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Flora Trilogy #2
Flora's Dare
Flora Fyrdraaca wants nothing more than to be a ranger, and for that she must master the magickal—and dangerous—language of Gramatica. But before she can find the ideal teacher, her aspirations are put to the test. Would a true ranger be intimidated by a tentacle that reaches for her from the depths of a toilet? Be daunted by her best friend’s transformation into a notorious outlaw, thanks to a pair of sparkly stolen boots? Be cowed by the revelation that only she can rescue the city of Califa from the violent earthquakes that threaten its survival?
Never. Saving her city and her best friend are the least a Girl of Spirit can do—yet what Flora doesn’t expect are the life-altering revelations she learns about her family and herself.
Never. Saving her city and her best friend are the least a Girl of Spirit can do—yet what Flora doesn’t expect are the life-altering revelations she learns about her family and herself.
528 pages, Hardcover
First published September 1, 2008
About the author
Ysabeau S. Wilce
21 books253 followersYsabeau S. Wilce was born in the City of Califa at the age of one. While her parents were on a diplomatic mission to the Huitzil Empire, she was cared for by an uncle what brought her up by hand. She attended Sanctuary School as a scholarship girl and then spent three years at the University of Califa where she took a double degree in Apotropaic Philosophy and Confabulation.
She then became laundress to Company C, Enthusiastic Regiment of the Army of Califa, and accompanied her unit to Fort Gehenna, Arivaipa Territory. While in Arivaipa she was bitten by a wer-flamingo; only the timely intervention by the local curandero saved her from an awful skin-shifting pink fate.
After returning to Califa to recuperate, Ysabeau was employed by the Califa Society for Historiography and Graphic Maps as an archivist. It was then she first developed an interest in the history of the Republic and began researching the City’s past.
After losing her position during the Great Bureaucratic Budgetary Freeze of ’07 she took a position as pot-girl at the Mono Real coffee bar, and during her free time began on the first volume of Califa in Sunshine and Shade: A Glorious History of A Glorious Republic. "Volume I: Metal More Attractive" appeared in Fantasy and Science Fiction Magazine January of that same year, and was followed by "Volume II. The Lineaments of Gratified Desire" the next year. Other monographs on incidents in Califa history followed, until the publication of the first full length volume Flora Segunda Being the Magical Mishaps of a Girl of Spirit, Her Glass-Gazing Sidekick, Two Ominous Butlers (One Blue), A House with Eleven Thousand Rooms and a Red Dog, which is available from your local bookmonger now.
In her spare time, Ysabeau enjoys chewing, sleeping, gossiping, and folding paper-towels into napkins. She currently resides in the City of Porkopolis with her husband, a cheese-swilling financier, and a dog that is not red. She does not have a butler.
Comments, compliments, critiques, and bon mots may be addressed to [email protected] where they will be duly noted, but not necessarily heeded.
To receive random updates on Ysabeau's projects and projections, please join her exclusive private mailing list. Special reports will be intermittent but very informative and entertaining.
She then became laundress to Company C, Enthusiastic Regiment of the Army of Califa, and accompanied her unit to Fort Gehenna, Arivaipa Territory. While in Arivaipa she was bitten by a wer-flamingo; only the timely intervention by the local curandero saved her from an awful skin-shifting pink fate.
After returning to Califa to recuperate, Ysabeau was employed by the Califa Society for Historiography and Graphic Maps as an archivist. It was then she first developed an interest in the history of the Republic and began researching the City’s past.
After losing her position during the Great Bureaucratic Budgetary Freeze of ’07 she took a position as pot-girl at the Mono Real coffee bar, and during her free time began on the first volume of Califa in Sunshine and Shade: A Glorious History of A Glorious Republic. "Volume I: Metal More Attractive" appeared in Fantasy and Science Fiction Magazine January of that same year, and was followed by "Volume II. The Lineaments of Gratified Desire" the next year. Other monographs on incidents in Califa history followed, until the publication of the first full length volume Flora Segunda Being the Magical Mishaps of a Girl of Spirit, Her Glass-Gazing Sidekick, Two Ominous Butlers (One Blue), A House with Eleven Thousand Rooms and a Red Dog, which is available from your local bookmonger now.
In her spare time, Ysabeau enjoys chewing, sleeping, gossiping, and folding paper-towels into napkins. She currently resides in the City of Porkopolis with her husband, a cheese-swilling financier, and a dog that is not red. She does not have a butler.
Comments, compliments, critiques, and bon mots may be addressed to [email protected] where they will be duly noted, but not necessarily heeded.
To receive random updates on Ysabeau's projects and projections, please join her exclusive private mailing list. Special reports will be intermittent but very informative and entertaining.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 210 reviews
August 30, 2019
8/29/19: I went straight into this one from re-reading Flora Segunda and loved it just as much as I remembered--better, because it's been long enough that I'd forgotten some of the details. The characterization is crazy good and I even liked Udo, who as I recall made me seriously annoyed the first time. And the ending is deeply moving. All the endings; there are at least three. This book has so much to say about the families we're born to and the families we make, and . Really quite marvelous.
5/8/12: Flora's Dare is even better than Flora Segunda, and that one was pretty amazing. Flora's Dare feels a little more finished to me, probably because Flora's various quests all grow out of one desire, which is to become a Ranger. All the complicating factors come from other people, like her sister Idden and her friend Udo, or from external problems like the Loliga, a spirit creature trapped in the body of a giant squid, who's trying to escape captivity by destroying Califa. There's time-travel and ghouls and possessed footwear and secret identities and a magical plushy pig. Flora remains an unconventional heroine, this time because she doesn't recognize just how heroic her actions are. All she sees is her failure to accomplish what she set out to do, and that makes her sympathetic. I like her developing relationship with Udo--or, more accurately, Udo's development into a responsible human being instead of a self-absorbed prat with all the sensitivity of a rock. It's also nice to see her father come out of his depression and become more reliable. I'm looking forward to the next book.
5/8/12: Flora's Dare is even better than Flora Segunda, and that one was pretty amazing. Flora's Dare feels a little more finished to me, probably because Flora's various quests all grow out of one desire, which is to become a Ranger. All the complicating factors come from other people, like her sister Idden and her friend Udo, or from external problems like the Loliga, a spirit creature trapped in the body of a giant squid, who's trying to escape captivity by destroying Califa. There's time-travel and ghouls and possessed footwear and secret identities and a magical plushy pig. Flora remains an unconventional heroine, this time because she doesn't recognize just how heroic her actions are. All she sees is her failure to accomplish what she set out to do, and that makes her sympathetic. I like her developing relationship with Udo--or, more accurately, Udo's development into a responsible human being instead of a self-absorbed prat with all the sensitivity of a rock. It's also nice to see her father come out of his depression and become more reliable. I'm looking forward to the next book.
December 18, 2008
This is the luscious sequel to Flora Segunda (Harcourt, 2006), featuring the intrepid and impetuous daughter of the Commanding General of the Army of Califa (known to Flora as Mamma) and the ex-aide-de-camp to the previous commanding General, ex-Ranger, and ex-drunk and crazy person (whom Flora calls Poppy). Their household is an illustrious one, but due to the huge restrictions Mamma has placed on their house Butler (a supernatural creature of the “domicilic denizen” type), the place is decrepit and Flora must do all the chores.
In Flora’s Dare, Flora has reached her 14th birthday and thus gained the age of maturity, but nothing has changed. Her father, though no longer drunk, has become quite a tyrant and her mother shows no signs of letting Flora pursue her dream of being a ranger (rather than go into the army, which is the family career). However, Flora is incapable of leading a boring life, and soon she must cope with the tasty but dangerous Lord Axacaya, the possession and then zombification of her best friend Udo, a giant pregnant monster imprisoned under the city who is causing earthquakes – and much more, of course.
This is an alternate world. The setting is very clearly San Francisco in California, called here the City of Califa, and various sites figure prominently in the story (the ruins of the bathhouse, the Fort, and many more) – but the culture and history are very different. It’s a world of military might and magic (the two elements being more or less inimical in this society), with everything being run by what seems to be a handful of Great Families, including Flora’s family the Fyrdraacas. There are balls and extravaganzas, but there are also seedy dives featuring thrash music and mosh pits. There are horses, spirits, and amazing fashions (Frock coats! Weskits! Stays! Kilts! And plenty of “maquillage” as make-up is called). Well-brought up people greet each other with formal gestures called courtesies, made up of bows, curtsies and gestures that have various ultra-specific meanings, such as Acknowledging Heroic Style; As a Servant to His Mistress, Respectfully but Without Servility; To One Who is Owed Great Thanks; and so on. There must be a courtesy for every situation under the sun.
