Amy’s Thoughts On…Amari and the Night Brothers by B.B. Alston (Blog Tour)

Thank you to The Write Reads for allowing me to be part of this incredible blog tour.

Amari and the Night Brothers by B.B. Alston

Published By: Egmont

Released: 21st January 2021

CAWPILE Rating: 9 / 5 ★

Book Depository / Waterstones

I received this book free from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

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Synopsis

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 . . .

Amy’s Thoughts

I have been on the lookout for the next huge middle-grade fantasy adventure, so when I heard about Amari and the Night Brothers I was ultimately sold! This sounded just like the type of book I’d been looking for and to say I was excited to dive into it would be an understatement. I couldn’t wait to see what this book had in store for me.

Amari’s brother Quinton has gone missing, and Amari is determined to find out what’s happened to him. When she gets an invitation to join the Bureau of Supernatural Affairs, she knows this is her chance to find her brother. However, Amari must first compete in a series of tests against other kids who have known about the supernatural world their whole lives, and when Amari is found to have an illegal talent, her whole world changes. With an evil magician threatening the entire supernatural world and her peers distancing themselves from her Amari’s plans to find her brother are thrown into jeopardy.

Well, Amari and the Night Brothers had all I could want in a middle-grade fantasy adventure and more. From the very first chapter I had trouble putting it down, and just wanted to stay up all night reading. It was packed full of magic, mystery, craziness and also surprise and I for one was addicted. From the very first page, you are thrust into an adventure that you don’t want to come away from.

The story itself was incredible and keeps you fully engaged until the very last page. You become utterly absorbed in the mystery of the disappearance of Quinton, and also the secrets of the Bureau and the tasks that the recruits have to face that by the time you stop reading you feel as if you’ve been part of the story. The world that Alston has created is spellbinding and just wondrous. The idea that supernatural creatures have been living under the noses of humans, and have their own Bureau is just genius and unlike anything, I have read within the same genre in recent years. The unique edge that it has will certainly appeal not just to children, but to anyone of any age, it’s that extraordinary.

Amari, what can I say about Amari? Well, she was a fantastically written protagonist, who I clicked with straight away. It’s not often that you have a young black girl as a protagonist in a middle-grade adventure, so this is one of the reasons I was drawn to her. As soon as you are introduced to her I guarantee that you will fall in love with her, just like myself and so many others who have read this book. She’s determined, she’s brave and she’s willing to do whatever it takes to solve the mystery of her missing brother. Many young girls who pick Amari and the Night Brothers up will find Amari to be such an inspiring character, and that in all is just amazing.

Amari and the Night Brothers was such an outstanding, magical read that I just couldn’t get enough of. It’s thrilling storyline, diverse characters and engaging writing has made it one of my stand out reads of 2020 for sure.