Amari and the Great Game: 2 (Supernatural Investigations)

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perhaps if this novel had been titled differently (thereby not setting up my expectations for an incredible tournament/game aspect which I did not get), or perhaps if I didn't love The Night Brothers so so much, The Great Game may have been a better read for me

Sharp, funny and brightly imaginative -- a big adventure filled with magic and heart.” — Jessica Townsend, New York Times bestselling author of the Nevermoor series But her refusal allows someone else to step forward, a magician with dangerous plans for the League. This challenge sparks the start of the Great Game, a competition to decide who will become the Night Brothers' successor and determine the future of magiciankind. Praise for AMARI AND THE NIGHT BROTHERS: “The story introduces a world of enchantment, danger, excitement, and humor. While many parallels can be drawn between the protagonist and a certain boy wizard, readers will root for Amari’s own unique determination and wit.” — Horn Book Magazine

Amari Peters is everything. She is President. CEO. The speaker of the house. I'm obsessed with her. But her refusal allows someone else to step forward, a magician with dangerous plans for the League. This challenge sparks the start of the Great Game, a competition to decide who will become the Night Brothers’ successor and determine the future of magiciankind.

But my disappointment with Amari and the Great Game can’t entirely be blamed on the book itself. I definitely went in with very high expectations, which were a bit TOO high, in retrospect. I also just think I read it at the wrong time- at the moment, I have to be in a very specific mood to enjoy middle grade. And I just wasn’t when I read this. I had just finished Empire of Storms, was suffering a MAJOR book hangover and just was in more of a YA mood. So maybe if I’d read this book at a better time, I would’ve enjoyed it more. For some time now, I have been wanting to read B.B. Alston’s “Amari and the Great Game.” Alston is a really good writer, but there were some problems with this second book in his series. The ending was also rushed, with the”reveal” being slightly better paced than the first book but the second reveal just being too short. Things are happening too fast without giving us time to feel the impact or dwell on the consequences of what just happened.

I went into Amari and the Great Game expecting great things, but it ultimately fell a bit flat for me. I really enjoyed the first book, Amari and the Night Brothers, and expected the sequel to be just as good. And although it was a decent enough read, it really wasn’t as good as I was expecting. I’m oddly sad this is only going to be a trilogy and not a longer series because I’m so in love with the world the B.B. Alston created. BUT i’m so appreciative to have read this that I’ll take whatever I can get 😂. The world is so cool, I can’t even really. Praise for AMARI AND THE NIGHT BROTHERS: “A breath of fresh air in the normal-kid-finds-out-they’re-magic genre, with Amari’s snappy, no-nonsense narration, a mix of new, bizarre supernatural creatures and classic vampires and witches, and rich world building that reads as both familiar and fantastic…. Readers will no doubt cross their fingers for more of Amari’s adventures.” — Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books the cast of characters is just as wonderful as ever, but for most of the novel, they all act independently from one another with only Amari as the connecting piece. once these characters all come together around that 80% mark, wonderful things happen, but the waiting period to get to an exciting part of the story is such a huge contrast to the incredible experience I had with the first novel in this series. But between the fearsome new Head Minister’s strict anti-magician agenda, fierce Junior Agent rivalries, and her brother Quinton’s curse steadily worsening, Amari’s plate is full. So when the secretive League of Magicians offers her a chance to stand up for magiciankind as its new leader, she declines. She’s got enough to worry about!