Alcatraz vs. the Evil Librarians by Brandon Sanderson
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Web ID: 154148503 reviews
Funny situations but tries too hard at times
I love Brandon Sanderson in his fantasy series, as well as his funny adult work with The Frugal Wizard's Guide to Surviving... He can do absurd humor and verbal interaction well in the latter novel, which I loved. I was looking forward to this book as I also love middle grade reader stories and I appreciate how the humor of that age group is different from adults. For me, this book pushed the humor too hard and got too talky for most middle-grade readers at the exciting bits. It was very readable and would be fun to read aloud to a pre-teen if they'd let you, but I didn't love the book even from that lens. The premise is that Alcatraz is an orphan who has been shuffled through many foster homes because of an unfortunate tendency to break things without even trying. Turns out he's of a line of Oculators, the Smedry family who all have super-powers like this that aren't usually seen as powers. Alcatraz gets a birthday present created many years ago by his parents, and his Grandpa Smedry and team join him in trying to get it back from the Evil Librarians. What I liked: - The prison names for the Smedry family and the super-powers that don't look like assets on the surface are well-integrated into the plot and funny. - The chase, stealth, and fight scenes were well paced and would keep the interest of middle-grade readers. - Many of the mishaps were funny - starting with the kitchen fire - as were his dry tone in explaining what happened. - The artwork was absolutely fabulous and often helped to advance the plot all by itself - The interactions and gradual respect between Bastille and Alcatraz were nicely done - The backstory of Alcatraz' case worker was interesting and sad, albeit confusing in the light of her actions both in the past and now that weren't well explained for motivation. - The dinosaurs and the distraction they create were a pure delight and their dialogue was so funny - The solution Alcatraz devises to foil the main villain was crafty and well planned What I didn't like: - When Alcatraz pauses to tell you why he's telling or not telling you something, or refers too many times to ruminate on past events or tangents about evil or families, that lost me and would lose middle-grade readers even quicker. - The musings on the Free Kingdoms and what they'd think about the present book got old very quickly. In general, the frequency with which Alcatraz breaks the wall of the book and talks to the reader doesn't work for me either. - Other than one incident each where their super-power was relevant, there was little for Quentin and Sing to do meaningfully in the plot. Grandpa had more to do but was also pretty one-dimensional. - The world building elements like talking about the past history of the Librarians or Smedry family was rather blunt and talky - The detailed map of the Free Kingdoms was almost irrelevant except for indicating where various characters were from. - The magic system of the various lenses and how they interact with Oculators or Librarian powers weren't well laid out, which is a surprise for Brandon Sanderson who usually excels at world building - The speed with which Alcatraz learns to use his powers with no coaching from anyone isn't explained well in that world building Bottom line: It got an "average" rating for this book, but I'm not tempted to read the rest of the series. I'll find a middle school student or library to give it to. What I liked: - The
Customer review from barnesandnoble.com
Alcatraz vs the Evil Librarians
Reader’s Notes: – this originally released in 2007, but has been updated and rereleased – this is told from 13-year-old Alcatraz’s point of view – this is book one of a series Review: This is my first Brandon Sanderson book and I loved it! I enjoyed reading the story as if it was being narrated by Alcatraz. Which meant it included: random comments on what happened/was going to happen, a bit of unreliability on if what he was saying was true, as well as humorous sarcastic comments on what he was learning about the world around him. I also really liked how each Smedry has their own special Talent (I thought of them as powers) and that they were so odd yet it still worked! It made everything a little extra entertaining with Grandpa Smedry being odd and nonchalant about different things that people should freak out about. But not him, no, he’d even greet the situation with a smile! I also enjoyed looking at the different pictures included alongside the story. It helped me better picture some of the different characters and what everything looked like. Summary: Alcatraz Smedry is an orphan who has been bounced from foster home to foster home due to having a talent for accidentally breaking things. He thought that his parents only left him his name, but on his 13th birthday, he finds a package in the mail addressed to him. And in it is a bag of sand. Talk about weird parents, first the name and now a worthless inheritance. Or maybe not so worthless? The sand is stolen by evil librarians (at least that’s what a man claiming to be Grandpa Smedry tells Alcatraz) and they need to get the sands back. Using special colored glasses, Grandpa Smedry, Alcatraz, two cousins, and a girl are able to follow the trail through the downtown library. But what is so important about these sands? Why hasn’t Alcatraz heard of a grandfather before? And what’s with these glasses? Find out in the adventure that is Alcatraz vs. the Evil Librarians!
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Customer review from barnesandnoble.com
Hilarious read!
This book was SO much fun!! I am selfishly glad the entire series is actually out already, and is just getting (got?) rebranded and reillustrated--means I can just keep reading without interruption! (Okay, except by maybe...real life, haha.) Confession: This is my first Brandon Sanderson read. But, I'm no stranger to the sci-fi/fantasy genre, or comic-cons for that matter, and Sanderson's name is ever present in both arenas. So I was really excited to find this, and thought it'd be a great introduction to his works (before diving into the 500-page tomes he freely admits in-book to be his norm). Yep, that assessment was spot on. On all the levels. :) The book is funny--I regularly caught myself literally laughing out loud, and was glad I wasn't commuting while I read (cue the funny looks; been there done that)--clever, and original. And the illustrations are perfect! I can't wait to dive into the subsequent books and follow more of Alcatraz's adventures. 4/5 stars. I received an eARC of the book from the publisher via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.
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Customer review from barnesandnoble.com