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Flora Trilogy #1+2
Flora Fyrdraaca
Hardcover publication of two books originally published separately: Flora Segunda and Flora's Dare.
Flora Segunda:
Flora Fyrdraaca knows taking shortcuts in Crackpot Hall can be risky. After all, when a House has eleven thousand decaying rooms that shift about at random, there's no telling where a person might end up. But it's not just household confusion that vexes Flora, what with Mamma always away being Commanding General of the Army, and Crackpot Hall too broken down to magickally provide the clean towels and hot waffles that are a Fyrdraaca's birthright.
Yet Flora is nothing if not a Girl of Spirit. So when she takes a forbidden shortcut and stumbles upon her family's biggest secret--Valefor, the banished Butler--she and her best friend Udo plunge happily into the grand adventure of restoring Valefor to his rightful (or so he says) position. If only Flora knew that meddling with a magickal being can go terribly awry--and that soon she will have to find a way to restore herself before it is Too Late.
Flora's Dare:
Flora Fyrdraaca wants nothing more than to become a ranger, but first she must master the magickal—and dangerous—language of Gramatica. Such mastery will depend on expert instruction, unflinching confidence, and luck. Even if Flora can muster up the first two, luck is not a hallmark of the Fyrdraaca family.
And when the world Flora knows begins to crumble around her, her aspirations are sorely tested. Would a true ranger be intimidated by a vast tentacle crawling from the depths of a toilet? Be dismayed by the news that only she can stop the earthquakes threatening the city of Califa’s survival?
Saving her city is what any good ranger would do. Flora expects her mission to be difficult and perilous. Yet what this Girl of Spirit does not expect are the life-altering revelations that force her to ask the question: Who is Flora Fyrdraaca?
Flora Segunda:
Flora Fyrdraaca knows taking shortcuts in Crackpot Hall can be risky. After all, when a House has eleven thousand decaying rooms that shift about at random, there's no telling where a person might end up. But it's not just household confusion that vexes Flora, what with Mamma always away being Commanding General of the Army, and Crackpot Hall too broken down to magickally provide the clean towels and hot waffles that are a Fyrdraaca's birthright.
Yet Flora is nothing if not a Girl of Spirit. So when she takes a forbidden shortcut and stumbles upon her family's biggest secret--Valefor, the banished Butler--she and her best friend Udo plunge happily into the grand adventure of restoring Valefor to his rightful (or so he says) position. If only Flora knew that meddling with a magickal being can go terribly awry--and that soon she will have to find a way to restore herself before it is Too Late.
Flora's Dare:
Flora Fyrdraaca wants nothing more than to become a ranger, but first she must master the magickal—and dangerous—language of Gramatica. Such mastery will depend on expert instruction, unflinching confidence, and luck. Even if Flora can muster up the first two, luck is not a hallmark of the Fyrdraaca family.
And when the world Flora knows begins to crumble around her, her aspirations are sorely tested. Would a true ranger be intimidated by a vast tentacle crawling from the depths of a toilet? Be dismayed by the news that only she can stop the earthquakes threatening the city of Califa’s survival?
Saving her city is what any good ranger would do. Flora expects her mission to be difficult and perilous. Yet what this Girl of Spirit does not expect are the life-altering revelations that force her to ask the question: Who is Flora Fyrdraaca?
- GenresFantasyYoung Adult
691 pages, Hardcover
Published June 1, 2009
2 people are currently reading
97 people want to read
About the author
Ysabeau S. Wilce
22 books255 followersYsabeau S. Wilce was born in the City of Califa at the age of one. While her parents were on a diplomatic mission to the Huitzil Empire, she was cared for by an uncle what brought her up by hand. She attended Sanctuary School as a scholarship girl and then spent three years at the University of Califa where she took a double degree in Apotropaic Philosophy and Confabulation.
She then became laundress to Company C, Enthusiastic Regiment of the Army of Califa, and accompanied her unit to Fort Gehenna, Arivaipa Territory. While in Arivaipa she was bitten by a wer-flamingo; only the timely intervention by the local curandero saved her from an awful skin-shifting pink fate.
After returning to Califa to recuperate, Ysabeau was employed by the Califa Society for Historiography and Graphic Maps as an archivist. It was then she first developed an interest in the history of the Republic and began researching the City’s past.
After losing her position during the Great Bureaucratic Budgetary Freeze of ’07 she took a position as pot-girl at the Mono Real coffee bar, and during her free time began on the first volume of Califa in Sunshine and Shade: A Glorious History of A Glorious Republic. "Volume I: Metal More Attractive" appeared in Fantasy and Science Fiction Magazine January of that same year, and was followed by "Volume II. The Lineaments of Gratified Desire" the next year. Other monographs on incidents in Califa history followed, until the publication of the first full length volume Flora Segunda Being the Magical 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, which is available from your local bookmonger now.
