Wilce, Ysabeau S. - Flora Segunda

[oyceter]

(subtitle: 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)

I have no idea how to describe this book. The plot itself isn't that original: per the subtitle, Flora gets into assorted mishaps with her best friend Udo while discovering more about her House and its Butler. But the worldbuilding and the prose!

The only reason why I recognized it as an alternate fantasy California was because both oracne and rushthatspeaks had mentioned it before. It still took me half the book to figure things out -- some parts read like turn-of-the-century Eastern Europe (I think), some like Aztec culture, some like Spanish, and some that can't be explained by anything. This is not to say that the worldbuilding was a mess; it is exactly the opposite. The world feels so real and so complex and jumbled that I wanted to spend time just reading about it, figuring out the lingo and the clothing and the holidays and the history. It's been a while since I've read a fantasy book with worldbuilding that wasn't "Oh, yeah, that's alterna-France" or "Yup, fantasy Renaissance Italy," and this was awesome.

The prose is also great. I've been flipping through to look for a passage that encompasses it, but nothing quite does. But there are Butlers and courtesies that signify Abasement before a Superior So Superior That No Abasement Is Abased Enough and a Dainty Pirate and a yellowback novel titled Nini Mo vs. the Flesh-Eating Fir Trees. I would read and burst into laughter every so often just from the sheer pleasure of the prose.

I did have a small twinge when it came to the portrayal of the fantasy Aztec Empire, the Huitzils -- must all portrayals of the Aztec be of heart-ripping sacrificers? I mean, clearly that has basis in history, but it's not really anything new. On the other hand, I loved that Wilce's Califa has tamales and stir-fried rice and saloons.

rushthatspeaks has a nice summary of the nifty gender politics, which made me very happy because like Laurie Marks' Elemental Logic series, it's just sort of there in the background.

And did I mention that the world is made of awesome?

Links:
- oracne's review
- rushthatspeaks' review
- mistful's review
- gwyneira's review

Comments

[vom-marlowe.livejournal.com]

Oh this sounds so good! Do you think it would make a good plane book?

[oyceter]

I think so! It's a really fun read.

[sarahtales.livejournal.com]

I had NO IDEA it was alterna California. I think because of Diana Wynne Jones' blurb on the cover (which I don't think the US edition had) I presumed England.

Sometimes I felt that the language was too twee (references to 'my tum' kind of put me off while I was trying to revel in the possible creepiness of the Flora/Butler bond) but on the whole I really liked it too. A particularly favourite thing was the father being the madwoman in the attic, so next stop rushthatspeaks' journal...

[oyceter]

Oh! I didn't note the father as the madwoman in the attic; that's awesome.

I got so confused, because I had vaguely remembered it was alterna-California, but then it reminded me of Eastern Europe for some reason, but then there were tamales, but then there were Aztecs.

[coffeeandink.livejournal.com]

Huh. I thought it was obvious that it was California. I, too, was a little disheartened by the Aztecs, but I am hoping it's because we've got a child's-eye (and child of the enemy) view and that eventually Wilce will expand on them a little. Though so far all her fiction has been from the POV of Alta Califians (some of whom don't come across well, though).

[oyceter]

Oh interesting! I think I got sidelined by the "Fyrdraaca" and Udo's surname, both of which somehow reminded me of Eastern Europe, though I may be completely making that up and they may very well be Spanish.

I really hope we get more from the Huitzils; I liked that Wilce complicates them (well, one or two of them) a little by the end of the book, but I'd still like more.

[coffeeandink.livejournal.com]

Fyrdracca is Old English, I think. I don't remember Udo's surname.

[oyceter]

Ahhhh, gotcha, thanks! I don't remember Udo's surname either... I remember a name that might be something like Hydrada, except with the funny slanty d's with a bar through the top. But, um, clearly my linguistics knowledge sucks, and I am too lazy to google.