Alcatraz Versus the Scrivener's Bones (Alcatraz Series #2) » (Reprint)

Brandon Sanderson grew up in Lincoln, Nebraska. He teaches creative writing at Brigham Young University and lives in Provo, Utah, with his wife, Emily, and son, Joel. He has been chosen to complete Robert Jordan’s A Memory of Light, the concluding volume of the bestselling Wheel of Time series.

Alcatraz Smedry has an incredible talent . . . for breaking things! It generally gets him into a lot of trouble, but can he use it to save the day? In this second Alcatraz adventure, our hero finds himself swept up by a glass dragon headed to the ancient Library of Alexandria (which some silly people think was long-ago destroyed!) to look for clues leading to Alcatraz's dead father who might not be dead afterall! They must also battle the creepy, soul-sucking curators who await them . . .

VOYA

The second Alcatraz Smedry adventure bursts open with Alcatraz in the "most danger I'd ever been in my entire life." After three months on the run from evil librarians, Alcatraz and his grandfather are about to make their way to the Free Kingdoms, where Alcatraz hopes to live a normal (and peril-free) life. Nothing ever goes as planned for a Smedry, though, and Grandpa Smedry has gone missing while Alcatraz ends up chased by a Scrivener's Bone, a creature of both flesh and machine who can neutralize the magic of Lenses. Rescued by Bastille, an ex-Crystallian Knight and Alcatraz's sometimes friend; his cousins Kaz and Austriala; and Bastille's warrior mother, Alcatraz goes off in search of the Library of Alexandria, where it seems not only is Grandpa Smedry hiding, but Alcatraz's own mysterious father has been spotted as well. Sanderson's second middle grade fantasy is every bit as clever, fast-paced, and original as Alcatraz Versus the Evil Librarians (Scholastic, 2007/VOYA October 2007). The bizarreness is ratcheted up a notch, however. One chapter opens with Alcatraz declaring himself a fish. It is blatant misdirection, as Alcatraz himself admits, as well as a sterling example of the author's razor sharp wit, but precocious devices like that-text written upside down and false endings-could send this novel over the heads of many of its intended readers. Howlingly funny for adults, older teens who can be persuaded to read a "juvenile" novel, and exceptionally bright middle schoolers, this example of Sanderson's own brilliance may actually work against him this time around. Reviewer: Arlene Allen\