Author: Brandon Sanderson
Genre: adventure/humor
Similar books: The Name of This Book is Secret by Pseudonymous Bosch
The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart
Rating:
Summary (provided by publisher): Everything I'd known about the world was a lie.
On my thirteenth birthday, I, Alcatraz Smedry (yes, I got named after a prison, don’t ask) received my inheritance: a bag of sand. And then I accidentally destroyed my foster parents’ kitchen. It’s not my fault, things just break around me, I swear!
I thought the sand was a joke until evil Librarians came to steal it. You’re probably thinking, “Librarians are nice people who recommend good books,” but that’s just what they want you to think! It turns out they’re actually a secret cult keeping the truth from you—a hidden world filled with magical eyeglasses, talking dinosaurs, and knights with crystal swords!
Or so my Grandpa Smedry claimed when he suddenly showed up to rescue me. So now I have to go with him to invade the local library and get that sand back, before it's used to conquer the world. And Grandpa says how I keep breaking things is actually an amazing talent. There’s no way that can all be true, right?
Will I ever make it back home alive?
My opinion: There is a very specific subgenre of middle grade fiction that this book fits into: books where reality is not what we think. Where a very normal kid finds themself in the midst of a wild adventure with villains and sword fights, with mythological beasts and plots to take over the world. And peculiarities about yourself turn out to be signs that you are meant for something bigger. Sand, weird glasses, and a tendency to break things don't sound like elements that would make for an exciting story so it is a testament to Sanderson's skill and creativity that this book makes any kind of sense. It follows an internal logic even if it defies the logic of the natural world. This is a book that will be too much for many readers but is worth a look if you like the off-beat.
Advanced Reader Copy provided by NetGalley
I have the whole series except the very newest book, which I am debating purchasing. It does okay with my "magic academy" readers, but I always tell students that I would be SO MUCH MORE EVIL than the librarians in the book!
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