butyougotmysoul's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
This was a sweet little romp. I think it might have been a little more impactful if I were younger, but I certainly enjoyed this book. I look forward to reading the rest of the series.
linguana's review against another edition
4.0
Read my full review at SFF Book Review
What an adorable book. I have Ellen Kushner to thank for putting it on my radar in the SF Squeecast - Flora Segunda did not disappoint. This is a fun adventure story of a girl who yearns to be a ranger - a sort of magical spy - but her family insists she join the military. While Flora still debates how to tell her mother that she doesn't want to become a soldier, she stumbles into a huge adventure and drags her best friend Udo, the little red dog Flynnie, and even the horse Bonzo into it.
A highly recommended YA novel featuring the coolest house since Hogwarts.
What an adorable book. I have Ellen Kushner to thank for putting it on my radar in the SF Squeecast - Flora Segunda did not disappoint. This is a fun adventure story of a girl who yearns to be a ranger - a sort of magical spy - but her family insists she join the military. While Flora still debates how to tell her mother that she doesn't want to become a soldier, she stumbles into a huge adventure and drags her best friend Udo, the little red dog Flynnie, and even the horse Bonzo into it.
A highly recommended YA novel featuring the coolest house since Hogwarts.
ginnikin's review against another edition
It just turned out to be a different story than I was expecting. I had high expectations, based on the title. OH! What a glorious title it is!
ettegoom's review against another edition
4.0
A really sweet coming of age story, with pirates, magic and a best friend with incredible dress sense. I really enjoyed it.
ashleylm's review against another edition
5.0
I can think of no higher praise off-the-top-of-my-head than to say "if Diana Wynne Jones had written this, it could have been no better." And Ysabeau S. Wilce deserves this praise. It's very Wynne Jones-ish, but without seeming like a pale, slavish imitation--this book is thrillingly alive, as is it's charismatic, willful heroine.
I like everything about it--the distinctive setting, the authorial tone, the fleshing-out of all the minor characters (Udo is especially delightful), the plot's unfolding, the twists and turns (and no over-reliance on them)--it's all great.
And I discovered it thanks to Goodreads (a groups suggestion that I might like it), so thanks, Goodreads, for all that you do!
(Note: 5 stars = rare and amazing, 4 = quite good book, 3 = a decent read, 2 = disappointing, 1 = awful, just awful. There are a lot of 4s and 3s in the world!)
I like everything about it--the distinctive setting, the authorial tone, the fleshing-out of all the minor characters (Udo is especially delightful), the plot's unfolding, the twists and turns (and no over-reliance on them)--it's all great.
And I discovered it thanks to Goodreads (a groups suggestion that I might like it), so thanks, Goodreads, for all that you do!
(Note: 5 stars = rare and amazing, 4 = quite good book, 3 = a decent read, 2 = disappointing, 1 = awful, just awful. There are a lot of 4s and 3s in the world!)
snowbenton's review against another edition
4.0
Intense in that brilliant way that things only are when you are a child and haven't become inured to the general unfairness of the world. Flora is a gem that you kind of want to kick into a wall but you want her to succeed anyway. I loved that all the big houses had their spirits and I wish we could have delved into that more. I also loved the exclamations and the marvelous rare words thrown about like confetti.
mandygris's review against another edition
5.0
Sometimes you look at a book and it doesn't move you enough to pick it up. For some reason, I thought that when I looked at Flora Segunda on the shelf. I've gotta say, that was a giant mistake and I was denying myself the boundless pleasure of this story. READ THIS BOOK. Read the entire trilogy. The entire series is ridiculously good in so many pleasing and unexpected ways.
I adore so many things about this story. I don't want to ruin the magic of it for anyone, but I think I can list a few awesome things I look for in novels which are satisfied by Flora Segunda:
- A magical house (actually, mulitple magical houses eee!)
