Friday, November 6, 2009

Alcatraz versus the Evil Librarians

I had no idea what to expect when I picked up this book. I have really enjoyed Brandon Sanderson's Adult books however I did not know what to expect in his young adult fiction. This book again surprised me. I was actually expecting something like Leven Thumps or The Sisters Grimm or maybe even Fablehaven. It was nothing like any of those. True there was a story that was fairly entertaining but the real intriguing part of this novel if the narration with it's constant asides, critiques of writing and self deprecating humor.

He narrator that is actually sharing the story is Alcatraz Smedry but in his moments of reflection he details all of the "evil" things that authors do to "torture" readers. All of these "evil" things are exactly some of the author tricks that have become so blatant and obvious that they are now common place in literature.

As much as I hate the narrator making comments that pull me out of the story, Sanderson does this intentionally to make points about writing. This also happens to be the most laugh out loud funny book that I have read in a very long time. These funny moments come from both the actual story and the asides the narrator uses. In reality the narration was still a little annoying to me but the humor in the book more than made up for it. When the nest books are available I will read them, though they are not that high on my list.

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