Alcatraz Versus the Evil Librarians
(The Alcatraz series, Book 1)
Brandon Sanderson
Scholastic
Fiction, YA Fantasy
****+
DESCRIPTION: When Alcatraz Smedry set fire to his foster parents' kitchen, he wasn't surprised. He always breaks things, sometimes just by being in the same room with
them. Naturally, it'd mean another pair of foster parents would give up on him - these two had been remarkably tolerant, putting up with him for eight whole months - but what
else was new? Ever since he could remember, he's been in foster care. Sometimes he wonders if he ever had a real mother or father.
Which is why it was so strange when he received a gift on his 13th birthday, purporting to be from his father... but why would anyone, even a prankster, send him a box full
of sand?
The next day, instead of the social worker he expected, Alcatraz finds a strange old man on the doorstep. Claiming to be his grandfather, he seems frantic to learn that the
sand has gone missing - a fear Alcatraz can't help sharing, when the social worker arrives with a gun. Even though the old man saves his life, Alcatraz simply cannot believe
his story: that the United States of America are part of the Hushlands, kept deliberately in the dark about the true nature of the world by the evil cultists known as
Librarians, and that the stolen sand just might allow them to extend their grip over the remaining Free Kingdoms. Guns more primitive than swords? Magical Talents? Glasses
that grant wearers special gifts? It's insanity, every word of it.
But, of course, that's exactly what the Librarians have trained him to believe...
REVIEW: Having enjoyed Sanderson's Mistborn trilogy, and working for the local library system, I had to give this one a try. The story itself is decent enough.
Alcatraz isn't the most noble of heroes, and never pretends to be; he goes to great lengths to point out his own cowardice, selfishness, and stupidity. His companions tend
toward exaggerations, as befitting the inherently silly, often manic nature of the plot. Still, none of them are complete idiots, and even in their eccentricities they all
carry their own weight. Alcatraz even manages to grow a little, if often in spite of himself.
What lifted this book in the ratings was Sanderson's writing style. The unfettered glee with which he toys with the reader, reveling in his absolute power as the
storyteller, turns a decent story into a marvelous one. The text is littered with literary references with an obvious tongue-in-cheek flair as Sanderson simultaneously salutes
libraries and books while casting librarians in the role of the ultimate evil on Earth. It's been a while since I read a book that just had fun with itself like this.
Hopefully, I can get my hands on the second volume someday - not necessarily because I'm invested in Alcatraz's adventures, but because it was such a kick to read.
You might also enjoy:
Frequently Asked Questions: An Unshelved Collection (Bill Barnes and Gene Ambaum, Comics - A comic strip featuring the staff and patrons of a library, with reading recommendations)
The Sisters Grimm series (Michael Buckley, YA Fiction - Two sisters learn that fairy tales were really case files when they discover a town full of immortal "Everafters")
The Artemis Fowl series (Eoin Colfer, YA Fiction - A modern boy genius pits his criminal wits against the potent, technologically advanced undergound Fairy nation)
The Spiderwick Chronicles: The Field Guide (Toni DiTerlizzi and Holly Black, YA Fiction - A boy finds a field guide to the invisible, magical world around him)
Scriber (Ben S. Dobson, Fiction - A disgraced scriber and a shunned warrior woman race to save their land from a vengeful force)
The Stoneheart trilogy (Charlie Fletcher, YA Fiction - An act of vandalism plunges a boy into the unseen battle between London's gargoyles and statues)
The Inkheart trilogy (Cornelia Funke, YA Fiction - A bookbinder and his daughter share the ability to read stories to life, and read themselves into stories)
Fly By Night (Frances Hardinge, YA Fiction - A girl lives in a divided land dominated by censorship)
Librarian: Little Boy Lost (Eric Hobbs, YA Fiction - A boy discovers wondrous worlds inside an old library)
The Book of Story Beginnings (Kristin Kladstrup, YA Fiction - Starting stories in a strange old journal forces children to live through the tales)
Guardian Cats and the Lost Books of Alexandria (Rahma Krambo, YA Fiction - A literate cat must help guard a powerful book from evil forces)
