"Amari and the Night Brothers," by B. B. Alston (Supernatural Investigations #1)

Audience: Middle Grade/Young Adult

Genre: Fantasy/Magical Realism

Overall Content Rating: Clean

Content Warnings

Death/Murder

Violence

Instances of the kids bullying/being bullied

Overall Review

I don't read scholastic books much, and when I found this thick 400-page wonder at Goodwill, I found myself stepping outside of my "comfort zone" in terms of age range. And you know what?

I don't regret a thing.

With an enticing blurb and a thickness that promised plenty of reading time, I was enthralled with the idea of finding a wonderful middle-grade book of adventure and magic that I'd never heard of before. I didn't have any real expectations going into it, but whatever I had hoped I'd find... well, I found all that and more. I was excited to read it and just as excited to finish it, despite the liturgy being less complex than what I'm used to.

From the start, we are shown the life of a young black girl named Amari. We see her life after her brother's gone missing and what steps she would take if only she could get him back. As I started reading, I saw everything through her eyes: the turmoil, the ferocity within the character, and the courage that she exemplified as she stood up for herself and what was right. Every aspect of this story was well-written and so fitting of the genre. It was fast, it was enthralling, and it fulfilled all my eager hopes for what this story could be.

Even though I don't read middle-grade books a lot, I do love simplistic wordings in still-charming worlds and this story certainly didn't disappoint. Even as I write this review, I cannot see myself not recommending this to anyone, especially if that person is looking for a clean and yet magical story of courage and sibling love.

Through trial by fire, Amari is shoved into a world that she doesn't understand anything about. She never knew it existed. As far as she knew, her brother got involved with a bad circle of people and they're the reason he went missing.

What if the reason was much more mysterious? What if it was more dangerous?

Throughout most of this book, we're questioning if Amari has what it takes to get her brother back, and it takes a while for anyone to think that she could possibly be trusted with any form of information. After all, she's but a little girl with a little spitfire in her. Who knows what she can do?

And when she's revealed as a magician with more magic than she could've dreamed of having, she finds that things can get a little complicated.

Is she up to the test?

Overall, I adored this book. I don't know if you can tell by this point in this review, but I would definitely recommend this to any middle-schoolers or even any high-schoolers who are looking for a clean read about a courageous main character. I'm not a part of the black community, so I can't say much about the black representation, but I can hope that it's as spot-on as I think it is.

For those of you who are a little bit more conservative in terms of the paranormal and magical, the main premise of this book is entirely magic-centered. If you aren't into that as much as I am, then I'm not sure I'd recommend this to you. Not because the portrayal isn't good, but because you most likely won't find it as enrapturing as many other readers may.

Ultimately, I hope you guys give this book a chance and let it really shine on your bookshelves because this one is staying on mine for a good long while!