It was sometime in Summer 2021, according to my reading stats, that I discovered Amari and the Night Brothers, the first book in B.B. Alston’s series about Amari, a black girl with magic powers. This book was an excellent, unexpected surprise that got rewarded with a 5-star rating. I therefore was curious for Amari and the Great Game, I wondered how this series would hold up. No surprises here, it was yet another 5-star read. After a long wait, it’s finally time for Amari’s next adventure in Amari and the Despicable Wonders. Will Amari and her friends succeed in stopping Dylan van Helsing for once and for all? As this is the third book in a series, this review contains spoilers for the first two books.

About the book

Amari and the Despicable Wonders by B.B. Alston
Series: Supernatural Investigations #3
Published by Balzer + Bray on August 27, 2024
Pages: 400
Genres: Fantasy, Middle-grade

The highly anticipated third book in the #1 New York Times bestselling Supernatural Investigations series that began with Amari and the Night Brothers!

Perfect for fans of Tristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky, Percy Jackson and the Olympians, and Nevermoor.

War has come to the supernatural world, and Amari’s two worst enemies are leading the charge.

Elaine Harlowe has manipulated her way into becoming prime minister, using her mind control ability to force the Bureau to take up her vicious grudge against magiciankind. Meanwhile, Dylan Van Helsing, the newly crowned leader of the League of Magicians—and Amari’s former partner—is after a destructive new power that would not only ensure the magicians’ victory . . . it would make him invincible.

With neither the Bureau nor the League safe for Amari, and her newly returned brother, Quinton, determined to keep her out of the fray, she and her friends decide to find a way to end the war on their own.

So when they learn that the only way to stop Dylan is to find powerful magical inventions known as Wonders, they go after them. But wielding these items comes at a terrible cost, and Amari will have to decide just how much she’s willing to sacrifice . . . because the Despicable Wonders will demand everything.

My review

This book picks up right after the final events in Amari and the Great Game. After the fiery battle between Dylan and Amari, the Bureau of Supernatural Investigations takes a high interest in capturing and ending Amari and her friends. First Minister Harlowe wants to rather have her gone than to help her. Moreover, Dylan is on the hunt for her too because he’s afraid of Amari and her powers. He is afraid that Amari would end him for once and for all. Accompanied by her friends Elsie and Jayden, Amari flees and in the meantime tries to find a way to indeed end Dylan and his power, with the aim to recover the supernatural world from all evil forces.

Because this book immediately picks up after the previous one, I was immediately intrigued by the story. Even though it has been a while since I’ve read said book, I still remembered nearly everything. Alston recaps events if necessary, but this is not done in an irritating way as These explanations are woven into the current story. Amari and her friends are thrown into another adventure right from the start, which was to be expected. However, it still is a nice surprise when such an expectation becomes reality. There’s a continuous tension arc, which is needed for a middle-grade novel like this. The characters face setbacks pretty early on already, which provides both the attention arc and the adventure. My only concern is that everything is solved pretty easily. There’s a lot of tension throughout the book, but everything happens so fast and therefore is resolved quickly. This is part of the middle-grade genre and I don’t blame the book, but for me it was something I had to get used to again. This story is definitely tense for middle-grade readers and it will therefore immediately grab their attention.

The continuous growth of Amari’s character is what immediately stood out to me from the first book onwards. At the start of the series, she was a young, very insecure teenager, but with a strong mission. She still has a strong mission and fights for what’s right, but she has grown up over the course of these three books. She still has the impulsiveness of a young teenager who has to get grounded every now and then, but she also learns to think first before doing something potentially reckless. This is part of growing up, which is one of the important building blocks of middle-grade novels. Alston has written this process well. Elsie and Jayden grow as well, the one more than the other.

The writing is accessible and easy to follow, which makes this book very indulging. This is of course something that should be part of a middle-grade novel, but that doesn’t mean that adults can’t enjoy these stories. It’s easy to get lost in a magical adventure without needing to think a lot for a couple of hours. The ending left me shocked for a bit, because it really felt like there were no more books left in this series, but in the acknowledgements the author states that this instalment – thankfully – is not the end for Amari and her friends.

Amari and the Despicable Wonders by B.B. Alston was a pleasant surprise for me. I wasn’t even aware that this book was published, but I was wondering about it for a while. After the cliffhanger of the previous book I was really curious what would happen next to Amari and her friends. Our main character Amari undergoes even more character growth, the younger readers therefore could really grow up alongside her and her friends. The writing runs smoothly and the story stays intriguing. Whereas you don’t have to do a lot of thinking when reading this book, it’s the perfect story to get lost in for a few hours, regardless of your age. I’m definitely curious for what’s in store for these characters in the next books!