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“Recommended for Grades 9 & up.”
GPL T wrote this review Thursday, October 8 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“I've read it twice. I have to give it a high rating, and express how much I loved it, because it inspired me to write my books. I don't think I've read anything with such peculiar and unique settings. Ysabeau Wilce set up customs and traditions and language and way of thought and imagery that was totally crazily new and different. I applaud her.”
Eilonwy G wrote this review Tuesday, August 25 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“ Reviewed by Carrie Spellman for TeensReadToo.com
TeensReadToo.com wrote this review Saturday, July 25 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
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 sisterIdden 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.”
“this is one of the many uncommon but great books that i have managed to find. this is the authors first and only book, but it is very origional and surprizing. it is awesome and totally worth you time!”
Sarah D wrote this review Monday, July 20 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“I was pleasantly surprised at how much I liked this book. Wouldn't put it down.”
Kate Savage wrote this review Thursday, March 26 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“It took me a while to get into this book, but once I did, I really enjoyed it. I loved the idea of the house denizens and the way the magic works in this world.”
Vanessa D wrote this review Wednesday, March 25 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“The full title of this book is: 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. Remember that for the quiz. And while I may not be quite serious about that quiz, this book could be seriously studied. Why? For one thing, because it contains a lot of vocab-building words that I had to look up (such as aiguillettes, barouche, and gorget); but also because it introduces a truly original fantasy world, complete with its own native patterns of speech. At least, introduces it as far as a novel goes, though I believe author Wilce previously published short stories based on this world in various sci-fi/fantasy magazines. But until an anthology of those stories is published, this is the first book you are likely to notice in what I suppose could be called the "Crackpot Hall series."
Robbie F wrote this review Monday, November 10 2008. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
I want to describe the world of Crackpot Hall to you, but I'm not sure where to begin. It's not a period in past or future history. It's not another planet. I'm pretty sure it's not an alternate historical timeline of our world. Yet it is somewhat like the American Southwest, where Spanish lingo has made inroads into English. And it is somewhat like a past era of history, in which a wood fire was a central feature of every household, and in which most forms of transportation had something to do with the horse. At the same time, however, there are elements that students of the pre-20th-century American Southwest will not recognize; and I'm not just talking about place names. I'm talking about magic.
I'm talking about terrible beings with the bodies of people and the heads of birds. I'm talking about butlers who draw strength from the Will of the family they serve. I'm talking about guerilla-like rangers who use magic and deceit to outfox their enemies. I'm talking about powerful spells using a language called Gramatica whose alphabet (perhaps fortunately) you can't read, so there need be no fear that you will accidentally speak it aloud and turn your sister into a turnip; a language in which certain verbs are so powerful that they take on a physical form.
Flora Fyrdraaca belongs to one of the major houses of the city of Califa. Her mother is the Warlord's military commander. Her father, having been captured and tortured by the enemy during the last war, is a crazy drunk. Her older sister has followed family tradition by going into the Army. And another sister, also named Flora (on whose account our Flora is "Flora Segunda"), died in the war. So everyone assumes Flora is going to enlist as soon as she comes of age, i.e. 14. Her catorcena (14th birthday) is coming up, an important affair. But Flora isn't ready for it. Not only is she woefully behind on making her dress, sending out invitations, and so forth; but she also doesn't want to become a soldier.
Instead, Flora wants to be one of the magic-wielding rangers. Only, the rangers have been outlawed since Califa made peace with its enemy, the Huitzil empire. So Flora and her best friend Udo are taking a big risk when they try to help the last known ranger, the legendary Boy Hansgen, escape on the eve of his execution. What Flora doesn't realize is that she has already taken an even bigger risk by offering to revive her butler, the banished Valefor, so he can help her with her chores around the increasingly run-down Crackpot Hall. Once Valefor starts siphoning off Flora's will, both of them begin to fade. Unless something can be done either to restore Valefor completely or to break the link between them, both he and Flora will sink into oblivion.
