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A review by justareadingmama_charly
Bastille vs. the Evil Librarians by Brandon Sanderson, Janci Patterson
4.0
Reread 2023: I listened to this with my kids as well finished listening to the entire series. It was an interesting experience to read it immediately after the other books (the first time I read it, it had been YEARS).
Some thoughts I had this time around:
-it's weird to go from one narrator for 5 books and then switch for the last book. The way they did it worked, but it was still weird
-there were definitely times when the book leaned into Bastille's humor, but I did notice in this reread times when it felt like Alcatraz's humor, which felt off because it was Bastille's voice.
-This last book wraps up all the loose ends of the series fairly well and isn't super long, but it's also pretty boring (to me at least)
-my kids loved it, especially the parts that showed the romance between Alcatraz and Bastille.
Original read: This series has always been my least favorite by Sanderson, not because it isn't well done, but because it's a little obnoxious and that's not as much my style. But, I still enjoy a lot of aspects of the books and can appreciate them even while they are not my absolute favorite. I am also excited to read them with my kids because the humor is very much middle grade humor and I remember my in-laws finding these hilarious when they were young teenagers.
I thought this wrapped up the series well and I thought the short length was perfect for what it was.
A note on the coauthor: I have found everything that Janci has written with Sanderson to be very well done. I know other reviewers are disappointed, but I honestly wouldn't have been able to tell that someone else helped cowrite this if I hadn't known beforehand. I also have seen people complain about the romance (because Janci writes romance), but we have to remember that Sanderson outlined and helped write/edit and from the past books in the series, the romance was not unexpected to me. I don't believe that the romance was added by Janci because she writes romance. In short, I feel that people are prejudiced against the cowriter and that may be influencing some of their complaints. At the very least, I disagree with their complaints.
Some thoughts I had this time around:
-it's weird to go from one narrator for 5 books and then switch for the last book. The way they did it worked, but it was still weird
-there were definitely times when the book leaned into Bastille's humor, but I did notice in this reread times when it felt like Alcatraz's humor, which felt off because it was Bastille's voice.
-This last book wraps up all the loose ends of the series fairly well and isn't super long, but it's also pretty boring (to me at least)
-my kids loved it, especially the parts that showed the romance between Alcatraz and Bastille.
Original read: This series has always been my least favorite by Sanderson, not because it isn't well done, but because it's a little obnoxious and that's not as much my style. But, I still enjoy a lot of aspects of the books and can appreciate them even while they are not my absolute favorite. I am also excited to read them with my kids because the humor is very much middle grade humor and I remember my in-laws finding these hilarious when they were young teenagers.
I thought this wrapped up the series well and I thought the short length was perfect for what it was.
A note on the coauthor: I have found everything that Janci has written with Sanderson to be very well done. I know other reviewers are disappointed, but I honestly wouldn't have been able to tell that someone else helped cowrite this if I hadn't known beforehand. I also have seen people complain about the romance (because Janci writes romance), but we have to remember that Sanderson outlined and helped write/edit and from the past books in the series, the romance was not unexpected to me. I don't believe that the romance was added by Janci because she writes romance. In short, I feel that people are prejudiced against the cowriter and that may be influencing some of their complaints. At the very least, I disagree with their complaints.