Another book presented to me by literally EVERYONE. I appreciated this recommendation though and will be reading the next.
Synopsis: One day Amari Peters finds a suitcase meant for her eyes only left behind by her Golden boy brother who has disappeared. In that suitcase is a nomination for her to try out at the Bureau of Supernatural Affairs. Amari thinks she is joining a regular summer camp and only applies to appease her mother and hopefully find out what happened to her brother. Turns out, it's a school for wealthy supernatural children to train their gifts. A gift Amari just finds out she has, a gift that happens to be illegal in their world.
Plot: This was actually really creative, magical and super fun. I was hooked right from the beginning and remained invested for most of the storyline. The world-building was fantastic but some of Alston's writing felt tedious at times and way too fast at others, making the pacing a little off. There were lots of unexpected twists and turns along the way and despite the magic system not making the most sense and some of the plotline being a little chaotic it was still a super fun ride that covered important topics such as friendship, the Black experience, classism and self-confidence. Overall it felt very nostalgic for me and is a great book for middle-grade audiences.
Characters: Amari is incredible and I am super happy that she is here to represent. She's resilient, scrappy, strong and learned from her mistakes. All the makings of a great main character. The supporting characters were also top-tier. In fact all the characters were wonderful and were definitely this book's strongest aspect. They felt undoubtedly real and didn't act unalike their age, which some middle-grade books have issues with. I also felt as though their relationships with each other suffered from realistic problems and there was a nice arc even with the little storylines among them.
A great debut book and a great adventure.
3.5 stars
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