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

good kids series

Someone let Brandon read Lemony Snicket and J K Rowling. Someone may be in trouble and I'm guessing it's not Brandon.

Good self deprecating kids book with Sanderson's unique sense of humor.

1 person found this helpful

Dramatization is painful to listen to

We love the Alcatraz books and have listened to the regular narrations of all of them. But this dramatized version is not pleasant to listen to. The voices are weird, and it's completely taking away from the actual story.

1 person 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.

1 person found this helpful

The best audiobook experience in my opinion

I really like the story, it is the second time reading it. The best part is the dramatized adaptation. The music, the different actors for different characters, the background sounds really make a difference. I've listened over 500 audiobooks but this is the best adaptation, I really recommend it.
I wish more books had a dramatized adaptation like this.

Creative, Fun, and quirky

This was my first dramatized audio book. It took some time for me to get used to the format, but it made for fun listen. As for the story, it is creative, fun, and quirky. I especially enjoyed the tangents Alcatraz goes on periodically through out the narrative. The story comes off typical for the genre, but Sanderson knows just how to spice things up to keep the story interesting even for an adult reader.

Also, Rutabaga.

Greatest book EVER!

Brandon Sanderson is one of my mom and dad’s favorite authors, and I can see why! I absolutely LOVE Alcatraz’s snark, kinda reminds me of my CARROT weather app. The voice cast is amazing, can’t believe that they got Scott McCormick to voice a character (he wrote the Rivals series, as well as some similar audiobooks). My favorite characters are Alcatraz and Bastille!

Beware the Librarian conspiracy!

I like having sound effects and music when I listen to audiobooks. It genuinely helps me be able to pay attention. So that is a point in its favor even before I began to listen to it.
So first, the medium and the change from one medium to the other. The adaptation from print book to audiobook was done well. There is a spot where in the print, it says read and in this, it got changed to listen, so that was cool. It's a surprising detail to pay attention to but they did, so well done. The parts where Alcatraz lectures/teaches the reader have a different musical thing than the rest of the story, which clues the reader in. And I quickly learned to like the music for those parts. The music and sound effects were also used as an additional weapon, for certain parts where certain things were expected and we got all the heroic music and then it basically went Wah wah waaaaaah. That was very funny. The VA involved did a good job, particularly the voice for Alcatraz who was both young Alcatraz and old Alcatraz. He was believable as both.
Now, the story. Alcatraz Smedry is a thirteen year old kid who gets a gift of sand in the mail and then the next day is shot at. Chaos happens in the interim and after. Oh, and things just break around him. Very powerful Talent, that. I deeply appreciate books that are about books and I like finding references in there. My favorite movie of all time got a reference here because it was also based on a book. The entire thing is so tongue in cheek that I deeply regret it wasn't published when I was like eight. I would have fallen in love with this book, and the series. Head over heels. That would have been it for me. Favorite book, right here. It's not my favorite book currently. That particular spot was taken up years ago by a book that was published before my grandmother was born. But it would have had a real fighting chance. Now, it has to settle for second or third place. But still. That is extremely high praise.

Exciting, original, and clean

it's so difficult to find good, original clean books for youth this day and age. As and adult who enjoys Sanderson's writings, this book did not fail.

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.