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 (Hardcover)

by Ysabeau S. Wilce (Author)
Key Phrases: coldfire light, parade yard, seal lock, Nini Mo, Lord Axacaya, Boy Hansgen (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
In her first novel, Wilce imagines a living castle—a kind of blending of Gormenghast and Hogwarts—and she breathes life into her tale with a wry sense of humor. The book opens as narrator Flora Fyrdraaca, the heroine of the title, is about to turn 14, a rite of passage that qualifies her to enter military training. She spends her days mostly alone inside her family's castle, Crackpot Hall. Its 11,000 rooms have started to decay since Flora's mother, the Warlord's Commanding General, fired the magical Butler. Flora's father "only comes out of his Eyrie when the booze and cigarillos run out." Rushing to avoid being late to school, Flora takes the forbidden Elevator and ends up lost within her home—and meets the banished magical Butler, Valefor, in a forgotten library. Valefor convinces Flora to give him some of her "Anima," her "magickal essence," and he grows stronger. The plot detours into a convoluted back story about warring kingdoms; this leads to the tale of the "Dainty Pirate," whom Flora and her friend Udo then rescue from the gallows. The pirate warns Flora that Valefor is actually sucking her "Will" away, and the two friends begin a hunt for a "Semiote Verb" that will restore Flora's strength. Wilce takes the kitchen-sink approach to storytelling—at times the narrative borders on self-indulgent (e.g., "Oh ugh and disgusting and yucky-yuck"); hence some readers may feel that the book is overlong—though certainly good-natured and enjoyable. Ages 12-up. (Jan.)
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From School Library Journal
Grade 7–9—Flora Fyrdraaca is approaching 14, the age of majority, and preparing for its celebratory Catorcena. She lives in Crackpot Hall, a once-glorious but now decaying home with 11,000 rooms that randomly shift positions. Her mother is the Warlord's Commanding General and a workaholic. Her father, a broken man due to his past imprisonment for war crimes, is most often an enraged drunk who trashes the house. Oversleeping one morning, Flora uses the forbidden Elevator to get her overdue library book and finds herself in a strange part of the house where Valefor, the family butler, has been banished. He is losing his Anima and convinces Flora to let him suck some of hers, which causes her to develop Anima Enervation, and she begins to fade. Here the complicated plot in this overlong first novel becomes as shifting and rambling as Crackpot Hall itself. Flora and her friend Udo try to find a fetish or Semiote Verb to restore Valefor, but then get waylaid. Flora uncovers why Poppy is such a broken man, swims in the slimy pond in her garden to touch the refreshing Current and be restored, and much more-all in the week preceding her Catorcena. The plot has structural problems and clarification, when given, seems appended after the fact. Extraneous details make the story muddled, as does the inclusion of invented words. While some of the writing is witty, this is an additional purchase at best.—Connie Tyrrell Burns, Mahoney Middle School, South Portland, ME
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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Product Details

• Reading level: Young Adult
  
• Hardcover: 448 pages
• Publisher: Harcourt Children's Books; 1 edition (January 1, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0152054332
• ISBN-13: 978-0152054335
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.6 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (23 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #408,743 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very Highly Recommended!!, January 4, 2007

By	SarahP (Iowa) - See all my reviews

I loved this book! It has a terrific narrative voice; it's told by Flora Fyrdracca herself, who is about to turn 14 and, unfortunately, be sent to study war, like her mother, Buck, the Warlord's military leader. Flora would far rather become a Ranger like her hero, Nini Mo--and man, so would I. Rangers are independent scouts and spies who can do magic and have amazing adventures. Flora lives pretty much on her own (Buck is often away and her father, Poppy, is mad and/or drunk most of the time) in a rambling, crumbling magical house. Things start to liven up for poor Flora (who stays pretty lively, despite having a tough time) when she discovers Val, a Butler, a magical being who is supposed to keep the house in order.

The tone of the book is wonderful, and the voice sizzles with energy. Take, for example, this exchange about Buck between Flora and the Butler:

"Mamma is not afraid of anything." In her youth, my mamma killed a jaguar with a shovel. She's won the Warlord's Hammer twice. She's fought three duels, one bare-knuckled, and won them all. And, of course, she's been married to Poppy for twenty-eight years, which alone takes a lot of sand.
"Pah. You can be as brave as a lion on the outside, Flora Segunda," Val answered, "and fight bears with your fingernails and stare down monsters until they melt into little puddles of goo at your feet and still be a coward inside, in your heart, where it counts."

And here, part of the Butler's tour of the house:

"...Slippery Stairs, where Anacreon Fyrdracca broke his nose sliding down on a tea tray...Beekeeping Room, don't bother them, Udo, ad they won't bother you...Formerly Secret Cubbyhole...Because it can't be secret if you know where it is, that's why, Madama Smartie...Luggage Mezzanine...I wonder if that salesman is still in the linen basket, I should come back and check...Eternal Atrium, look how large that tree has become, I must raise the roof in here or it's going to go right through the ceiling...The Gun room, what on earth did Buck do with my .50 caliber Gatling...The Halfway Point--"

You get the idea--it's a tremendous amount of fun.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Magick worth the wait, December 7, 2006

By	Erika L. Hamerquist (Sequim, WA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Several years ago I read a short story by this author which was so jaw-droppingly fantastic it turned me into a cyber-stalker, always on the prowl for more. Needless to say I was delighted when this novel finally popped up. Although plainly written for young teens, with prose and content adjusted accordingly, Flora Segunda provides another glimpse into the vibrant world of Califa, the product of such a singular imagination I'm at a loss for words, Grammatickal or otherwise, to describe it. Quiero mas y mas, Madama Wilce!

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Tale Told Well, January 4, 2007

By	Lisby "[e-mail]" (Myersville, Maryland USA) - See all my reviews

I had the honor of being a friend of the author's when we were many years younger, and was privy to the creation of much of the backstory of this, her first book. All I can say is that it was well worth every drop of sweat, courage, frustration, and love. Congratulations, Bo. It's a rich, textured, powerful, and utterly spellbinding work.

As for the rest of you lot, go read Flora Segunda. Go read right now. ;)