In her spare time, Ysabeau enjoys chewing, sleeping, gossiping, and folding paper-towels into napkins. She currently resides in the City of Porkopolis with her husband, a cheese-swilling financier, and a dog that is not red. She does not have a butler.
Comments, compliments, critiques, and bon mots may be addressed to denizen@yswilce.com where they will be duly noted, but not necessarily heeded.
To receive random updates on Ysabeau's projects and projections, please join her exclusive private mailing list. Special reports will be intermittent but very informative and entertaining.
She then became laundress to Company C, Enthusiastic Regiment of the Army of Califa, and accompanied her unit to Fort Gehenna, Arivaipa Territory. While in Arivaipa she was bitten by a wer-flamingo; only the timely intervention by the local curandero saved her from an awful skin-shifting pink fate.
After returning to Califa to recuperate, Ysabeau was employed by the Califa Society for Historiography and Graphic Maps as an archivist. It was then she first developed an interest in the history of the Republic and began researching the City’s past.
After losing her position during the Great Bureaucratic Budgetary Freeze of ’07 she took a position as pot-girl at the Mono Real coffee bar, and during her free time began on the first volume of Califa in Sunshine and Shade: A Glorious History of A Glorious Republic. "Volume I: Metal More Attractive" appeared in Fantasy and Science Fiction Magazine January of that same year, and was followed by "Volume II. The Lineaments of Gratified Desire" the next year. Other monographs on incidents in Califa history followed, until the publication of the first full length volume Flora Segunda Being the Magical 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, which is available from your local bookmonger now.
In her spare time, Ysabeau enjoys chewing, sleeping, gossiping, and folding paper-towels into napkins. She currently resides in the City of Porkopolis with her husband, a cheese-swilling financier, and a dog that is not red. She does not have a butler.
Comments, compliments, critiques, and bon mots may be addressed to denizen@yswilce.com where they will be duly noted, but not necessarily heeded.
To receive random updates on Ysabeau's projects and projections, please join her exclusive private mailing list. Special reports will be intermittent but very informative and entertaining.
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
January 19, 2023
I am so glad I found this series!
Flora Fydraaca is our title character, and this is also the name of the combined publication of book one, Flora Segunda, and book two, Flora's Dare. Her name "Flora Segunda" literally means "second Flora," because she is named after her deceased older sister. I found this to be such an effective literary device: you can feel the weight Flora carries for her entire family over the loss of Flora Primera. It creates such an obvious shadow over Flora, yet it is woven so naturally into the tale. Naturally obvious? What a lovely oxymoron.
The tale is quirky but also really fun! It takes place in a magical house that has a mind of its own, which is personified in the banished denizen Valefor. The first story tells of Flora's attempt to restore Valefor through "magick", while the second story tells of a monster terrorizing the city that only Flora can stop.
One aspect I particularly enjoyed was that it was so effortlessly feminine. I find many books (and most of television) nowadays force femininity to the extreme: princesses becoming fierce, women who save their own skins, etc. etc. But there was such a natural flow to the way the women were portrayed, and that really impressed me. The monster of the second story is female. Flora's mother, Buck, is a tough tyrant in the military, contrasting Flora's father Poppy who is depressed and lifeless because he is filled with grief. We see references to "thank the goddesses" rather than "gods", and Flora's best friend, Udo, is much more vain than she is. (But to be clear: it didn't put men down! It just put them into roles that are not usually written for male characters.) The "ultimate ranger" was a woman named Nini Mo. Every character that really mattered and did something was female! And with that, Flora is considered to be somewhat overweight, yet never does this hold her back; she just embraces it and accepts it as a dismissal aspect of herself.
One of my favourite feminine moments was
Anyways, I think the best way to describe this series is a soap opera fantasy. It is loaded with twists as well as amazing and unique uses of literary devices, and the magic system is also fresh and fun. We have magic, and ghosts and ghouls, as well as time travel and independent-thinking elevators! Then there is the social aspect, where we see relationships changing and becoming threatened, all of this leaving us to wonder what will happen next. (Warning: book one is totally stand-alone, but there is a major cliff-hanger at the end of book two.)
I would recommend this book for ages 12 and up; certain details such as the "netherwear sheath" (😋) might fly over young heads, but there is a tiny bit of swearing, but not so much as to ruin anything... I felt like the author really tried to be conservative, and so we get some loophole swears like "fike," but it merits being mentioned. There is violence, but again, I am a very sensitive reader and this never deterred me.
I give it a solid four stars! Some scenes were a little trippy (a certain attack in a bathroom springs to mind, as well as a scene in the tombs), and the tone occasionally came off a little kiddy, but all-in-all, an excellent read, and I am diving right into book 3!
Flora Fydraaca is our title character, and this is also the name of the combined publication of book one, Flora Segunda, and book two, Flora's Dare. Her name "Flora Segunda" literally means "second Flora," because she is named after her deceased older sister. I found this to be such an effective literary device: you can feel the weight Flora carries for her entire family over the loss of Flora Primera. It creates such an obvious shadow over Flora, yet it is woven so naturally into the tale. Naturally obvious? What a lovely oxymoron.
