Marshmallow had already reviewed Amari and the Night Brothers and Amari and the Great Game, the first two books of the Supernatural Investigations series by B.B. Alston. Today she reviews the third book, Amari and the Despicable Wonders, which was published in 2024.
Marshmallow’s Quick Take: If you like books about family, friends, and magic with a strong, smart female protagonist, then this is the book for you!
Marshmallow’s Summary (with Spoilers): The supernatural world is on the brink of war with their risk of being revealed to the human world increasing by the minute. The Bureau of Supernatural Affairs, which functions as this world’s government and has been responsible for keeping the supernatural unseen by humans, has recently been taken over by Elaine Harlowe. Harlowe is a faun who has the ability to control others with her voice and now is the Director of the Bureau. The previous head of the Bureau was the one and only Merlin; unfortunately, he had to freeze himself along with all of the other leaders of the magical world in order to protect them from an unseen attack. Amari Peters, a Junior Agent training to work in the Bureau who is our protagonist, discovered this in the last book. However, the world’s leaders are still stuck in this time freeze, leaving Harlowe in charge. Unfortunately, Harlowe is very biased against magicians, which is not a great perspective to have during a time of great tension between the Bureau and the League of Magicians. The Bureau is the government of the supernatural world, but in this world, magicians and all their creations are viewed as UnWanteds. Unlike in the world of Harry Potter, being told “You’re a wizard, Harry” is something that would cause different reactions: first, self-loathing and fear of being discovered, and second, confusion at being called Harry.
Amari is a magician, but so far, she’s been sort of viewed as a good one, in comparison to the evil Night Brothers or Dylan Van Helsing. Unfortunately, the League of Magicians has been corrupted by Dylan, who wants to use foul magic to make magicians respected through fear and intimidation. Amari and her friends (Elsie, Jayden, and Lara) have been fighting against Dylan’s magician movement, but they also need to worry about what the Bureau is doing too. Magician-hating Harlowe fears that Amari will reveal to the public how she rose to power so quickly (with her mind-controlling powers), so Harlowe declares Amari an enemy of the Bureau which many believe because she is a magician.
In this book, Amari, Elsie (who is extraordinarily smart and can transform partly into a dragon), Jayden (a boy who can talk to animals, though I predict he will be talking to Amari a lot more soon 😉), Lara (Dylan’s non-magician sister who has recently allied herself with Amari), and Quinton (Amari’s famous Bureau Agent brother) are now working against the clock to prevent the Bureau and the League from going to full-on war—especially since the stakes have never been higher.
Amari learns that Dylan plans to use anti-magick to fight the Bureau and all those who oppose magicians. Just like anti-matter, anti-magick destroys all things with magic, which includes just about everything and everyone in the supernatural world. In order to utilize and then control this power, Dylan must find the Despicable Wonders: eight ancient items made long ago by the first magician. The only thing that can save the supernatural world from complete ruin is if Amari, her family, and friends can find the Wonders first and stop Dylan. The clock is ticking though, and he has a head start.
Can Amari catch up and should she? Perhaps this is all according to his plan… dun dun dun!!!
Marshmallow’s Review: This was a very good book. I will say there are a lot of parallels to be drawn between Amari’s world and that of J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series. Throughout this series, I definitely felt a lot of nostalgia because of the similarities to previous fantasy books for young adults and children. However, I would like to focus on what makes this series unique.
The world is definitely Alston’s own and it is not in any means identical. The premise starts off similarly, with a young child being told they are part of a magical world, and that they are exceptional even there. But this story evolves in a different direction. It focuses a lot more on equality, and fighting bias and hate. Amari is a magician, a group of supernaturals who are looked down upon. There is a lot of mistrust towards all magicians, and most live in hiding their whole lives. Amari’s perspective sheds light on the inequities in both the supernatural and natural world. This is clearly a statement, shown by the not-so-stark contrast between our world and theirs. This makes the story of Amari a lot more compelling and connects the reader more to her magical world.
That said, the characters are also very compelling. They develop in very human ways, even though not all of them are human. Even the enemy is clearly a thinking, breathing, feeling person and doesn’t start off as the embodiment of evil. The progression of the plot is both calculated and unexpected. It never feels slow though it is always very thoughtful. B.B. Alston is definitely, undoubtedly a very good author.
I really enjoyed reading Amari and the Despicable Wonders, and I am waiting excitedly for the fourth book to come out. The ending was bittersweet (because all the characters were so well-developed!), and while there was not really a defined cliffhanger, there are still unanswered questions.
Marshmallow’s Rating: 100%.
BookBunnies 