Blogtour “Amari and the Night Brothers”

What is this book about?

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 . . .

What did I think about this book?

In the beginning, I definitely had some troubles to get into this book. The start seemed very cliche, the writing style just a little too clunky and there was just too much tell and too little show. This changed the further I dove into the book and after I finally entered the Bureau with Amari I was well and totally hooked.

The world building was truly amazing. There was so much to discover, so much to experience, that I think, I would never be able to sleep in Amari’s shoes because there was so much to explore. There were many little details that somehow seemed like inside jokes, that made the book even more fun. It was so fun to see it laid out before me and I was happy to experience it all at Amari’s side.

Amari was an interesting character. She was relatable to me in most ways, but not all of them, mostly because I’m not that much of a confrontational person. Amari had many problems and it was great to be able to follow her on her path and see her succeed no matter what obstacles were in her way. I loved seeing her making friends and push herself and grow.

There is a lot of bullying and harassment in this book and it made me angry at Amari’s behalf. In the end, all I wanted for her were a couple of friends that genuinely liked her and people she could trust. Still I seemed to see treachery and lies behind every corner and I felt I would never be able to relax in her situation, not for one minute.

Of course there were also some things I was not totally okay with or that bothered me but nothing too grand that I would say it broke the book. Some things just seemed unnecessary to me but other readers might not feel like that.

In the end, I felt a massive book hangover. I had so many feelings about the ending and I desperately wanted to discuss it with somebody. This, in my opinion, makes a book great. You want to talk to other people who have read it about it and share opinions with. Amari and the Night Brothers is a great book.

Read this book when:

• you love secret societies & secret schools
• you love mysteries
• you love strange powers, magic and general weirdness
• you love a kick-ass protagonist, trying to find her place in the world
• you like stories about friendship and family

Key information

The author: B. B. Alston lives in Lexington, SC. Amari and the Night Brothers is his debut middle grade novel. When not writing, he can be found eating too many sweets and exploring country roads to see where they lead.

The cover artists: The cover is made by artist Brittany Jackson.

The book: Amari and the Night Brothers is published by Egmont Books and will be released at 21st of January, 2021. It’s categorized as Children’s Fiction and Middlegrade Fantasy.

What else?

I love a good Middlegrade book. Thank you, Dave, for letting me take part. Also, thank you to Netgalley and Egmont Publishing for the free copy in exchange for an honest review.