomantic courses alongside her. Many academia novels are set in a campus setting where the characters rarely, if ever, attend class, so this aspect is refreshing, and the classroom setting also allows Taylor to incorporate details that later become clues. Additionally, a magic system based on words and letters lends itself to vivid and eloquent imagery, including lines that show the power of words ("A letter can become an extension of your soul if you will it, a trapped part of you that shakes loose whenever someone reads your words") as well as eldritch horrors: "A sluice of black ink spilled from the book as a skeletal man in a haggard tailcoat and top hat formed above the book, made entirely of ink. He held his head crookedly, a globule of ink flesh hanging in a looping ribbon from his sunken cheek."

As Maeve dives deeper into her search for her father's true story, these horrors become more dangerous. The increasingly deadly threats hint at the importance of the mystery behind her father's supposed actions and the world-changing knowledge he may have left behind. 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, such as Maeve's sorrow about her father's death or Tristan's confession about what happened to his last apprentice, convey emotion and remind readers of the loss and trauma the characters have experienced. As the mystery unravels, Maeve and her friends are forced to make desperate decisions to save themselves and their world. Taylor introduces believable red herrings and keeps the ultimate threat in hand until the finale, when readers will be hard pressed to determine the true villain.

The emotional heart of the story is Maeve's relationship with Tristan. Without his help, Maeve's search would be finished before it truly began. Rather than trying to discover her true identity, Tristan instead works to get to know Maeve, despite her efforts to stay away. Tristan suffers from his own significant traumas, and Taylor expertly explores the tension between grief and responsibility—at what point does someone's grief become less important than their responsibility to help others? The relationship between Maeve and Tristan slowly grows into a romance—Taylor says it wouldn't be one of her books without romance (see Beyond the Book)—and although the romance never outshines Maeve's mission, it's very sweet, and both characters grow as they learn to share both their grief and their dreams with each other. Maeve also learns to trust a few other individuals, forming a wonderful supporting cast who are each well-written and integral to helping Maeve find answers, not to mention simply being delightful in their own right.

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.

This review will run in the March 26, 2025 issue of BookBrowse Recommends.