fantasy book reviews science fiction book reviewsFlora Segunda by Ysabeau S. Wilce fantasy book reviewsFlora Segunda by Ysabeau S. Wilce

Flora Segunda by Ysabeau S. Wilce is just odd. For one thing, the book is fully titled as 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, and while I don’t have a problem with long titles in general — see my love for Catherynne Valente’s Fairyland books, or Caroline Stevermer and Patricia Wrede’s collaborations — the problem with this title is the same problem I had with the book. It’s just trying to contain too many things. Also, stop spelling magic with a K. It’s twee.

This book has lots of neat ideas. Awesome mansions that have rooms that move around? Check. Insane characters? Check. Teenage girl that doesn’t want to do what her mom wants her to do? Absolutely required in books of this ilk. Magical servants? Check. Blossoming magical abilities, hidden powers, backstabbing and betrayal? Checkitty check check. However, it’s the literary equivalent of dumping everything in the fridge into a stock pot, adding a gallon of water and calling it soup. It just doesn’t form a harmonious or enjoyable experience for the reader. The plot is all over the place with multiple competing story lines that fight against each other.

Now, obviously, if you read reviews at Amazon I am a lunatic, because it gets sparkling reviews and is hailed as the sequel to HARRY POTTER. I respectfully disagree. I spent a considerable portion of my time wondering where this book was taking place. The naming structure is Spanish and/or Portuguese, the bad guys have an Aztec naming system and eagle-deity system, and there’s just some odd exclamations that I spent overly long trying to figure out how to pronounce. You have a Catorcena which is their equivalent of a Quinceañera, which would also argue for Mexico, but this is not recognizably Mexico in other regards, including the non-machismo allowance for a female to be the ranking officer of the military.

Now, this may seem nitpicky, but if I am spending this much time trying to figure out where the story is taking place, it means I don’t actually believe in the world the author has created, and if you’re writing a fantasy, I think getting the reader to actually believe in the world you are describing is an essential ingredient to success. I made it almost halfway through before I finally gave up. There are just too many other good books out there to make myself continue reading this one.

Flora Segunda — (2007-2008) Young adult. Publisher: Flora knows better than to take shortcuts in her family home, Crackpot Hall — the house has eleven thousand rooms, and ever since her mother banished the magickal butler, those rooms move around at random. But Flora is late for school, so she takes the unpredictable elevator anyway. Huge mistake. Lost in her own house, she stumbles upon the long-banished butler — and into a mind-blowing muddle of intrigue and betrayal that changes her world forever. The names of these books are: 1. 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 2. 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)

Ysabeau S. Wilce 1. Flora Segunda: Being the Magickal Mishaps of a Girl of Spirit, Her Glass-gazing Sidekick, Two Ominous Butlers (one Blue), a House Wit (aka Flora Segunda of Crackpot Hall) 2. 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) Ysabeau S. Wilce 1. Flora Segunda: Being the Magickal Mishaps of a Girl of Spirit, Her Glass-gazing Sidekick, Two Ominous Butlers (one Blue), a House Wit (aka Flora Segunda of Crackpot Hall) 2. 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) Ysabeau S. Wilce 1. Flora Segunda: Being the Magickal Mishaps of a Girl of Spirit, Her Glass-gazing Sidekick, Two Ominous Butlers (one Blue), a House Wit (aka Flora Segunda of Crackpot Hall) 2. 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) 3. Flora's Fury

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  • Ruth Arnell

    RUTH ARNELL (on FanLit's staff January 2009 — August 2013) earned a Ph.D. in political science and is a college professor in Idaho. From a young age she has maxed out her library card the way some people do credit cards. Ruth started reading fantasy with A Wrinkle in Time and The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe — books that still occupy an honored spot on her bookshelf today. Ruth and her husband have a young son, but their house is actually presided over by a flame-point Siamese who answers, sometimes, to the name of Griffon.

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