Alcatraz versus the Evil Librarians

I recently reread Alcatraz versus the Evil Librarians, I had read it previously, but that was like, 6+ years ago I don’t quite recall. Anyway I’ve always remembered that I enjoyed the books very much and that is also the case here. Even though it might technically be a children’s book I think that enjoying a book is already a lot these days with everything trying to hold our attention. I really want to get back into reading books as I don’t really read at all, so starting from an easier to get into point is not a bad idea.

If you haven’t read the book, I highly recommend it, I read it myself in about 6 hours. It is technically a book meant for children so it reads quite easily.

Spoiler warning for Alcatraz versus the Evil Librarians

Style

First, I’m just going to refer to Alcatraz versus the Evil Librarians as the book or something similar as that is much easier than having to write that mouthful. The author is constantly referring to himself and the book, which I like a lot to be honest. The author is speaking directly to the reader and that gives it a certain sense of sincerity. The author, by the way, is not Brandon Sanderson, even thought that is what is says, the writer clarifies that all the events in the book are real and he uses Brandon Sanderson as an alias to get the books into libraries.

Librarians

Because you might have noticed the title, “Alcatraz versus the Evil Librarians”, the world, or the parts you and I live in, are controlled by a sect of evil librarians. They secretly control all information and governments, basically everything in Inner Libraria. You see, they want to create a world with order and to do that they need to make sure that the people they rule are sheep and don’t figure out what is really happening. They decide what things the public things. For example, most things that we think are advanced, like guns, to people from the Free Kingdom primitive. This comes up a few times, also mentioned is that guns are more advanced than guns, which sounds insane to anyone from Librarian-controlled areas. They do this on purpose, if they keep the public ignorant then they can control them more easily and that is what they do.

Some evil Librarians

Story

Anyway enough about that, let’s get to the story. After Alcatraz Smedry turned 13 his entire life turned upside-down. Alcatraz is an orphan moved from foster home to foster home as he seems to break everything he touches. When he turned 13 he receives a package in the mail from his parents, a bag of sand. He doesn’t think much of it, but the day after someone who claims he is Alcatraz’s grandfather comes to help him with the bag of sand, calling it the Sands of Rashid. But they have been stolen by Alcatraz’s caseworker the day before. So now they have to infiltrate the local library, while going with his Grandpa Alcatraz learns a lot about this new world that he’s never heard of before (because of the Librarians of course).

First meeting with Grandpa Smedry

Talents

Each Smedry has a Talent, something which sounds like it would be a disadvantage but can be turned into an advantage if the Smedry is skilled enough. For example, Grandpa Smedry is always late. That sounds like it would be a big disadvantage in a war, however when he gets shot at with a gun in the book, the gunman simply keeps shooting in front of him. He is arriving late to the bullets. When he gets tortured later in the book he seems to be completely fine. Because he is arriving late to the pain, meaning he still has to take it but he can do so in smaller doses later. All this to say that these Talents aren’t always advantages, but they are more useful than not if you know how to use them.

Lenses

There are also Oculators, people that can use the powers that certain “Lenses” have, for example the Firebringer’s Lenses that can shoot beams of fire. These and more can be used by an Oculator, the most used Lenses are Oculator’s Lenses as they are kind of general purpose and can be used to defend against attacks of other Oculators.

Oculator’s Lenses

To learn more about the Talents and Lenses Alcatraz versus … - Lenses and Talents

Finishing thoughts

I really like the book, I did when I read it first and I still do now. It is very fun to read and reads very easily, you can power through it pretty quickly if you want. I’m repeating myself but I’d highly recommend that you read it!