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3 Books in One Night...


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though I haven't read any of the books in a little while I think I know the reason (at least for me) that the Alcatraz series is still good.

its the same reason that things like "Scenes From A Multiverse" by Jonathan Rosenberg and "Welcome to Nightvale"  by Joseph Fink and Jeffery Cranor are so engaging. Its taking the extra ordinary and making it ordinary, routine. So the read/listener/protagonist is the only one who notices the strangeness of the situation.

 

In the Alcatraz series Alcatraz is the only one who thinks what is happening is strange, mostly because everyone else is either brain-washed by evil librarians, an evil librarian themselves, or a person brought up knowing about the evil librarians, super soldiers, and horrible book monsters (as well as the odd British dinosaur and language worshiping cultists). The way all of these things are just brushed off the shoulders of the other characters makes us 1)able to relate to Alcatraz 2)makes the story much more interesting, and 3)sets up countless comedy opportunities.

 

(nightvale:https://www.youtube.com/user/WelcometoNightVale)

(multiverse: http://amultiverse.com/)

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  • 2 weeks later...

IMO these books are great because of their blatant silliness - and how that very silliness is key to the plots.

 

How can you not like a protagonist whose special Talent is breaking everything?

 

I remember giving a copy of book 1 to a young relative who was only willing to read manga - he loved it! ... was reading passages aloud to his mom and ranting about how awesome the book was! She was just amazed that he was reading at all.

 

I'm so happy that we will get a book 5! and judging from how the crowd responded when he announced it at a WoR tour appearance, everyone else feels the same way.

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  • 3 weeks later...

I think those books are so great, because they let you feel like a kid again somehow. No more dark fantasy, killing with lots of blood and other heavy motives that are so popular nowadays. You just get sucked into a magical, light and silly world. Personally I felt almost like I felt when I was reading first Harry Potter books so many years ago.

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  • 5 weeks later...
  • 5 months later...
  • 2 weeks later...

I read all four in less than a week, working around my six-hour-a-day school schedule.

 

I love how talking about the Alcatraz books makes everybody just a little bit happier... how can you not make jokes about a book that makes jokes about itself? Every time I think about the books or read quotes about it, my day just gets a little bit sunshine-y-er.  :D

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I read The Emperors Soul and Steelheart in the same day...

 

Hmmm...

 

It's interesting how The Emperor's Soul, Steelheart and Alcatraz each stand for a cornerstone of what makes Brandon Sanderson's writing so incredible.

 

The Emperor's Soul is quite introspective for most of the book, very character driven. A strong focus on the relationship between Shai and Gaotana, and also deep character building into the Emperor.

 

Steelheart is extremely plot driven. It has strong action sequences the whole way through, and out of all his books, is probably the most stereotypical one.

 

Alcatraz is all about the humour. He lets loose on that Pythonesque side to him, and turns the humour up to 11.

 

The 3 combined really make Brandon Sanderson a spectacular writer.

</fangush>

Edited by The Young Bard
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