The Otherwhere PostReview posted September 13, 2026.
Listening Library, 2025. 11 hours, 22 minutes.
Review written January 23, 2026, from a library eaudiobook.
Starred Review
I placed The Otherwhere Post on hold because I wanted to see why so many other people had done the same. (My job is to select books for a large public library system, so I see what's popular and often get curious.) Sometimes I'm disappointed by that method, but not this time. The Otherwhere Post pulls us right into the action, as Maeve Abenthy has a ticket to another city, to adopt another identity, because she's been in her current position, working in an ink shop, too long, and people might realize who her father is.
The whole world, including Maeve, believe that seven years ago, her father was responsible for the living death of every person in Inverlea, one of the three known worlds. But then the Otherwhere Post finds a way to deliver a batch of old letters from shortly after the tragedy - and Maeve receives an anonymous letter from an "old friend" of her father who claims he was innocent - and they have proof. Only Maeve has already missed the meeting he proposed for seven years ago.
All magic in the three known worlds is done through scriptomancy - messages written with special ink by talented, trained people. Maeve's father was a skilled scriptomancer and courier and lived at the Otherwhere Post, with Maeve in the keeping of her aunt after her mother's death. So Maeve decides that the obvious way to find this "old friend" is to train to be a courier. Good thing her father grounded her in the basics of writing. Now if she can just pass the admissions test.
Of course, once Maeve gets to the academy, she's going to have trouble finding the old friend, when she doesn't dare reveal who she is. But someone knows and starts sending her magical threatening letters.
I shouldn't have liked this book, because the plot is pretty chaotic, with some drastic turns at various points. But I liked Maeve immensely (despite the unethical way she got into the school), and I liked the young man assigned to be her mentor, and the world-building was creative, so I forgot to be nitpicky and enjoyed the ride.