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 (Magic Carpet Books)

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Editorial Reviews:

Product Description

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.

Includes an interview with the author.

Customer Reviews: Read 16 more reviews...

4 out of 5 stars

Courtesy of Teens Read Too December 1, 2006
12 out of 14 found this review helpful

Flora Fydraaca's Catorcena is coming up and she hasn't finished her dress or her speech. The main problem with the speech is that it's supposed to celebrate everything great and glorious about her family, the Fyrdraaca's, and her home, Crackpot Hall, and it all has to be true. Unfortunately, Flora doesn't find either of these things to be particularly great or glorious. Maybe they were once, but not since Flora can remember.

Once her father was a great champion fighter and rider. Now he just hides up in his rooms, and occasionally has fits of insanity. He went crazy years ago during the war, when he tried, and failed, to rescue the first Flora from abductors. Flora's mother is the Warlord's Commanding General, so she seems pretty glorious, but she's hardly ever home. Flora's sister Idden is a general in an elite part of the army, but Flora's not interested in that. Even though it's what she's expected to do after school.

Crackpot Hall sounds like it was unbelievable before Flora was born, but then her mother banished the magickal Butler. Ever since then the windows leak, the garden has become a jungle, stairways forget to finish, hallways end in nothing, etc. There are 11,000 rooms in Crackpot Hall, but Flora and her family can only get to a few of them. Those few rooms stay only as clean as Flora can manage between school, her father's outbursts, and taking care of the dogs.

One day, already running late for school, Flora has to run back inside to get a well-overdue library book. Knowing the risk, she takes a chance and takes the elevator. She ends up in a part of the house she never even knew existed. A place that contains a million books and what's left of the now very bitter, banished Butler. He's literally wasting away to nothing.

He thinks Flora can help him. Maybe she can. Maybe the more important question is should she help him? Regardless, a chain of events is set in motion that will alter Flora, the Fyrdraaca family, and possibly Crackpot Hall, completely.

A magical adventure with a host of peculiar characters, most of which are well-developed and extremely entertaining. Flora's life is exciting, eventful, and sometimes dangerous. Help comes in strange ways from the most unexpected places, and learning to be herself may be the hardest and most important thing Flora has ever done.

Reviewed by: Carrie Spellman

5 out of 5 stars

Very Highly Recommended!! January 5, 2007
12 out of 12 found this review helpful

I loved this book! It has a terrific narrative voice; it's told by Flora Fyrdracca herself, who is about to turn 14 and, unfortunately, be sent to study war, like her mother, Buck, the Warlord's military leader. Flora would far rather become a Ranger like her hero, Nini Mo--and man, so would I. Rangers are independent scouts and spies who can do magic and have amazing adventures. Flora lives pretty much on her own (Buck is often away and her father, Poppy, is mad and/or drunk most of the time) in a rambling, crumbling magical house. Things start to liven up for poor Flora (who stays pretty lively, despite having a tough time) when she discovers Val, a Butler, a magical being who is supposed to keep the house in order.

The tone of the book is wonderful, and the voice sizzles with energy. Take, for example, this exchange about Buck between Flora and the Butler:

"Mamma is not afraid of anything." In her youth, my mamma killed a jaguar with a shovel. She's won the Warlord's Hammer twice. She's fought three duels, one bare-knuckled, and won them all. And, of course, she's been married to Poppy for twenty-eight years, which alone takes a lot of sand.
"Pah. You can be as brave as a lion on the outside, Flora Segunda," Val answered, "and fight bears with your fingernails and stare down monsters until they melt into little puddles of goo at your feet and still be a coward inside, in your heart, where it counts."

And here, part of the Butler's tour of the house:

"...Slippery Stairs, where Anacreon Fyrdracca broke his nose sliding down on a tea tray...Beekeeping Room, don't bother them, Udo, ad they won't bother you...Formerly Secret Cubbyhole...Because it can't be secret if you know where it is, that's why, Madama Smartie...Luggage Mezzanine...I wonder if that salesman is still in the linen basket, I should come back and check...Eternal Atrium, look how large that tree has become, I must raise the roof in here or it's going to go right through the ceiling...The Gun room, what on earth did Buck do with my .50 caliber Gatling...The Halfway Point--"

You get the idea--it's a tremendous amount of fun.

5 out of 5 stars

Magick worth the wait December 7, 2006
9 out of 9 found this review helpful

Several years ago I read a short story by this author which was so jaw-droppingly fantastic it turned me into a cyber-stalker, always on the prowl for more. Needless to say I was delighted when this novel finally popped up. Although plainly written for young teens, with prose and content adjusted accordingly, Flora Segunda provides another glimpse into the vibrant world of Califa, the product of such a singular imagination I'm at a loss for words, Grammatickal or otherwise, to describe it. Quiero mas y mas, Madama Wilce!

5 out of 5 stars

A Tale Told Well January 5, 2007
8 out of 9 found this review helpful

I had the honor of being a friend of the author's when we were many years younger, and was privy to the creation of much of the backstory of this, her first book. All I can say is that it was well worth every drop of sweat, courage, frustration, and love. Congratulations, Bo. It's a rich, textured, powerful, and utterly spellbinding work.

As for the rest of you lot, go read Flora Segunda. Go read right now. ;)

4 out of 5 stars

Tries to be Harry Potter, doesn't quite make it January 5, 2007
6 out of 12 found this review helpful

As the book opens, Flora Segunda (her older sister, First Flora, was killed many years before) is quickly approaching her 14th birthday, when she will be considered an adult, and there is way too much to do. Her Catorcena speech is not yet written, her dress is not yet made, and she most emphatically does not want to follow the rest of her family into the military, as her mother (the Commanding General of the empire) expects. Flora prefers to become a ranger, like her hero Nino Mo; rangers are sneaky and use magic. Alas, they are no longer allowed in the empire. Then as if things weren't bad enough, with Flora already late for school, the elevator (instead of taking her to her room) deposits her....somewhere....in the eleven thousand rooms of her house, and won't take her back..

This book attempts to be another Harry Potter; while it doesn't quite succeed, it is very readable. The first few chapters are somewhat dry, but after that it becomes quite a page-turner; I suspect that the intended audience (12-15 year olds, I would guess) would enjoy it very much.

Disclaimer: I received a free review copy of this book. Find this review and more at Vulcan Ears Book Reviews.

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