The plot of the book revolves around the title character and a small group of freedom fighters operating against the cult of evil librarians that secretly rule the world.
The character of the title and the series - Alcatraz Smedry - is a young teen who is always breaking things. After receiving a bag of sand for his thirteenth birthday, he is involved in a strange set of events which begins with a group of librarians stealing his bag of sand, which turns out to have rather unusual properties.
The book starts with Alcatraz setting fire to his foster parents' kitchen. It is revealed that he has been in countless foster homes, always ending up with Alcatraz "destroying" things precious to the people taking care of him. Ms. Fletcher, Alcatraz's personal caseworker, arrives and scolds him for destroying his foster parent's kitchen.
The next day an old man arrives at the house and claims to be his grandfather. Grandfatrher Smedry informs Alcatraz, who struggles with his accident-prone nature, that it is in fact a 'Talent' - he has a special, powerful talent for breaking things. These
talents are attributes that we might not normally see as an advantage,
such as always arriving late, and tripping and falling in very dramatic
ways.
Now suddenly young Alcatraz is fleeing from evil Librarians, releasing dinosaurs to create a diversion in the Fiction section, and learning that clumsiness can be a powerful talent.
From his new family, he learns the true history - that there is a secret society called the Librarians, whose purpose is to conquer the remaining Free Kingdomers and rule the world. Only a group of strangely-talented allies stand against them.
Now suddenly young Alcatraz is fleeing from evil Librarians, releasing dinosaurs to create a diversion in the Fiction section, and learning that clumsiness can be a powerful talent.
From his new family, he learns the true history - that there is a secret society called the Librarians, whose purpose is to conquer the remaining Free Kingdomers and rule the world. Only a group of strangely-talented allies stand against them.
Almost the entire story takes place at the downtown library, where things aren't always what they seem. And nothing is off-limits, author Brandon Sanderson makes fun of everything. He also does a great job shedding new light on the world we live in, by comparing it to a more advanced society where light bulbs are inferior to open flames (since lights can't set things on fire) and stairs are more advanced than elevators (because you get a work-out climbing them).
Who would have thought that the guy who brought us the gritty 'Reckoners' series could also produce such a riotous story of irreverent humour, and great library-centric jokes and word-plays. Sanderson's first novel for a young adult market recalls the best of 'Artemis Fowl' and 'A Series of Unfortunate Events'.
Our downloadable eAudio copy is narrated by Ramon De Ocampo, and runs for 6 hours 53 minutes.
