Gollancz complied these four books into an omnibus in 2013 (Many of our store links head to the omnibus because the individual books can be hard to find). Brandon intends to write five books in the series, though only four were commissioned by Scholastic. Thank you so much to the publisher, Starscape, for providing me with a copy to read and review.The Alcatraz books are Brandon’s series of Middle Grade (5th–7th grade) fantasy books released by Scholastic Press. I would love to join Alcatraz on as many adventures as I can. I cannot wait to continue on with this series. It’s wild and chaotic, over-the-top and enchanting. I really enjoyed Sanderson’s commitment to keeping that tone the entire way through. Everything about it was written with such snark. Like how a cult of evil librarians can even exist without anyone knowing about it.Īlcatraz and his visitor then set out on a quest to retrieve the sands and stop the evil librarians from achieving their goals, pairing up with some allies along the way.

Through a mysterious and unexpected visitor, Alacatraz is filled in on what the bag of sand actually is and schooled on the truth about the world. The bag of sand, which would seem a harmless possession, actually ends up getting stolen by a cult of evil librarians who are seeking to take over the world by spreading misinformation. You quickly learn Alcatraz doesn’t have the best luck and has taken the art of breaking things to a whole new level. Just his luck that a bag of sand would be all his parents actually left him. The author talks directly to the Reader and gets them ready for a rollicking, totally true tale.Īlcatraz Smedry, our main character, is an orphan, who on his 13th-birthday receives an inheritance from his parents a bag of sand. This one starts off with a hilarious Author’s Note that definitely set the tone for the entire book. As a big fan of MG-stories, I was super pumped to make this discovery! Prior to receiving a copy of this, I actually had no idea that Brandon Sanderson even had a Middle Grade series. While this story originally published in 2007, it is now being rereleased with updated covers.

This is the first installment of a currently 5-book series, with a 6th-book set to be released this September. I had an absolute blast reading this and actually finished it in a day. the Evil Librarians is an uproariously funny, action-packed Middle Grade Fantasy story. the Evil Librarians by Brandon SandersonĪlcatraz vs.

Brandon sanderson librarians