It turns out I listened to this several years ago, and forgot. As I recall, I like it quite a bit, and it definitely had appeal for those who are looking for an interesting fantasy world beyond Hogwarts.

Too ridiculous for me, but I respect the effort and the creativity.

An excellent book, written in an entirely unique manner! Loved it!

Its a pretty standard coming of age/quest story. In the end the main character overcomes a flaw in her character, etc... I thought the world was pretty interesting. I also liked the relationship she has with her parents and how it changes as she changes.

But honestly I was a little disappointed. I think this is the first book in a series so, a little bit of set up is probably necessary but for a young adult book there was a lot of conflict and not a lot of resolution. I have a spoiler reason at the bottom.








*SPOILER* I wanted Valefor to be restored so the house would be awesome again. We got the tease at Bilskinir but not even a hint as to why Valefor was banished in the first place.

An extremely clever magical system (logomancy is always a favorite) and world with interesting Aztec touches, bogged down a bit by plodding pacing and a pretty annoying main character, who does, yes, have flashes of awesomeness. Definitely worth reading the sequel to see if Flora gets her self-centeredness and naiveté under control.

The problem with writing reviews so long after you finished the books in question is that you can't remember specifics, but I do remember I liked the originality of the premise, and I liked Flora's voice, and I still rue forgetting to pack the second book to bring with me across the country and finish when I changed coasts.

Well, for a start I couldnt finish this book. I found the characthers ok, some were interesting enough, Udo and Poppy being my two favourite characthers.[I thought Poppy was a strange name to call a man!} Other names are strange too some difficult to pronounce, Im a fast reader so I just skimmed over them. It did start off a good story, I liked how it is told from Flora's POV, and she is an interesting, likeable funny character and easy to relate to. It started interesting when she found Valefor in an abandoned part of Crackpot Hall, but after about 13 chapters into it the story seemed to drift away from the original story of helping and restoring Valefor and seemed to tilt moreso towards the military and rescuing people from jail etc. after that I just didnt like it, it was full of needless details about the army and military I wasent interested in and I would have liked it alot more had Wilce stuck more to the point of Flora restoring Valefor. Not a bad story at all, I did like some aspects in it such as the Quetzals and the good charcthers, its just that I like a story to stick to the original point.

I had the impression that this book was about discovering lost areas in a big house. The story fit the mold for about 20 or 30 pages, but it lost focus after that. We are thrown details about the military, a prisoner, soul stealing, and other houses. I was interested in the childish butler and Flora exploring, but I was less intrigued by the rescue attempt and the long solutions to restoring Flora's diminished soul. I wanted to the like book and I did finish it, but I skipped large sections where nothing was happening. None of the characters are particularly interesting, and in the end I really didn't care what happened to any of them. Mixed with my pet peeve of the story being told from a typical 14 year old's perspective, yet having words like pernicious, fastidious, and cajoling, the novel just fell flat. It was less enjoyable and fun than the title would have you believe, and I was not at all impressed.

fun, fun, fun fantasy!!!

I discover most books well after their publishing date, but while I came late to the Flora Segunda game, I'm pleased I can just go out and find the second in the series after finishing this one. It is so good! I hesitated between four and five stars--I settled on four because while I loved the narrator's voice, the characters, and the overall feel of the book, until about 2/3 of the way through I felt the pacing was rather scattered. I'm not sure if that matters or not, though, since I enjoyed every minute I was reading. I suppose I just mean to say that the ending is structurally cohesive (is that even the right way to put that?), while the opening is more "and this happened!" That said, the "and this happened!" plotting works with the protagonist's voice and personality, so I didn't even notice or care about it until Wilce demonstrated her ability to write action sequences and make me desperate to know the end of the story.

It's really awesome and unique. People should read this. I love the world in which Flora lives, and there are major grammar-nerd jokes that pepper the text, which pleased me greatly. I'll be reading the rest of the series, for sure.