Flora goes bashing about this world in an outrageously spirited and pig-headed way, her frizzy red hair flouncing and her stays straining around her plump and energetic body. Udo, gorgeous and always fabulously dressed and maguillaged (often his biggest decision of the day is whether to wear scarlet or blue lipstick), is Flora’s side-kick in her adventures – when he becomes infatuated with the Warlord’s daughter Zu-Zu, Flora is disgusted, annoyed – and perhaps jealous.
Flora narrates this tale, and so the language is florid and vivid, spiced up with outré observations of her fellow citizens, complaints about her too-tight stays, and wise sayings of the most famous ranger of them all, Nini Mo – an example is “You’d be amazed ho much dry socks matter.” Although events hasten pell-mell one after another, Flora’s narration keeps the reader on course and caring deeply about her fate (which often seems headed straight toward doom of one kind or another). She is quite candid about sexy Lord Axacaya’s rather visceral effect on her, but she can’t acknowledge her feelings for Udo until the very end.
Endless excitement and boundless imagination, all centered in an exotic yet strangely familiar world and on the most exuberant of female characters. There had fiking well be a third book, is all I can say!
Grades 6 and up.
In Flora’s Dare, Flora has reached her 14th birthday and thus gained the age of maturity, but nothing has changed. Her father, though no longer drunk, has become quite a tyrant and her mother shows no signs of letting Flora pursue her dream of being a ranger (rather than go into the army, which is the family career). However, Flora is incapable of leading a boring life, and soon she must cope with the tasty but dangerous Lord Axacaya, the possession and then zombification of her best friend Udo, a giant pregnant monster imprisoned under the city who is causing earthquakes – and much more, of course.
This is an alternate world. The setting is very clearly San Francisco in California, called here the City of Califa, and various sites figure prominently in the story (the ruins of the bathhouse, the Fort, and many more) – but the culture and history are very different. It’s a world of military might and magic (the two elements being more or less inimical in this society), with everything being run by what seems to be a handful of Great Families, including Flora’s family the Fyrdraacas. There are balls and extravaganzas, but there are also seedy dives featuring thrash music and mosh pits. There are horses, spirits, and amazing fashions (Frock coats! Weskits! Stays! Kilts! And plenty of “maquillage” as make-up is called). Well-brought up people greet each other with formal gestures called courtesies, made up of bows, curtsies and gestures that have various ultra-specific meanings, such as Acknowledging Heroic Style; As a Servant to His Mistress, Respectfully but Without Servility; To One Who is Owed Great Thanks; and so on. There must be a courtesy for every situation under the sun.
Flora goes bashing about this world in an outrageously spirited and pig-headed way, her frizzy red hair flouncing and her stays straining around her plump and energetic body. Udo, gorgeous and always fabulously dressed and maguillaged (often his biggest decision of the day is whether to wear scarlet or blue lipstick), is Flora’s side-kick in her adventures – when he becomes infatuated with the Warlord’s daughter Zu-Zu, Flora is disgusted, annoyed – and perhaps jealous.
Flora narrates this tale, and so the language is florid and vivid, spiced up with outré observations of her fellow citizens, complaints about her too-tight stays, and wise sayings of the most famous ranger of them all, Nini Mo – an example is “You’d be amazed ho much dry socks matter.” Although events hasten pell-mell one after another, Flora’s narration keeps the reader on course and caring deeply about her fate (which often seems headed straight toward doom of one kind or another). She is quite candid about sexy Lord Axacaya’s rather visceral effect on her, but she can’t acknowledge her feelings for Udo until the very end.
Endless excitement and boundless imagination, all centered in an exotic yet strangely familiar world and on the most exuberant of female characters. There had fiking well be a third book, is all I can say!
Grades 6 and up.
January 21, 2019
Awesome. I like the Way flora is growing up, and the messes she has to deal with and the frantic rushing about, and the Springheel Jack bit. There's a giant squid; it's awesome. A giant squid, a faithful horse, a plushy pig, and Magick. I wonder if Wilce is a Zim fan?
February 5, 2012
3.5
A fast-paced book with lots of adventure and twists and turns that keep you on your toes. This book picks up shortly after the end of the first book, and since most of the world-building and whatnot is out of the way, it allows the author to jump right into the story and keep things moving.
That said, there are two things which kind of were a bit off for me:
1) While I enjoy the characters, I don't really feel like I have a strong attachment to them, and that's something I look for when reading books. Without that attachment the story feels more distant and has less of an impact on me, personally.
2) I marked the first in the series as middle-grade because of the general writing style and some of the cutesy things. (This series is very whimsical, in the good sense of the word.) This go-round, however, I found that the general style still felt kind of middle-grade to me, but some of the goings on were rather more mature and would place it more in the young-adult arena. It's an odd kind of juxtaposition and was a bit jarring at times.
Other than that, though, it was a fun and entertaining read, and I look forward to the next in the series - especially after that ending!
A fast-paced book with lots of adventure and twists and turns that keep you on your toes. This book picks up shortly after the end of the first book, and since most of the world-building and whatnot is out of the way, it allows the author to jump right into the story and keep things moving.
That said, there are two things which kind of were a bit off for me:
1) While I enjoy the characters, I don't really feel like I have a strong attachment to them, and that's something I look for when reading books. Without that attachment the story feels more distant and has less of an impact on me, personally.
2) I marked the first in the series as middle-grade because of the general writing style and some of the cutesy things. (This series is very whimsical, in the good sense of the word.) This go-round, however, I found that the general style still felt kind of middle-grade to me, but some of the goings on were rather more mature and would place it more in the young-adult arena. It's an odd kind of juxtaposition and was a bit jarring at times.
Other than that, though, it was a fun and entertaining read, and I look forward to the next in the series - especially after that ending!
May 24, 2020
This is better. I wouldn’t say good, but it’s better than the first book (could that have been standard debut woes?) - more sure of itself, more deft in its prose, structured better, more surprising.
There’s something odd about this series in that tonally, I keep expecting it to be middle grade fantasy. It’s not. It’s a disconnect that keeps me from finding this world really engrossing, I think.
There’s something odd about this series in that tonally, I keep expecting it to be middle grade fantasy. It’s not. It’s a disconnect that keeps me from finding this world really engrossing, I think.
August 31, 2017
Guess what! This is not, in fact, the first book in the series!
Why do I keep somehow doing this to myself over and over? Either I am some kind of truly remarkable moron, or publishers should really mark books with NUMBER TWO IN THE FLORA TRILOGY when they are number two in the Flora Trilogy.
Anyway, this book was good! I gave it four stars, but its somewhere between a "solid" and a "very much yes." The guts of the book is three-star worthy. Flora walks the line between charging around being young and dumb, and actually having occasional moments of heart. The magic is fun, and the eccentric household-running magical entities are the best characters, as they always are. I couldn't actually get past the fact that Udo was a jerk 89% of the time he was sane, in order to like him at all.
There was this odd dissonance between consistent cutesy slang ("giftie" "snackie"), cutesy tone (Flora referencing absurd Nini Mo quotes all the time), and how unflinchingly violent the book is. Flora's humorous perspective and the very strong, pervasive whimsy would have me place Flora's Dare as a solid middle grade book if it weren't for some pretty brutal details that make me think it's more YA.
Two fourteen-year-olds sneak out to have a night out on the town and they end up inadvertently killing a dude and later disposing of his dead body -- featuring detailed description of the corpse and its decay. People seem to be dying all the time, some killed by Flora. Somebody's dead grandmother comes to life and tries to eat them. There is some serious tension between how naive Flora comes off as, and the hardcoreness of the world she lives in. It's weirdly compelling.
The fourth star is for the worldbuilding. It's crazy and so unique that I'm still kind of blinking in bewilderment. Its seems to be kind of Wild West/Mexican-based? But also uses that ð letter from Old English a lot? Everyone wears makeup regardless of gender? And also lacrosse exists? And the magic words are all written in Wingdings font? And everybody wears kilts? And you can have three parents? And moshing also exists?
It's all somewhat dizzying, although that probably wasn't helped by jumping in on book #2. Not life-changing, but very interesting and enjoyable -- and certainly original!
Why do I keep somehow doing this to myself over and over? Either I am some kind of truly remarkable moron, or publishers should really mark books with NUMBER TWO IN THE FLORA TRILOGY when they are number two in the Flora Trilogy.