Few can advise Flora and Udo on what to do. Unfortunately those few include Flora's mad father, the lingering denizen of an extinct house (rumored to keep himself going by eating trespassers), and worst of all, the Huitzil ambassador himself: Lord Axacaya, whose defection to Califa caused the late war that devastated the country, and whose betrayal of Califa nearly destroyed it. Flora can scarcely imagine a more evil person, or a greater enemy of her own family... yet her survival will ultimately depend on what Lord Axacaya knows.
As you can perhaps guess from my lengthy synopsis, it may take a while for you to find your footing in the strange world of Califa and the Fyrdraaca family's Crackpot Hall. Nevertheless I trust that you will be charmed by the heroine's spirit, amused by her glass-gazing sidekick, intrigued (if not totally creeped out) by the two ominous butlers (one blue), and moved with affection for a certain highly-excitable red dog. Whether or not you actually want to move into their 11,000-room house with the Fyrdraacas, you will probably come to the end of this book dying to start its sequel, titled Flora's Dare.”
“Very good, well worth reading. One of the young adult books that can definitely be appreciated by adults. Yes the characters are adolescent - they are adolescents! I enjoyed, even more, a short story by the same author about the same world, "The Lineaments of Gratified Desire", found in the 2007 Year's Best Fantasy and Horror. I think that Califa is a good alternate universe and Ysabeau Wilce even a better author than Flora Segunda reveals, because of the agile way she handled writing different stories, from different perspectives, for different audiences, set in the same world. I look forward to more.”
Robin B wrote this review Wednesday, September 3 2008. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“A very well thought out and strongly constructed world can be found in Califa. You can quickly understand the different customs and culture of it, even though they are numerous. The voice of Flora is darkly humorous and (in my opinion) very entertaining. Her view is easy to relate to even if you aren't exactly lost in a house of 11,000 rooms.”
Kel S wrote this review Friday, August 22 2008. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No“Flora Segunda lives pretty much by herself in Crackpot Hall, the house of eleven thousand rooms. Her mother is too busy being General to stay around much, and her father drowns his life in the bottle. So maybe it's not so surprising Flora gets into a little trouble trying to help Valefor, the House's resident Denizen, regain himself. A lot of trouble. And suddenly she's going to need every skill she possesses (and quite a few she doesn't) to get out.
Aelvana wrote this review Thursday, July 3 2008. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
Flora's sheer vocabulary makes her an amusing narrator. The slang is explained well and used often, but the variety of descriptions is one area where this book shines. But the book's chatty tone keeps it from bogging down in big words.
The characters themselves are all larger-than-life in some way, from Udo's fashion sense and bravado to the General's impenetrable Will. Flora never has a dull moment as she races from adventure to adventure.
Unfortunately, Flora herself is extremely irritating. She says it best: "I thought i was so clever and rangery, and I wasn't anything at all but a stupid heartless mindless snapperhead!" And given it takes her nearly 300 pages to come to this realization, I almost put the book down several times before finishing it. Valefor was just as bad; he came off as a whiny teenage brat (which I suppose he is, in Denizen years) that just won't shut up. The pair of them had me hoping they would kill each other, preferably sooner rather than later.
On a smaller scale, I never got much of a sense of setting for the overall world Flora lives in. She describes her immediate surroundings well enough, but just enough of a wider picture to assure readers that history and possibly even geography is wildly different. Particularly with magic, things happen and explanations follow; this would not normally be a bad thing, but it happens so often it feels like Flora keeps pulling rabbits out of a hat.
Thankfully, the end of the book is much better than the beginning. Characters stop feeling like caricatures and reveal multiple dimensions. Flora ends up being wrong in some of her key assumptions about people and situations. But it's such a long slog to get there I wonder that it's worth reading this book, much less the sequel. I rate this book Neutral.”
