Wilce, Ysabeau S.: Flora Segunda
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 (2007)
Written by: Ysabeau S. Wilce
Genre: YA/Fantasy
Pages: 438 (Trade Paperback)
There's a lot of reasons I stopped reading short story mags, but one of the minor, more irrational reasons I stopped reading them was because I became familiar with too many author names, so that even though I'd review their short story, some time later when I discovered they had books, I'd be like, "Oh, I recognize that name!" and pick up said book, without ever stopping to check if I liked said author's short story. I mean, hey, if I remembered the name, that was a positive sign, right?
Not so much. I've done this two other times, picked up a book because I recognized the author's name from a short story in one of the periodicals. In both cases, the authors have unique names that make for easy recognition, and in both cases, I really didn't care for their short stories, something I didn't remember/realize until I already had the book. In one case, I haven't read the book yet (I will!). In the other, I fortunately fell in love with the book.
Ysabeau S. Wilce's Flora Segunda marks the third such case in which the author has a very recognizable name but whose short story I'd forgotten about (in terms of like/dislike), but I bought the book only to learn later I never really cared for the author's short story to begin with.
Mind you, this is all preference in regards to the short stories. Just because I didn't care for them doesn't make them bad, it just means I didn't care for them. And anyway, I've heard such good things about this series of books that curiosity was killing me, so it was easy to slap this title on a list of YA spec fic novels for emerald_ibis to choose our January/February challenge from. She chose this one, and read it I did!
The premise: ganked from BN.com: 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.
Review style: there's really no need for spoilers here, but I do reveal something that you get at the beginning of the book that sets the plot in motion, so I guess that's an early warning spoiler? Or something? At any rate, if you're paranoid, skip to the "My Rating" section of the review. Otherwise, read on!
One of the most notable things about this series are the subtitles to each book. In this case, the title of the book is actually 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. Let's face it, that's just insane and whimsical and fun, yes? The book stands out easily due to the title alone, and then when you absorb the fact that this has been compared favorably to the wonder and magic of Harry Potter, and you've got to count on a home run, yes?
Yes and no. So much depends on the reader. The book is, no doubt, whimsical and fun. Awe-inspiring and fascinating. Lovely use of fantasy and magic. But the book deals with a certain kind of voice and humor that may alienate some readers. And before you start to worry, I'll spell it out easily: do you love the works of Terry Pratchett or Douglas Adams? Can you not get enough of their humor? Or do you enjoy it well enough, but feel no desire to read more from these authors, no matter how well beloved they are, because entertaining as they may be, they just don't hit your sweet spot?
If you're in the latter camp, like me, Flora Segunda is enjoyable enough, but not something you're going to fall in love with. If you're in the former camp, then what the hell are you waiting for? Go get this book! NOW!!!!
But in all seriousness, I will say that while Wilce definitely pulls you into her delightfully imaginative fantasy world, I found myself at odds with a few things.
For starters, Flora is alternatively either uber-intelligent or a major baby. Don't get me wrong, the dialogue and voice all make sense in this world Wilce has created, and it's fun, but sometimes Flora sounds too smart for her age, and other times, she sounds like an eight-year-old, which is, well, annoying. Sure, there's a lot of REALLY FUN phrases to be found in the book, but at times it's nauseating, and it makes you wonder just how old Flora's really supposed to be.
And speaking of language, I found myself befuddled. Something must be missing from my own person study of linguistics (which is nil), because the way characters great each other never made any sense to me. "Ave." What the hell does that even mean? I tried to substitute "hey!" in my mind, but that was too informal. And then I tried "Hail!" as a substitute, but that felt the opposite, it felt TOO formal. But maybe this is where my years and years and YEARS of singing choral and chamber music come back to bite me in the ass. I can't hear or see the word "Ave" without associating it with "Ave Maria." So maybe it's my fault (it most likely certainly is), but it still bugs me.
I also got very British cues from this book. Don't get me wrong, I think the fantasy land of Califa is obviously a fantasized United States (California to be exact), and I like the Spanish influence in the language (except for the "ave" which obviously bugged me), but if I didn't know better, I'd swear this author was British. Anyone else get that vibe, and did it distract anyone else the way it did me?
Another thing that I kept questioning over and over and over was the motivation behind Buck's decision to banish the butler. I mean, seriously? The woman is NEVER HOME and her husband is pretty much USELESS, so she leaves her daughter in charge of keeping everything in order? I'd be okay with this if the mother was presented as an evil witch of a woman, but she's not. Flora, despite your typical daughterly disagreements, really loves her mom, and her mom really loves her. So I want a better excuse other than Buck not trusting magic (she's trusted it up until that point of banishment, yes?), because the lack thereof had me suspicious of Valefor from the start, and I wasn't surprised at all when we learned that Flora was losing her life essence.
That aside, there's a lot to enjoy in the book. I can't stress the words fun and whimsical enough, and there are some surprisingly adult moments in the text that sharpen things up a bit and keep me from saying that this book would've been better as a richly illustrated children's book (because seriously, how are you going to read the Grammatica out loud?), but I will go so far as to say that Flora Segunda would make an EXCELLENT graphic novel, so someone needs to hop to it.
And there are truly some delightful moments in this book. The fact that over and over, things aren't as they seem. That Flora isn't presented as a perfect girl, but rather as a girl who's a little chubby and doesn't really care about clothes is rather refreshing. And I love how her best friend in the world is a GUY who absolutely and totally LOVES clothes! Quite fabulous, and a lot of fun.
My Rating
Give It Away: it's fun, it's whimsical, and truly imaginative. Its sense of humor is very likely to appeal to fans of Terry Pratchett and Douglas Adams, but if you're weird like me and NOT a fan of Pratchett's and Adams's humor, you'll find the book alternately entertaining and a little frustrating, because the humor doesn't quite grab you. Don't get me wrong, the book IS entertaining and fun and there's a lot here to admire, but there's nothing in it, for me, that has be dying to come back. Flora's a fun character, to be sure, and honestly, if I did have a kid, I'd have no trouble passing the book along. Because it's a fun, whimsical book, and the comparisons to Harry Potter are fair in terms of the wonder of magic and world-building. But, it's just not my thing, so I doubt I'll be reading any further into the series.
Cover Commentary: it's appropriate. My copy has the window cut out so that when you open it, you get a glossy page of Flora in the library and you get your full, insane subtitle right away. It's not the kind of cover that's going to grab my eye while browsing, but it's appropriate for its target audience. :)
Next up: I have THREE BOOKS to review (one I couldn't finish), and that doesn't include our January challenge review. You know why? Because I took too long to get my thoughts on paper, so now I have to re-read it. No, I'm not kidding. Yes, the review will be up in a timely manner. It's a short book, and smooth to get through. :) But the next official review? Noctures: Five Stories of Music and Nightfall bu Kazuo Ishiguro.