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.

The best part about this book was the language, it was really fun to read. I realized I got attached to the dictionary on the kindle to access words I didn't know. Reading a physical copy of this book, I had no idea if words were real or not and that was okay, because of the descriptive style of the prose was so engrossing that it just flowed with understanding (so I was glad I wasn't hindered by attempting to look words up). The only reason I didn't love this book was that my suspension of disbelief is fading for heroics of children. I don't think the world was developed enough for me to believe that the things Flora did were actually possible. The characters were amazing, and I loved the narrative, but I don't think I knew enough about the other people in the world.

Didn't finish.

YES YES YES YES! This book was great! It was silly, quirky, sweet, and surprisingly moving. I loved every moment. I think that about says it.

Listening to this in the car, which is frustrating as I don't really drive that much anymore... I'm enjoying it.

And enjoyed it overall. What I liked best was that though this is definitely fantasy, there isn't a ton of time spent explaining how it works. If it comes up, it comes up, but no more explaining than a non-fantasy novel would have. The world at large just is as it is, and the struggles and complicated feelings of the main character are what is really focused on. The interesting world in "Flora" is akin to an awesome outfit on a really cool girl -- nice decoration, but not the sole substance, not the best part. Also, love the language -- gifties! boo-spooky! pigface psychopomp!

This was a cute book. Definitely for kids/teens, but not terrible. There was some info dumping going on and some strange word changes (you know where in order to make a story seem fantastical enough they change the names of things like peanutbutter?), but otherwise the story itself was decently involving and pretty well paced overall.

I was torn between three and four stars for this book. The writing is passable at best and the pacing uneven. In the end the story's creativity and characters overcame its shortcomings.

The story ended up being really sweet. I enjoyed the story and the characters, although some of the military jargon slowed it a bit for me, and by the end of the book I felt like I would scream if I had to read about one more Nini saying.

This has to be the most delightful YA that I've read in a long time, and I have to say that Flora kicks Harry Potter's ass. He ALWAYS had to get saved and while Flora may work with her friend, she remains actively involved. Like Harry, I was a bit surprised with a few of the darker details, but have come to the conclusion that if I could handle Old Yeller as a kid, maybe they can deal with deathlies as well--its not like I was a bastion of maturity.

Despite a few nasty formatting errors (on one page near the end) the book just made me smile and I laughed out loud more than once. I'll definitely be back for more.

(Dang it--now I have to go see if Old Yeller is available on Kindle.)
Update: Why yes it is! I have a host of books I loved as a child that I will immediately start searching for!