The Dark Talent
Written by Brandon Sanderson
Narrated by Ramon de Ocampo
4/5
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About this audiobook
must infiltrate the Highbrary—known as The Library of Congress to Hushlanders—the seat of Evil Librarian power. Without his Talent to draw upon, can Alcatraz figure out a way to save Bastille and defeat the Evil Librarians once and for all?
Brandon Sanderson
Brandon Sanderson is a New York Times and Sunday Times bestselling fantasy author, who writes for both adults and younger readers. Amongst others, he's known for his Mistborn and Stormlight Archive series, the latter including The Way of Kings and Words of Radiance. He's also completed the final books in Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series, based on Jordan's notes and material. Sanderson teaches writing at Brigham Young University and lives in Utah.
Related to The Dark Talent
Titles in the series (6)
The Knights of Crystallia Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Alcatraz vs. the Evil Librarians Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Scrivener's Bones Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Shattered Lens Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Dark Talent Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Bastille vs. the Evil Librarians Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
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Reviews for The Dark Talent
129 ratings11 reviews
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5In book five, Alcatraz, his mother, beloved Grandpa Smedry, Kaz, Draulin, and cousin Dif (who's new to the series and bound to drive readers nuts) must infiltrate The library of Congress and prevent Attica Smedry from giving Smedry talents to all non-Smedrys in the world. There are enough twists to keep readers engaged and enough hilarity to ease the bitter blows that are unfortunately very present. Because, at first glance, the ending is awful. Maybe even crapaflapnasti. It involves failure, betrayal, and even something even worse that Alcatraz has warned readers about since the beginning of the series. But at the very end of book five, readers find an unexpected message that offers hope. It's from Bastille.
It suggests that there might be a sixth book.
So here's hoping that Brandon Sanderson will write a sixth book and finally bring the series to absolute completion.
-Written by a thirteen-year-old-girl. :)2 people found this helpful
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Unique turning of the mind. Brandon Sanderson did not write this book; Alcatraz did. I recommend this series to anyone who is willing to let go of real assumptions in order to explore a world with much hilarity and unease for those who see it.
- Rating: 1 out of 5 stars1/5The first four books were great, but not this one. It’s almost like the author was only writing it to fulfill his contract. His heart wasn’t in it. He left a ton of unanswered questions and absolutely no resolution to the main conflict in the plot. Awful. Like he just wanted to end the book where it was, so he killed a bunch of characters and said The End. I feel emotionally abused after reading it. If there is a sixth book, it might end up better. But if the author is just going to put half his heart into it, it’s best he not even try.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Wow! I love Sanderson's books.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Winter 2020 (January);
Sanderson Syspean Challenge
Rating: 3.5 rounded
(I'm playing catchup on around 20-30 books since January started, so this morning's books will likely be a bit of an overview looking back on series from two months ago.)
The Alcatraz series was an adorable romp to get into in December and finish through the beginning of January (which sets me up as ready to read the 6th book in the series being published this year!!). I do find Alcatraz himself a little much at times, but I love the surrounding cast, and figuring out the Shemdry talents before they are explained. I love Bastille with the power of a million suns. I absolutely felt heart-shot at the spoiler of book five. As well, I always look forward to the 1-2 tongue-in-cheek, wholly correct references to/commentary on Harry Potter hidden in each of these books. - Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I loved the ending. However, the book was slower compared to previous books so that was difficult. But I can't wait to read next book despite this slower book in the series.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Alcatraz has really done it now - he's broken everyone's talents! Alcatraz is trying to save the people he loves who have been put in a coma by the evil librarians. He is also trying to stop his misguided father.. There are betrayals and deaths and choices to be made about who to trust. It is hilarious chaos but there are also things to make the reader think - it isn't all black and white.
- Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5A totally disappointing ending to ultimately a less than satisfactory YA series. While I found the premise mildly amusing, the final book in the series did little to resolve anything and 2 major characters ended up dead without even a denouement. Dreadful. Bastille is in a coma and Alcatraz and his Mother, Shasta, an evil librarian need to stop Attica, Alcatraz's father from releasing the Smedry talents on the world. This time, Alcatraz needs to infiltrate the Highbrary, also known as the Library of Congress.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The fifth and possibly final Alcatraz book picks up where the previous one ended with Alcatraz having destroyed all of his family's talents. Now he must ally with his mother - an evil librarian - to stop his father, a Free Kingdomer whose desire to give every one on Earth a Smedry Talent which could have disasterous consequences. Smedry and his team go to the Evil Librarian's Highbrary - a.k.a The Library of Congress in an alternate universe version of Washington, DC. Unfortunately, Smedry's friend and defender, Bastille remains in stasis for the better part of the book. Smedry and Bastille's love/hate chemistry when they are together is one of the best part of the series and this book suffers from its absence (although when Bastille finally makes her entrance, it's spectacular). The book has the usual clever wordplay - including a chapter of delicious puns - but it feels like Sanderson's heart is not really in it anymore. Or it could be Alcatraz, who obstinately states this is the last part of his biography after an uncharacteristically dark ending to the book. But Alcatraz is an unreliable narrator who has lied to us before, and there are clues that this is all just a big cliffhanger leading to yet another book.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5How I love Alcatraz! Until this book I highly recommended them to anyone who would listen. Now, I'm not saying this is an awful book...though it certainly doesn't have a happen ending [yes...yes...we were warned]. I was glad to hear that Bastille intends to carry on because if this were the end I would have to write a very sternly worded letter to Mr. Smedry care of Brandon Sanderson.
I really...really...really hope that we don't have to wait years to hear from Bastille. - Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Not as strong as the previous four books. A couple of the plot twists are kinda lame. The ending is unfairly abrupt and just about the worst cliffhanger I've ever seen. It doesn't help that all the marketing and blog posts surrounding the release of this book led me to believe this really was going to be the last in the series. I went in expecting resolution, not more setup for a finale that is god knows how long away now.
Beyond that, the comedy wasn't quite as on point. It felt more, "let's throw stuff at the wall and see what sticks," than the previous books, which were also full of non-sequitur, but it felt way more thought out. The footnote gag that runs from the start to the end is the quintessential example of this. A couple of them were really clever and got a chuckle out of me, but most of them seemed...not funny, and unnecessary, and like Brandon had read way too much Terry Pratchett recently.
All that said, it's still a Sanderson book and he is nothing if not a diligent craftsman who ticks all the necessary boxes for an engaging page-turner. The aftermath of Alcatraz breaking his family's talents went in an interesting direction that's got me hooked and dying to see where it goes. We get some great family drama between Alcatraz and his parents. It's just not as put-together and it was over a bit too quick and felt rushed. Whether that's a pacing issue or the book literally being shorter than the previous ones, I have no idea.