Alcatraz vs. the Evil Librarians
Ratings114
Average rating3.9
A dangerous books for adults that believe the Earth is not rounded. It was a fun read, the writing style reminded me of Lemony Snicket, though Snicket still master it. The powers of the oculators were very creative: arriving late, breaking things, speaking gibberish spies.
I loved this whole series. Sort of a cross between the cleverness of A Series of Unfortunate Events and a spoof on Harry Potter, with Sanderson's talent for world-building. Highly recommend.
This was a fun read. Sanderson's take on Harry Potter but funnier. I actually liked this Sanderson quite a bit more then the “serious” epic fantasy Sanderson
I do regret however there is no Dutch translation so I could read this to my kids.
I've received an Advance Reader's Copy of this book through a giveaway hosted by the publisher. This has not affected my rating in any way.
3.5 Stars
Calling all Rick Riordan fans; your new obsession is right here! If you love the sass and humor of Percy Jackson, you are going to love Alcatraz Smedry.
We, the readers, live in the Hushlands. It's the majority of the world that is controlled by the Librarians. A very small portion of the world which isn't controlled by Librarians is called the Free Kingdoms, but that's not where our story starts.
We follow Alcatraz Smedry, our very unreliable narrator, as he finds out he and his family are Ocularltors and they have the ability to see certain things others can't using Lenses (glasses). The Smedrys are the last known non-Librarian family with this ability, as the other families have become Librarians or died out due to the Librarians.
Another thing about the family is that each Smedry has a Talent. It's like a Quirk from My Hero Academia, or a knack from the Morrigan Crow series, but with a lot less pizzazz. For example, Alcatraz's Talent is the ability to break things, Grandpa Smedry's Talent is always being late to everything (a Talent I believe I have as well), Sing Sing Smedry's Talent is falling over, and Quentin Smedry's Talent is talking in gibberish. We also have Bastille, a thirteen year-old Crystin knight who is sworn to protect the Smedry family.
After the Librarians get ahold of Alcatraz's inheritance, the Smedrys and Bastille must get the sands back and stop the Librarians evil plan. But what is this inheritance, you ask. Well, it's a bag of sand. But not just any bag of sand... you'll have to read the book to know exactly what I mean. This story's a pretty cool adventure, not gonna lie.
This is the first Brandon Sanderson book I've read, and with how all of his other books have been hyped up, this did not disappoint! I also loved the illustrations! Some in the corners of pages, some taking up a full page spread, they were very well drawn and gave some energy to the story.
All in all, this was a fun middle-grade read that I'm sure any and all ages would enjoy!
I'm a big fan of Brandon Sanderson and middle grade. Sadly, this wasn't my favorite. I thought he addressed the reader too much. Some stuff was way too nonsensical even for middle grade. I do think the second half was much better.
This was a fun, fast read. This is more or less what I was expecting Artemis Fowl to be, only it ended up much, much better, imho. Just a good enjoyable YA book.
Seumur hidupnya, Alcatraz Smedry telah tinggal bersama puluhan orangtua angkat. Tak ada yang sanggup menghadapi Bakat Alcatraz yang luar biasa dalam merusak barang. Di ulang tahunnya yang ketiga belas, Alcatraz mendapat sekantong pasir, warisan dari orangtua kandungnya. Sebelum Alcatraz sempat mencari tahu lebih banyak, pasir itu hilang. Seorang Pak Tua yang mengaku sebagai kakeknya & dia diseret ke dalam misi penyelundupan ke Perpustakaan Pusat Kota untuk mencari pasir yang hilang.
Sebelumnya aku kurang cocok dengan buku2 middle grade karya Rick Riordan ataupun Brandon Mull. Aku sdh mulai berpikir mungkin aku sdh terlalu tua untuk genre ini. Namun karya Brandon Sanderson ini cukup membuatku terhibur. Isinya cukup aneh, namun lucu, terlebih lelucon mengenai novel genre romance.
Karya2 Sanderson yg kubaca sebelumnya masih seputar fantasy, namun Elantris untuk pembaca dewasa & trilogy steelheart untuk pembaca YA. Ternyata untuk middle grade ini juga aku bisa menikmati.
