Summary:Alcatraz Versus the Evil Librarians
This page contains a chapter by chapter summary of Alcatraz Versus the Evil Librarians. We hope this summary will make it easier to find specific areas of the book, as well as providing a quick plot refresher for anyone who doesn't want to take the time to reread the entire book.
Foreword
In the foreword (written all in capital letters) the author explains that he is not Brandon Sanderson, but Alcatraz Smedry. This book is not a work of fiction, but an actual biography that is sold as a fantasy book to avoid detection by the Librarians.
Chapter 1
“So, there I was, tied to an altar made from out-dated encyclopedias, about to get sacrificed to the dark powers by a cult of evil librarians.”
—Alcatraz to the Reader[1]
Despite this first line, the whole chapter is an introduction of Alcatraz Smedry, who is the narrator of the book. Alcatraz is an orphan who never spends more than a few months with any given family due to his propensity for breaking (not destroying) things. Today is his thirteenth birthday, and he has received a small package in the mail. It contains a note that reads:
“Happy thirteenth birthday! Here is your inheritance, as promised. Love, Mom and Dad”
—Alcatraz's birthday note[1]
and contains a bag of sand. Alcatraz goes to the kitchen to prepare dinner and proceeds to set the kitchen on fire. He goes to his room and overhears his foster parents deciding that they must give him up. His caseworker, Ms. Fletcher, arrives. She warns Alcatraz that she is running out of families to place him with. She sees the bag of sand but seems dismissive of it.
Chapter 2
Alcatraz is awoken by the sound of someone banging on the front door. He opens the door to an eccentric old man who wishes him a happy birthday and claims that he is his grandfather. He is late, as the boy's birthday was the day before. After a brief and chaotic introduction, the elder Smedry storms into Alcatraz's home and discovers that the sands have been stolen. Only Ms. Fletcher has been in his room, and from Alcatraz's description, Grandpa Smedry identifies her as a Librarian and urges the boy to come with him on a mission to retrieve the sands. Alcatraz, believing that the man he just met is crazy, lets his grandfather leave the house and locks the door behind him. He goes to the kitchen to have breakfast and encounters a man pointing a gun at him.
Chapter 3
The person pointing a gun at Alcatraz turns out to be a Librarian in disguise as a foster care caseworker. Right as he's about to shoot Alcatraz, Grandpa Smedry crashes his car (an old Model T Ford) through a wall of the kitchen, knocking the Librarian out. Grandpa convinces Alcatraz that he could either stay here with the guy with the gun or escape with him. Alcatraz decides to join him and they both retreat from the scene. The car uses Silimatic technology as the older Smedry doesn't have to use steering wheel to drive it. As they drive away, Grandpa explains to Alcatraz that the Sands of Rashid are very rare and will produce some powerful lenses that may tip the balance in the war between the Free Kingdoms and the Hushlands. They are civilization's only hope and must retrieve the sand. Alcatraz doesn't believe him but goes along anyway because someone just tried to kill him. They arrive at a "gas station" fronting their safe house. Grandpa asks Alcatraz what his Talent is, and he is awed by such a powerful Talent. Alcatraz meets Sing Sing Smedry and receives his first lenses -- the Oculator's Lenses.
Chapter 4
Alcatraz talks to Sing Sing and learns that his Talent is that he can trip and fall to the ground. He refers to Alcatraz as a "young Lord." He also meets another cousin, Quentin Smedry, whose Talent is saying things that don't make any sense. Since they are not in the direct Smedry line, they are not occulators, but they do wear warrior lenses. During a short lunch break, Alcatraz runs into the same Librarian agent that was at his house. Grandpa Smedry joins the scene, and the agent fires his gun at him, but the bullets miss. Then Alcatraz breaks his gun, and it falls to pieces. The attacker is scared off. Just when the team is about to leave their base and go to the library, Bastille arrives in her silver sports car.
Chapter 5
Bastille is introduced to Alcatraz as the Crystin Knight tasked with protecting the Smedrys on their mission to Hushlands. Grandpa Smedry explains to her that they are going to infiltrate the main library in order to retrieve the Sands of Rashid. He takes Quentin and Sing Sing in his car, leaving Alcatraz to drive with Bastille. During the ride Alcatraz gets to know Bastille's background as a Crystin Knight and learns that he was actually supervised from a distance by Leavenworth, who kept track of his changing foster homes. Bastille complains a lot about how much trouble the reckless Smedrys are. When they arrive (Grandpa is late, obviously), Bastille asks Alcatraz to take an oculatory reading of the library building. She helps Alcatraz to interpret what he sees using the Oculator's Lenses, displaying her knowledge about oculatory powers. During their conversation, Alcatraz manages to irritate Bastille to the point that she smashes him with her handbag, just before the other team members arrive. Rutabaga.
