MG Fantasy/Humor Review: Alcatraz vs The Evil Librarians by Brandon Sanderson

Alcatraz vs The Evil Librarians  by Brandon Sanderson

Format:  Ebook
Publisher: Starscape

Number of Pages: 241
Published:  February 16th 2016
Source: Library

Genre:   MG Fantasy/Humor 

Opening Line:  "So there I was, tied to an altar made from outdated encyclopedias, about to get sacrificed to the dark powers by a cult of evil Librarians."

"On his thirteenth birthday, foster child Alcatraz Smedry gets a bag of sand in the mail-his only inheritance from his father and mother. He soon learns that this is no ordinary bag of sand. It is quickly stolen by the cult of evil Librarians who are taking over the world by spreading misinformation and suppressing truth. Alcatraz must stop them, using the only weapon he has: an incredible talent for breaking things." 

Alcatraz is the narrator of his story, which in the prologue he says is meant to be an autobiography, but most likely will be published as a "work of fantasy."   Alcatraz is one of those intruding narrators, which may or may not be to some's liking.  Myself, I enjoy them, mostly because they interject snide comments or just mix up the writing style a bit.  Alcatraz was somewhat unique for me, aside from the name, which is kinda funny when you think about it, who gets named after a prison and fights Librarians?  What I really enjoyed was how as he was writing there were descriptions of the writing process.  Explaining things like foreshadowing, talking about writing scenes with "danger and tension" and cliffhangers.  All the while trying to convince the reader that he is not a nice person, or a hero.  It's not all about Alcatraz's dialogue, there are also these Occulator glasses, hidden talents and a race to retrieve a bag of sand stolen by the Librarians.  I found the whole thing quite amusing and most likely will continue with the next book in the series, Alcatraz Versus the Scrivener's Bones.  

Favorite line:  "Great success often depends upon being able to distinguish between the impossible and the improbable.  Or, in easier terms, distinguishing between popsicles and insanity."