Alert: Stop! Do not go away because of this title!
Hey, guys! I haven't yet read anything new so I thought I'd cover an old favorite, that I think is terribly underrated. Alcatraz Vs the Evil Librarians was one of the funniest, and most worth-reading books I've ever read. It's at the level that I managed to convince my real-life friends to read it (they don't read much), and they loved it! All I ask is that you give this book a chance, at least in this review.
It is true that I have already reviewed this book, but I am both dissatisfied with the job that 12-year-old me did and want to celebrate the eventual release of book five.
Anyway, I was really skeptical to begin this book because I think that I thought I was too cool to read a book with this title. (Who was I kidding?) I reluctantly picked it up and started reading and couldn't stop. It is just fantastic! It's the first book in a five book long series; however, there was a few year long pause between books four and five because the author also writes New York Times bestselling books for adults. Imagine taking the writing style of Lemony Snicket (Series of Unfortunate Events) and combining it with a first person book and fantasy.
The Cover:
The Cover:
I really hate this cover. It's just so lame. Sure, it has the main character, Alcatraz Smedry, wearing glasses (significant!) in a library. I feel like it could be better, but at least it has something to do with the book's plot.
Official Description:
A hero with an incredible talent...for breaking things. A life-or-death mission...to rescue a bag of sand. A fearsome threat from a powerful secret network...the evil Librarians.
Alcatraz Smedry doesn't seem destined for anything but disaster. On his 13th birthday he receives a bag of sand, which is quickly stolen by the cult of evil Librarians plotting to take over the world. The sand will give the Librarians the edge they need to achieve world domination. Alcatraz must stop them!...by infiltrating the local library, armed with nothing but eyeglasses and a talent for klutzines
My Addition to the Description/ Review:
In order to understand, you all need examples of this book.
The Talents in these books are FANTASTIC! The talent of breaking things is not just a simple "talent". It's extreme. For example, at one point, a man points a gun at Alcatraz and the gun breaks apart. Alcatraz's grandpa also has the talent of... being late? Sounds awful, right? Meetings are terrible, until you realize that you can be falling out of a plane and be late on hitting the ground. Therefore, not dying, just being a little bruised.
I wrote like ten more examples and erased them because you need to be surprised.
You will rather love this book or despise it. It will rather seem hilarious or very stupid or both. I suggest reading the first few pages to get a feel of the book. You will know early on if which type of person you will be.
I have a pet peeve of first-person books that don't explain how/why the person is recording the story; however, this was one of the only books that bothers to explain itself. (Note: I cannot remember when/ in what book it explains it, so sorry if its not book one.) I really appreciated that.
The writing style was, for lack of a better word, sassy. It's just really ironic/critical/self-aware (similar to Lemony Snicket/ Obert Skye).
Basically, this book was, surprisingly, not awful and actually pretty fantastic! I consider one of my missions in life to increase the popularity for this book/series. It is not appreciated nearly as much as it should be!
In related news, I joined Brandon Sanderson's newsletter a few years ago so that if he ever wrote book 5, I would know. Usually all the notices are about his adult series that I haven't read. Yet. However, a few months ago, he released the first chapter of book five solely on the newsletter. This, of course, was beyond exciting. Even though it will be forever until I can read the next book, I am pretty hyped. Make that really hyped.
Happy Reading!
Twitter: https://twitter.com/BookshelfSecret
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BookshelfSecret
Hey, guys! I haven't yet read anything new so I thought I'd cover an old favorite, that I think is terribly underrated. Alcatraz Vs the Evil Librarians was one of the funniest, and most worth-reading books I've ever read. It's at the level that I managed to convince my real-life friends to read it (they don't read much), and they loved it! All I ask is that you give this book a chance, at least in this review.
It is true that I have already reviewed this book, but I am both dissatisfied with the job that 12-year-old me did and want to celebrate the eventual release of book five.
Anyway, I was really skeptical to begin this book because I think that I thought I was too cool to read a book with this title. (Who was I kidding?) I reluctantly picked it up and started reading and couldn't stop. It is just fantastic! It's the first book in a five book long series; however, there was a few year long pause between books four and five because the author also writes New York Times bestselling books for adults. Imagine taking the writing style of Lemony Snicket (Series of Unfortunate Events) and combining it with a first person book and fantasy.
The Cover:
I really hate this cover. It's just so lame. Sure, it has the main character, Alcatraz Smedry, wearing glasses (significant!) in a library. I feel like it could be better, but at least it has something to do with the book's plot.
Official Description:
A hero with an incredible talent...for breaking things. A life-or-death mission...to rescue a bag of sand. A fearsome threat from a powerful secret network...the evil Librarians.
Alcatraz Smedry doesn't seem destined for anything but disaster. On his 13th birthday he receives a bag of sand, which is quickly stolen by the cult of evil Librarians plotting to take over the world. The sand will give the Librarians the edge they need to achieve world domination. Alcatraz must stop them!...by infiltrating the local library, armed with nothing but eyeglasses and a talent for klutzines
My Addition to the Description/ Review:
In order to understand, you all need examples of this book.
The Talents in these books are FANTASTIC! The talent of breaking things is not just a simple "talent". It's extreme. For example, at one point, a man points a gun at Alcatraz and the gun breaks apart. Alcatraz's grandpa also has the talent of... being late? Sounds awful, right? Meetings are terrible, until you realize that you can be falling out of a plane and be late on hitting the ground. Therefore, not dying, just being a little bruised.
I wrote like ten more examples and erased them because you need to be surprised.
You will rather love this book or despise it. It will rather seem hilarious or very stupid or both. I suggest reading the first few pages to get a feel of the book. You will know early on if which type of person you will be.
I have a pet peeve of first-person books that don't explain how/why the person is recording the story; however, this was one of the only books that bothers to explain itself. (Note: I cannot remember when/ in what book it explains it, so sorry if its not book one.) I really appreciated that.
The writing style was, for lack of a better word, sassy. It's just really ironic/critical/self-aware (similar to Lemony Snicket/ Obert Skye).
Basically, this book was, surprisingly, not awful and actually pretty fantastic! I consider one of my missions in life to increase the popularity for this book/series. It is not appreciated nearly as much as it should be!
In related news, I joined Brandon Sanderson's newsletter a few years ago so that if he ever wrote book 5, I would know. Usually all the notices are about his adult series that I haven't read. Yet. However, a few months ago, he released the first chapter of book five solely on the newsletter. This, of course, was beyond exciting. Even though it will be forever until I can read the next book, I am pretty hyped. Make that really hyped.
Happy Reading!
Twitter: https://twitter.com/BookshelfSecret
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BookshelfSecret
No comments:
Post a Comment