Anyway, this book was good! I gave it four stars, but its somewhere between a "solid" and a "very much yes." The guts of the book is three-star worthy. Flora walks the line between charging around being young and dumb, and actually having occasional moments of heart. The magic is fun, and the eccentric household-running magical entities are the best characters, as they always are. I couldn't actually get past the fact that Udo was a jerk 89% of the time he was sane, in order to like him at all.
There was this odd dissonance between consistent cutesy slang ("giftie" "snackie"), cutesy tone (Flora referencing absurd Nini Mo quotes all the time), and how unflinchingly violent the book is. Flora's humorous perspective and the very strong, pervasive whimsy would have me place Flora's Dare as a solid middle grade book if it weren't for some pretty brutal details that make me think it's more YA.
Two fourteen-year-olds sneak out to have a night out on the town and they end up inadvertently killing a dude and later disposing of his dead body -- featuring detailed description of the corpse and its decay. People seem to be dying all the time, some killed by Flora. Somebody's dead grandmother comes to life and tries to eat them. There is some serious tension between how naive Flora comes off as, and the hardcoreness of the world she lives in. It's weirdly compelling.
The fourth star is for the worldbuilding. It's crazy and so unique that I'm still kind of blinking in bewilderment. Its seems to be kind of Wild West/Mexican-based? But also uses that ð letter from Old English a lot? Everyone wears makeup regardless of gender? And also lacrosse exists? And the magic words are all written in Wingdings font? And everybody wears kilts? And you can have three parents? And moshing also exists?
It's all somewhat dizzying, although that probably wasn't helped by jumping in on book #2. Not life-changing, but very interesting and enjoyable -- and certainly original!
July 28, 2009
The book starts shortly after Flora Segunda ends, and the repurcussions of that adventure are still being sorted out. Through Flora's intervention, Poppy has managed to pull himself out of madness and a drunken stupor and insists on strict military rules for Crackpot Hall. Meanwhile, Flora's perfect older sister Idden has deserted the military and is running wild with a group of revolutionaries. And worst of all, Flora's best friend, the beautiful and vain Udo, has fallen in with a bad crowd. (Wilce does probably the best job I have ever seen of creating fictional sub-cultures.) But Flora can't deal with any of these problems, because Califa's earthquakes are ever worsening, and according to Lord Axacaya, she is the only one who can stop them.
This is a really fantastic book. I recommend it to anyone who loved Harry Potter but wished the characters did a bit more research, or who loved Jonathan Strange&Mr. Norell but wished for more adventure. The world building, word-play, character arcs--all are absolutely fabulous.
This is a really fantastic book. I recommend it to anyone who loved Harry Potter but wished the characters did a bit more research, or who loved Jonathan Strange&Mr. Norell but wished for more adventure. The world building, word-play, character arcs--all are absolutely fabulous.
February 11, 2015
"Not all that glitters is worth the shine" p 205 - Quetzal
"When in doubt keep your yap shut said Nina Mo" p 112, Ranger par Extraordinaire. In person-ghost, she admits the yellow books of stories are mostly fibs. Those gleams of truth inspire Flora to great deeds.
Maybe surprise ending. More like https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... ending. Just because ghost is not with others, person could be fully dead, like Flora's soul "animé" almost gets swallowed whole in the Other "water". Or she could be away? busy? no?
"I'm bored all the time, and it's horrible. I don't want to spend the rest of my life being bored" p 226. Narrator Flora 14 complains Poppy has gone from crazy drunk to rigid tyrant, cooks, cleans, orders her around. She chases after best pal Udo who dates snobbish Zu-Zu, really bigwig. Idden, Flora's older soldier sister, goes AWOL.
"Love counts as much as blood" p 415.
"We have our ways" p 414. Idden and gang turn up later, deus ex machina, save the day, get away.
Table of Contents listing chapter titles would be most helpful and entertaining. "Dirty Dishes. A Brief Recap. Woe" p 9 ch 1. Preceding ""What I Learned Last Term" is summary of last book, muchly appreciated.
"Pig will help" p 340. Flora's stuffed toy from Tiny "had almost eaten that kakodaemon" p 340. Handy. The oriental-ish heiroglyphic-al icons typeset (I cannot copy here) show she casts a mighty massive spell. She comes through when she really needs help. How can she lose? Sneaky device, author Wilce dear.
"My heart was buzzing like a bee" p 213. Flora has a crush on Lord Axacaya, blind yet "see much more than I ever did" p 223. We can tell he is going to double-cross her, but not such a doozy. We are left with questions.
"I was getting older, and Mamma was too. For some reason this thought made me sad" p 238. Flora seems to mature over the book. We're never told her height, just get an impression of stockiness, lovely mother she may take after.
"People who weren't going to move for the 135 pounds of me were quicker to get out of the way of a thousand pounds of horse" p 265. Lots of "of", but it works. Next book is a gotta-get.
Typo:
p 414 "We've had you in our sites for a long time -- Poppy too" - sites is sights
"When in doubt keep your yap shut said Nina Mo" p 112, Ranger par Extraordinaire. In person-ghost, she admits the yellow books of stories are mostly fibs. Those gleams of truth inspire Flora to great deeds.
Maybe surprise ending. More like https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... ending. Just because ghost is not with others, person could be fully dead, like Flora's soul "animé" almost gets swallowed whole in the Other "water". Or she could be away? busy? no?
"I'm bored all the time, and it's horrible. I don't want to spend the rest of my life being bored" p 226. Narrator Flora 14 complains Poppy has gone from crazy drunk to rigid tyrant, cooks, cleans, orders her around. She chases after best pal Udo who dates snobbish Zu-Zu, really bigwig. Idden, Flora's older soldier sister, goes AWOL.
"Love counts as much as blood" p 415.
"We have our ways" p 414. Idden and gang turn up later, deus ex machina, save the day, get away.
Table of Contents listing chapter titles would be most helpful and entertaining. "Dirty Dishes. A Brief Recap. Woe" p 9 ch 1. Preceding ""What I Learned Last Term" is summary of last book, muchly appreciated.
"Pig will help" p 340. Flora's stuffed toy from Tiny "had almost eaten that kakodaemon" p 340. Handy. The oriental-ish heiroglyphic-al icons typeset (I cannot copy here) show she casts a mighty massive spell. She comes through when she really needs help. How can she lose? Sneaky device, author Wilce dear.
"My heart was buzzing like a bee" p 213. Flora has a crush on Lord Axacaya, blind yet "see much more than I ever did" p 223. We can tell he is going to double-cross her, but not such a doozy. We are left with questions.
"I was getting older, and Mamma was too. For some reason this thought made me sad" p 238. Flora seems to mature over the book. We're never told her height, just get an impression of stockiness, lovely mother she may take after.
"People who weren't going to move for the 135 pounds of me were quicker to get out of the way of a thousand pounds of horse" p 265. Lots of "of", but it works. Next book is a gotta-get.
Typo:
p 414 "We've had you in our sites for a long time -- Poppy too" - sites is sights
November 12, 2011
Fantastic! This series is so wonderful, full of magic, mystery, houses with rooms unknown, and an amazing strong-female protagonist who gets better with every book. I can't believe I'd never heard of this series before, and now I can't wait for another one to come out. The author has a great sense of humor that pulses through the dialogue and the prose and the characters themselves.
I love that 'magick' can only be mastered by becoming proficient in a language called "Gramatica", which is terribly difficult to master. Spoken incorrectly, with the wrong inflection, tone, conjugation, feeling/emotion, and swiftness, the intended 'magick' can go horribly wrong. When attempting a Translocation (using 'magick' to go from one place to another) it is always tricky because you could end up inside a wall if you do it slightly incorrectly. I love that Flora is so strong-willed, yet fearful of punishment and being caught at the same time. A truly precocious leading gal, which makes a story so great!
The first book was called: "Flora Segunda: Being the Magickal Mishaps of a Girl of Spirit, Her Glass-Gazing Sidekick, Two Ominous Butlers (One Blue), a House with Eleven Thousand Rooms, and a Red Dog"
This second book's entire title is: "Flora's Dare: How a Girl of Spirit Gambles All to Expand Her Vocabulary, Confront a Bouncing Boy Terror, and Try to Save Califa from a Shaky Doom (Despite Being Confined to Her Room)"
The titles themselves give you a taste of the humor, the wit, and the precocity of Flora, which you'll find throughout the books.
