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

Despite this first line, the whole chapter is an introduction of Alcatraz Smedry, a thirteen years old boy, who is the narrator of the book. In this chapter Alcatraz receives his inheritance for his thirteenth birthday by mail. The inheritance is a bag of sand, that later revealed to be Sands of Rashid. Then, Alcatraz proceeds to set the kitchen on fire, which results in his foster parents refusal to take care of him any longer. The chapter ends with a visit from Ms. Fletcher, scowling Alcatraz and stealing the sands.

Chapter 2

In this chapter we bare witness to the arrival of Alcatraz's grandfather - Leavenworth Smedry - to wish him happy birthday and take care of his inheritance. He is late, as the boy's birthday was the day before. After brief and chaotic introduction, the elder Smedry storms into Alcatraz's home and discovers that the sands have been stolen. From Alcatraz's description Grandpa Smedry identifies Ms. Fletcher as one of the Librarians and urges the boy to dress up and 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, just to be faced with a gun pointed at him.

Chapter 3

The person drawing a gun at Alcatraz turns out to be a Librarian in disguise of foster care caseworker. Before he manages to shoot Alcatraz, Grandpa Smedry crushes his car (an old Model T Ford) through a wall of the kitchen, knocking the Librarian out. After quick consideration Alcatraz joins Leavenworth and they both retreat from the scene.

The car turns out to use Silimatic technology as the older Smedry doesn't have to use steering wheel to drive it. During the road, Alcatraz is informed that the stolen sands are very dangerous and that they are civilization's only hope. Once the vehicle reaches it's destination, a hideout disguised as gas station using Expander's Glass, Alcatraz meets Sing Sing Smedry and receives his first lenses - the Oculator's Lenses.

Chapter 4

In this chapter Leavenworth Smedry explains why it is so important to retrieve the sands and introduces Alcatraz to his cousin Quentin Smedry. Quentin's Talent is saying things that don't make any sense. During a short lunch break, Alcatraz is attacked by a Librarian agent. The attacker is scared off, when Grandpa Smedry joins the scene and his gun is taken apart by Alcatraz's Talent. Just when the team is about to leave their base and go to the library, Bastille arrives in her silver sports car.

Chapter 5

Right after her arrival, Bastille is introduced to Alcatraz as the Crystin Knight tasked with protecting the Smedrys on their mission to Hushlands. After quick explanation of what their plan is Grandpa Smedry takes Quentin and Sing Sing in his car to the Downtown Library, leaving Alcatraz to drive with Bastille. During the ride Alcatraz gets to know Bastille a little more and learns that he was actually supervised from a distance by Leavenworth, who kept track of his changing foster homes. 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, she smashes him with her handbag, just before the other team members arrived. Rutabaga.

Chapter 6

Once reunited Alcatraz's grandfather introduces Alcatraz to the importance of knowledge and makes him only more nervous about the whole plan. Quentin is sent to scout ahead in the library lobby, while other team members wait outside. During the wait Alcatraz explains to Sing the purpose of a bottle cap saying "YOU ARE NOT A WINNER", learns that his team is composed of two children, an anthropologist (Sing), graduate student (Quentin) and loony old man (Leavenworth). After that Alcatraz is given his Tracker's Lenses and Firebringer's Lenses. He activates the latter accidentally just by touching them, scorching a big piece of pavement. From now on, the Firebringer's Lenses will be carried in a black velvet pouch. Apart from the two sets of lenses Alcatraz receives an encouraging speech about his Talent and partial explanation of why Leavenworth didn't take him from the foster homes. It is also revealed a bit more, why the Sands of Rashid are so important. They are somehow connected with the origins of Smedry Talents. After Quentin's return from his reconnaissance the team proceeds with the infiltration...

Chapter 7

Infiltration begun with Sing Sing majestically tripping and falling on one of the bookshelves, which resulted in a little book avalanche. While the Librarians were distracted by this incident, other team members approached the door marked with "EMPLOYEES ONLY" sign. Alcatraz managed to break the door's lock (doors are his specialty) and our heroes get in. The team spitted into two groups. First group composed of Leavenworth and Quentin went for the third floor of the library, while the rest went on to search first and second floor. While Alcatraz, Bastille and Sing traveled through the maze of bookshelves Alcatraz saw a map of the whole world, including all the continents, not just the Inner Libraria.

Chapter 8

This whole chapter is dedicated to the discussion between Alcatraz, Bastille and Sing about Librarians control over the world, as Alcatraz struggles to understand how they managed to keep three continents hidden from the society. The discussion ended, when Alcatraz decided to just deal with all this later and the trio moved on to the second floor, as they decided that the sans are not hidden between the books.

Chapter 9

After previous revelations, the encounter of talking dinosaurs locked in one of the rooms on the second floor didn't make much of an impression on Alcatraz. The dinosaurs were left in their cages with a promise that the group will return for them. The next room checked contained a collection of books written in the Forgotten Language and Librarian's notes with attempts on translating it. In this room Sing explained to Alcatraz the basic history of the Librarians order, how it got created by Biblioden and what is their main objective (control over everything extraordinary like oculatory power). After they left the room, Alcatraz, using his Tracker's Lenses, noticed the footprints of the Dark Oculator and decided to go after him.

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.