As I read Alcatraz vs. the Evil Librarians, I had a question: Brandon Sanderson, which librarian hurt you? (lol) This fun middle-grade fantasy series features Alcatraz Smedry, the real author of the book, not Brandon Sanderson. But you’ll have to read to find out because I don’t want to reveal too much in case some evil librarians are reading this review. :o)
On the outside, it seems like Alcatraz Smedry is just an ordinary preteen klutz. But as with most fantasy adventures, he’s anything but. On his thirteenth birthday, he receives a bag of sand from his parents, and an adventure beyond anything he thought possible ensues. Thrust into a quest to infiltrate the cult of evil librarians to get the sands back, Alcatraz learns about his true identity.
My middle-grade reader loved this book! As stated before, it’s “written” by Brandon Sanderson, but Alcatraz tells the real story once you get past the cover. My child loved the asides when Alcatraz spoke directly to the reader. As a writer, he enjoyed Alcatraz pointing out and then straying away from storytelling guidelines. Plus, there’s a twist at the end. It was a lot of fun for this middle-grade reader. So much so, that we’ve purchased the entire series and suggested this book to the middle-grade readers in our homeschooling community.

Middle school readers will love this book. It's a fast-paced book with a lot of action. You won't need to be a reader to enjoy the book.

I cannot wait to put this books in the hands of reluctant readers. Sanderson writes in a casual but not boring way that makes the plot and main character interesting and humorous even when under mortal danger. Action packed and yet still sweet and introspective about family and forgiveness. I do want to note that some descriptions of one character are fatphobic. Thanks to NetGalley and Starscape Books for a free read in trade for my honest review.

I was very pleasantly surprised by this book! I didn't have super high expectations, even though I love Sanderson's other works, because I'm not a huge middle grade fantasy fan. However, the way the story was told was really different from most books and I found it to be really engaging with all of the snarky comments and tangents. I would highly recommend this book to fans of middle grade fantasy, it was a lot of fun and the world really pulled you in quickly. As always, this is another great Sanderson work and is enjoyable even for adults.

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

Thank you to Macmillan-Tor/Forge and NetGalley for this Arc.

I don’t have much experience with middle grade book, I had high hopes since i love Sanderson book. Did I enjoy it? Yes! Did I love it? Hmm, sadly not. It’s fun and quirky, love the take on superpowers, even the fact characters have funny “jail” names. I do think this book reads well, it’s fast paced and full of events, page after page!

it’s a cute story.
it was a bit strange for me to figure out which age group this book was supposed to fit into.

it’s reads quite young to me -lots of 13 year old kids saving everyone and running round taking part in dangerous adventures to save the world.
there is lot a lot of actual world building/explanation in how it all really works or came to be (it’s the usa but not really? the city names are the same but the place overall is called differently? why? what’s the purpose of that? no idea!)

it’s all very much in the tone of “okay moving on to action and adventure” instead of actually giving a real story.

which isn’t to say it’s a bad thing!

not at all.

i just think that if you would have read this book as a 13 year old? i wouldn’t enjoy it because it lacks too much… actual story in some way. it’s in so many ways too simple and easy.
now that might have been me and some other 13 year olds would love this.
but i would rather give this book to younger - 8 to 10?- that would also help them build their vocabulary because what the book does very well is mention words that might not be too well known and explain them without making it too obvious that they are being explained.

there is a lot of “boy hero chosen one” going on, in the way that the boy -alcatraz- is raised as if he’s a normal kid just very clumsy and prone to breaks everything without meaning to.
but than one day something happens and all of a sudden he’s special and his “power” to break everything is this special and great thing that makes him perfect to help.

there is no real explanation on why he was not raised by his relatives -the one mentioned is just too simple and honestly stupid because if you want to learn how to fit in? send the kid to a normal school and he learns it there. doesn’t have to go for 13 years believing he’s a freak and not wanted because of it!


there are just a lot of unexplained and too simple moments -from why alcatraz is in foster care up to why the age 13 is the magic number for him to be shown his family secrets?


i do think it’s a cute story.
it’s very much an adventure story and if any kid is looking for a story like that? this book is a nice choice.

This is such a fast read. Sadly, it took me over a month to finish it. I really wanted to love it but unfortunately it felt flat to me.

Alcatraz Smedry may not be the luckiest kid on Earth - he is a foster child who on his thirteenth birthday receives his inheritance from his birth parents - a bag of sand. This precious present is stolen by a band of evil librarians right away. Alcatraz will have to fight back - thankfully he has a special talent: breaking things. This book was highly enjoyed by my 15yo son and 13yo daughter who both thought it was both compelling and hilarious- they rated this book a great quick read and want to read more books in the series !

As a reader, and being a Brandon Sanderson fan, his name sold this to me - as an educator, I am always talking about books that will engage readers, so I was excited to try this one out!

