Reviewed by Cheryl
TITLE: Alcatraz!
SERIES: Repeating History #4
AUTHOR: Dakota Chase
PUBLISHER: Harmony Ink Press
LENGTH: 180 pages
RELEASE DATE: May 14, 2019
BLURB:
In their further efforts to recover the historical artifacts lost when they set fire to Merlin’s office, Ash and Grant go back to the early 1930s, where they must infiltrate Alcatraz Prison and secure a locket belonging to Al Capone. They find themselves at odds when Ash plays the role of a prisoner, while Grant is a guard. Capone takes a liking to Ash, whom he sees as a younger version of himself, and places Ash under his protection.
Before they can return to their own time, the boys must help foil an escape from the Rock, expose a corrupt and dangerous guard, and secure the pendant.
REVIEW:
This is very much a Young Adult book. I would say the audience who would most enjoy it would be in the range 14 to 16. The characters can be pretty immature, which is spot on for their ages, but this tends to get some adults’ knickers in a twist, and it doesn’t have the complexities of books such as Harry Potter and Percy Jackson to keep adults interested.
That being said, I am an adult (sometimes) and I thoroughly enjoyed the book. Sometimes, it’s nice to read something that’s clear and straightforward and doesn’t tie my brain in knots. There is no romance in the story although it does touch on being gay. At the end of the book, I know that Grant and Ash are close but not if they’re “together”. This might be made clear in other books but not in this one. Note: This is not a criticism. It’s one of the things I liked about the book as their relationship felt entirely natural.
This brings me to whether the book can be read as a standalone. The answer is yes, if you’re prepared to overlook the fact that there will be some small things that are clearly references to previous books. The story itself is entirely discrete and the author gives enough explanation to set it in its place in the series and to make it understandable on its own.
Ash and Grant are engaging characters and are very different. The author does a great job of giving them different voices and keeping them true to themselves. Given the shortness of the book and the nature of the story, I’m not sure there is any character development, but they certainly learn some lessons and make decisions about their future.
One thing I particularly liked was that even though the book is set in a “magical” framework with time travel and the involvement of Merlin (yes, that Merlin), the story itself has nothing to do with magic and everything to do with history. The book is set in the 1930’s and has a nice vintage flavour. My only complaint, and really this is the biggest flaw as far as I’m concerned is that there wasn’t enough vintage flavour. There weren’t enough instances that were characteristically 1930’s, and given the action takes place inside Alcatraz, I don’t think the characters voices were entirely authentic.
That being said, the story was well told and gripping, the main characters were endearing and the setting so unusual and interesting, it eclipsed the flaws. I definitely learned something and I absolutely enjoyed the book enough to go back and buy the earlier books.
RATING: 
BUY LINKS: