The librarians have the city of Tuki Tuki, capital of Mokia, under siege. The knights of Crystallia are not prepared to send aid, instead concentrating on the defense of Nalhalla. Alcatraz and Bastille formulate a plan to aid the besieged city by sneaking Aclatraz into the city so the knights are forced to rescue him. Once in the city Alactraz suddenly finds himself in charge and forced to make some difficult decisions.
It is always an advantage when having something, whether it be a book or a film, aimed at the middle-grade or young-adult market work on a number of different levels, ie having something it for adults as well as the target audience. Shrek is a perfect example of this. The Alcatraz books were too, until this volume that is.
I can't help feeling that Sanderson would not have been connecting with his target audience.
As in previous volumes Sanderson has fun playing around with writing conventions but his 'chapter' theme was certainly not as impressive as what he got up to in previous volumes. There is definitely some things thrown in for his regular readers but I doubt the middle-grade brigade is going to know who Asmodean is. In the end the balance is just not right with too much of a skew towards his regular readers. As a narrator Alcatraz can also come out as downright offensive to the reader at times and this another aspect where the balance has been lost.
Sadly the fourth Alcatraz installment while still amusing does not work as well as it's predecessors. 6/10.
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