True to Sanderson's form, it is fast-paced and funny. I love the character of Alcatraz and the idea of the world not being as we think it is. Told from the perspective of Alcatraz, who directly addresses the audience, it is a fun read - parents will enjoy reading with their children if that is what they are looking for!

I honestly see this as a wonderful book for reluctant readers - there is not an abundance of world building - which might be disappointing to some,; but for encouraging reader, it is truly ideal.

The story is gradually revealing in regards to the world and Alcatraz himself - he tells us why he is writing it (and that he is no hero!) which sets it up nicely for the series.

Alcatraz vs. the Evil Librarians is a whole lot of fun - can't wait to see what he does next.

If you're looking for a fun middle-grade adventure written by the one and only Brandon Sanderson, you've got to check out Alcatraz vs. the Evil Librarians. This book also has illustrations by Hayley Lazo, which bring it to the next level.

Alcatraz Smedry has spent his whole life hopping from one foster home to the next. No exaggeration – he's been in over a dozen by this point. He's used to the ways the constant moves upset his life.

So when we say his thirteen birthday changes everything, please understand the full depth of its meaning. A bag of sand, a strange letter from his deceased mother, and the start of the weirdest adventure of a lifetime. That is what this day gives him.

"Remember, despite the fact that this book is being sold as a 'fantasy' novel, you must take all of the things it says extremely seriously, as they are quite important, are in no way silly, and always make sense."

Generally, I find myself adoring most of what Brandon Sanderson writes, but while I enjoyed Alcatraz vs. the Evil Librarians, I didn't love it. And no, I don't think this is simply because it's a middle-grade novel. Younger me would have been okay with this book, but not head over heels.

The whole time I was reading Alcatraz vs. the Evil Librarians, it felt like something was missing. At the end of the day, I think that something is a strong connection between the characters and the reader. The interactions between the two felt shallow, making it harder to be invested in anything Alcatraz (yes, that really is his name) was doing.

Do I still think the series has potential? Oh, absolutely! Not all series start strong and only get better over time. That could very much be the case for Alcatraz vs. the Evil Librarians. I hope it is. I'll probably make a point of reading the following few books just to see how it goes.

On the bright side, I enjoyed Sanderson's twist on powers and abilities. It added comedy, of course, but it was also oddly empowering? What I'm trying to say is that it was a nice reminder that we don't always see our talents for what they are. Sometimes it takes another perspective to realize what they're worth. It's a great message to weave into this otherwise action-filled story.

This is such a fast read. Sadly, it took me over a month to finish it. I really wanted to love it but unfortunately it felt flat to me.

I don’t have a lot of experience reading Middle Grade but I’ve always seen how a lot of readers my age seem to love the magic and whimsical aspects of it and decided to give it a try since I love Brandon Sanderson’s YA Sci-fi series “Skyward”.

I usually like to listen to the audiobook while reading physically, specially when a genre is out of my comfort zone. While the audiobook was good, it just didn’t work out for me so I decided to ditch it at chapter 15 (very close to the end, I know, but every time I listened to it I could only do it for so long before accidentally falling asleep).

I was not a big fan of the narrator’s interruptions throughout the story and found them often annoying and boring. That was pretty much the biggest turn off for me when it came to this book. It was just so redundant and kind of unnecessary. I’d have liked to see more of the actual story and less of the narrator’s thoughts.

The story itself was actually entertaining enough to want to push through. Will I read the next books in the series? Not sure yet. But I do know that I probably would’ve liked this more if I read it when I was younger.

Thank you to Macmillan-Tor/Forge and NetGalley for the approved e-copy in exchange for an honest review!

This book was so much fun to read to my grandchildren! I'm not great at doing all the voices, but that didn't matter because the story is so engaging. This is yet another great story by Brandon Sanderson!

Thank you Macmillan-Tor/Forge, Starscape and NetGalley for sending me this book in exchange for my honest review.

This book was delight. I really loved the the narrator in this book and how the story was told. This story had a lot of action from the pop and some really crazy convo about the power of knowledge. I also really loved how this book was strucutre and had some of my favortie fantsay elements like rag tag group of heros and a quest. I also loved a story about libaries but a twist on that I am really excited for book 2 as well

Although I have read a lot of Sanderson’s book, this was has managed to escape me until now. But when I saw it on Netgalley I decided to request it, and I was lucky enough to be approved for it.

I really did not know what to expect going into this. Sanderson’s books have been quite a disappointment for me over the last few years, so I didn’t have too high hopes for this one. Then again, this is a middle grade and one of his earlier works, so it could still be great.

And I have to say, I had a good time with this for sure. And yes I also had issues with it… The main issue being the world building. Or kind of lack thereof. Nothing gets explained! Like there are two different worlds but we don’t really get told more about their interactions etc. It is also very America centered… Are the Librarians only there, or have they taken over the whole world? We get some throw away lines to it all, but I need a bit more… I guess we go into more detail in the rest of the series, but I would have liked some more answers now (especially as our main character was also introduced to this other world in this book… he just takes it all in his stride though).

