A review by booksare42
Amari and the Night Brothers by B.B. Alston

4.5

 Amari and the Night Brothers is the first book in a magical middle-grade series. Set at the Bureau of Supernatural Affairs, it features some fantastic characters, great world-building, and lots of twists and turns to keep you hooked until the very end. 

Amari is a great main character. She’s faced a lot of adversity in her life. She’s dealt with bullies and things have not been easy for her since her brother mysteriously disappeared. Amari is an easy character to root for and I really enjoyed seeing her grow throughout the book. I liked seeing her become more comfortable in the supernatural world and starting to believe in herself more and more as the story went on. 

Amari and the Night Brothers also has a great set of supporting characters. Elise is Amari’s roommate and she is a weredragon. She’s brilliant and I love the friendship between Elise and Amari. Agent Magnus and Agent Fiona are senior agents at the Bureau of Supernatural Investigations. I enjoyed getting to know them, their pride in their careers, and some of the comments they made. Dylan and Lara are an interesting pair and I’m curious to see how their roles evolve later on in the series. 

I love the world building in Amari and the Night Brothers. I love books where the supernatural world co-exists with the ordinary world. I love the idea that some famous moments in the ordinary world were caused by the supernatural world and that there are cover stories to explain things. I loved learning about the supernatural world with Amari. I liked seeing the different departments in the Bureau of Supernatural Affairs. I would definitely read some of the books Amari had to read for her Junior Agent tests just to learn more about the supernatural world. I also love how open ended this world is and how much room there is for more. 

I also quite enjoyed the mystery aspect to this book. I liked trying to piece together what happened to Quinton and Maria. Since this was a reread for me, I did remember one major plot point to this mystery, but I still enjoyed putting the clues together and seeing what I missed the first time around. 

I thought the three challenges to become a junior agent were a lot of fun. I enjoyed the set up of the first two challenges and the tricks that were built into them. I enjoyed seeing Amari grow more confident throughout the challenges and how she used her new found skills to succeed. 

I thought the idea of magicians being illegal was interesting. I liked the parallels between Amari’s life growing up in a low-income area and being a magician. I liked how Amari used her experiences growing up to help her navigate her newfound title. I’m curious to see what happens with magicians in the rest of the series. 

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed my reread of Amari and the Night Brothers. I think it’s a brilliant opener to a middle-grade fantasy series. I’m invested in Amari and her career as a Junior Agent. I’m looking forward to finally continuing on with this series.