Nini Mo is Flora's idol -- a real ranger (one who uses magick for good, etc.; Flora's family, the Fyrdraaca's, have always gone into the military, and Flora is expected to as well, and they think of magick as nonsense). Flora constantly quotes Nini Mo from her various adventure books and looks to her words for what to do when she gets into various troublesome situations. This little precursor leads me to a paragraph I found quite entertaining:
"I am going to be a ranger. And rangers do not waste their time sitting in a classroom. The greatest ranger of them all -- Nyana Keegan, better known as Nini Mo -- chronicled her adventures in a series of yellowback novels called Nini Mo: Coyote Queen. (Coyote being the slangy term for ranger, of course.) There is no yellowback called 'Nini Mo sits in Math Class,' or 'Nini Mo and the Curse of the Overdue Library Book,' or 'Nini Mo vs. the Term Paper on the Orthogonal Uses of Liminal Spaces in the Novels of Lucretia McWordypants.'"
---> Favorite new words from this paragraph: "slangy" and "McWordypants"
I also love that Flora is fine with what she looks like, and would rather not be all looks-obsessed. In one moment she shouts back at Valefor, her house's cast-off butler who had been taunting her for her weight: "Shut up. I'd rather be round than look like a stick." That's pretty awesome.
Another excerpt: "Climbing across the roof is the trickiest part because it's small, slanty, and tiled, and those tiles can be pretty slickery."
---> Favorite new words: "slanty" and "slickery"
The most scandalous "curse words" Flora uses are: "fike" and phrases like this: "Pigface Psychopomp on a Pogostick!"
What more do you need to know? Read these books!
I love that 'magick' can only be mastered by becoming proficient in a language called "Gramatica", which is terribly difficult to master. Spoken incorrectly, with the wrong inflection, tone, conjugation, feeling/emotion, and swiftness, the intended 'magick' can go horribly wrong. When attempting a Translocation (using 'magick' to go from one place to another) it is always tricky because you could end up inside a wall if you do it slightly incorrectly. I love that Flora is so strong-willed, yet fearful of punishment and being caught at the same time. A truly precocious leading gal, which makes a story so great!
The first book was called: "Flora Segunda: Being the Magickal Mishaps of a Girl of Spirit, Her Glass-Gazing Sidekick, Two Ominous Butlers (One Blue), a House with Eleven Thousand Rooms, and a Red Dog"
This second book's entire title is: "Flora's Dare: How a Girl of Spirit Gambles All to Expand Her Vocabulary, Confront a Bouncing Boy Terror, and Try to Save Califa from a Shaky Doom (Despite Being Confined to Her Room)"
The titles themselves give you a taste of the humor, the wit, and the precocity of Flora, which you'll find throughout the books.
Nini Mo is Flora's idol -- a real ranger (one who uses magick for good, etc.; Flora's family, the Fyrdraaca's, have always gone into the military, and Flora is expected to as well, and they think of magick as nonsense). Flora constantly quotes Nini Mo from her various adventure books and looks to her words for what to do when she gets into various troublesome situations. This little precursor leads me to a paragraph I found quite entertaining:
"I am going to be a ranger. And rangers do not waste their time sitting in a classroom. The greatest ranger of them all -- Nyana Keegan, better known as Nini Mo -- chronicled her adventures in a series of yellowback novels called Nini Mo: Coyote Queen. (Coyote being the slangy term for ranger, of course.) There is no yellowback called 'Nini Mo sits in Math Class,' or 'Nini Mo and the Curse of the Overdue Library Book,' or 'Nini Mo vs. the Term Paper on the Orthogonal Uses of Liminal Spaces in the Novels of Lucretia McWordypants.'"
---> Favorite new words from this paragraph: "slangy" and "McWordypants"
I also love that Flora is fine with what she looks like, and would rather not be all looks-obsessed. In one moment she shouts back at Valefor, her house's cast-off butler who had been taunting her for her weight: "Shut up. I'd rather be round than look like a stick." That's pretty awesome.
Another excerpt: "Climbing across the roof is the trickiest part because it's small, slanty, and tiled, and those tiles can be pretty slickery."
---> Favorite new words: "slanty" and "slickery"
The most scandalous "curse words" Flora uses are: "fike" and phrases like this: "Pigface Psychopomp on a Pogostick!"
What more do you need to know? Read these books!
November 14, 2008
Reviewed by Cat for TeensReadToo.com
Flora Fydraaca is one busy young lady.
Between her search for a Gramatica instructor, dealing with the fallout of her best friend Udo's moneymaking schemes in the bounty-hunting biz, elder sister Idden's desertion from Califa's military, discovering and thwarting the source of a series of deadly earthquakes threatening the city, a freshly sober and keenly aware father, a burgeoning crush on Califa's greatest living magickal adept and old Fydraaca family enemy Lord Axacaya, tentacles accosting her in public bathrooms, family secrets, assassination attempts, and inadequate sartorial resources - it's a wonder the girl has time to breathe.
At least this time around, Crackpot Manor's one and only accessible potty is up and running...
There is so much going on in FLORA'S DARE that it's by no means an overstatement to call the book a fantasy fiction lover's treasure trove. Author Ysabeau S. Wilce has done a remarkable job creating and populating Flora's world with multiple, complex plots and subplots, and plenty of intriguing information to keep readers coming back for more.
I deeply appreciated the level of sophistication Ms. Wilce has invested in the creation of Flora's world. She easily juggles plot threads without causing any confusion to the reader. By building the backstory of Flora's friends, family, adversaries, and the heroine herself into the narrative, she has created a series that will sustain itself over a number of books, striking the perfect balance between a compelling story and characters that are quirky yet deeply flawed.
Flora Fydraaca is one busy young lady.
Between her search for a Gramatica instructor, dealing with the fallout of her best friend Udo's moneymaking schemes in the bounty-hunting biz, elder sister Idden's desertion from Califa's military, discovering and thwarting the source of a series of deadly earthquakes threatening the city, a freshly sober and keenly aware father, a burgeoning crush on Califa's greatest living magickal adept and old Fydraaca family enemy Lord Axacaya, tentacles accosting her in public bathrooms, family secrets, assassination attempts, and inadequate sartorial resources - it's a wonder the girl has time to breathe.
At least this time around, Crackpot Manor's one and only accessible potty is up and running...
There is so much going on in FLORA'S DARE that it's by no means an overstatement to call the book a fantasy fiction lover's treasure trove. Author Ysabeau S. Wilce has done a remarkable job creating and populating Flora's world with multiple, complex plots and subplots, and plenty of intriguing information to keep readers coming back for more.
I deeply appreciated the level of sophistication Ms. Wilce has invested in the creation of Flora's world. She easily juggles plot threads without causing any confusion to the reader. By building the backstory of Flora's friends, family, adversaries, and the heroine herself into the narrative, she has created a series that will sustain itself over a number of books, striking the perfect balance between a compelling story and characters that are quirky yet deeply flawed.
July 17, 2011
Sequel to the superb 'Flora Segunda', which more than lives up to its predecessor. Now that the world-building s out of the way, we re free to concentrate on the plot: a whirlwind ride through the streets of Califa as Flora tries to pursue her dream of being a Ranger, find a Gramatica teacher, deal with the fallout of her sidekick Udo s latest and most disastrous money-making scheme, come to terms with her saintly sister Idden s desertion from the Califa military, fight off many-tentacled monsters in the lavatory, fumble her way through the many-more-tentacled monster of Califa politics, stop a series of earthquakes that threaten to drown the entire coastline, and find a pair of stays that she can run in. Along the way she learns a lot of things she never knew before: mostly, that everything she thought she knew is part of an elaborate political cover-up. And, it turns out, that even she herself isn t quite what, or who, she thought & [return][return]If Flora s Dare has a fault, it s that it follows the structure of the first book too closely, with another trip back into time, another encounter with an important person from her past, and another not-too-surprising betrayal. (If Flora herself has a fault, it s that, despite the world she lives in, she can be too na
September 24, 2012
Flora's Dare: How a Girl of Spirit Gambles All to Expand Her Vocabulary, Confront a Bouncing
Boy Terror, and Try to Save Califa from a Shaky Doom (Despite Being Confined to Her Room)
Well, you can easily tell that this book would be hard to forget from the title itself. Indeed the book is all about the things above. Flora is a stubborn and strong young girl, I mean, woman (seeing as that she is an "adult" now in her world) who is willing to do almost anything to learn Gramatika, a vocabulary that allows the speaker to invoke magic, and become a Ranger herself. She risks life and limb in her attempt to fulfill her dream. Along the way, her friendship with Udo, this boy who is obsessed with his looks and becoming a pirate (a Ranger and a pirate - pretty cool pair huh?) is tested by a pair of sparkling red boots and her city is in peril due to a giant octopus-like creature trapped in the depths of Califa. Not to mention she discovers that there is more to her past than she thought. I can't delve more into this without giving away the whole damn secret so you'll have to satisfy yourself with this. If you REALLY want to know in advance, just message me. No need to have innocent readers checking out my review for once to get caught in your curiosity.
