Alcatraz vs. the Evil Librarians [Dramatized Adaptation]

Alcatraz vs. the Evil Librarians [Dramatized Adaptation] #1

by Brandon Sanderson

AN ANCIENT RIVALRY REAWAKENS.

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 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?

Genres: Fantasy, Audiobook, Magic, Urban Fantasy, Action, Young Adult, Childrens

10 pages, Audiobook

Published September 10, 2017

About the author

I’m Brandon Sanderson, and I write stories of the fantastic: fantasy, science fiction, and thrillers.

The release of Wind and Truth in December 2024—the fifth and final book in the first arc of the #1 New York Times bestselling Stormlight Archive series—marks a significant milestone for me. This series is my love letter to the epic fantasy genre, and it’s the type of story I always dreamed epic fantasy could be. Now is a great time to get into the Stormlight Archive since the first arc, which begins with Way of Kings, is complete.

During our crowdfunding campaign for the leatherbound edition of Words of Radiance, I announced a fifth Secret Project called Isles of the Emberdark, which came out in the summer of 2025. Coming December 2025 is Tailored Realities, my non-Cosmere short story collection featuring the new novella Moment Zero.

Defiant, the fourth and final volume of the series that started with Skyward in 2018, came out in November 2023, capping an already book-filled year that saw the releases of all four Secret Projects: Tress of the Emerald Sea, The Frugal Wizard’s Handbook for Surviving Medieval England, Yumi and the Nightmare Painter, and The Sunlit Man. These four books were all initially offered to backers of the #1 Kickstarter campaign of all time.

November 2022 saw the release of The Lost Metal, the seventh volume in the Mistborn saga, and the final volume of the Mistborn Era Two featuring Wax & Wayne. Now that the first arc of the Stormlight Archive is wrapped up, I’ve started writing the third era of Mistborn in 2025.

Most readers have noticed that my adult fantasy novels are in a connected universe called the Cosmere. This includes The Stormlight Archive, both Mistborn series, Elantris, Warbreaker, four of the five Secret Projects, and various novellas, including The Emperor’s Soul, which won a Hugo Award in 2013. In November 2016 all of the existing Cosmere short fiction was released in one volume called Arcanum Unbounded. If you’ve read all of my adult fantasy novels and want to see some behind-the-scenes information, that collection is a must-read.

I also have three YA series: The Rithmatist (currently at one book), The Reckoners (a trilogy beginning with Steelheart), and Skyward. For young readers I also have my humorous series Alcatraz vs. the Evil Librarians, which had its final book, Bastille vs. the Evil Librarians, released in 2022. Many of my adult readers enjoy all of those books as well, and many of my YA readers enjoy my adult books, usually starting with Mistborn.

Additionally, I have a few other novellas that are more on the thriller/sci-fi side. These include the three stories in Legion: The Many Lives of Stephen Leeds, as well as Perfect State and Snapshot. These two novellas are also featured in 2025’s Tailored Realities. There’s a lot of material to go around!

Good starting places are Mistborn (a.k.a. The Final Empire), Skyward, Steelheart, The Emperor’s Soul, Tress of the Emerald Sea, and Alcatraz vs. the Evil Librarians. If you’re already a fan of big fat fantasies, you can jump right into The Way of Kings.

I was also honored to be able to complete the final three volumes of The Wheel of Time, beginning with The Gathering Storm, using Robert Jordan’s notes.

Sample chapters from all of my books are available at brandonsanderson.com—and check out the rest of my site for chapter-by-chapter annotations, deleted scenes, and more.

Reviews

[Panda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Audiobook (6 hours) narrated by a full cast, including:
Alejandro Ruiz
Chris Genebach
Carolyn Kashner
Zeke Alton
Marni Penning
Bradley Smith
Richard Rohan
Peter Holdway
David Jourdan
Colleen Delany
James Lewis
Michael John Casey
Scott McCormick
Chris Stinson
Ken Jackson
Sasha Olinick
Terence Aselford

This GraphicAudio production is excellent, both in narration and audio.
The main character breaks the forth wall several times and rightly calls it a movie for your ears.
Produced for kids, fun for adults.
Highly recommend for urban fantasy nerds.

Beware of 👨🏽‍🏫👩🏽‍🏫👩🏿‍🏫👩🏻‍🏫👨🏼‍🏫👨🏿‍🏫<===Librarians! and 🐾‧˚꒰🐾꒱༘⋆⋆˚🐾˖°🐈🙀🐆😺<===Kittens!
🙊🙈🙉 /ᐠ. ｡.ᐟ\ᵐᵉᵒʷˎˊ˗ 🏛️📰💻📖 🙊🙈🙉

Brandon Sanderson is a fantasy writing genius. In this series, written for young adults, he goes all out in an adventure of a lifetime for the birthday boy on his 13th birthday.