Savvy (Ingrid Law, YA Fiction - Hoping to help her critically-injured father with her newfound magic, a girl sets out on a disastrous road trip)
Pendragon: Merchant of Death (D.J. MacHale, YA Fiction - A boy's strange uncle ropes him into helping save another world from an evil, corruptive influence)
The Rover (Mel Odom, Fiction - A sheltered halfling librarian finds himself swept up in a grand, dangerous adventure)
Dinosaurs Before Dark (Mary Pope Osborne, YA Fiction - Two children discover a magical tree house, where books whisk them to other times and places)
Witch & Wizard (James Patterson and Gabrielle Charbonnet, YA Fiction - Two teens are accused of witchcraft under the reign of an oppresive dictator)
The Golden Compass (Philip Pullman, YA? Fiction - In Lyra's alternate earth, every person has a daemon, a soulbound spirit companion)
The Percy Jackson & the Olympians series (Rick Riordan, YA Fiction - A modern boy learns that his real father was a Greek god... and that real monsters from Greek mythos are out to kill him)
The Harry Potter series (J. K. Rowling, YA Fiction - Sole survivor of a magical attack on his family, the boy wizard Harry grows determined to avenge his parents)
The Bartimaeus series (Jonathan Stroud, YA Fiction - An alternate-modern England is ruled by magicians, who oppress the masses and enslave spirits for power)
Forever After (Roger Zelazny, creator, Fiction - After defeating the evil wizard, heroes must return magical artifacts to their original hiding places or risk unleashing chaos)
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Mistborn: The Final Empire
(The Mistborn trilogy, Book 1)
Brandon Sanderson
Tor
Fiction, Fantasy
****+
DESCRIPTION: One thousand years ago, the Deepness threatened to consume the world until the Hero of Ages vanquished it. Since then, He has reigned as the
immortal Lord Ruler... but His Final Empire is anything but a joyous paradise. Plants grow withered and brown under an ash-reddened sun. The streets are stained black
with soot and filth, and strange mists swirl through the starless nights. Noblemen treat the skaa peasantry as less than property. But, despite centuries of abuse and
ill will, none have been able to stand up to the Lord Ruler and his Steel Inquisitors.
Now, one man means to do just that.
Kelsier is a minor legend among the skaa. He alone has survived slavery in the Pits of Hathsin where the Lord Ruler harvests atium, a rare metal on which the empire's
economy is based. The brutality he endured there woke in him the gift of Allomancy, a noble-born skill allowing one to digest specific metals and extract superhuman
abilities from them. With it, and with a hand-picked team of gifted thieves and rebels, he aims to liberate the downtrodden skaa and slaughter the noblemen.
Vin has lived her entire life in fear. Her half-brother Reen drilled the brutal truths of life as a street-thief skaa into her with words and fists... and with the
final knife in the back of betrayal, the day he vanished and left her alone in the capital city Luthadel, to fend for herself among the thief crews. About the only
thing that's kept her alive so far is her Luck, an ability she hardly understands but which has helped her squeeze past Death more than once in her short, hard
life.
Kelsier notices Vin's gifts at about the same time the Lord Ruler's monstrous Inquisitors - charged with purging all hints of Allomancy from the lesser classes, among
other unpleasant tasks - detect her. While offering her sanctuary, Kelsier draws her into his bold plans for revolution, grooming the girl for a very special role in
his plot. The more she learns about that plot, and the man behind it, the more Vin starts to wonder: is the Survivor of Hathsin the liberator the world has waited
generations for, or a madman as brutal as the Lord Ruler Himself?
REVIEW: I've seen this one recommended numerous times by numerous people, so I finally decided to give it a try. Sanderson crafts a pleasantly different fantasy world, more of a post-apocalyptic dystopia than the usual pseudo-medieval landscape. His Allomancy has specific abilities and limitations, which the characters use to great effect. Both Vin and Kelsier undergo profound transformations as the realities of inciting social changes collide with their preconceptions. Action and intrigue intertwine in more or less equal measure, weighted somewhat toward the action end. Since this is Book 1 of a trilogy, some threads are left dangling at the end, but a surprising portion of the plot wraps itself up here. A good, gripping read, and the start of a trilogy I actually want to follow.