Boy Terror, and Try to Save Califa from a Shaky Doom (Despite Being Confined to Her Room)
Well, you can easily tell that this book would be hard to forget from the title itself. Indeed the book is all about the things above. Flora is a stubborn and strong young girl, I mean, woman (seeing as that she is an "adult" now in her world) who is willing to do almost anything to learn Gramatika, a vocabulary that allows the speaker to invoke magic, and become a Ranger herself. She risks life and limb in her attempt to fulfill her dream. Along the way, her friendship with Udo, this boy who is obsessed with his looks and becoming a pirate (a Ranger and a pirate - pretty cool pair huh?) is tested by a pair of sparkling red boots and her city is in peril due to a giant octopus-like creature trapped in the depths of Califa. Not to mention she discovers that there is more to her past than she thought. I can't delve more into this without giving away the whole damn secret so you'll have to satisfy yourself with this. If you REALLY want to know in advance, just message me. No need to have innocent readers checking out my review for once to get caught in your curiosity.
October 23, 2014
ACTUAL RATING : 4.7
Dare, win or disappear.
THOUGHTS:
• This book was sooo much better the the 1st one!
• In the 1st book, Flora was okay. In this book, she was AMAZING! Gullible, but Amazing!
•
•
• How old is Lord Axacaya ? I mean Flora kept on blushing when he was around! That's weird.
• I absolutely LOVE the Nini Mo quotes! I even bookmarked some of it.
That's it! Sorry if it's kind of shorter than the other reviews. I disobeyed my rule of reviewing the book first before reading another book. I am now stuck in the world of "Heaven is for Real". Also, sorry for a bajillion of spoilers. Oops!
TA-DA!
Dare, win or disappear.
THOUGHTS:
• This book was sooo much better the the 1st one!
• In the 1st book, Flora was okay. In this book, she was AMAZING! Gullible, but Amazing!
•
•
• How old is Lord Axacaya ? I mean Flora kept on blushing when he was around! That's weird.
• I absolutely LOVE the Nini Mo quotes! I even bookmarked some of it.
That's it! Sorry if it's kind of shorter than the other reviews. I disobeyed my rule of reviewing the book first before reading another book. I am now stuck in the world of "Heaven is for Real". Also, sorry for a bajillion of spoilers. Oops!
TA-DA!
April 22, 2014
Wow!! Such imagination and adventure. This is a great book, even better than the first. Such an ending! I can't wait to read the next one. I highly recommend this book to young adults.
I do wish they would leave out the cursing and smoking. I would not recommend this book to much younger than 13. There is a lot of cursing, even though they use cutesy language, a lot of smoking and references to condoms. I could drop the references to condoms, but the cursing and the smoking are hard to get away from.
I love the fact the fact that hero is not conventionally beautiful. She makes frequent references to the fact that she is a bit on the pudgy side. It is nice to have a hero that is not perfectly fit and beautiful. We have so many protagonists that are charming, beautiful or charismatic that everybody falls in love with them. Flora is smart, brave and saucy but she is not beautiful. Hopefully if they do a movie of the series they will respect this and actually show somebody less than perfect looking.
I do wish they would leave out the cursing and smoking. I would not recommend this book to much younger than 13. There is a lot of cursing, even though they use cutesy language, a lot of smoking and references to condoms. I could drop the references to condoms, but the cursing and the smoking are hard to get away from.
I love the fact the fact that hero is not conventionally beautiful. She makes frequent references to the fact that she is a bit on the pudgy side. It is nice to have a hero that is not perfectly fit and beautiful. We have so many protagonists that are charming, beautiful or charismatic that everybody falls in love with them. Flora is smart, brave and saucy but she is not beautiful. Hopefully if they do a movie of the series they will respect this and actually show somebody less than perfect looking.
March 4, 2011
More magical adventures in alternate world California with fabulous gender politics and a Central American imperial overlord.
I remember finding this light and charming, but with a few weeks distance the flaws loom larger. My God the sidekick is irritating. Mostly though I’m just deeply skeeved by some of the language choices, which I believe I complained of in the prequel, too. But really! Have your heroine say she was “going to the potty,” while she’s being sexually prayed on by an older man to emphasize her inexperience. But do you have to keep doing it later when she’s exploring her sexuality of her own will? The infantilism of her language was just weird, and it creeped me right out in multiple places.
I remember finding this light and charming, but with a few weeks distance the flaws loom larger. My God the sidekick is irritating. Mostly though I’m just deeply skeeved by some of the language choices, which I believe I complained of in the prequel, too. But really! Have your heroine say she was “going to the potty,” while she’s being sexually prayed on by an older man to emphasize her inexperience. But do you have to keep doing it later when she’s exploring her sexuality of her own will? The infantilism of her language was just weird, and it creeped me right out in multiple places.
June 23, 2017
Flora Fyrdraaca still wants to become a ranger, like her hero Nini Mo, but to do that, she has to master magick by learning the magickal language of Gramatica. Finding a teacher is a lot more difficult and dangerous than Flora thought it would be, though, and soon she is embroiled in a fight to save her city, her family, her friends, and herself. But maybe her self isn't the person she thought she was....
As I'd heard, this was even better than the first one. The world and its history, the characters and their relationships, everything is deeper and wider and richer and more fascinating. Next book want, please!
As I'd heard, this was even better than the first one. The world and its history, the characters and their relationships, everything is deeper and wider and richer and more fascinating. Next book want, please!
December 11, 2014
4.5
Flora is a spunky, spunky gal and a very refreshing heroine. And this world is so imaginative in ways that other fantasy books are not (and fully fleshed out, at that!). I liked Flora's Dare even more than Flora Segunda (though that was pretty great, too) - possibly because it filled out even more history, character development, and world building from the first (while still having the non-stop action, humor, foibles and glorious escapes that the first one contained).
But how often do you get to say that a sequel is better?! Let's think about that a moment! I'm looking forward to reading #3!
Flora is a spunky, spunky gal and a very refreshing heroine. And this world is so imaginative in ways that other fantasy books are not (and fully fleshed out, at that!). I liked Flora's Dare even more than Flora Segunda (though that was pretty great, too) - possibly because it filled out even more history, character development, and world building from the first (while still having the non-stop action, humor, foibles and glorious escapes that the first one contained).
But how often do you get to say that a sequel is better?! Let's think about that a moment! I'm looking forward to reading #3!
January 29, 2014
For a young adult series, the Flora trilogy has begun to grab me by my laurels and seriously suck me in. In a way the progression of the series feels like the Harry Potter series if it had been condensed into 3 novels, and in a very good way.
The stakes are higher, the enemies are enemier, the love line is forming and these characters are slowly becoming dear to my heart. Also the nickname Tiny Doom is totally aces.
The stakes are higher, the enemies are enemier, the love line is forming and these characters are slowly becoming dear to my heart. Also the nickname Tiny Doom is totally aces.
March 26, 2014
This is a great series and I'm enjoying it a lot. Lots a silly characters and adventures with their own internal logic. Almost recognizably the San Francisco area of California, but in some strange world where the Aztecs won, and magic is so commonplace that even those who refuse to use it can't seem to tell the difference. This one is a little bit of a middle book, but it has lots of twists and lays the groundwork for some interesting new events.
May 26, 2012
Wow. I enjoyed Flora Segunda, the first book in this series, but found it a bit slow and had a bit of a challenge getting into the lingo of Califa. Not so with this book, which was nearly perfect. There was Pig! And Tiny Doom! And a giant squid! Flora remains a delightfully dark and headstrong heroine. Looking forward to the third book - glad I read them so late that all three are out!
September 5, 2009
Could hardly put the book down. Everything is so fresh, from the language to the characters to the setting. It's exciting to see a normal person really struggle with morality. Can't wait until my girls are old enough to read it on their own.
April 2, 2015
Super-great. At least as good as the first one.
June 6, 2020
Flora gets into another load of trouble as a monster long asleep starts shaking her world, her sister deserts the army, her friend deserts her, and her ancestry gets in question. Completely out of her depth, what is Flora to do?
Fail hilariously, but never give up, of course. Flora is 14, but in her world it means she's an adult - and she tries. There was a surprising number of sexual harrasement moments, it seems in Califa society 14 is really considered adult, especially in the eyes of some men. It's not visceral, but it's there, so if it's something that bothers you, now you know. I was a bit sad that a friendship gets turned into romance - I want friendships celebrated, damn it - and the only female character Flora's age that is not related to her is, of course, a giant bitch. That aside, this is really an enjoyable, fast paced story with kick-ass lore and colorful characters.
