Amari and the Night Brothers

Quinton Peters was the golden boy of the Rosewood low-income housing projects, receiving full scholarship offers to two different Ivy League schools. When he mysteriously goes missing, his little sister, 13-year-old Amari Peters, can’t understand why it’s not a bigger deal. Why isn’t his story all over the news? And why do the police automatically assume he was into something illegal?

Then Amari discovers a ticking briefcase in her brother’s old closet. A briefcase meant for her eyes only. There was far more to Quinton, it seems, than she ever knew. He’s left her a nomination for a summer tryout at the secretive Bureau of Supernatural Affairs. Amari is certain the answer to finding out what happened to him lies somewhere inside, if only she can get her head around the idea of mermaids, dwarves, yetis and magicians all being real things, something she has to instantly confront when she is given a weredragon as a roommate.

Amari must compete against some of the nation’s wealthiest kids—who’ve known about the supernatural world their whole lives and are able to easily answer questions like which two Great Beasts reside in the Atlantic Ocean and how old is Merlin? Just getting around the Bureau is a lesson alone for Amari with signs like ‘Department of Hidden Places this way, or is it?’ If that all wasn’t enough, every Bureau trainee has a talent enhanced to supernatural levels to help them do their jobs – but Amari is given an illegal ability. As if she needed something else to make her stand out.

With an evil magican threatening the whole supernatural world, and her own classmates thinking she is an 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.

Rating:

Content Tags:

Perfect for readers who want:

• Harry Potter type magic school and training.
• Men in Black style bureau, secrecy, and adventure.
• Black girl magic with a young Black protagonist.
• Strong family and friendship bonds.
• Coming of age story.
• Adventure, humor, and magic.

Many thanks to Egmont Books and TheWriteReads for a copy in exchange for an honest, unbiased review and for inclusion on this blog tour.

The minute I saw this cover, I knew I was going to have to read this book! Amari and the Night Brothers is the book young me desperately needed, with a little Black girl not only wrestling with the reality of being Black but also getting to be the heroine and go on grand adventures. Choosing favorites is always hard for me, but I can definitely say this is one of my top reads for 2020, and I can’t recommend it enough!

Amari and the Night Brothers feels like a Men in Black-esque story for kids combined with a Harry Potter style magic school. The world is wondrous, the friends Amari meets are fun, and the adventure/mystery had me hooked!

I honestly don’t even think I can do this book justice in a review. It’s one of those that is so good and I enjoyed so much that there’s not much I can say other than read it! Trust me, the book speaks for itself.

Welcome to the secret world of the Bureau, where nothing is quite as you might expect and the are surprises around every turn.

I have to say that this is easily one of my favorite fantasy worlds now. It’s low fantasy, with a Men in Black style Bureau working behind the scenes in secret to keep everyone safe. Not from aliens, though, but from mythological fantasy creatures and magic.

The Bureau is so freaking much fun! I won’t even tell you too much about it, because getting to discover all the different things is half the fun of it, and I loved every little delve deeper into the world the author gives us as the book unfolds. It both kept me guessing and also had me eager to learn more as I wondered what else was coming.

The Bureau itself, as far as our main character Amari is concerned, is basically like a school, where new agents receive training. In fact, the lie she tells her mother to go is actually a learning summer camp, which is a pretty good metaphor for the Bureau. Except a summer camp filled with awesome that also might potentially get you killed at every turn, because … you know, magic. Always a down side with that type of stuff.

Amari Peters is such a good protagonist. She’s relatable, determined, and also discovering this new world for the first time.

I know I mentioned it in the opening, but can I just say how nice it is to have little Black girl protagonists?! These were ridiculously hard to find when I was middle grade age, to the point where I only remember having a couple, and my mother was excited about finding those. But seeing a little Black girl get to be the hero and have her own adventure just warms my heart, and I want to see more of this! Black girls can go on adventures and be heroes, too!

Amari isn’t just Black for the fun of it, either. It’s not a throwaway decision that doesn’t come into play in the book. She faces racism and classism in her school, and the police refuse to take her brother’s disappearance seriously, assuming that he was obviously just a thug. This struggle is mirrored nicely in the fact that when she gets to the Bureau, Amari has a magical talent that’s illegal, and she’s constantly judged because of it, even though it’s not something she had a choice in, just the way she was born.

The family and friendship bonds in this are just *chef’s kiss*.

It’s a little complicated because the story takes place in two distinct worlds, and Amari has connections with each. Yet, neither gets left out. Amari and her mother are very close, especially after her brother’s disappearance, which left a bit of a hole in both of their lives. Amari has friends in her neighborhood, too, and I love the way her brother being gone has left a bit of a hole in her community that needs filling.

At the Bureau, though, the new friends Amari makes are also super interesting, like Elsie the Weredragon (and can I just say that if I were in this book, I’d also like to be a Weredragon, please?!). Amari even manages to make friends in unlikely places, which is all the more interesting and complicates things just a teensy bit, but hey, we live for complications, don’t we?

The mystery in this book is ridiculously high stakes and super fun and will keep you guessing until the very end!

There were several times I thought I’d solved it, but nope, I was very wrong! See, Amari’s older brother disappeared, and no one seems to know what happened to him. But I think we can all agree that older brothers are important creatures, so Amari is determined to find her older brother and bring him safely home. Obviously, it’s not that simple. Of course not.

Right from the start, I loved seeing Amari’s determination in this regard. I have a ton of siblings, and even though we’re not extremely close, I would move Earth itself to find them if something happened, and seeing strong sibling bonds is one of my favorite things in books. Their relationship is just beautiful, and it made it all the easier to root for Amari to succeed in her quest.

Other Reviews:

• Becky’s Book Blog
• Never Judge a Book By Its Cover
• Bri’s Book Nook
• Whispering Stories

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