The Knights of Crystallia: Alcatraz vs. the Evil Librarians (Alcatraz Versus the Evil Librarians Book 3)

What I Liked: I enjoy the ongoing commentary at the beginning of the last two books speaking out on the kind of people that would start a series in the middle and for those that read the last page at the beginning. It has been funny to see the fake twists put at the endings to teach a lesson to anyone doing that.
My family read this book using an audiobook during a long car trip. At first, I couldn’t decide between the physical book that has hilariously snarky illustrations or the audiobook that has a great voice actor. However, Brandon Sanderson keeps playing with the text telling the audience to change things or reread a certain page or trying to convey the level of frustration that the character is feeling by adding Q’s everywhere for a paragraph to try and decipher what is being said. Those parts don’t work in the audiobook as well and so I think I’ve made the decision that the print version is the best or at least needs to be in conjunction with the audiobook for full effect.
There were a couple of gems in this text that quickly become family sayings. Alcatraz’s discussion of fish sticks and his term to describe them as well as his description of Australia. He says she is not dim-witted she just has trouble remembering to be smart.
As far as the plot goes Alcatraz finally gets a peek at what the Free Lands is like. His parents are not great and for that, I feel bad for him. He finds out he is famous for things he didn’t even do, thanks to the Crown Prince writing adventure stories about him. I like the nods to Harry Potter for the cover of the latest story the crown prince wrote called Alcatraz Smedry and the Mechanic’s Wrench. Also, the lead Librarian they face this go around is “She who cannot be named,” because her name is too hard for anyone to say.
Alcatraz does let the fame go to his head for a while until he realizes that Bastille is facing trial for losing her sword that he broke. Then Alcatraz and his grandfather, Leavenworth, do everything they can to help her. In their quest to thwart the latest librarian plot and to help Bastille they end up needing the talents of a few more Smedry relatives and gulp, even a reformed librarian. Pattywagon Smedry can say inappropriate things at awkward times and Folsom Smedry can dance incredibly badly. With talents like those, it was quite funny when they helped save the day.
Final Verdict: This is an enjoyable series that stays funny each time. You should start with the first book though or you will hear from Brandon Sanderson about it! There are a few lessons learned about fame and friendship amongst all the quirky situations not to mention a handy dandy guide complete with common core standards to make authority figures happy while the middle-grade reader is bursting out laughing.