Fail hilariously, but never give up, of course. Flora is 14, but in her world it means she's an adult - and she tries. There was a surprising number of sexual harrasement moments, it seems in Califa society 14 is really considered adult, especially in the eyes of some men. It's not visceral, but it's there, so if it's something that bothers you, now you know. I was a bit sad that a friendship gets turned into romance - I want friendships celebrated, damn it - and the only female character Flora's age that is not related to her is, of course, a giant bitch. That aside, this is really an enjoyable, fast paced story with kick-ass lore and colorful characters.
May 24, 2013
In the sequel to Flora Segunda, Flora Fyrdraaca ov Fyrdraaca, fourteen-year-old heroine of an alternate-history version of San Francisco called Califa, finds out what her true name is. And while I'm mentioning it, I might add that the full title of this book is Flora's Dare: How a Girl of Spirit Gambles All to Expand Her Vocabulary, Confront a Bouncing Boy Terror, and Try to Save Califa from a Shaky Doom (Despite Being Confined to Her Room). Now take a deep breath, for three reasons: first, because that title was a lungful; second, because you're about to follow Flora on an adventure that will take her underwater for quite some time; and third, because Flora's world (designed by an author who boasts a graduate degree in military history) is so strange, so distinctive, so full of quirky surprises, so closely crammed with unfamiliar language and opportunities to boost your word power, that most likely you will almost—but not quite—give up. Almost, because it's going to make you work. Not quite, because it's so convincing and entertaining.
Flora was born in the aftermath of a devastating war between Califa and the Huitzil Empire, which practices human sacrifice and includes a race of winged, bird-headed people. The Birdies, as Flora's folk pejoratively call them, now rule Califa through a puppet Warlord, and keep an eagle eye on the city. The first sign of resistance to Huitzil rule could bring death and disaster to the city. So when Flora meets her elder sister Idden at a rave, and learns that Idden has deserted from the Army and joined a radical resistance group, the horror Flora feels is surpassed only by that of the slimy tentacle that attacks her in the club's filthy toilet.
The tentacle proves to be a sign that the Loliga—a massive, indescribable creature currently in the shape of a giant squid, that has long been trapped and magically bound in the watery caves beneath the city—is struggling to break free. Its struggles are already causing a series of increasingly devastating earthquakes. Unless the Loliga is freed, and soon, Califa will be destroyed.
The trouble is that Flora is the only one who can do anything about it; but she doesn't know what to do. She seeks the advice of the strangely magnetic Huitzil Ambassador, from whom she also hopes to learn enough Gramatica (magical words of power) to become a Ranger (sort of a secret agent/wizard), like folk hero Nini Mo. But after an unplanned bit of time-travel reveals Flora's real identity—a secret her Mamma has kept from everyone else—Lord Axacaya proves to be an even more immediate threat to Flora's safety. Now, with a deadly enemy closing in behind her and the destruction of her city looming ahead, Flora must bet her life on the Ultimate Ranger Dare in the haunted home of a ruling family, long thought to be extinct. And she can look for help to no one but a small red dog, a toy pig, a terrifying blue butler, and a boy possessed by a pair of demonic bouncing boots (which is a whole subplot I haven't time to explain).
Flora is a hilarious and endearing narrator: gifted with a quirky sort of folk-wisdom fed by yellowback novels; plucky and heroic, yet honest enough to own up to her own moments of pettiness and vulnerability; impatient yet forgiving of the foibles of her ex-drunk-now-all-too-responsible father, her tough military mother, her get-rich-quick-scheming best friend, her often-whining ectoplasmic butler, and the crazy fashions and customs of her bayside city. Her adventure strains at the seams with impressive (and sometimes scary) magic, weird creatures, macabre humor, blood-chilling danger, and a whole spectrum of character and cultural colors that you won't see most anywhere else.
This is Book 2 of the trilogy titled either "Crackpot Hall" (based on the website listed on the back cover) or "Flora Fyrdraaca" (based on title of the omnibus edition). It won the Andre Norton Award for Young Adult Science Fiction and Fantasy, an honor shared by Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows and several other books I have reviewed. The third book of the trilogy is titled Flora's Fury: How a Girl of Spirit and a Red Dog Confound Their Friends, Astound Their Enemies, And Learn the Importance of Packing Light.
Flora was born in the aftermath of a devastating war between Califa and the Huitzil Empire, which practices human sacrifice and includes a race of winged, bird-headed people. The Birdies, as Flora's folk pejoratively call them, now rule Califa through a puppet Warlord, and keep an eagle eye on the city. The first sign of resistance to Huitzil rule could bring death and disaster to the city. So when Flora meets her elder sister Idden at a rave, and learns that Idden has deserted from the Army and joined a radical resistance group, the horror Flora feels is surpassed only by that of the slimy tentacle that attacks her in the club's filthy toilet.
The tentacle proves to be a sign that the Loliga—a massive, indescribable creature currently in the shape of a giant squid, that has long been trapped and magically bound in the watery caves beneath the city—is struggling to break free. Its struggles are already causing a series of increasingly devastating earthquakes. Unless the Loliga is freed, and soon, Califa will be destroyed.
The trouble is that Flora is the only one who can do anything about it; but she doesn't know what to do. She seeks the advice of the strangely magnetic Huitzil Ambassador, from whom she also hopes to learn enough Gramatica (magical words of power) to become a Ranger (sort of a secret agent/wizard), like folk hero Nini Mo. But after an unplanned bit of time-travel reveals Flora's real identity—a secret her Mamma has kept from everyone else—Lord Axacaya proves to be an even more immediate threat to Flora's safety. Now, with a deadly enemy closing in behind her and the destruction of her city looming ahead, Flora must bet her life on the Ultimate Ranger Dare in the haunted home of a ruling family, long thought to be extinct. And she can look for help to no one but a small red dog, a toy pig, a terrifying blue butler, and a boy possessed by a pair of demonic bouncing boots (which is a whole subplot I haven't time to explain).
Flora is a hilarious and endearing narrator: gifted with a quirky sort of folk-wisdom fed by yellowback novels; plucky and heroic, yet honest enough to own up to her own moments of pettiness and vulnerability; impatient yet forgiving of the foibles of her ex-drunk-now-all-too-responsible father, her tough military mother, her get-rich-quick-scheming best friend, her often-whining ectoplasmic butler, and the crazy fashions and customs of her bayside city. Her adventure strains at the seams with impressive (and sometimes scary) magic, weird creatures, macabre humor, blood-chilling danger, and a whole spectrum of character and cultural colors that you won't see most anywhere else.
This is Book 2 of the trilogy titled either "Crackpot Hall" (based on the website listed on the back cover) or "Flora Fyrdraaca" (based on title of the omnibus edition). It won the Andre Norton Award for Young Adult Science Fiction and Fantasy, an honor shared by Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows and several other books I have reviewed. The third book of the trilogy is titled Flora's Fury: How a Girl of Spirit and a Red Dog Confound Their Friends, Astound Their Enemies, And Learn the Importance of Packing Light.
August 19, 2017
Where to even start with this book?? This isn't even a review. This is just my rant. Here's my review: This book is 510 pages long and about 510 things happen in it. There are a thousand storylines and a thousand bizarre turns. If you like books that will make you literally go, 'WTF???', this is the book of your dreams. The writing style is good and tthe plot moves quickly, but the worldbuilding is almost unbearably random and ad-hoc.
Let me try to summarize *just* the magic system in this book:
- first, there are magical beings. In the last book, there were denizens. I feel like we had a decent understanding of denizens. In this book, you fight something called a ninth-order egrigore. What is an egrigore? What is an eighth-order egrigore? Why is it a squid? What? At some point, you end up on a bus full of vampyres and a bunch of other stuff. A corpse wakes up, just straight up wakes up. There is no indication at any point before that moment that that's a thing which happens occasionally.
- the there is Grammatica. I think maybe Grammatica is supposed to be a parody, or a joke, or something, but it's kind of an important element to be just a joke. The author sets up Grammatica as being one of the rare sorts of magic that is words-only: the difficulty lies in its obscurity and the difficulty of conjugation. Hahahahahahaha. In the last book, the author randomly pulled out that some words are so powerful they can only be held in one place at a time. In this book, sometimes the words are sparkly, sometimes they depend on Will. Sometimes you can charge up words and turn them into other words, which is mentioned like 350 pages into the book and comes right the **** out of nowhere.
