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The Shattered Lens  By  cover art

The Shattered Lens

By: Brandon Sanderson
Narrated by: Ramon De Ocampo
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Publisher's summary

Alcatraz Smedry is up against a whole army of Evil Librarians with only his friend Bastille, a few pairs of glasses, and an unlimited supply of exploding teddy bears to help him. This time, even Alcatraz’s extraordinary talent for breaking things may not be enough to defeat the army of Evil Librarians and their giant librarian robots.

©2010 Brandon Sanderson (P)2011 Recorded Books

Critic reviews

“As goofy randomness streamlines into compelling narration, even readers who don't find giant robots reason alone to pick up a book will be drawn into Alcatraz’s cohesive world, with its unique form of magic.”—Horn Book

What listeners say about The Shattered Lens

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

The Crazy Fun Continues!

My 17 year old son and I have been listening to this series together and we've been really enjoying them! We love the off the wall weirdness, silly humor and narrative biography style. These books can be listened to by any age as long as they have a sense of humor and don't need things to go in a traditional fashion.

The narrator does a fantastic job and really made it even more fun to listen to.

Parents- PG - elementary on up
Language- none
Violence- PG - torture, normal to genre violence and fighting, nothing very descriptive
Sexual Content- none

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6 people found this helpful

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    2 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars

Wasted words

This one could have been called I don’t have enough to write a full story. Instead of expanding on what could have been a really cool ending every other sentence was an interruption of the dialogue. It got so bad sometimes I had to rewind just to remember what was actually going on in the story. How many times can you listen to someone call themselves stupid before you want to stop listening.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

A great continuation of a great series!

Alcatraz and his eccentric family are back, continuing their struggle against the sinister Librarians in their hilariously weird world. Everything readers have come to associate with the previous entries in this series is here - absurd and occasionally lowbrow humor, made-up words, fourth wall breaks, self-deprecating jokes, bizarre Smedry talents, and references to well-known literary works (including an entire chapter that borrows from Hamlet in an amusingly warped way). This book also provides a pretty big twist in the ongoing story arc regarding Alcatraz's parents and what they're up to, setting up world-changing stakes for the fifth book.

Once again, Ramon De Ocampo is a good fit for Alcatraz, continuing his energetic performance and appropriately comedic delivery.

Highly recommended, though anyone who's read the previous books would already know that.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Alcatraz Really Hate Those Librarians!!!

Fantastic 4th addition to this series.... I love the new characters that are added here, and i love how damn annoying Alcatraz could be.... He could be really annoying sometimes, when you start the book, don't worry regarding the chapters' numbers.. I had to go back to make sure i didn't skip a chapter by mistake, don't do that... just go ahead!!!

Alcatraz is put in a new place with huge responsibilities, which was a great change, and gets to discover some truths regarding his family.... some are really funny!!!

Get it and enjoy.

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    3 out of 5 stars
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Still interesting, but . . .

This series has been interesting and I will get the final book in the series when it does become available - there is one thing, though - the humor seemed forced to me in this last book. It just appeared Sanderson is running out of ways to make the story funny and he is, well, forcing it. As I said, though, the main story is still quite interesting - I just ignored those parts that seemed force and enjoyed the story itself. If you decide to listen to this book, keep that in mind - also, read what other reviewers have to say; it may just be a case of humor mismatch-his humor in this book not matching my humor.

If you are like me and are constantly looking for an interesting series to read and you have read the greats (Sanderson's Mistborn series, his Elantris Stand alone book, his Stormlight Archives series, Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series, GRR Martin's Song of Ice and Fire series) you might want to try Lois McMaster Bujolds' Miles Vorkosigan Series. I found it interesting - you might too. Please read other reviewers to see what they think. Everything isn't for everyone. It might or mightn't be for you. If you have enjoyed a series, please share it. Thanks.

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    3 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Still interesting, but . . .

This series has been interesting and I will get the final book in the series when it does become available - there is one thing, though - the humor seemed forced to me in this last book. It just appeared Sanderson is running out of ways to make the story funny and he is, well, forcing it. As I said, though, the main story is still quite interesting - I just ignored those parts that seemed force and enjoyed the story itself. If you decide to listen to this book, keep that in mind - also, read what other reviewers have to say; it may just be a case of humor mismatch-his humor in this book not matching my humor.

If you are like me and are constantly looking for an interesting series to read and you have read the greats (Sanderson's Mistborn series, his Elantris Stand alone book, his Stormlight Archives series, Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series, GRR Martin's Song of Ice and Fire series) you might want to try Lois McMaster Bujolds' Miles Vorkosigan Series. I found it interesting - you might too. Please read other reviewers to see what they think. Everything isn't for everyone. It might or mightn't be for you. If you have enjoyed a series, please share it. Thanks.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars
  • ml
  • 04-21-23

Brandon Sanderson wrote this!?!

Other reviewers were much kinder than I am about this book. I am disappointed in the great Brandon Sanderson and the narrator whose reading aloud is probably a new thing for him. Boring script that is trying to be funny and a poor reader are a dangerous combination. I continued to almost the half way point, hoping things would just get better. I'm done.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Super good

He is a really good writer and it’s a really fun story book 4 in the series

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  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

Interesting story, ridiculously bad ending

What would have made Alcatraz Versus the Shattered Lens better?

Great imagination and the potential of a great story but an ending that leaves all everything completely unanswered. Anyone can come up with ridiculous fantasy if you dont ultimately have to wrap up your lose ends. The last book made me feel like i wasted both my time and money!

Would you ever listen to anything by Brandon Sanderson again?

NO.

What about Ramon de Ocampo’s performance did you like?

He was fantastic!

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    5 out of 5 stars
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Love it

Wonderful narration. Did not disappoint. Makes me feel like a kid again. My five year old nephew and 15 year old son got into it with me

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