You might also enjoy:
Dream a Little Dream (Piers Anthony and Julie Brady, Fiction - An abused woman learns that her gift of dreaming may save another world)
The Remnants series (K. A. Applegate, YA Fiction - A handful of humans survive the end of the world)
Bright Shadow (Avi, YA Fiction - A serving girl at the palace is given the burdensome gift of wishes that work, which may save the land or end her life)
The Lost Years of Merlin (T. A. Barron, YA Fiction - A boy must come to terms with his powerful, unpredictable gifts)
Running With the Demon (Terry Brooks, Fiction - A gifted teen girl and a dark stranger must stop a powerful demon from escaping its imprisonment)
The Stoneheart trilogy (Charlie Fletcher, YA Fiction - A boy unwittingly abuses his gifts and finds himself plunged into an unseen war between London's gargoyles and statues)
Metropolis (Thea von Harbou, Fiction - A wealthy son of privilege faces the sin and slavery his father created in building a utopian, machine-dominated city)
Rhapsody (Elizabeth Haydon, Fiction - A gifted woman, a disfigured assassin, and a brutish soldier may be all that stands between their world and ultimate destruction)
A Song of Ice and Fire series (George R. R. Martin, Fiction - A sweeping fantasy saga in a politically fractured world facing destruction amid a coming years-long winter)
Lord of the Changing Winds (Rachel Neumeier, Fiction - The arrival of griffins wakes a girl's latent powers, which she must learn to trust and master to avert a catastrophe in the making)
The Circle of Magic quartet (Tamora Pierce, YA Fiction - Four children from different backgrounds must learn to trust their elusive gifts, and each other)
The Percy Jackson & the Olympians series (Rick Riordan, YA Fiction - The modern son of a Greek god fights monsters and deceptions to avert the destruction of Western civilization)
Return to Top of Page - Return to Book Review List
The Well of Ascension
(The Mistborn trilogy, Book 2)
Brandon Sanderson
Tor
Fiction, Fantasy
****
DESCRIPTION: The Lord Ruler lies dead, His thousand-year reign over the Final Empire ended at last. In the capital city of Luthadel, the surviving members of the
revolution's central crew, along with the idealistic young nobleman Elend Venture, struggle to establish a free government, where the once-enslaved skaa have equal rights
and a voice in their own lives... only to find two enemy armies on their doorstep and a third on the way. When the Lord Ruler fell, the powerful noble houses who thrived
under His regime wasted no time grasping for more power. Capturing the Final Empire's capital - not to mention the legendary stash of the rare metal atium said to be hidden
within Luthadel's walls - would be a jewel in any would-be emperor's crown. Not only does Elend have to deal with threats from without, but turmoil and political
backstabbing already threaten to topple his government from within... aided by plants and spies from the invaders beyond the city walls, and a traitor who has infiltrated
the very heart of the crew.
While Elend and the others struggle to maintain control of Luthadel, the Mistborn girl Vin - former street thief, slayer of the Lord Ruler, beloved of Elend, pupil and heir
to the legendary Kelsier, whose death has taken on holy overtones already in the minds of the liberated skaa - faces more disturbing troubles. A mysterious Mistborn assassin
stalks the city streets, making her question her own allegiances. Strange powers reshape and strengthen the nocturnal mists that blanket the empire. And a force calls to her,
possibly from the legendary Well of Ascension. The terrible events that led to the Lord Ruler's rise to power a thousand years ago seem to be repeating themselves - which
means that the Deepness, a deadly entity He is said to have slain, may once again walk the world. Vin is determined to save the people of Luthadel, but how is she supposed to
defeat the monster when she has no idea what it is?
REVIEW: Starting up not long after the events of Mistborn, this book follows through on the promise and the perils brought about by the fall of the corrupt Lord Ruler's regime. Idealists must temper their dreams with reality, and believers start to question their faith. More information comes to light about the thousand-year-old enigma of the Hero of Ages, a once-good man whose legacy somehow became the tyrannical Lord Ruler after unleashing the powers of the Well of Ascension. Between politics and studies, Allomancers fill the night with metal-fueled fights and bloody battles. For the most part, I found this a worthy sequel. My main complaint is that it felt too long. Sanderson keeps squeezing in more information, more twists, and more troubles, creating a whole second climax after the fairly traumatic (and very finale-like) siege of Luthadel. As a reader, I started suffering combat fatigue, wondering just how much more I was going to have to endure before hitting the end of the book. Having come this far, I expect I'll track down the third volume sometime soon, but I think I'll let my reading backlog thin out before then; I'm still mentally burned out after that final slog.
