Esther: It's a world where geeky eyeglasses are cool and being clumsy is a superpower!
Alcatraz Vs The Evil Librarians is a Middle Grade book about a kid in your not so average America where Librarians try to control the world in a dastardly wicked way. Alcatraz has grown up thinking he is an unwanted, disaster-ridden foster kid, when really he is part of a family known for their kick ass magical powers (like falling asleep and getting lost).
On his 13th birthday he gets a bag of sand that is the most precious sand in the entire world...but what's so special about a bag of dirt? Alcatraz soon finds out as the sand is stolen by evil Librarians and Alcatraz joins his Grandfather Smedry and a girl (who's a knight!) to get the sand back and save the world.
I've heard it called a cross between Lemony Snicket and Marvel Superheros, and I think it's an accurate description. I'm not a huge fan of the author talking to the audience in a book, it's distracting and this book is no exception. But the book is so darn funny and the story is so freaking awesome to get sucked into, that I try to forgive the whole breaking of the fourth wall thing.
Rutabaga!
But no, it really does annoy me. So much so, that I spend more time complaining about these books than any other of Brandon Sanderson's works.
....I also spend an inordinate amount of time thinking up super powers for my own family.
I couldn't wait for my younger brothers to read them and tell me what they thought (and to brainstorm super powers with me). Since I'm not exactly the target audience for this book, I give you my brother Josh.
Josh:
I had to fight with Luke over who got to read Alcatraz first. I think it's really cool how the book kind of talks to you (the reader), but sometimes I would have liked it if there was less talking to me and more story, because sometimes it was a really intense part of the book. But most of the time I thought it was really funny and I liked how he always believed that the story was real. Like how he tells you Brandon Sanderson is "prone to useless bouts of delusion in literary form" and how he probably dictates his books to his plants. The book is really funny.
Grandpa Smedry is my favorite character (since my sister says I can't choose Alcatraz). His magical power is that he always arrives late. He's been arriving late to his own death for years. My second favorite character is the super short uncle who's always making jokes about tall people.
If I had to pick a favorite magical power, it would be cool to have the getting lost talent. I think it'd be fun to see what strange places you'd pop out.
I like how Alcatraz is defeatable. I don't like it when books have characters who are perfect.
In my list of favorite books, Alcatraz Vs The Evil Librarians probably falls before Gregor the Overlander, but after Hunger Games. Hunger Games was harder to put down, but they aren't the same kind of book, so maybe that's not fair.
I've read the first two books in the Alcatraz series, and loved them both. The library didn't have the third one.
Esther says my super power is daydreaming too much.
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