In episode 33, we review The Alcatraz Escape, book 3 in the Book Scavenger series by Jennifer Chambliss Bertman, Rise of the Elgen, book 2 in the Michael Vey series by Richard Paul Evans, and The Hawthorne Legacy and The Final Gambit, books 2 & 3 in The Inheritance Games series by Jennifer Lynn Barnes.
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An escape room in Alcatraz? What’s not to love?! Of course, there’s more to the story as Emily, James, and Matthew test their wits against fellow book scavengers and other puzzle lovers. Someone clearly doesn’t want Emily involved, and the man who helped create the story for the escape room is more than a little mysterious. Then Matthew is blamed for several mean-spirited incidents, so Emily has to kick her puzzling into high gear.
As an escape room enthusiast, I often find that books that are billed to be about escape rooms are the worst at being true to the real-life experience. This book was the first that I’ve read with escape rooms mentioned in the synopsis that had a true escape-room feel, and I really enjoyed that aspect of it. The rest of the plot involving the mysterious game maker and Matthew being suspected as a villain was good as well. I think the inclusion of several of Emily’s classmates may have bloated the character list a little too much, and it was difficult to keep some of them straight. Overall, though, this was a good wrap-up to a series about books and puzzles that I have really enjoyed, and I think that as a kid, I would have loved it all the more. So it’s easy to recommend it to kids aged around 10-14 (my 14-year-old daughter loved it as well) but also for teens and even adults who enjoy books and puzzles.
Find out more about The Alcatraz Escape
If you’ve read this book, or read it in the future, feel free to let me know what you think!
A Journey of Words 