Alcatraz Smedry is as exciting, unpredictable, and precocious as his name would lead you to believe.

This fourth wall breaking character, tells us his story as he is living it or writing it or both.

It's fast paced, fun, funny, full of adventure, and the unexpected.

Sanderson absolutely broke his brain with the creativity he slapped hard onto the pages.

👋💥📖👋💥📖👋💥📖

Seriously, libraries, magic, 🦖🦕!

🥳

[barbie · Rating 4 out of 5]

(3.75, o 4, no sé, no me decido. Quizás amplíe la reseña más adelante) Este es el primer audio libro que escuché y la verdad es que amé la experiencia, es literalmente escuchar una película; la actuación, los efectos, la narración elegida, todo fue fantástico. La historia es normal, no es nada de otro mundo, aunque la magia y como es básicamente una burla a muchas historias de fantasía infantil/juvenil es grandioso. Un libro que, en el GRAN hipotético caso de que tenga una hija, seguramente le daría para que lea (si tengo sobrinos también). Anygay, me encantó, aunque admito que si lo hubiese leído seguramente no pasaba de unas tres estrellas y listo.

[Jos · Rating 5 out of 5]

ESE PLOT TWIST AL FINAL???

Amé el libro y aún más el audiolibro de Graphic Audio

[Mohamed El Mourabite · Rating 5 out of 5]

صبي اسمه ألكتراز, لكن السجن هو من سمي على اسم الصبي, يواجه طائفة من أمناء المكتبات الأشرار, الذين يسيطرون على العالم بأكاذيبهم.
في عالم حيث المسدسات, السيارات والمصاعد تعتبر أشياء عتيقة بالية على عكس السيوف والسلالم والسيارات التي تقود نفسها التي تعتبر تيكنولوجيا متقدمة.
ما الذي يمكن أن تتوقعه من هذا الكتاب؟
على عكس باقي كتب ساندرسون فهذا موجه للمراهقين.
هو رواية صغيرة خفيفة وطريفة مما يكتبه في استراحاته التي يأخذها من كتابته لمجلدات السلاسل الأخرى.
ساندرسون هو من أكثر الكتاب إنتاجا, في الماضي لم يستطع نشر رواياته لأن الناس يشتكون من أنها كبيرة جدا الآن معظم المراجعات في هذه الصفحة تشتكي من أن هذه الرواية قصيرة جدا.

[Laura · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've been curious about Graphic Audio books, and I thoroughly enjoyed this one. I still prefer Ramon De Ocampo's narration (his Grandpa Smedry and Bastille are PERFECT), but I'm happy I listened to this one. And I may even listen to the rest of the series.

[Nolan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another on-track recommendation from the brilliant women of the Currently Reading podcast. They mentioned this book in one of their earliest episodes, and since I'm backfilling, I came across it quickly.

Alcatraz Smedry got a bag of sand as a present on his 13th birthday. But this isn't just sand. This is amazing stuff. Alcatraz lives in a foster home, one of a long string of foster homes in which he lived growing up. He has a nasty habit of breaking whatever he touches. It's not really a habit; it's more of a curse. Or is it a talent?

The morning after he got that puzzling box of sand from is long-lost parents, an old car pulls up in the foster home driveway. Alcatraz started a fire there accidentally the previous night. So, when the old man in the car encourages him to get in and bring is sand, he has no problem jumping in. The world the old man takes him to is wonderful. It seems our world, the one in which we live, is under the control of a gaggle of evil librarians who spread all kinds of misinformation we all have come to embrace as routine truth. These librarians, for example, insist that dinosaurs are long extinct and dead. In the world to which Grandpa Smedry takes Alcatraz, dinosaurs are both alive and they communicate in gentlemanly British accents. The librarians want control of our world in addition to three magic kingdoms quite different from us. Young Alcatraz must reclaim the bag of sand the librarians take from him, and he must save his grandpa and a young female bodyguard named Bastille. And as Alcatraz reminds you, he's no hero; indeed, he's not even a good person.

I loved the graphic audio format of the version I read. I thought I had gone to an audio-described movie. The people who produced it are the same folks who operate Potomac Talking Book, a contractor to the National Library Service for the Blind and Print Disabled of the Library of Congress.

