Alcatraz Versus The Evil Librarians [Dramatized Adaptation]

Masterwork

This work is superior in its quality on all fronts. I expected brilliance coupling the grand master writer Brandon Sanderson with a team of master narrators, yet this production emerged into something far greater then my expectations. I can not wait to listen to the rest of the series.

The writing is both free and sublime in structure. Bending cliches into humorous plot twists that mess with the readers head in a way previous writers have only attempted and failed at. It is truly the first time I have seen meta writing shine. I blame Sanderson's quirky sense of humor for making this taboo work.

The narrators are top notch. Their voices both interesting and well trained. To say the characters are distinct would be a severe understatement. They litteraly all have their own voice actor. The most amazing thing about this is that they are all solid professionals who understand things like inflection, tone, tèmbre, annunciations and accents. The stage play like format used makes the story come alive in a way no other team of narrators has done so far. Well not as well anyway. I enjoyed not having to listen to all the "she says" and he said" additives that are often so superfluous when using character voices in narration. It made the story flow in a much more actionable way.

Special mention for the music and sound effects. I have seen these aspects ruin an otherwise well produced piece often enough. No such violation here. These people went for tried and tested musical themes and instruments. No awkward experiments. My ears recognised what the music was trying to add to the scene without effort or distraction. Let that be a lesson: it is not about you, effect abd music people, you are in service to tge scene! Props to this team of sound engineers.
The volume was adequate. A bit much in the higher pitch which made the sound effects and certain instruments somewhat sharp here and there but adjusting the volume down just a bit took care of that. I think the music and effects might have been mastered more for heavier speakers then in ear headphones. Something to look into perhaps.

Have I said Brandon Sanderson is a grand master?
May you live long and bring us plenty more of what is still floating around in that beautiful brain of yours. And thank you for this work.

2 people found this helpful

Enjoyable, despite worries

Getting an audio version of this book has been a pain, actually. And I was worried when I got the audio cast version because my experience with audio books that have character voices has not been good. So, I was pleasantly surprised by the performances which were perfectly melodramatic, giving the whole thing a fun made-for-radio feel. Plus, I liked the story a lot. Sanderson does YA very well; he avoids some of his worst tropes and the stories are always snappy, with good lessons that he doesn’t feel the need to drive home like other YA books. Also, unlike other books of his, this one actually made me laugh out loud. All-in-all, I’m really pleased and looking forward to hearing the rest of these.

Lots of fun and my kids love it.

Alcatraz is silly and fun. The splashes of reference to sanderson's other works are fun to listen for.