That doesn’t take away from that the magic system in this book is great. Some of it is based on ‘talents’, which seem useless when you first hear them (breaking things, being late, falling over, talking nonsense), but are used very cleverly in the story. Sanderson also makes a clear distinction in this story between magic and technology, which I very much appreciate.

I did very much enjoy the narration, but that is a taste thing for sure! Almost every chapter starts with a break in the story and Alcatraz talking to us directly. One of the chapters even starts with ‘Are you annoyed yet?’ and I can imagine some readers would be. The humour worked for me, and I do think it would also work for its intended audience. Adult readers might find the narrator quite obnoxious and not-funny though.

The plot was just okay for me. Nothing special and a bit tropey, getting drowned by the very present narrative.

Overall this book was a decent read, but nothing spectacular. I doubt I will go out of my way to read the rest of the series, but who knows if I come across some cheap/free copies somewhere.

This book is so very Brandon Sanderson. It’s fast-paced and hilarious, and it’s full of adventure, character growth, bad puns, and unexpected plot twists. Plus it’s very meta, which I thought was such a fun way of writing this story.

If you didn’t know, Brandon Sanderson isn’t the real author of this book. The true author is Alcatraz Smedry and this book is his nonfiction biography, not a fantasy novel. It’s about how he escaped from a cult of evil Librarians, but because the Librarians are evil and don’t want anyone to know about them, this book had to be published as a fantasy novel under a pseudonym to hide the true story.

I loved this book. Alcatraz is so funny and makes the best observations about the most random stuff. His humor is just weird enough that he feels like such a unique character. Each of the characters is different, yet they work so well together.

There is so much humor in this book that the author uses to draw you in. Alcatraz tells you about how he’s writing his story and about why he must hide it from the Librarians and about the twists and hooks that he’s using to engage the reader. The whole reading experience was unlike any book I’ve read before.

If you like middle-grade adventure stories, lots of humor, Brandon Sanderson’s classic storytelling, or you just want to have a fun time reading a book, definitely check out Alcatraz vs. the Evil Librarians. This is one the whole family can enjoy. I will absolutely be reading the rest of the series very soon.

If you're expecting the usual Brandon Sanderson fantasy, this isn't the book for you; but don't go, not so fast. Despite being aimed at a much younger audience and being a different kind of story, Brandon's talent makes this a very entertaining, funny and complex read in its own way. I also find the narration to be interesting and to introduce you more to the magical world that is set forth
This book presents a ridiculous magical world for us Hushlanders. This mere idea makes us delusional, evil librarians? Impossible. But it is so, in a world where librarians want to dominate information and with it, the world itself, the Free Kingdoms continue to fight. Our protagonist, born into the world of librarians, discovers that he belongs to an important family of the Free Kingdoms, the Smedry, who possess unique and rare talents. This young man on his thirteenth birthday receives a package with… sand? which he inherited and thought it was a joke until the evil librarians came to steal it. With his recently appeared grandfather, and a couple of other young people they will try to recover this more valuable arena than the protagonist thought.

As a huge fan of brandons adult books i was really looking forward to reading this with my son and it did not disappoint!

I love anything that Brandon Sanderson does. I am surprised it took me so long to pick up his middle grade. Alcatraz was a fun adventure. The world building was interesting. I always love two parallel worlds that combine together. Sanderson has always been amazing with characters, and the grandfather character definitely was my favorite.
I do feel like the story could have been flushed out a little more, it felt like it went very quickly from the climax to the end. I am interested in continuing the story and finding out more about Alcatraz's family and past.

This book was SO much fun!!

I am selfishly glad the entire series is actually out already, and is just getting (got?) rebranded and reillustrated--means I can just keep reading without interruption! (Okay, except by maybe...real life, haha.)

Confession: This is my first Brandon Sanderson read. But, I'm no stranger to the sci-fi/fantasy genre, or comic-cons for that matter, and Sanderson's name is ever present in both arenas. So I was really excited to find this, and thought it'd be a great introduction to his works (before diving into the 500-page tomes he freely admits in-book to be his norm).

Yep, that assessment was spot on. On all the levels. :)

The book is funny--I regularly caught myself literally laughing out loud, and was glad I wasn't commuting while I read (cue the funny looks; been there done that)--clever, and original. And the illustrations are perfect!

I can't wait to dive into the subsequent books and follow more of Alcatraz's adventures.

4/5 stars.

I received an eARC of the book from the publisher via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

A fun read that would be great for a read aloud. The book moves at a good pace and keeps your attention. S Anderson’s writing is witty and clever enough to keep readers of all ages hooked.