- Then there's Elsewhere vs the Waking world. Sometimes, we just go back in time, or die, or...I don't know, whatever we feel like doing now.
- What is zombie powder? Where did that come from???
- Boots???????
- Oh yeah, Will and Anima! Are they the same thing? Apparently denizens feed on Anima, and it has something to do with dying...I don't even know anymore, some people's Will is stronger than others...
That's a lot of different types of magic to keep track of even in a book about magic, but it's a ridiculous amount for a book that isn't even about magic. Because the main focus of the book is Flora and her family, none of whom have any magical education, there's not a whole lot of time devoted to outlining what sorts of magic you might be dealing with. Since there are 1007 different elements of magic and no time, none of these elements ever get an introduction. You're just left going, "WTF??? Now you can turn Grammatica words into other words using fear??? What??? Boots?????????"
(I'm trying so hard not to give away the boots thing, but I literally swore in the middle of a hair salon when that scene took place. NO INTRODUCTION. WHO KNEW THAT WAS A THING.)
Overall there is just way too much going on in this book for my personal taste. There are three different plots and the transitions between them are completely random. At one point Udo literally appears in the window and everything happening in the main plot must stop so that we can deal with Springheel Jack and that whole subplot. Idden and the free-Califa-from-the-Birdies is mentioned throughout the book but never developed. Within each overarching event, the book changes rapidly (did I mention the boots? or the corpse waking up?) and the effect can become exhausting. There's so much action in the first big scene I honestly started skipping past it. Action =/= plot.
By far my favorite aspect of this series is Flora and Valefor, which is partly why I liked the first book much better than the second. Flora is funny on her own, but I laughed out loud at every scene with the two of them in it in this book. I loved how in the first book, the plot was driven forward by Flora taking on a massive personal risk, not to go on some grand adventure or save the city, but to avoid doing chores. In this book Flora takes massive personal risks to go on adventures and save the city, which is understandable, but not as fun.
Let me try to summarize *just* the magic system in this book:
- first, there are magical beings. In the last book, there were denizens. I feel like we had a decent understanding of denizens. In this book, you fight something called a ninth-order egrigore. What is an egrigore? What is an eighth-order egrigore? Why is it a squid? What? At some point, you end up on a bus full of vampyres and a bunch of other stuff. A corpse wakes up, just straight up wakes up. There is no indication at any point before that moment that that's a thing which happens occasionally.
- the there is Grammatica. I think maybe Grammatica is supposed to be a parody, or a joke, or something, but it's kind of an important element to be just a joke. The author sets up Grammatica as being one of the rare sorts of magic that is words-only: the difficulty lies in its obscurity and the difficulty of conjugation. Hahahahahahaha. In the last book, the author randomly pulled out that some words are so powerful they can only be held in one place at a time. In this book, sometimes the words are sparkly, sometimes they depend on Will. Sometimes you can charge up words and turn them into other words, which is mentioned like 350 pages into the book and comes right the **** out of nowhere.
- Then there's Elsewhere vs the Waking world. Sometimes, we just go back in time, or die, or...I don't know, whatever we feel like doing now.
- What is zombie powder? Where did that come from???
- Boots???????
- Oh yeah, Will and Anima! Are they the same thing? Apparently denizens feed on Anima, and it has something to do with dying...I don't even know anymore, some people's Will is stronger than others...
That's a lot of different types of magic to keep track of even in a book about magic, but it's a ridiculous amount for a book that isn't even about magic. Because the main focus of the book is Flora and her family, none of whom have any magical education, there's not a whole lot of time devoted to outlining what sorts of magic you might be dealing with. Since there are 1007 different elements of magic and no time, none of these elements ever get an introduction. You're just left going, "WTF??? Now you can turn Grammatica words into other words using fear??? What??? Boots?????????"
(I'm trying so hard not to give away the boots thing, but I literally swore in the middle of a hair salon when that scene took place. NO INTRODUCTION. WHO KNEW THAT WAS A THING.)
Overall there is just way too much going on in this book for my personal taste. There are three different plots and the transitions between them are completely random. At one point Udo literally appears in the window and everything happening in the main plot must stop so that we can deal with Springheel Jack and that whole subplot. Idden and the free-Califa-from-the-Birdies is mentioned throughout the book but never developed. Within each overarching event, the book changes rapidly (did I mention the boots? or the corpse waking up?) and the effect can become exhausting. There's so much action in the first big scene I honestly started skipping past it. Action =/= plot.
By far my favorite aspect of this series is Flora and Valefor, which is partly why I liked the first book much better than the second. Flora is funny on her own, but I laughed out loud at every scene with the two of them in it in this book. I loved how in the first book, the plot was driven forward by Flora taking on a massive personal risk, not to go on some grand adventure or save the city, but to avoid doing chores. In this book Flora takes massive personal risks to go on adventures and save the city, which is understandable, but not as fun.
September 28, 2014
The second book of the series continues to delight with quirky humor, spiraling misadventures, and of course, our far from infallible, stumbling yet wonderful heroine. Much like the first book the direction of the plot was a little vague in the beginning, but this time the book seemed to take a little more time. Still, while it wasn't quite as gripping for me as the first, it was well written and quite enjoyable!
There are a couple of things I like about this series that I wanted to point out. The first of which is, can I say how refreshing it is to have an adventure book focused on a young heroine where the parents aren't completely MIA or ignored? While Flora's parents might not always be right in the action, they are rarely forgotten and are not only important to Flora, but the plot as well. It's also incredibly nice to have a book targeted at younger audiences where the conflict isn't someone who is 'evil'--the people Flora struggles with in each book have pretty good reasons for doing what they're doing (and Flora has pretty realistic reasons for doing what she's doing too--none of that 'just because it's right!' crap which is all well in good until you think about how it's never that simple in real life especially when your main character is young and is actually written to act her age).
Speaking of younger audiences... this series doesn't exactly shy away from some dark/harsh things. A father who was tortured for years before finally being released back to his home country, only to return to his family a broken, unpredictable, depressed, crazed drunk is a little dark. Adding the fact that part of the reason he could never stop mourning was NOT because he had been with his young daughter at the time of capture and lost her but because his long time mistress was also captured, killed as a sacrifice... and eaten... well shoot; That's pretty tough stuff for any book, especially a kids book. The second book of this series is even less inclined to shy away from the dark stuff than the first.
In some parts I thought that really added something to the book, in other parts not so much. This actually brings me to the reason I couldn't give this book 5 stars--I personally tend to dislike books/movies that focus on affairs. I just have a hard time with them. That Flora's father's past transgressions were such a major plot point in this book gave me some trouble liking the storyline (once you get into the book you will understand why this is not as little of a thing as it may at first appear from the first book). I can still see objectively how it was actually a really good direction... but at the same time, that underlying discomfort sort of wears at my positive feelings for said storyline. That is however, as I said very much a personal thing, and even with that problem, I'm a fan of this book!
There are a couple of things I like about this series that I wanted to point out. The first of which is, can I say how refreshing it is to have an adventure book focused on a young heroine where the parents aren't completely MIA or ignored? While Flora's parents might not always be right in the action, they are rarely forgotten and are not only important to Flora, but the plot as well. It's also incredibly nice to have a book targeted at younger audiences where the conflict isn't someone who is 'evil'--the people Flora struggles with in each book have pretty good reasons for doing what they're doing (and Flora has pretty realistic reasons for doing what she's doing too--none of that 'just because it's right!' crap which is all well in good until you think about how it's never that simple in real life especially when your main character is young and is actually written to act her age).
Speaking of younger audiences... this series doesn't exactly shy away from some dark/harsh things. A father who was tortured for years before finally being released back to his home country, only to return to his family a broken, unpredictable, depressed, crazed drunk is a little dark. Adding the fact that part of the reason he could never stop mourning was NOT because he had been with his young daughter at the time of capture and lost her but because his long time mistress was also captured, killed as a sacrifice... and eaten... well shoot; That's pretty tough stuff for any book, especially a kids book. The second book of this series is even less inclined to shy away from the dark stuff than the first.
In some parts I thought that really added something to the book, in other parts not so much. This actually brings me to the reason I couldn't give this book 5 stars--I personally tend to dislike books/movies that focus on affairs. I just have a hard time with them. That Flora's father's past transgressions were such a major plot point in this book gave me some trouble liking the storyline (once you get into the book you will understand why this is not as little of a thing as it may at first appear from the first book). I can still see objectively how it was actually a really good direction... but at the same time, that underlying discomfort sort of wears at my positive feelings for said storyline. That is however, as I said very much a personal thing, and even with that problem, I'm a fan of this book!