You might also enjoy:
Dream a Little Dream (Piers Anthony and Julie Brady, Fiction - An abused woman learns that her gift of dreaming may save another world)
The Remnants series (K. A. Applegate, YA Fiction - A handful of humans survive the end of the world)
Bright Shadow (Avi, YA Fiction - A serving girl at the palace is given the burdensome gift of wishes that work, which may save the land or end her life)
The Lost Years of Merlin (T. A. Barron, YA Fiction - A boy must come to terms with his powerful, unpredictable gifts)
Running With the Demon (Terry Brooks, Fiction - A gifted teen girl and a dark stranger must stop a powerful demon from escaping its imprisonment)
The Stoneheart trilogy (Charlie Fletcher, YA Fiction - A boy unwittingly abuses his gifts and finds himself plunged into an unseen war between London's gargoyles and statues)
Metropolis (Thea von Harbou, Fiction - A wealthy son of privilege faces the sin and slavery his father created in building a utopian, machine-dominated city)
Rhapsody (Elizabeth Haydon, Fiction - A gifted woman, a disfigured assassin, and a brutish soldier may be all that stands between their world and ultimate destruction)
A Song of Ice and Fire series (George R. R. Martin, Fiction - A sweeping fantasy saga in a politically fractured world facing destruction amid a coming years-long winter)
Lord of the Changing Winds (Rachel Neumeier, Fiction - The arrival of griffins wakes a girl's latent powers, which she must learn to trust and master to avert a catastrophe in the making)
The Circle of Magic quartet (Tamora Pierce, YA Fiction - Four children from different backgrounds must learn to trust their elusive gifts, and each other)
The Percy Jackson & the Olympians series (Rick Riordan, YA Fiction - The modern son of a Greek god fights monsters and deceptions to avert the destruction of Western civilization)
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The Hero of Ages
(The Mistborn trilogy, Book 3)
Brandon Sanderson
Tor
Fiction, Fantasy
***+
DESCRIPTION: Betrayed by her own instincts, Vin unintentionally released a powerful, malevolent force from the Well of Ascension. Ruin was one of the primordial entities that, along with its counterpart Preservation, created the world - a world that it was promised it would one day destroy. Freed, it seeks to make good on the promise that Preservation tried to prevent coming to fruition. There may be hope, left by the Lord Ruler in hidden caches throughout the Final Empire. Vin and her husband, Emperor Elend Venture, race to solve the final riddles left by the enigmatic tyrant, even as their new-fledged empire dissolves into rebellion and chaos. Even those of the inner circle, who helped Vin and Kelsier overthrow the Lord Ruler, seem to be losing faith. With the mists turning lethal, hordes of bloodthirsty koloss on the move, and the Steel Inquisitors under malevolent control, the whole earth seems to be in its death throes... and this time, not even Vin and her companions may be able to prevent a catastrophe that's been in the making since the world itself was born.
REVIEW: I think that, at its heart, the Mistborn trilogy was really only two books... possibly even just one and a half. The rest of it boils down to brooding. Every character spends an inordinate amount of time brooding, lodged in their own dark thoughts and picking at the same inner scabs while the plot sits quietly by the wayside gathering ash. Oh, that's not to say nothing happens. There are several intense fight sequences, with Mistborn Allomantic powers pitted against various foes - enough to trigger the occasional eye glazing, as even the fighting doesn't often move the story forward. (At least one character even manages to brood during an intense fight sequence.) Betrayals and setbacks galore await Vin and her allies in the quest to save humanity from Ruin's grasp. Along the way, the many hints and puzzles of the Mistborn world slowly resolve, clicking together to form a very detailed framework behind the brooding and battles. At the end, Sanderson pulls off some startling revelations... including at least one that almost made me groan out loud. There's even a strong hint of sequel potential. While I didn't hate the trilogy, it ultimately turned into more of a plot-slogger than a page-turner.
You might also enjoy:
Dream a Little Dream (Piers Anthony and Julie Brady, Fiction - An abused woman learns that her gift of dreaming may save another world)
The Remnants series (K. A. Applegate, YA Fiction - A handful of humans survive the end of the world)
Bright Shadow (Avi, YA Fiction - A serving girl at the palace is given the burdensome gift of wishes that work, which may save the land or end her life)
The Lost Years of Merlin (T. A. Barron, YA Fiction - A boy must come to terms with his powerful, unpredictable gifts)
Running With the Demon (Terry Brooks, Fiction - A gifted teen girl and a dark stranger must stop a powerful demon from escaping its imprisonment)
The Stoneheart trilogy (Charlie Fletcher, YA Fiction - A boy unwittingly abuses his gifts and finds himself plunged into an unseen war between London's gargoyles and statues)
Metropolis (Thea von Harbou, Fiction - A wealthy son of privilege faces the sin and slavery his father created in building a utopian, machine-dominated city)
Rhapsody (Elizabeth Haydon, Fiction - A gifted woman, a disfigured assassin, and a brutish soldier may be all that stands between their world and ultimate destruction)
A Song of Ice and Fire series (George R. R. Martin, Fiction - A sweeping fantasy saga in a politically fractured world facing destruction amid a coming years-long winter)
Lord of the Changing Winds (Rachel Neumeier, Fiction - The arrival of griffins wakes a girl's latent powers, which she must learn to trust and master to avert a catastrophe in the making)
The Circle of Magic quartet (Tamora Pierce, YA Fiction - Four children from different backgrounds must learn to trust their elusive gifts, and each other)
The Percy Jackson & the Olympians series (Rick Riordan, YA Fiction - The modern son of a Greek god fights monsters and deceptions to avert the destruction of Western civilization)
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