5 Reasons to Read Emma Newman’s Split Worlds Series

Smashing the Patriarchy 
Last year, I wrote extensively about main character Cathy’s rebellious nature in a strict, patriarchal Victorian society, so of course I’m going to lay this out again as a reason you should be reading this series. We’re still fighting for women’s rights here in America, so it’s still especially relevant to read stories of women pushing back against unfair treatment by the men in their lives. In Between Two Thorns, Cathy has a chance to go to college in the real world (Mundanus), and as a result, she’s been able to work and live independently, making her own decisions and dating whomever she pleases. When her “fairy godfather” family patron, Lord Poppy, puts and end to this freedom, her whole life is turned inside out. She decides that rather than capitulate to her family’s wishes, she will remake the Nether (a mirror world to Mundanus) into a world where women are free.

Fun Worldbuilding
This series takes a very fun approach to urban fantasy/fae tropes those of us who’ve read a lot of fantasy fiction will recognize, and Newman does a fantastic job playing them up those while also introducing us to a fresh take on fairy mythology. In the Split Worlds, our Earth is known as Mundanus. At some point (for reasons revealed late in the series), the fae were sent to a new world, Exilium, so they could no longer interact with humans in Mundanus. But they still had special human families that benefited from their patronage, and thus, the Nether was built to house them. It’s split off from Mundanus and is a mirror of that world. Fae-touched families used Mundanus facades to enter the Nether counterparts, and Nether families had the benefit of never aging, as long as they didn’t spend too much time out in Mundanus. No one can understand why Cathy would give up such a good deal, which creates wonderful tension in the plot.

Diabolical Fae
Newman’s fae are exactly the kind of nefarious beings you’d expect, and it’s fun. Lord Poppy is a tricky one, and he’s only looking out for Cathy because it serves his needs, not the other way around. His ability to scheme and plot and connive makes him a delightful adversary, as they each try to outwit the other. Not to mention his plans to supplant other fae lords. The Elemental Court is a similar, yet opposing faction of beings that don’t factor into the overarching plot until much later in the series, but their influence is there, making Cathy’s life that much more complicated.

Talking Gargoyles and Grumpy Sorcerers
While Cathy is busy fighting the patriarchy of in Nether society, an entirely separate plot is taking place around Max, an Arbiter, whose task is to keep the fae and Nether people from interfering with Mundanus. No one in Mundanus is supposed to know that magic even exists. Unfortunately for Max, his soul got stuck in a gargoyle (for…reasons), so now he’s followed around by a Scooby-Doo-esque sidekick, much to his chagrin. The gargoyle provides a lot of comic relief, as the two of them sneak about Mundanus attempting to solve a murder while keeping those pesky Nether families from having too much influence on the Mundanes. Max goes to the last sorcerer standing for help, and definitely finds more than he bargained for when the sorcerer in question seems more like a senile old man than a powerful wielder of magic.

Noir Detectives Meet Magic
This is where Max’s plot comes into play: when a mass-murder of Arbiters takes place and the fae’s “puppets” of the Nether began kidnapping humans from Mundanus, Max launches into private detective mode, enlisting Cathy’s help on the Nether-side of things as he attempts to eliminate corruption in his ranks. There’s a curious lack of interference from the sorcerers, as more history is revealed about their relationship to the Split Worlds and the beings that reside in them. As Max uncovers the truth in All Good Things, the seemingly disparate plot threads we’ve been following through the series finally come together, providing a perfectly satisfying end to a wonderfully magical series.
All five books in the Split Worlds series are available now. And if you want more, Newman offers other stories in the Split Worlds setting available for free on her website.