Customer Reviews

Alcatraz #3: Alcatraz Versus the Knights of Crystallia

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SPOILERS AHEAD>

SPOILERS AHEAD>

SPOILERS AHEAD>


Ok, you've read past the warnings, so prepared to be shown some of the brilliance that comes from the mind of Brandon Sanderson.

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"I glanced to the side, then jumped as I saw an enormous reptile crawling along the sides of the buildings towards us. Like a spider crawling across the front of a fence.

"Dragon!" I yelled, pointing.

"Brilliant observation, Smedley," Bastille noted besides me.

I was too alarmed to make an amazing comeback. Fortunately, I'm the author of this book, so I can rewrite history as I feel necessary. Let's try that again.

Ahem.

I glanced to the side, whereupon I noticed a dangerous scaly lizard slithering its way along the sides of the buildings, obviously bent on devouring us all.

"Behold!" I bellowed. " 'Tis a foul beast of the netherhells. Stand behind me and I shall slay it!"

"Oh, Alcatraz," Bastille breathed. "Thou art awesomeish and manlyish"

"Lo, let it be such," I said."

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This is the typical wit and banter on page after page of this wonderfully light hearted and imaginative Alcatraz series of books. It's full of ideas you wouldn't have dreamed of, such as having talents like tripping, being late, being obnoxious and breaking things! I was hooked from the very first book, and to me, it seems like Mr Sanderson gets better and better with each book! He even makes fun of himself a few times, calling his own fantasy books "boring" and that Brandon Sanderson is actually a pseudonym for Alcatraz Smedley, the hero of the book. How cool is that?

This time, Alcatraz finally makes it back to the homeland he's never set foot on before- the Free Kingdom of Nalhalla. But even here the evil schemes of the wicked Librarians are afoot. But never fear, for Alcatraz and his friends and family are on the scene!

This is a fab and fun book for all ages. If you havent read the first book- Alcatraz and the Evil Librarians, read it now!

If you've read the first two books already, what are you waiting for? Grab this one ASAP!

Did I like this book?

I loved it!

Alcatraz Versus the Knights of Crystallia is the third volume in Brandon Sanderson's middlegrade series about a boy who breaks things. In the previous two volumes, Alcatraz has learned that he has special powers, and has done some incredible things with them. He's fought the librarians in a daring invasion of one of their libraries, he's braved the famous Library of Alexandria, and its ghostly curators who want to steal your soul, and much more. This time, he's headed back to Nalhalla, the homeland that he's never seen, having been just recently rescued from the United States, a librarian occupied land. Perhaps the biggest surprise in his trip home is the realization that he's famous. Very famous. People are writing FanFic famous. It's a little much for Alcatraz, who has to battle not only evil librarians set on taking over the Free Kingdoms and enslaving them just like they've done the United States and other places, but also struggle to deal with fame and fortune that he's never had before. Will he let it go to his head? Will he be able to expose the plot of the Librarians and their supposed "peace talks" and show the king who they truly are?


There's really only one negative thing I can say about these books, and it's more of a warning than an actual knock against them. If you're not a fan of a very heavy narrative voice, these are probably not up your alley. They're in first person, written as though Alcatraz were chronicling his story, and he isn't afraid to step in and chat about random things in the middle of his story. It's all done well, and very effectively from a comedy standpoint, but it's very over the top. Now, these books are written for a twelve year old, so I might not be the best critic available, but my son's only five months old, so I'll have to do (If you'd like to wait until he's 12 and can tell me what he thought, email me, and I'll get back to you in 2022). That said, the very heavy feel of the narrator isn't for everyone. One example that I found particularly amusing was a point where Alcatraz reminds you of a scene he described from a previous book, and lets you know that it's coming, but not until book 6. This breaking down of that fourth wall might be a little too much for some, so reader be ware.


Alcatraz Versus the Knights of Crystallia is a lighthearted, hilarious adventure from an author that I love. If you're a fan of other Sanderson works, like Mistborn or Elantris, it's worth checking out these younger audience books just to get a glimpse into Sanderson's mind. These books reveal a lot about his personality, and I enjoy the brief time I get to spend with each one (adults can blaze through each book in about an hour, maybe a little bit more with a potty break and dinner).

Below is an excerpt of my full review of the first four books in the Alcatraz series:

This review goes in line with that of the Alcatraz series, more specifically the attitude of a Smedry. You see, they are trouble makers, and are prone to getting themselves into life threatening situations. They have an uncharacteristic attitude when dealing with any situation. The more danger, the more excited they are. Through thick and thin, Smedry's are rarely to be found with a sour mood. They are bubbly, charismatic, bold, audacious, and have a knack for getting themselves into trouble. Wait, I said that did I not? Gack! You see, I imitating a number of characters found in this book. Granpa Smedry, Alcatraz, talking dinosaurs. Yes, you read correctly, talking dinosaurs with a British accent, and as we know, those Brits are refined, calm, and well-mannered; dinosaurs are no exception! They really know how to cause trouble for Librarians, like eating the entire C section of the Science Fiction shelf and moving six books out of their proper places. Okay, so maybe they are useless as Bastille said... The only thing worse than talking dinosaurs are talking rocks, but I tell you, the dinosaurs are a treat! To round off this paragraph, I leave you this quote from Grandpa Smedry if you think I am making any of this up:

I am a Smedry, and we do ridiculous, unexpected, eccentric things like this all the time.

The Alcatraz series is a tremendously fun read. My friend that recommended Mistorn and Elantris did not bother giving these books a shot because of their young adult emphasis, despite being a lover of Sanderson's work. Aspiring Asimovs, what a horrible reason! Lots of fun, many laugh out loud moments, tons of humor and wit, with a great story to boot! The books are written from the first person perspective of Alcatraz Smedry, written as a biography of how he became the hero of the Free Kingdom and to dispel the many myths about how it happened. The books are much shorter than all of Sanderson's other works, easily read in two or three days, and are extremely enjoyable. I cannot recommend these books enough!