It was so much fun rereading the reprint of one of my favorite books. It is incredibly creative. The magic system is different then anything I've seen before. I adore the characters and the quirky tongue in cheek narration. This book was amazing when I was a kid and fantastic now. The edition of illustrations added even more spark. Read it!
Brandon Sanderson excels even when he's writing a silly book! I couldn't keep a smile off my face through this entire book. It's funny, silly and a page-turner. Even though it's aimed at the younger crowd, I thoroughly enjoyed it and would highly recommend it for a fast, fun read. Looking forward to the sequels!
Ok, this is pretty much Harry Potter. In an alternate history, Librarians secretly rule the world, dishing out misinformation and shaping the world. Upon reaching his 13th birthday, Alcatraz Smedry is met with an interesting gift – a bag of sand – which draws him into this world of lies, odd abilities and glasses that have special powers.
A fun, short read meant for kids, but still a lot of fun. I love the idea that the main good guys all have special powers that all seem to be awful at first glance. Alcatraz's ability is that he can accidentally cause things break things. Not good when you're burning down your foster parents house, but rather useful when you break the gun that someone is point at you. His grandfathers ability is to arrive late has similarly useful applications, but listing too many would spoil things. It's fun to see how Sanderson takes these “useless” powers and makes them useful.
Ok, this is pretty much Harry Potter. In an alternate history, Librarians secretly rule the world, dishing out misinformation and shaping the world. Upon reaching his 13th birthday, Alcatraz Smedry is met with an interesting gift – a bag of sand – which draws him into this world of lies, odd abilities and glasses that have special powers.
A fun, short read meant for kids, but still a lot of fun. I love the idea that the main good guys all have special powers that all seem to be awful at first glance. Alcatraz's ability is that he can accidentally cause things break things. Not good when you're burning down your foster parents house, but rather useful when you break the gun that someone is point at you. His grandfathers ability is to arrive late has similarly useful applications, but listing too many would spoil things. It's fun to see how Sanderson takes these “useless” powers and makes them useful.
So finally I arrive at a book of Sanderson's that I don't rate very highly. Its not that I did not enjoy reading it. Its not that there is no magic system. The book is enjoyable and the magic system is typical Brandon. Its just that the narration style that Brandon has chosen is really different and not my cup of tea. Sarcastic humor is fun but its the overdose that gets a bit irritating especially with all the interruptions in the narrative. So 3 stars it is but I may consider reading the next installment when my to read list is a little thin.
I'd hesitated to pick this series up, as it is juvenile fiction, but since it's written by my favorite author, I decided to give it a chance. The book is quirky and fun, filled with interesting and humorous characters. As someone going into library sciences, the world of this series perfectly hits the spot! Will definitely be reading the rest of the series, although not any time soon. It is very much a young readers book both in style of writing and the story itself, which while I greatly enjoyed it, isn't something I want very often. If you're a fan of Brandon Sanderson's work, or looking for a fun fast read, you can't go wrong with the Alcatraz series, if your willing to deal with a quirky kids story!
reviews.metaphorosis.com
3 stars
Alcatraz #1 is a decent effort, but no more. It reads like a mix of Harry Potter and Lemony Snicket - a self-consciously sardonic young adult story. Unfortunately, while the writing is clever, it's not clever enough. While Lemony Snicket and his “Series of Unfortunate Events” began to pall about halfway through the series, Sanderson gets there within a few chapters. The ideas are fun, the story hangs together, but the writing just wears on you - for example, the constant reminder that the (purported) young author is NOT A GOOD PERSON. It reminded me a bit of Steven Brust's Viscount of Adrilankha sub-trilogy - the joke got thin well before the book was over.
Sanderson's adult work is much, much better, and equally accessible to children above 10 - I recommend that they head there. For others, I recommend the first few books of Lemony Snicket's Unfortunate Events series to see this trick done better.
The title is a taunt to all librarians, so it became a must read. They were evil librarians, determined to keep all knowledge from the world. A pleasant little diversion, but I don't think I'll read book two.