Flora's Dare: How a Girl of Spirit Gambles All to Expand Her Vocabulary, Confront a Bouncing Boy Terror, and Try to Save Califa from a Shaky Doom (Despite Being Confined to Her Room)

This is the sequel to Flora Segunda, so I was a little nervous jumping right in since it was over a year ago that I read the first. Well, I needn't have worried. In an entertaining summary that starts out with an odd "what I learned..." essay, Flora breezily narrates her prior adventures and goes right into the current problem. She wants to learn Gramatica (the language of magick), but she has to find a way to get in touch with one of three magick users in Califa, without her parents knowing. In an attempt to do just that, she and Udo go to a club (after telling her parents that they were going to be somewhere else, a place with puppets, where all the 12-year-olds go, not the fourteen-year-olds), where Flora gets attacked by a tentacle show more while attempting to use the bathroom and Udo zombifies notorious outlaw Springheel Jack.

I had a lot of fun with this book. I don't remember why, but I gave the first in the series 4 stars. With this one, I found it inventive and original and liked seeing details from Book 1 crop up again in unexpected ways. The ending is not a cliffhanger, but still leaves room for a sequel that I'll eagerly away. show less

I remembered this book being a letdown after Flora Segunda... But for the life of me I don't know why. This time around it was AMAZING.

Such a fun, crazy, wild adventure. I'm still in love with Flora. She has to be one of my all-time favorite main characters. And the messes she gets into! Every little subplot of Flora's Dare is interesting and well thought out, from Zu-Zu to Springheel Jack to all the tiny problems that end up parts of the one big problem.

I also adore the world of Califa. It's so intricate and so complete. It's one of those worlds that I would just die to visit. The places, the people, the types of people, the magick, the army, the clothes, the cliques, the Butlers... everything about it. I would seriously read a show more guidebook of Califa.

This book has everything, and all of it's done well. Underwater terrors, time travel, symbiotic villains, traitorous gentlemen, magickal mishaps, cliche plot twists that totally work anyway. Everyone should read these books. show less

A roving tentacle pops out of a toilet.

AWESOME.

So begins Flora’s Dare, the second book in the Flora Segunda series. Now that Flora is fourteen and has survived all the drama of the previous book, she starts turning her mind towards learning magic. Her problem is that there is no one to teach her, but soon Flora becomes embroiled in other problems, such as the squid that lives under the city, her best friend Udo’s newfound romance, and the startling truth of her own family.

I thought Flora’s Dare was a great continuation of Flora Segunda. It has all the same wit and cleverness, and is laugh-out-loud funny. Flora as a narrator is always charming, even when she’s complaining about the chores she has to do or moaning about her show more tyrannical parents. Her family complications, which I mentioned enjoying in my review of the first book, come back, and you see the General, Poppy, and even Idden at their finest (or not).

If there is a noticeable change in Dare, it’s that it reads slightly more adult. People swear and there are definitely sexual undertones in certain scenes. I like it though. One of the things I appreciate about this series is how subversive it can be. Wilce subverts gender cliches in having a woman as the top general, and men who stay home and take care of the children. Flora’s best friend is an undeniable fop, but his foppishness is not played out to be a weakness. In Dare, when Flora is threatened she warns her enemy that someone big and strong will come and save her, but she refers to this hypothetical person as “she.”

Flora’s Dare is a fantastic, quirky romp. If you haven’t read the first book, go read it. Then come and gobble this second one up. show less

The book starts shortly after [b:Flora Segunda|229033|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 (Flora Trilogy, Book 1)|Ysabeau S. Wilce|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1172891622s/229033.jpg|2356884] ends, and the repurcussions of that adventure are still being sorted out. Through Flora's intervention, Poppy has managed to pull himself out of madness and a drunken stupor and insists on strict military rules for Crackpot Hall. Meanwhile, Flora's perfect older sister Idden has deserted the military and is running wild with a group of revolutionaries. And worst of all, Flora's best friend, the beautiful and show more vain Udo, has fallen in with a bad crowd. (Wilce does probably the best job I have ever seen of creating fictional sub-cultures.) But Flora can't deal with any of these problems, because Califa's earthquakes are ever worsening, and according to Lord Axacaya, she is the only one who can stop them.

This is a really fantastic book. I recommend it to anyone who loved Harry Potter but wished the characters did a bit more research, or who loved Jonathan Strange&Mr. Norell but wished for more adventure. The world building, word-play, character arcs--all are absolutely fabulous. show less

Flora Fyrdraaca learns that only she can put an end to the earthquakes that threaten to tear her city apart.

This simply the most fun I've had in ages.

The plot is twisty-turny; there's always something going on. Daring escapes, gun fights, inadvertent time travel... this book's got it all. Wilce packs one hell of a wallop, my dears. One hell of a wallop. She sweeps you up and refuses to let you go. I was desperate to read on. "Just one more chapter," I told myself. "You can squeeze in one more chapter. Or a few pages, maybe? I know you've gotta get back to work, darlin', but you've got another three minutes. Make 'em count."

Every piece of the plot fits together with a click. FLORA SEGUNDA had lots of fascinating tangents. FLORA'S DARE show more has lots of fascinating pieces that fit together to form a satisfying whole.

And the worldbuilding... oy vey, do I ever love Wilce's worldbuilding! Califa is my current setting obsession. I just love the place. It's what the nineteenth century might've been like with magick and a healthy dose of punk sensibility. There are plenty of little details that make it seem almost familiar... but just when you think you're good and comfortable, you stumble over an oddity that proves this ain't your garden variety city. Blue lip rouge, kilts for women and men alike, the hairstyles... It's damned good stuff. I can't get enough of it.

But as wonderful as the book is, it's not quite perfect. I did sometimes wish for a bit more depth. There's a lot of great stuff going on, but there were times when I felt like Wilce was just skimming the surface. There was room for more. I also get the sense that she changed a few key details from the first book, but I can't check up on them as my copy is currently with a friend. Hmmm.

Overall, though, this was fantastic. I'm very, very sorry it's over. I can't wait to read whatever Wilce churns out next! Whether it's another Flora novel or a short story about some snippet of Califan history, you can bet I'll be clamoring for a copy.

(This review originally appeared in a slightly different form on my blog, Stella Matutina). show less

Flora's Dare, by Ysabeau S. Wilce, is the sequel to Flora Segunda, which I read some years ago and enjoyed. Flora lives in an alternate world where magic works, the Aztecs rule client city-states in America, and Flora's town, Califa, is essentially a magical San Francisco (having lived there for many years, I had fun identifying which structures were the basis for which homes in the book). Flora is more determined than ever to become a Ranger like her heroine, Nini Mo, but that means she has to learn Gramatica, the language of magic, and there are few potential teachers available to her. In the process of seeking someone to mentor her, Flora learns that the earthquakes menacing Califa are the result of the thrashings of a giant captive show more squid, which will destroy the city if no one can stop it. And of course, nobody can stop it, except for Flora that is - if only she can escape from her bedroom, where her father has locked her in.... The ending of this book makes it clear that the series is not finished yet, which is a good thing; Flora is a Girl of Spirit and her bumbling adventures are both entertaining and at times a bit scary. In this installment, she learns much more about, well, everything than she ever thought she'd know, and she finds that the people around her are not always who she thinks they are. A bit of a wild ride, but tons of fun! Recommended - but read the first novel first. show less

Ysabeau Wilce needs to write faster. These books are just an absolute delight, and I think I liked Flora's Dare even better than I liked Flora Segunda. Mysteries are solved, more crop up, and Flora's family is fleshed out. Flora is a fabulously believable character who grows and changes in believable ways, despite the fantastical nature of her adventures. I can't wait for the third one! I should probably note that this installment is quite a bit more violent than the first, so while Flora Segunda straddled the line neatly between juvenile and YA fiction, Flora's Dare is much more of a YA novel.