In a previous incarnation some three decades ago, I edited a magazine targeted to blind and visually impaired readers. One of my tasks as part of that assignment included visiting a recording studio in suburban Washington, D.C. to monitor the recording of that magazine preparatory to distributing it on cassettes to our readers. When I read this graphic audio book last night, it felt like old home week--like some kind of grand reunion. Many of the voices who make up the cast of the audio were the same voices who had narrated this much more boring publication I edited. Even the producer listed in the audio edition was a woman with whom I had worked on the magazine. There were so many NLS narrators involved in this I felt very much like I was among friends. And when these wonderfully familiar NLS narrator voices narrated this graphic audiobook, I felt like I had the best combination of events I could hope for--a wonderful book by a talented writer whom I've admired for years and a set of voices who were familiar to me because of my work in Washington years ago.

Of course, when Kaytee and Meredith at the Currently Reading podcast recommended that book in their earlier episodes, they had no idea that their recommendation would one day spill out of my podcast player and facilitate both a grand reunion of sorts and an encounter with a truly fun book.

[Ronie · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great little story. Sanderson has quite a literary vocal range. I'm impressed. I really liked the voice of the main characters.

[Randi Tepley · Rating 4 out of 5]

The narrative was very good and a cute little story.

[Simon · Rating 4 out of 5]

A nice light "read" compared to other Sanderson stories. A young person's book done very well by the Graphic Audio people.

[Katie · Rating 4 out of 5]

a fun take on evil librarians, secret glasses and special talents that most wouldn't deem special. enjoyable, light-hearted, adventurous and sarcastic

[Just Heather · Rating 5 out of 5]

Listened to the audiobook on Libby, and this was my first Brandon Sanderson.

The narrator Ramón De Ocampo was amazing!
I'm keen to listen to other books he has narrated!

As for the story itself with the mc as a narrator was interesting and annoying, though that was on purpose, and it gets called out. It was a very interesting stylistic choice, and the jovial breakdown of writing techniques authors use could be a great way for young readers to think about the mechanics of the books they read - if they enjoy the way it's done.

We are keen to listen to book 2 so it worked for us, but it may not be for everyone.

[Travis · Rating 3 out of 5]

Amusing story, I especially like the nod to several other series in the story. I had difficulty with the constant shift in tense though, although I don't know if that was due to the graphic audio production, or if it was directly related to the author's writing. Either way, it's mildly irritating, but otherwise, the story was enjoyable. I have the next one in the series already, so will certainly listen to that one as well. I'm not sure I'll continue the series though, it's mildly amusing, but it's not attention grabbing enough for my tastes.

[Ali · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was such a fun read! I did this one on the graphic audiobook and I’m so happy I did. This is the first thing I’ve ever read by Sanderson and I really enjoyed it.

This is also perfect for YA audiences because the protagonist is a 13 year old boy and duh they’re fighting evil librarians??? I would’ve ate this up completely when I was 12 or 13. Probably even younger honestly. I loved the narration and the story line how fast paced it was. I will definitely be seeking out the rest of the series and if it’s on graphic audio all the better!

[Kat · Rating 4 out of 5]

Basic Plot: Alcatraz discovers he lives in a world of magic, special talents, family, and evil librarians.

The premise of this book was too hilarious to pass on. The world Sanderson created here is full of hilarity. Who knew that speaking in gibberish or arriving late could be valuable talents? The pacing was rapid and the story interesting. The book is geared towards young readers, but it doesn't talk down to kids. There's plenty here to enjoy.

[Derrick · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a kids book. The acting is hilarious and done very well, but this is definitely a kids book. I enjoyed my listen and have to admit that Sanderson does an amazing job at stories. I immediately checked out the real book for my son to read. I might listen to more because of the acting, but it's a pretty long kids book, but the acting and the 'weird' stuff make it kind of interesting.

[Sonya · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fun middle grade book. And by fun, I mean really, really funny, especially if you are a writer and can appreciate all the inside jokes. They're pretty blatant, so you probably don't actually have to be a writer to enjoy the jokes. If you enjoy groan-worthy jokes and over-the-top humor, I highly recommend this book.

[Aaron · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was a bit disappointed in this book. The other Brandon Sanderson books I've read spent a lot more time building the characters. This one unfortunately didn't meet the same standard. The magic system also didn't seem as intriguing or interesting as others that I've read of his.

[Cynik · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kid or teen book but fun.

[Sophia · Rating 5 out of 5]

I liked this book because it had the thrills of adventure also it was very detailed.100% recommend this book

[Melenide · Rating 4 out of 5]

3,5*

[Kathryn Walsh · Rating 5 out of 5]

My first Brandon Sanderson book and if I would have read it as a kid I think that I would have gotten into fantasy way earlier than I did. Great book for both kids and adults alike to enjoy.

[Alexis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Xander says it's good!

[Karissa Blum · Rating 4 out of 5]

SO FUN!

[Mary · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very unique and fun story! I loved reading it with my kids.