The Scrivener's Bones

The second part of Brandon Sanderson's adventure with Alcatraz Smedry is entitled Alcatraz Versus the Scrivener's Bones and picks up following the tale of our 13 year old oculator shortly after the end of Alcatraz Versus the Evil Librarians. There we learned that the world is actually controlled by a group of evil librarians who will stop at nothing, absolutely nothing, to control mankind with their nefarious ways. Young Alcatraz had grown up as an orphan shuffling from foster home to foster home, quickly wearing out his welcome as he has a knack for breaking things that he touches. The world that he knew changed irrevocably on his thirteenth birthday when he received a gift from his father, a man who Alcatraz believed had died many years ago. When a man attempted to kill him and an eccentric old stranger claiming to be Alcatraz's grandfather showed up, everything became a chaotic blur. Alcatraz learned that he is an oculator, a person with the power to activate and control special lens. Further, he learned that the Smedry family has a long and storied history as powerful oculators and are leading the resistance against the librarians, who are evil.

In this story Alcatraz is being transported to his homeland, a continent that exists in the Pacific Ocean but does not show up on any maps due to the influence of librarians (as you might have suspected). On the journey, Alcatraz learns that his grandfather has made an unexpected trip to Egypt, to the library of Alexandria, one of the most dangerous places in the world. It seems that old Leavenworth Smedry has found some evidence that his son Attica may have gone there some time ago. The trouble is that this ancient library, while a wealth of all worldly knowledge, is a place where souls are trapped as ghoulish librarians forever. With worries about his grandfather and rumors about his father, Alcatraz decides that he must travel to this fortress of librarian power to lend a hand. However, he must do battle and match wits with a half human/half dark soul librarian who wants to take his blood and the lenses that were his inheritance.

This story is in the young adult genre, but I really just found it funny, unique, well written, and wonderfully charming and full of whimsy. I can't wait to move on to the next part of the tale, Alcatraz Versus the Knights of Crystallia.