Amari is back and playing the most dangerous game she’s played in her eventful young life!
Amari and the Great Game (Supernatural Investigations #2) by B. B. Alston. Balzer + Bray, 2023. 432 pages.
Reading Level: Middle Grades, ages 8-12
Recommended For: ages 10-12
Amari and her best friend Elsie are ready for another summer of training at the Bureau of Supernatural Affairs, but a strange time freeze throws a big kink in their plans. The Supernatural World Congress is still frozen, suspended in time, while the rest of the supernatural world fumbles about. Suddenly, anyone with magical powers (like Amari) is under suspicion, and the new Prime Minister at the Bureau is on a mission to discredit and disallow any magicians. But Amari is part of the Bureau! She proved herself last year. And now, with her brother in a coma, the only way she can communicate with him is through people at the Bureau. In the midst of the confusion, a super-secret League of Magicians invites Amari to lead their group. A position of enormous power, it’s also a position that Amari doesn’t want. She doesn’t want to lead magicians into war against her friends! Why can’t the two groups work together to defeat the real evil?
Suddenly, an offer-she-can’t-refuse lands in her lap: Amari has been summoned to the Great Game. This is not a game she can choose not to play. If she backs out, Dylan Van Helsing will gather more power than anyone else. But playing the game is supremely dangerous. To add to the cost: she can tell no one about the game, and a spell is put on her to force her to keep that condition.
If this sounds complicated, well, it is! But Amari is up to the challenge, and her friends rally around her like they did in book 1. The pacing lags a touch in this book, but fans of Amari and her gang will happily read on. Her friend (from the real world) Jayden is now part of the world of the supernaturals, and Amari’s band of friends illustrates true friendship. They stick by one another through thick and thin, and in the end, it’s this loyalty and determination to fight for right that helps them win the day.
Considerations:
- In the magical world there is some fortune telling that plays a minor role in the story. And, of course, there’s magic, but it’s a plot construct within this new world. People either have magical abilities, or they don’t.
- At one point, a character talks to a dead character. This is one of her special gifts, and it fits the construct of the story, but it’s worth noting!
Bottom Line: The Amari series is super fun; look for it at your local library!
Related Reading From Redeemed Reader
- A Review: Amari and the Night Brothers — how it all began!
- A Resource: Here Be Dragons: Mega Fantasy and Sci-Fi Booklist! (All ages)
- A Review: The Legend of Greyhallow by Summer Rachel Short — another fun new fantasy for middle grades
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