The Dark Talent

January 1, 2017
"I am a coward," begins this fifth and final (if we're to believe narrator Alcatraz) installment, which picks up where Alcatraz Versus the Shattered Lens (rev. 1/11) left off. Alcatraz issues a challenge to the monarchs of the Free Kingdoms to finish the Librarian threat once and for all and announces his plans to infiltrate the Highbrary (a center of Librarian power inside the Hushlands, a.k.a. the Library of Congress), where he intends to sidetrack his father's disastrous scheme to give Smedry talents to the entire world. Plans go awry with the arrival of the semi-mythic evil Librarian Biblioden, who seems to be making a reappearance from the mists of legend. As in previous volumes, the narrative is rife with bizarre situations, thrilling seat-of-the-pants action, self-deprecating asides, and metafictional musings. Black-and-white illustrations appear throughout this entry, which ends with the climactic scene presaged since the first volume: Alcatraz is "tied to an altar made from outdated encyclopediasabout to get sacrificed to the dark powers by a cult of evil Librarians." At this point, there is an unexpected reversal--it's hard to say whether it's a betrayal of all that has gone before or a brilliant recasting of same, but readers will definitely be set back on their heels. Whichever way they take it, though, given the metafictional underpinnings of the entire series and the way this moment has been threaded through the narrative since the beginning, it's sure to provoke thought. anita l. burkam

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