The tale is quirky but also really fun! It takes place in a magical house that has a mind of its own, which is personified in the banished denizen Valefor. The first story tells of Flora's attempt to restore Valefor through "magick", while the second story tells of a monster terrorizing the city that only Flora can stop.
One aspect I particularly enjoyed was that it was so effortlessly feminine. I find many books (and most of television) nowadays force femininity to the extreme: princesses becoming fierce, women who save their own skins, etc. etc. But there was such a natural flow to the way the women were portrayed, and that really impressed me. The monster of the second story is female. Flora's mother, Buck, is a tough tyrant in the military, contrasting Flora's father Poppy who is depressed and lifeless because he is filled with grief. We see references to "thank the goddesses" rather than "gods", and Flora's best friend, Udo, is much more vain than she is. (But to be clear: it didn't put men down! It just put them into roles that are not usually written for male characters.) The "ultimate ranger" was a woman named Nini Mo. Every character that really mattered and did something was female! And with that, Flora is considered to be somewhat overweight, yet never does this hold her back; she just embraces it and accepts it as a dismissal aspect of herself.
One of my favourite feminine moments was
Anyways, I think the best way to describe this series is a soap opera fantasy. It is loaded with twists as well as amazing and unique uses of literary devices, and the magic system is also fresh and fun. We have magic, and ghosts and ghouls, as well as time travel and independent-thinking elevators! Then there is the social aspect, where we see relationships changing and becoming threatened, all of this leaving us to wonder what will happen next. (Warning: book one is totally stand-alone, but there is a major cliff-hanger at the end of book two.)
I would recommend this book for ages 12 and up; certain details such as the "netherwear sheath" (😋) might fly over young heads, but there is a tiny bit of swearing, but not so much as to ruin anything... I felt like the author really tried to be conservative, and so we get some loophole swears like "fike," but it merits being mentioned. There is violence, but again, I am a very sensitive reader and this never deterred me.
I give it a solid four stars! Some scenes were a little trippy (a certain attack in a bathroom springs to mind, as well as a scene in the tombs), and the tone occasionally came off a little kiddy, but all-in-all, an excellent read, and I am diving right into book 3!
January 3, 2011
Absolutely fantastic heroine! You'll fall in love with her and become completely enchanted by the storytelling here -- I could not put it down. Some of the most imaginative language I've ever read in a novel, and I found myself laughing at a few very familiar one-liners Wilce scattered throughout the book. I can't wait for its sequel and encourage any fantasy book fan to pick this one up. All too often, the genre lacks quality plots and gifted writing both, but this one nails them both.
January 19, 2023
Such a delightful, whimsical series!
June 14, 2025
My favorite book from my childhood. So sad no one really knows of this fantastic story. If you want a fun and whimsical read about a teenage girl trying to find herself, this is the one for you!
May 23, 2012
Aimed at younger readers (the protagonist is almost 14), this intriguing fantasy weaves a world based very loosely on Aztec mythology. Magic, combat, puzzling castles and will-sucking beings--all of these are challenges for the female protagonist who fights for her very disfunctional family. Most fantasy fans will enjoy this clean and very smart and funny fantasy adventure.
OK, now for the second book included in this volume,Flora's Dare: though the novel is well told, with appealing plot and adventure, the book has some very unwelcome additions. The 14 year old protagonist muses for a page on the condom she finds in her friend's stuff (told obliquely enough that innocent readers won't catch what she's upset about) and one of the main characters uses the expletive, "fike," continually, an obvious sub for the real f word that most kids WILL catch. Too bad, because the series has such promise for the pre teen readers who would enjoy the fantasy adventure a lot.
OK, now for the second book included in this volume,Flora's Dare: though the novel is well told, with appealing plot and adventure, the book has some very unwelcome additions. The 14 year old protagonist muses for a page on the condom she finds in her friend's stuff (told obliquely enough that innocent readers won't catch what she's upset about) and one of the main characters uses the expletive, "fike," continually, an obvious sub for the real f word that most kids WILL catch. Too bad, because the series has such promise for the pre teen readers who would enjoy the fantasy adventure a lot.
August 28, 2009
Enjoyable fantasy. I can't wait for the third installment of the series! The author knows how to write characters, and is adept at character development. This series is aimed at kids, but it's worth a read, even if you're an adult.
January 3, 2010
For the life of me, I can't get into this book. I've tried three times now. I think I will just take it to school and turn my my gifted readers lost on it and see what happens. Maybe someother time, I will be able to get through it.
February 3, 2010
Really good, except for a few dirty parts. But I like Flora. She's fat and not very pretty, and I like her.
March 18, 2011
One of the most amazing books I've ever ever read! The character structure is amazing and the plot and dialouge are too. Definetly a two thumbs up!
August 4, 2018
didn't care enough about the story to want to keep reading.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews