Brandon Sanderson: Alcatraz versus the Knights of Crystallia (2009, Scholastic Press)
English language
Published Oct. 19, 2009 by Scholastic Press.
When Alcatraz and Grandpa Smedry make a pilgrimage to the Free Kingdom city of Crystallia, they are shocked to find the city under seige by the Evil Librarians--led by Alcatraz's own mother.
I think that Brandon Sanderson may be getting better at writing these types of books over time, because this one feels better written then the first two. It is still very meta.
I really liked that Sanderson finally got around to showing off the Free Kingdoms. Especially since that means more talk about "magic" and "technology". Sanderson really starts pressing into the land of Clarke's third law. The sufficiently advanced silimatic "technology" of the Freelanders really is indistinguishable from magic for the reader, and Sanderson plays around with the indistiguishability. The Alcatraz series really is a fun look at the tropes of fantasy literature, wrapped in the guise of a children's book.
