Brandon Sanderson’s The Dark Talent Perfectly Concludes His Alcatraz vs. the Evil Librarians Series

My favorite quote in the entire Alcatraz vs. The Evil Librarians series comes from book three in the series, The Knights of Crystallia. Alcatraz has just seen his friend Bastille lose something quite precious to her. Since this is in no small part due to him, he’s not feeling great about it; which leads to this absolute gem of a sentence:
Guilt, you may know, is a rare emotion that is much like an elevator made of Jell-O. (Both will let you down quite abruptly.)
This quote perfectly sum up the delicious dark absurdity of the entire Alcatraz vs. The Evil Librarians series, particularly the latest and final installment, The Dark Talent.
For the sadly uninitiated, Alcatraz vs. The Evil Librarians is the bestselling series of “autobiographical” journals of Alcatraz Smedry, a young boy who discovers that his unusual penchant for breaking the items that people hold dearest is actually a family talent. A talent that Alcatraz is forced to use in the struggle between the Free Kingdoms and our world, a world controlled by The Evil Librarians from their headquarters at the Library of Congress.
Alcatraz Smedry begins The Dark Talent by stating that this will be the last of his autobiographical journals . . . he also claims it will also be the darkest, covering the most painful part of his young life.

Our young hero isn’t exaggerating. The Dark Talent is well, dark. It picks up exactly where book four, The Shattered Lens ended; Alcatraz, his trusty knight-protector Bastille (my absolute favorite character without a doubt, she kicks soooo much butt), and the rest of the gang have managed to save the kingdom of Mokia from the evil librarians . . . which is great . . . except Alcatraz has also probably managed to doom the world by unleashing his crazed father and broken his family’s talents. Worst of all, Bastille is in a coma.
While it is still appropriate for young readers, author Brandon Sanderson has definitely added a decided edge to the final installment of the series. As the story progresses in The Dark Talent, we learn that the only way that Alcatraz can save Bastille is to infiltrate the Highbrary, a fortress of evil librarian power. And the only way to do that is to trust his mother, Shasta, an evil librarian dedicated to the cause. Shasta and Alcatraz’s tangled relationship adds real pathos to the story. Luckily, Sanderson is a master at infusing both absurdity and empathy to Alcatraz’s adventures—which adds real humor to the story and keeps it from becoming overwrought.

And as with every book in the series, the illustrations are AMAZING.Illustrator Hayley Lazo does an incredible job of bringing Alcatraz’s adventures to life. The cover of The Dark Talent is drawn in a sharp tangle of grays, reds, and black, that bring a dark element to Alcatraz, Bastille, and the rest of the gang. These guys look like they are not playing around, ya’ll. And the illustrations that accompany the rest of the story are just as wickedly cool and add depth and texture to an already entertaining novel.
While I am sad that the series is over (supposedly), I definitely think that Sanderson has written the perfect ending to it. Without giving too much away, readers should remember that in his very first book,  Alcatraz vs. The Evil Librarians, Alcatraz told readers that he wasn’t very nice guy. Whether this is true or not,  ultimately, I think the ending is one that Alcatraz, for better or worse, deserved.  I also think it is one that young readers will find both entertaining and thought-provoking.
The Dark Talent: Alcatraz vs. the Evil Librarians is in stores now.