Chapter 6
Alcatraz's grandfather arrives and goes over the plan with Bastille. Quentin is to go in to scout, then Sing will cause a distraction with his Talent, then they sneak in and retrieve the Sands. After Quentin goes in, Grandpa explains to Alcatraz that there are several factions within the Librarians, all competing for control. Sing finds a bottle cap that says "YOU ARE NOT A WINNER" and Alcatraz explains what this means. Even though the cap is worthless, Sing saves it for his anthropological research. Alcatraz realizes that his team is composed of two children, an anthropologist, a graduate student (Quentin), and a loony old man. Given the danger of the mission, Alcatraz can understand why Bastille is so grumpy. Grandpa gives Alcatraz his Tracker's Lenses and Firebringer's Lenses. He activates the latter accidentally just by touching them, scorching a big piece of pavement. He puts them in a black velvet pouch to keep them from going off accidentally. Grandpa gives Alcatraz an encouraging speech about his Talent and a partial explanation of why he didn't take him from the foster homes. He explains that the Sands are so important because it's information that is so important in their struggle with the Librarians. The Sands of Rashid are also somehow connected with the origins of the Smedry Talents. After Quentin's return from his reconnaissance, the team proceeds with the infiltration.
Chapter 7
Sing Sing majestically trips and falls on one of the bookshelves, resulting in a little book avalanche. While the Librarians are distracted, the other team members approach the door marked with an "EMPLOYEES ONLY" sign. Alcatraz breaks the door's lock (doors are his specialty) and our heroes get in. The team spits into two groups -- Leavenworth and Quentin will go up to the third floor while the rest search the first and second floor. Grandpa warns Alcatraz to keep his Oculator's Lenses on if he runs into the Dark Oculator. Alcatraz, Bastille, and Sing make their way into an enormous room crammed with bookshelves fifteen feet high. They creep along the wall so Alcatraz can scan the shelves with his Oculator's Lenses. He stops short when he notices a strange map of the world on the wall.
Chapter 8
The map shows the world as it actually is, with three additional continents located in the area of the Pacific ocean. The Librarians have made up "history" and control what is taught in schools in order to hide the reality of the Free Kingdoms and their magic and superior technology. Their discussion is interrupted when some apprentices walk by accompanied by some monsters made of sheets of paper. Bastille tells Alcatraz that they are Alivened. He decides that they most likely won't find the Sands here, so he suggests they go to the second floor, and they follow. They find themselves in a hallway with a bunch of wooden doors, and they decide to start searching them. The first one they try is occupied by some dinosaurs. One of them waves at Alcatraz.
Chapter 9
Due to all the other crazy things happening to Alcatraz on this day, talking dinosaurs didn't make much of an impression on him. The dinosaurs are from Nalhalla and speak with a Nalhallan (British) accent. They are field researchers who wanted to write a paper book life in the Hushlands, but they were quickly captured and are now in cages waiting execution. They promise to return for them. The next room contains a collection of books written in the Forgotten Language and Librarian's notes with attempts at translating it. Sing explains to Alcatraz that the Forgotten Language is a language they were made to forget three thousand years ago by the Incarna. He also explains the basic history of the Librarians. A man named Biblioden, also known as the Scrivener, taught that the world needed to be ordinary and powers controlled. They leave the room, taking with them the notes and one of the books written in the Forgotten Language. They start to proceed to the next room, but Alcatraz sees two sets of fresh footprints going down the hallway, one yellow and the other very black, brimming with power. He decides to follow them.
Chapter 10
Alcatraz, Sing, and Bastille begin following the black tracks. Eventually, they are unable to keep up with the tracks from the Dark Oculator and begin following the yellow tracks, which seem to be lasting a while. They end up on the second floor balcony of a large room. In the room, they find Ms. Fletcher and Radrian Blackburn, the later being a a very powerful Dark Oculator. Bastille explains that Librarians name mountains after themselves, similar to them naming prisons after Smedry's. They overhear the two talking about attempting to recruit Alcatraz and other things related to events that have happened regarding him. Blackburn notices Alcatraz and causes him to fall unconscious.