Unfortunately Scholastic decided to not sign Sanderson for the fifth and final book. According to his assistant via Twitter, Sanderson will finish the series, but it's still a few years out, which is a shame. When I found out about this, I shook my fist at Scholastic and demanded they be burned alive with the Firebringer's Lens. You'll have to read the books to know what that's about ;)

I'm a fan of everything Sanderson writes, but I don't like his young adult series as much as his works for adults. The main character, Alcatraz, tends to go a bit over the top trying to convince people he's not a hero, and it gets to the point where you go "Ok, ok, you're trying to convince us you're not a hero - I get it" But that aside, the series is quite good. Sanderson riffs on Harry Potter, coming of age stories, family, and, well, everything else he can get ahold of in this series. It's really quite amusing, and his whacky magic system fits perfectly with the haphazard magical world he's created. The main hero ("I'm not a hero" quotes aside) is quite sarcastic - but likable, which is why I think the series ultimately works. Too many books have characters that just aren't very likable, and so readers react negatively to the book as well as the character. I can't stand the Thomas Covenant series, for example.

In this book, the reader finally gets to see what the magical world is like (books 1 and 2 were set in our world), and it's as satisfying as you'd think. There's a brilliant parade of Smedry talents throughout the book, but the best minor character in the book just has to be the "good librarian" - she's an absolute riot.

And, as always, I recommend reading the end of this Alcatraz book first.

In Alcatraz Versus the Evil Librarians you learned of the truth about our world: that the librarians are evil and have been lying to you your whole life. In Alcatraz Versus the Scrivener's Bones you learned what lengths the libraries will go to to keep the wool pulled over your eyes, as well as how far back through time this goes. Now Alcatraz is back, through the guise of the bestselling author Brandon Sanderson (the perfect cover), to tell more of his story, and to help you learn the truth about our world.

It's finally time for Alcatraz to journey to the other world, the one where he is better known. He travels with Grandpa Smedry to the Free Kingdom city of Crystallia, and after once again being involved in a serious accident that he only just manages to survive, he discovers that he's a giant celebrity here. He is the subject of a bestselling adventure series written by a member of the government, and enjoys himself in meeting with people who care little for him, but just wish to be close to him for reasons of fame. Bastille, who has been stripped of her armor and bodyguard title, is to be put under a tribunal to decide if her actions were serious enough to prevent her from regaining her title. At the same time there is a city under siege, and there are some evil librarians in Crystallia acting as liaisons looking to negotiate.

Alcatraz will have to use his unusual but incredibly powerful talent in this different world, under different conditions, ultimately putting him to his greatest test yet. As always, Alcatraz has endless advice to offer: buy his books, read a lot, and buy his books. Yes, he can be quite repetitive.

[...]

I have been a fan of Brandon Sanderson's for a while now, and loved the Mistborn trilogy, Warbreaker, and especially Elantris. It took me a while to actually give this series a chance, thinking it to be a little to childish. I am glad I did give it a chance though because it a great series. The comedy is over the top, but in a good way. And this book was the best yet. I loved that we finally got to see our hero travel to the Free Kingdoms, and see what life is like in his homelands. This book also seems to have moved the story forward and closer to a conclusion. I cant wait for the next installment, which according to Sanderson's website is already finished!

As expected, Alcatraz vs the Knights of Crystallia is a quick, easy, entertaining read for all ages. My entire family has now read it at least once, and every one of them (ages ranging from 8 - 46) liked it.

It is, as usual, a fun, if slightly odd, read. The overall plot of the series becomes a little clearer in this book than it has been in the past. The focus shifted more toward resolving the series than the individual novel, though the individual novel was resolved too. However, there isn't as much detail for the novel's story arc as there is for the series. If that makes any sense at all.

Anyway, it was a very satisfying book. I, being a very naughty reader, immediately turned to the last page.... and I didn't get it this time. But I did after reading the book. By the time I got through, I wanted book 4 out already, and since this is a children's book, that's an accomplishment for me (I usually hate reading anything that seems too simple).

If you've already read the first two books in this series, I assume you know what makes it so entertaining: a quirky plotline, likable characters, interesting magic systems, really funny dialogue and writing, lots of random author's asides, and references to various figures, books, and cliches in the fantasy and sci-fi world. If you haven't already read the first two books, what are you doing here? Go read the first two before this one or Alcatraz will have to make fun of you.

This book is a very worthy continuation of the series. As with the first two, we meet entertaining new Smedry family members, learn about the Free Kingdoms and their prolonged struggle against the Librarians, follow Alcatraz, Grandpa Smedry and Bastille through new challenges and plots, and get a lot of hysterically funny writing sprinkled with the occasional serious moment of self-examination and growth from our reluctant hero. We also get to cover new ground as we get out of the Hushlands for the first time and visit Nalhalla, homeland of the Smedrys and Knights of Crystallia. To me that was the real draw of the story: we finally see this place that's been talked about so much, we understand just how famous and important the Smedrys are, and we learn about the Knights of Crystallia and Bastille's past. There's also an interesting plot wherein we see if Alcatraz can stop the king of Nalhalla from handing the kingdom of Mokia over to the Librarians. A quick, fun read for youth and for any fan of fantasty or sci-fi.

This book is one of my favorite books of all time! and all of my family loved it too. It's a good book even if you haven't read the other two

This is not just a kids book. As an adult my entire family (that's 8 people all over 25) loves this series! Full of sarcasm and wit and really weird and interesting characters, Brandon is a master writer and we love all his works, but when we want a fun and funny adventure, we always pull this series out.