Amari and the Great Game audiobook

I'm just going to go ahead and say it, B.B. Alston is a genius and the Supernatural Investigations series is truly one of the best written, creative and immersive children's books of all time. It's a big statement, I know but one I stand behind with my entire being.Amari and the Great Game was my most anticipated release of 2022. I was equally excited and terrified to read it because of how incredible The Night Brothers was but I can say with a huge amount of relief and joy that The Great Game did not disappoint. Just as magical, imaginative, exciting, well written and emotive as book one, The Great Game was impossible to put down is was once again a story I could easily dive straight back into in a heartbeat. I am continuously wowed by Alston's creativity, sensitivity and ability to create characters, relationships and situations I whole heartedly believe in and care for. I will never stop shouting about how utterly brilliant this series is in every single way.

Reading Vlog: https://youtu.be/QbHhvmL5QtUBB Alston CAN'T MISS!!!Amari Peters is everything. She is President. CEO. The speaker of the house. I'm obsessed with her.The shit she has to go through and the absolute TACT she does it with. There are things she goes through where I would've been showing my ass but Amari tamps down her anger and states the facts and gets the problem solved with logic and evidence. She is such a role model. I'm so happy that she exists in the literary world.My best friend's daughter is mixed and I couldn't stop imagining her as Amari and how happy she will be to eventually read these books. To see a character like her and have someone so powerful and strong to relate to.The friendship in this book is ELITE. UGH! I wanted to cry reading about how amazing of a friend Amari is. She put her friendships above all else. Which I know is easier to do as a child than it is when boyfriends and such become a factor. But I really don't think Amari will grow out of her loyalty for her friends. I think she depicts such an amazing girls-supporting-girls energy and I'm here for it.I don't care for middle grade and I'm still saying this was 5 stars.

Amari and the Great Game was highly anticipated and it didn't disappoint! Amari is back for another summer session and the stakes are higher than ever. She's still dealing with the fallout of Dylan's betrayal and trying to figure out how to break the curse on Quinton. This year her friend Jayden is going to be at the school and she promised to help him get settled.Before Amari can even get to another summer session, she must deal with blame being placed on her for a time freeze that has left the Supernatural Congress frozen. Luckily she has people like Elsie in her corner to fight for her. But as things go from bad to worse she finds herself locked in a battle against Dylan to see who will be crowned the head magician.There's a lot going on in this book! Sometimes there wasn't enough balance between The Great Game challenges and the time freeze mystery, and regular training at school. So the middle did lag a little bit. But then that ending came and gave the much needed jolt that has me anticipating book 3!Blog reviewhttps://womenofcolorreadtoo.blogspot....

Somewhere between a 3.5 & 4 stars - While I don't think this is quite as strong as the first book (the game element in particular I felt was a bit off and dragged at times), the connection to Amari as our protagonist is definitely still there and the ending is such a cliffhanger!! A pretty solid sophomore book, all in all

Fun

The ending of this book makes you want to have more of the story, it made me very excited for the next installment. This series keeps on getting better.

This has a lottt of elements that are similar to Harry Potter in a way that I think some readers might call out as derivative but like JKR didn't invent them either and also it's great to have those tropes/elements in a book about a cool Black girl that wasn't written by a TERF so hell yeah Amari keep on keepin on

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHhUpdate 1/2/23:I love this book more than anything. It took me longer to finish than I wanted but omg it was so worth it. This book was so funny, and wonderful and sweet and action packed and it's so perfect omg I love this so much I cant even-

Actual Rating: 4.5✶TW: bullying, confinement, deportation, fire/fire injury, hate crime, medical content, racism, war. Somehow even better than book 1!Everything I already loved about the world and story was completely elevated. Amari's such an easy character to root for, and the plot was so much fun. I'm also super amazed by the author's ability to take real-world issues and write them in a magical, digest-able way for kids. Absolutely incredible. Also... holy mother of cliffhangers. Super looking forward to book 3 (and to forcing all of my little siblings to read this series too 😌)

4.5 starsOnce again extremely close to being 5 stars! My review is vague so no spoilers:Pros:I absolutely love this world that BB Alston has created. It’s so immersive and I feel right at home being back in this world of the Supernatural Bureau.I love the cast of characters, and their development in this book, especially the relationships between Amari and Elsie/Lara/Jayden/Dylan - essentially Amari’s relationship with anyone.Cons:This suffered (like the first book) from the most important scenes being too short/rushed. The “villain” of the story wasn’t sinister enough so it felt cartoonish rather than dangerous, and so didn’t feel believable. Each “game” scene needed to be much longer, with more interaction between the characters.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.Overall these small cons are only enough to knock off half a star because the rest of this is FANTASTIC. Absolutely cannot wait for the last book.

This book! I was so excited for this and it delivered. From page one i was gripped with the mystery of the time freeze and wanted to follow along on the adventure with Amari and her friends. I loved how the story enfolded, the pacing was good and kept me wanting more. I love how this book brings up issues of discrimination but describes it in a way that a younger audience can understand. The author has a way of writing that makes completely enthralled with the story, also he writes from the perspective of a 12 year old so well! I am so excited to see how this trilogy concludes!!

B.B. Alston has done it again. If you were a fan of the first book, you will love this one. It is hard for me to compare but... Dare I say this one might even be better? I was once again plunged into the magical world of Amari and her friends as they learn to master their magical abilities all the while learning from and working with each other. Amari's friendship with Elsie (a weredragon) was especially heartwarming as they go through some trying times together. Elsie is considering enrolling at a different academy where she and Amari won't get to room together or see each other as often. At the same time, Jayden, a minor character in the first book, really starts to come into his own in this sequel. It was truly a delight to see him and Amari on page together utilizing some of what they had to navigate in the real world to solve problems in the magical world. Books like this really give a voice to inner city kids while not making it seem like growing up in poorer urban neighborhoods is something to be avoided or ashamed of. If I have any real critique, it is only to question once again why Alston's editors allowed the inclusion of Agent Fiona's Scottish accent which is truly appalling. There is absolutely no need reason or purpose to it and the inclusion adds nothing to the story. Rather, it just adds a completely stereotypical character to the book. Luckily Fiona got a little more of her own story in this sequel, but I still have to ask myself "why???" everytime Fiona addresses anyone as "ye" (read: you) which is the only manifestation of her "Scottishness." I'm just glad I didn't have to suffer through it on audiobook again. That was truly harrowing. Thank you to Netgalley for providing me with the ARC.