December 20, 2014
"I AM QUIRKY!"
That's all I could think as I read this. I mean, this is really dark, it is wonderfully dark, but covered by a quirky and ultimately infantile. Which is too bad, because this story has a voice. It's just too bad that the voice is so babyish. I mean, this got me in the last book, but while the last book had certain feel to it that almost excused the language. This just shoves it into your face. Is it supposed to make what we're reading easier on the young adults who are reading this? Because to me it just brought me completely out of this very bloody world.
That and why is this about tentacles? And why does it come out of a "potty". I mean, it's in the description, it's supposed to be a selling point. Is it supposed to be as creepy as it is. Because you don't really have to know jack squat about Japan to know the joke and for your mind to go in the potty.
The main character is as irritating as possible. Though I did like the twist. I'll give it that. I only realized it a chapter or so before Flora so there's that. Yay! I guess. Udo, he was there he had something going on that seemed to really have nothing to do with anything in the story. Maybe other people get a lot out of his story and how it matches her and how she grows and on and on... he just had a part and then came back and then... Why was he in the book? It didn't feel like there was much weight to his story no matter what Flora said.
Still, this series is a bit like the Assassin's Apprentice. I start reading it, the forced reap of the last book makes me think "this is it, I will not read the next book, I'll be lucky to finish this one" and then somewhere while reading this while characters are fake swearing I'll go "oh god, I'm going to read the next one aren't I?" and then a little part of me will die. But thankfully we've only got one book left, so hold your breaths until I go back to library to the thrilling conclusion of forced quirkiness, a wonderful backdrop of dark implications (and not implications), and baby talk.
That's all I could think as I read this. I mean, this is really dark, it is wonderfully dark, but covered by a quirky and ultimately infantile. Which is too bad, because this story has a voice. It's just too bad that the voice is so babyish. I mean, this got me in the last book, but while the last book had certain feel to it that almost excused the language. This just shoves it into your face. Is it supposed to make what we're reading easier on the young adults who are reading this? Because to me it just brought me completely out of this very bloody world.
That and why is this about tentacles? And why does it come out of a "potty". I mean, it's in the description, it's supposed to be a selling point. Is it supposed to be as creepy as it is. Because you don't really have to know jack squat about Japan to know the joke and for your mind to go in the potty.
The main character is as irritating as possible. Though I did like the twist. I'll give it that. I only realized it a chapter or so before Flora so there's that. Yay! I guess. Udo, he was there he had something going on that seemed to really have nothing to do with anything in the story. Maybe other people get a lot out of his story and how it matches her and how she grows and on and on... he just had a part and then came back and then... Why was he in the book? It didn't feel like there was much weight to his story no matter what Flora said.
Still, this series is a bit like the Assassin's Apprentice. I start reading it, the forced reap of the last book makes me think "this is it, I will not read the next book, I'll be lucky to finish this one" and then somewhere while reading this while characters are fake swearing I'll go "oh god, I'm going to read the next one aren't I?" and then a little part of me will die. But thankfully we've only got one book left, so hold your breaths until I go back to library to the thrilling conclusion of forced quirkiness, a wonderful backdrop of dark implications (and not implications), and baby talk.
March 11, 2019
I stayed up till almost 3 in the morning and almost finished this because I JUST COULD NOT put it down. (The next morning was not so much fun.) However, I finished the last 30+ pages in a burst at lunch and sigh.... Why can't I visit Califa? This is just one of those worlds that is so brilliant and vivid and REAL feeling, and the characters practically leap off the page (no pun intended for Springheel Jack, haha).
Things get more grownup in this book (Udo acts more like a Snapperhead and throws himself after a very shallow girl--blech--but at least he intends to do it a safe sex sort of way [?!] as even in an imaginary world there are consequences for choices obviously. Props to the author for that. The mention of "sheaths" may fly over the head of some younger readers or just gross them out.) as Udo and Flora go back and forth in their relationship and Flora has a crush on a new guy. Flora also is dealing with the MAJOR consequences of old family secrets. So many things are linked which makes me in awe of the author's storytelling abilities.
I love her word play. I love her word building. I love this. Interesting that she chooses to use the word "hell" as a curse but all the other curses are made up words (except for "shite" I guess, hmm). Things are a bit more violent and sweary in this; Flora is wading in deeper towards her destiny...whatever that may be. Does she really want to go all for it and be a Ranger? Does she understand everything that it takes to be a Ranger. This book raises so many questions. Hope that book three answers them.
Things get more grownup in this book (Udo acts more like a Snapperhead and throws himself after a very shallow girl--blech--but at least he intends to do it a safe sex sort of way [?!] as even in an imaginary world there are consequences for choices obviously. Props to the author for that. The mention of "sheaths" may fly over the head of some younger readers or just gross them out.) as Udo and Flora go back and forth in their relationship and Flora has a crush on a new guy. Flora also is dealing with the MAJOR consequences of old family secrets. So many things are linked which makes me in awe of the author's storytelling abilities.
I love her word play. I love her word building. I love this. Interesting that she chooses to use the word "hell" as a curse but all the other curses are made up words (except for "shite" I guess, hmm). Things are a bit more violent and sweary in this; Flora is wading in deeper towards her destiny...whatever that may be. Does she really want to go all for it and be a Ranger? Does she understand everything that it takes to be a Ranger. This book raises so many questions. Hope that book three answers them.
April 23, 2014
2.5 stars. Yeah this was pretty disappointing compared to the first one. And oddly this one is higher in the ratings. No idea.
So this is incredibly slow, that's the biggest hassle. It was dragging out any and every occurrence of a character that popped up and most were characters that really did not have much to say in terms of being interesting. Udo took a backseat in this sequel which became a bummer when I realized he brought a lot to the table or really his personality was a lot more fun to listen to. Flora really needs more character building. I only say this 'cause reading from her point of view is getting more and more boring.
Now like the first one, this has sections where it all just blurs together in terms of where the characters are, what's going on, and the spells being said are just meshed in. It's almost like flitting through the pages to skip ahead only the author is doing it for you. It's the worst.
Things are brought up and then forgotten about. This 'adventure' only lead to one secret being revealed than otherwise everything basically stayed the same from the end of the first one. I very much hope the third novel boosts this series up especially since I believe it's the last one. This one certainly was not a fun read compared to the first.
So this is incredibly slow, that's the biggest hassle. It was dragging out any and every occurrence of a character that popped up and most were characters that really did not have much to say in terms of being interesting. Udo took a backseat in this sequel which became a bummer when I realized he brought a lot to the table or really his personality was a lot more fun to listen to. Flora really needs more character building. I only say this 'cause reading from her point of view is getting more and more boring.
Now like the first one, this has sections where it all just blurs together in terms of where the characters are, what's going on, and the spells being said are just meshed in. It's almost like flitting through the pages to skip ahead only the author is doing it for you. It's the worst.
Things are brought up and then forgotten about. This 'adventure' only lead to one secret being revealed than otherwise everything basically stayed the same from the end of the first one. I very much hope the third novel boosts this series up especially since I believe it's the last one. This one certainly was not a fun read compared to the first.
March 31, 2010
Wow, this series is fun.
I'm always a bit nervous starting the second book of a series when I have really enjoyed the first, but Ms. Wilce has carried off the same clever pacing in this book as she did in the first. I start off thinking, "You've got to be kidding me," but the magic and the politics are intriguing, and then the action kicks in, everything happens breakneck, and the pace doesn't let up for a moment, By the end I'm cheering her on. She's also packed in some surprising plot twists into this one.
Besides all that, she once again illustrates that even a dysfunctional family can come to the rescue, kick ass, and prove to be a girl's best ally. And in this installment Flora's dysfunctional family definitely expands.
Two especial kudos:
Best swearing phrase to save up for great need: "Pigface Psychopomp."
And way to save a plot twist for the last sentence of the book.
I'm always a bit nervous starting the second book of a series when I have really enjoyed the first, but Ms. Wilce has carried off the same clever pacing in this book as she did in the first. I start off thinking, "You've got to be kidding me," but the magic and the politics are intriguing, and then the action kicks in, everything happens breakneck, and the pace doesn't let up for a moment, By the end I'm cheering her on. She's also packed in some surprising plot twists into this one.
Besides all that, she once again illustrates that even a dysfunctional family can come to the rescue, kick ass, and prove to be a girl's best ally. And in this installment Flora's dysfunctional family definitely expands.
Two especial kudos:
Best swearing phrase to save up for great need: "Pigface Psychopomp."
And way to save a plot twist for the last sentence of the book.
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