Alcatraz (Alcatraz Versus the Evil Librarians) tracks his missing grandfather to the Library of Alexandria. In addition to his magic Talent (breaking things), he has his uncle and cousin on his side. Against them stand the Scrivener's Bones, an extra-evil librarian sect. Sanderson balances absurdity, action, and character growth, also going to town with narrative games and accessible metafictive whimsy.

<p>Searching for his grandfather, Oculator Alcatraz Smedry follows him to Egypt and into the Library of Alexandria. There he battles soul-stealing Curators and a librarian of the Scrivener's Bones, part man, part machine and a user of Dark Oculary. In this second of a series presented as a memoir, Alcatraz experiments with leadership and learns a little more about his own Breaker Talent, including the possibility that it may be dangerous. One of the good guys, perhaps, in a world controlled by Evil Librarians, Alcatraz is also smirkily self-conscious, an annoying narrator who interrupts himself with irrelevancies, apologies and instructions to the reader. They should have started with the first volume, he warns, and, in fact, those who didn't may find the setting confusing and the cast hard to keep straight. The animation-style action seems more appropriate to a big screen than a reader's imagination, and veers from implausible to impossible and random. Trying too hard to be strange, the effect is not fun but forced. (Fantasy. 10-14)</p>

Gr 5-9 Alcatraz Smedry is back, and the action is just as nonstop, the librarians are just as evil, and the quips and asides (and outright lies) that the author insists on inflicting upon readers are just as omnipresent. Fortunately for the fans of Alcatraz Versus the Evil Librarians (Scholastic, 2007), these are all good things. On the run from a Scrivener's Bone, a half-human, half-machine assassin that has been sent to retrieve the Translator's Lenses that Alcatraz stole in the first book, the boy receives word that his father is in mortal danger in the Library of Alexandria. He and a crew of quirky relatives with odd but very useful Talents mount a daring and completely ludicrous rescue. Though some readers may find the author's non sequiturs and frequent interruptions in the narrative off-putting, those who enjoy their fantasy with a healthy dose of slapstick humor will be delighted. Give this novel to fans of Eoin Colfer's "Artemis Fowl" (Hyperion/Miramax) and Catherine Jinks's Cadel Piggott in Evil Genius (Harcourt, 2007). They will appreciate Sanderson's cheerful sarcastic wit and none-too-subtle digs at librarians. Jane Henriksen Baird, Anchorage Public Library, AK

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.-Arlene Allen.