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May. 4th, 2009 11:20 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
skygiantsUm, basically the best advertisement for Ysabeau Wilce's 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 is the title - I do not know about you, but promise me ominous blue butlers in a book and I am sold. But I will add my extended recommendation here anyways!
Basically this book does one of the things I like best, which is strike a balance between a fun, light tone and the often-silly concerns of a teenaged girl and some surprisingly dark themes layered underneath. Protagonist Flora is bitter because she has to do a lot of chores, she's ambivalent about her upcoming coming-of-age celebration, she's always late for school, and she doesn't want to go into the military like the rest of her family (including her mother, the famous general and national hero); she wants to grow up and become a MAGICAL NINJA SPY. (In this world, they are called Rangers, but it translates to about the same thing.) Unfortunately the MAGICAL NINJA SPIES were disbanded many years ago when her country of Califa lost a war with a neighboring nation, but Flora refuses to let that stop her. Also her father has an extremely bad case of PTSD stemming from his time in the war, and since her mother is so often busy and he older sister is off in the military it is Flora's job to make sure he does not come downstairs, wave knives around and trash the house. Which adds to her chores. Enter the household magical butler, who is supposed to be doing all the chores and also keeping their creepy magical house in order, but was banished by Flora's mother for reasons known only to herself. He'd really like for Flora to free him, and maybe lend him some of her magical energy . . .
Subsequent plot developments are a lot of fun and involve Flora's extremely well-dressed best friend, an outlaw called the Dainty Pirate, a haunted house, the aforementioned blue butler, accidental time travel, and a morally ambiguous Aztec magician. The world-building and backstory are also really interesting - the country of Califa is a very cool fantasy mishmash that gives the impression of having been influenced by a lot of different cultures, and, speaking as a former temporary California, it is so cool to see a recognizable alt!California! I was raising my eyebrows at the portrayal of the evil Aztec nation at first, but by the end of the book enough doubt and complexity had been thrown in (and Flora's biased viewpoint had been questioned enough) that I now trust she is going somewhere interesting with that. Also, I love how gender-equal the world is, without making any kind of fuss over it - it's simply an accepted thing in this universe. Both Flora's mother and the MAGICAL NINJA SPY that she would like to model herself after are super-strong women; Flora's best friend, on the other hand, is always the glass of fashion, but that doesn't make him any less of a strong and effective character either.
But what I really love best of all are the family dynamics, and how they're treated. Everyone in Flora's family is dealing with a set of very complicated issues, and they're all screwing up in a lot of ways, but man, they are trying so hard! Flora's mother the General makes some mistakes, but there is no doubt that she's a sympathetic character who cares very much about Flora, and the scenes between Flora and her father (especially in the second half of the book) just about broke my heart. At the same time, though, Flora is so used to the situation that it doesn't weigh the book down with woe-is-me melodrama; like any teenager, she spends more time thinking about the little, selfish concerns than big ones, which makes the big ones feel that much more believable. It's the same kind of thing that makes me love Diana Wynne Jones. I would have loved to see more of Flora's older sister, but I got the impression that she plays a bigger part in the sequel, which is waiting for me at the library RIGHT NOW. :D
ETA: Oh man, and I forgot to mention the most amazing random detail! Which is that Flora's BFF's mom is married to a set of identical triplets. Yes, all three of them. AWESOME.
Basically this book does one of the things I like best, which is strike a balance between a fun, light tone and the often-silly concerns of a teenaged girl and some surprisingly dark themes layered underneath. Protagonist Flora is bitter because she has to do a lot of chores, she's ambivalent about her upcoming coming-of-age celebration, she's always late for school, and she doesn't want to go into the military like the rest of her family (including her mother, the famous general and national hero); she wants to grow up and become a MAGICAL NINJA SPY. (In this world, they are called Rangers, but it translates to about the same thing.) Unfortunately the MAGICAL NINJA SPIES were disbanded many years ago when her country of Califa lost a war with a neighboring nation, but Flora refuses to let that stop her. Also her father has an extremely bad case of PTSD stemming from his time in the war, and since her mother is so often busy and he older sister is off in the military it is Flora's job to make sure he does not come downstairs, wave knives around and trash the house. Which adds to her chores. Enter the household magical butler, who is supposed to be doing all the chores and also keeping their creepy magical house in order, but was banished by Flora's mother for reasons known only to herself. He'd really like for Flora to free him, and maybe lend him some of her magical energy . . .
Subsequent plot developments are a lot of fun and involve Flora's extremely well-dressed best friend, an outlaw called the Dainty Pirate, a haunted house, the aforementioned blue butler, accidental time travel, and a morally ambiguous Aztec magician. The world-building and backstory are also really interesting - the country of Califa is a very cool fantasy mishmash that gives the impression of having been influenced by a lot of different cultures, and, speaking as a former temporary California, it is so cool to see a recognizable alt!California! I was raising my eyebrows at the portrayal of the evil Aztec nation at first, but by the end of the book enough doubt and complexity had been thrown in (and Flora's biased viewpoint had been questioned enough) that I now trust she is going somewhere interesting with that. Also, I love how gender-equal the world is, without making any kind of fuss over it - it's simply an accepted thing in this universe. Both Flora's mother and the MAGICAL NINJA SPY that she would like to model herself after are super-strong women; Flora's best friend, on the other hand, is always the glass of fashion, but that doesn't make him any less of a strong and effective character either.
But what I really love best of all are the family dynamics, and how they're treated. Everyone in Flora's family is dealing with a set of very complicated issues, and they're all screwing up in a lot of ways, but man, they are trying so hard! Flora's mother the General makes some mistakes, but there is no doubt that she's a sympathetic character who cares very much about Flora, and the scenes between Flora and her father (especially in the second half of the book) just about broke my heart. At the same time, though, Flora is so used to the situation that it doesn't weigh the book down with woe-is-me melodrama; like any teenager, she spends more time thinking about the little, selfish concerns than big ones, which makes the big ones feel that much more believable. It's the same kind of thing that makes me love Diana Wynne Jones. I would have loved to see more of Flora's older sister, but I got the impression that she plays a bigger part in the sequel, which is waiting for me at the library RIGHT NOW. :D
ETA: Oh man, and I forgot to mention the most amazing random detail! Which is that Flora's BFF's mom is married to a set of identical triplets. Yes, all three of them. AWESOME.
