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| 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) | 
 enlarge | Author: Ysabeau S. Wilce
Publisher: Harcourt Children's Books
Category: Book
List Price: $17.00
Buy New: $4.81
You Save: $12.19 (72%)
New (31) Used (14) from $3.99
Avg. Customer Rating:  7 reviews
Sales Rank: 63058
Media: Hardcover
Edition: 1
Reading Level: Young Adult
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 528
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.3
Dimensions (in): 8.3 x 5.1 x 1.6
ISBN: 0152054278
EAN: 9780152054274
ASIN: 0152054278
Publication Date: September 1, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: new and unread
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Product Description
Flora Fyrdraaca wants nothing more than to be a ranger, and for that she must master the magickal—and dangerous—language of Gramatica. But before she can find the ideal teacher, her aspirations are put to the test. Would a true ranger be intimidated by a tentacle that reaches for her from the depths of a toilet? Be daunted by her best friend’s transformation into a notorious outlaw, thanks to a pair of sparkly stolen boots? Be cowed by the revelation that only she can rescue the city of Califa from the violent earthquakes that threaten its survival?
Never. Saving her city and her best friend are the least a Girl of Spirit can do—yet what Flora doesn’t expect are the life-altering revelations she learns about her family and herself.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 2 more reviews...
Courtesy of Teens Read Too November 14, 2008
Flora Fydraaca is one busy young lady.
Between her search for a Gramatica instructor, dealing with the fallout of her best friend Udo's moneymaking schemes in the bounty-hunting biz, elder sister Idden's desertion from Califa's military, discovering and thwarting the source of a series of deadly earthquakes threatening the city, a freshly sober and keenly aware father, a burgeoning crush on Califa's greatest living magickal adept and old Fydraaca family enemy Lord Axacaya, tentacles accosting her in public bathrooms, family secrets, assassination attempts, and inadequate sartorial resources - it's a wonder the girl has time to breathe.
At least this time around, Crackpot Manor's one and only accessible potty is up and running...
There is so much going on in FLORA'S DARE that it's by no means an overstatement to call the book a fantasy fiction lover's treasure trove. Author Ysabeau S. Wilce has done a remarkable job creating and populating Flora's world with multiple, complex plots and subplots, and plenty of intriguing information to keep readers coming back for more.
I deeply appreciated the level of sophistication Ms. Wilce has invested in the creation of Flora's world. She easily juggles plot threads without causing any confusion to the reader. By building the backstory of Flora's friends, family, adversaries, and the heroine herself into the narrative, she has created a series that will sustain itself over a number of books, striking the perfect balance between a compelling story and characters that are quirky yet deeply flawed.
Reviewed by: Cat
 Ongoing adventures of intrepid hero October 9, 2008
The intrepid Flora Fyrdraaca returns in another fast paced steam-punky adventure in an alternate San Francisco. While this book is worth reading, it suffers in comparison to the first book in the series, which combined adventure with opulent descriptions and character development. This one is all plot, moving so quickly from fires to earthquakes to giant squid to ghoulish grannies and bossy husbands that it's hard to take a breath.
I am reading this book to my nine year old daughter, and I have had to skip parts related to drugs, alcohol, sex and thinly disguised swear words (fike! give me a break.) So she won't be going back to re-read this one multiple times on her own as she did with Flora Segunda.
Brilliant stuff September 9, 2008
Flora discovers that a tentacled beast is living under the city and may lead to it's demise unless she (quite literally) puts her life on the line to destroy it. But Flora being Flora, "a girl with alot of sand", she'll do anything it takes to live up to the Ranger spirit of her idol, Nini Mo. What's a life for a lot of lives?
Wow. Only Ysabeau S. Wilce can pull off a story like this. I adore her wit and her characters in that "I want to cuddle the book" kind of way. She really has such a way with words and I can't wait to see what she writes in the next adventures of Flora and Co. Brilliant. Brilliant stuff.
Absolute delight September 8, 2008
Ever since I have read Flora Segunda, the prequel of Flora's Dare, I have been eagerly waiting for more. Many authors these days shoot for series rather than stand alone novels, but it is not an easy task and one requiring a lot of imagination and ingenuity. It works best when all separate adventures are a part of a bigger arc, and though there are only two adventures so far, I think I have some idea where the general arc is going. The fact that it is not spelled out makes it even more intriguing.
The plot revolves around 14-year old Flora Fyrdraaca ov Fyrdraaca who comes from the family of career soldiers, but wants to become a ranger, a sort of spy which is in many ways quite opposite to being a soldier (more initiative, less orders, more adventures, less boring stuff). She faces many challenges, including saving her city from ruin, taking enchanted boots off her friend's feet, finding a way to learn magickal language of Grammatica, discovering family secrets and things about herself.
The City of Califa, a character herself, is painted with bold beautiful strokes and is full of untamed extravagant characters. In fact "extravagant" is the best word to describe the wild colorful world which Ysabeau Wilce has created for us. It comes alive with the smell of the trees and the Pacifica, with enchanted houses, magical denizens and exotic adversaries, with colorful costumes and lots of maquilliage. It is a fantastic experience and I am glad that the book is peppered with characters, storylines and facts to be explored in more books to come.
My congratulations to Ysabeau Wilce for a wonderful addition to the world of literature. I am also a tiny bit jealous of her wonderful way with language.
Wonderful! September 8, 2008
Even better than the first book in the series, which is saying a LOT. Flora's Dare is funny, exciting, magical and emotionally powerful, with all the humor and sparkling worldbuilding of the first book, but with even more fast-paced adventure, wonderful new characters, and a series of shocking (but perfectly set-up) revelations at the end. I can't wait to read the third book in the trilogy!
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