- Pirates
- Awesome worldbuilding
- A world where magic isn't: dying, limited to the nobility, limited to humans, taught in schools, without consequences or limits, etc. (also the magic is really cool)
- Different language/slang than we're used to in our Real World lives (tm).
- A female protagonist in a bildungsroman who doesn't fit the cookie cutter bill of "willowy and moody and boy obsessed".
Bonuses:
- Avoiding stereotypical usage of Norse, Greek, and Irish myth as the basis of a plot of a YA fantasy novel.
- It's really awesome. All 3 books are really awesome. Read them now.
I just re-did my rating system. Sorry if it swamped your feed:
3+ would recommend to others interested in the style or genre.
4+ would read it again and proactively recommend to friends.
5 stars - this book has profoundly effected me as a person. I will never forget it. I will probably read it when I need to feel better about life. I might buy copies to give as gifts.
"Favourites Shelf" I would buy a signed/first edition/special edition physical copy (in addition to my ebook) to take its place in my personal library.
I adore so many things about this story. I don't want to ruin the magic of it for anyone, but I think I can list a few awesome things I look for in novels which are satisfied by Flora Segunda:
- A magical house (actually, mulitple magical houses eee!)
- Pirates
- Awesome worldbuilding
- A world where magic isn't: dying, limited to the nobility, limited to humans, taught in schools, without consequences or limits, etc. (also the magic is really cool)
- Different language/slang than we're used to in our Real World lives (tm).
- A female protagonist in a bildungsroman who doesn't fit the cookie cutter bill of "willowy and moody and boy obsessed".
Bonuses:
- Avoiding stereotypical usage of Norse, Greek, and Irish myth as the basis of a plot of a YA fantasy novel.
- It's really awesome. All 3 books are really awesome. Read them now.
I just re-did my rating system. Sorry if it swamped your feed:
3+ would recommend to others interested in the style or genre.
4+ would read it again and proactively recommend to friends.
5 stars - this book has profoundly effected me as a person. I will never forget it. I will probably read it when I need to feel better about life. I might buy copies to give as gifts.
"Favourites Shelf" I would buy a signed/first edition/special edition physical copy (in addition to my ebook) to take its place in my personal library.
lisalark's review against another edition
5.0
I really really enjoyed this. Clever, scary, excellent humanity/evidence that people are never really "good" or "bad". Fun magic that fit and was interesting but not distracting. Humor. Fluid movement to and from Spanish and . . . Aztec?
Just fun and well done all around. 4.5 really.
Just fun and well done all around. 4.5 really.
liralen's review against another edition
3.0
While I enjoyed the book, I have a bone to pick: The house. Let's be honest here -- that's why I read the book in the first place. A house with eleven thousand rooms? In which you can get lost? With a mind of its own? Yes, please. (I mean, not yes to the actual house, but yes to reading a book set there.)
Except...for all that the house and its butler are major players in the book, I wound up quite disappointed. Flora does not so much get lost in her house as she does get tricked by it; although we hear the names of a few of those eleven thousand rooms, Flora rarely ventures outside her family's rather more normal living quarters. Or rather, she does venture outside those living quarters, but when she does she goes adventuring elsewhere, outside the house.
Don't get me wrong: It was an energetic, entertaining book. It's just that, if you're *cough* looking to feedchildish whimsical fantasies of wandering unhindered through an improbably large, eclectically arranged mansion, and perhaps getting lost along the way -- this is not really the book you seek.
But hey, if anyone has found that book, or better yet those books, let me know.
Except...for all that the house and its butler are major players in the book, I wound up quite disappointed. Flora does not so much get lost in her house as she does get tricked by it; although we hear the names of a few of those eleven thousand rooms, Flora rarely ventures outside her family's rather more normal living quarters. Or rather, she does venture outside those living quarters, but when she does she goes adventuring elsewhere, outside the house.
Don't get me wrong: It was an energetic, entertaining book. It's just that, if you're *cough* looking to feed
But hey, if anyone has found that book, or better yet those books, let me know.