#UltimateBlogTour Book Review | Amari and the Night Brothers by B.B. Alston

Hello festive readers, I left you again didn’t I!? But do not fret, today I’m really excited to be writing what will probably be my last book review of 2020 and what a way to finish the year with this incredible middle grade book. This review is part of the #UltimateBlogTour with TheWriteReads gang. I once again commend them for such an amazing tour for a coming-of-age, middle grade fantasy.

So before my review, here is a little bit more about the book.

Amari and the Night Brothers by B.B. Alston
Published by Egmont Books on January 21, 2021
Genres: Fantasy & Magic
Amazon | Book Depository | Waterstones
Goodreads

An epic middle grade supernatural adventure series, soon to be a major movie starring Marsai Martin. Perfect for readers aged 8+ and fans of Percy Jackson, Nevermoor and Men in Black!
Amari Peters knows three things.
Her big brother Quinton has gone missing.No one will talk about it.His mysterious job holds the secret . . .
So when Amari gets an invitation to the Bureau of Supernatural Affairs, she’s certain this is her chance to find Quinton. But first she has to get her head around the new world of the Bureau, where mermaids, aliens and magicians are real, and her roommate is a weredragon.
Amari must compete against kids who’ve known about the supernatural world their whole lives, and when each trainee is awarded a special supernatural talent, Amari is given an illegal talent – one that the Bureau views as dangerous.
With an evil magician threatening the whole supernatural world, and her own classmates thinking she is the enemy, Amari has never felt more alone. But if she doesn’t pass the three tryouts, she may never find out what happened to Quinton . . .

CAWPILE - 9.86

My Review

This review contains classified and magical information. Do not ‘Read’ without proper permissions! – Okay so this was slightly tweaked form what is written on the front of the book, but couldn’t help but add it to the beginning of my review.

Amari Peters, is just a regular girl, who’s misses her brother that vanished months ago. It’s only when a mysterious man appears in her doorway and drops off a magical ‘suitcase’ left by Quinton Peters that her life changes and she discovers a world, a supernatural world that she never knew existed until now. Inside the case is a nomination from her brother to the Bureau of Supernatural Affairs that her brother was part of before he disappeared. Her only choice, her only chance to know what happened to brother is to accept the invitation to the summer school at Bureau. Within the summer school she battles with her own power, fitting in, passing trials to become the next junior agent whilst figuring out the mystery behind the disappearance of her brother and his partner, known in the supernatural world as VanQuish.

Amari Peters is an extraordinary protagonist is someone to be admired and root. She is constantly secluded and bullied for living in a deprived neighbourhood and for being the only black girl in school/Bureau. It doesn’t help that her supernatural power, happens to be the most dangerous and evil of them all, a magician. The mystery of her finding her brother, VanQuish, certainly puts her in a lots of tricky and hard situations, but Amari has no quit, she has determination that can also get her into trouble. So not only is she proving to be worthy of her and her power, but that she also has to believe in herself just like her big brother, Quinton.

Can we also talk about Elsie! She is probably my favourite character, I absolutely adored her as Amari best friend and certainly like a sister. Elsie is an outcast, being a Weredragon puts her in a spot of seclusion and rumours of changing/breathing fire on her roommates. But Amari and Elsie are much more alike, between them they become unstoppable best friends. We also had a fantastic cast of secondary characters like Agent Magnus and Agent Fiona, and even the voice of the various elevators in the Bureau. It’s like the Ministry of Magic but better.

Earlier this year, I read Rooftoppers by Katherine Rundell, I said how beautiful children’s fiction is, how innocent and imaginative they are that they pull you away from the real world. Once again I found another book, a debut, that falls into a different league when it’s surrounded by the world of the supernatural and reality. B.B. Alston has an extraordinary imagination, the world building of the entire novel, from the Jolly Rocket – the flying boat, the classic myths and legends, fairytales that we all know weaved into the story, making it believable. It’s a world where you never want to leave, you just want to escape into every day.

How is this for a bold statement – move over Harry Potter and here comes Amari Peters! Amari and the Night Brothers is a spellbinding middle grade fantasy that you can’t put down! It’s funny, innocent, magical, but also a very coming of age middle grade that a lot of children to adults that would absolutely resonate with. This is a book that I’m not sure my review will do it justice but I will try.

Thank you to Egmont Books and Dave at TheWriteReads for sending me copy in exchange for an honest review.