Ysabeau S. Wilce is the author of Flora Segunda, Flora's Dare, and Flora's Fury, and she has also published work in Asimov's Science Fiction and The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction. She has been nominated for the World Fantasy Award and the Tiptree Award, and Flora's Dare won the Andre Norton Award for Young Adult Science Fiction and Fantasy. Trained as a military historian, she claims to have turned to fiction when the truth no longer compared favorably to the shining lies of her imagination. She lives in San Francisco with her family. Visit her website at www.yswilce.com.
Praise for Flora Segunda "Highly original, strange and amusing ...treats young readers with respect."--Diana Wynne Jones* "A thoroughly original magical world marks this witty debut...Tantalizingly, the open-ended conclusion hints there might be more to come from this compelling and funny heroine."--Kirkus Reviews, starred review"Like [Philip] Pullman's Lyra Silvertongue or [Terry] Pratchett's Tiffany Aching, Flora Fyrdraaca is a descendant of Jo March rather than a fainting beauty who needs rescuing."--The New York Times Book Review Praise for Flora's Dare Winner of the Andre Norton Award for Young Adult Science Fiction and Fantasy "Wilce creates a fantastic and unique world. . . . Guaranteed thrills, chills, and amazing revelations."--VOYA * "This fresh and funky setting is rich with glorious costumes, innovative language and tantalizing glimpses of history."--Kirkus Reviews, starred review"Never loses its sense of fun."--Booklist Praise for Flora's Fury"[A] thrilling, bizarre ride."--The Horn Book"Readers return to our heroine at a pivotal moment in her growth . . . Flora fans will love old mysteries solved."--Kirkus Reviews"Offers some enjoyable twists . . . fans of Flora will not be disappointed."--VOYA, 3Q 2P J S"A charming conclusion to a fine fantasy series."--Booklist
Gr 7-9-Flora Fyrdraaca is approaching 14, the age of majority, and preparing for its celebratory Catorcena. She lives in Crackpot Hall, a once-glorious but now decaying home with 11,000 rooms that randomly shift positions. Her mother is the Warlord's Commanding General and a workaholic. Her father, a broken man due to his past imprisonment for war crimes, is most often an enraged drunk who trashes the house. Oversleeping one morning, Flora uses the forbidden Elevator to get her overdue library book and finds herself in a strange part of the house where Valefor, the family butler, has been banished. He is losing his Anima and convinces Flora to let him suck some of hers, which causes her to develop Anima Enervation, and she begins to fade. Here the complicated plot in this overlong first novel becomes as shifting and rambling as Crackpot Hall itself. Flora and her friend Udo try to find a fetish or Semiote Verb to restore Valefor, but then get waylaid. Flora uncovers why Poppy is such a broken man, swims in the slimy pond in her garden to touch the refreshing Current and be restored, and much more-all in the week preceding her Catorcena. The plot has structural problems and clarification, when given, seems appended after the fact. Extraneous details make the story muddled, as does the inclusion of invented words. While some of the writing is witty, this is an additional purchase at best.-Connie Tyrrell Burns, Mahoney Middle School, South Portland, ME Copyright 2007 Reed Business Information.
Praise for Flora Segunda "Highly original, strange and amusing ...treats young readers with respect."--Diana Wynne Jones* "A thoroughly original magical world marks this witty debut...Tantalizingly, the open-ended conclusion hints there might be more to come from this compelling and funny heroine."--Kirkus Reviews, starred review"Like [Philip] Pullman's Lyra Silvertongue or [Terry] Pratchett's Tiffany Aching, Flora Fyrdraaca is a descendant of Jo March rather than a fainting beauty who needs rescuing."--The New York Times Book Review Praise for Flora's Dare Winner of the Andre Norton Award for Young Adult Science Fiction and Fantasy "Wilce creates a fantastic and unique world. . . . Guaranteed thrills, chills, and amazing revelations."--VOYA * "This fresh and funky setting is rich with glorious costumes, innovative language and tantalizing glimpses of history."--Kirkus Reviews, starred review"Never loses its sense of fun."--Booklist Praise for Flora's Fury"[A] thrilling, bizarre ride."--The Horn Book"Readers return to our heroine at a pivotal moment in her growth . . . Flora fans will love old mysteries solved."--Kirkus Reviews"Offers some enjoyable twists . . . fans of Flora will not be disappointed."--VOYA, 3Q 2P J S"A charming conclusion to a fine fantasy series."--Booklist
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