Alcatraz vs. the Evil Librarians

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.

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!

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.

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'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!