Amari's older brother Quinton was the star of the neighborhood, a genius who worked hard to make everyone around him be the best they could be. Now Quinton is missing, and no one is offering any clues. The police have chalked him up to being just another Black kid from a poor neighborhood who turned to drugs, but Amari knows that isn't true. She's not even swayed by the fact that he turned down multiple ivy league scholarships to take some mysterious job that he couldn't or wouldn't talk about.
After a terrible last day of school, Amari discovers a secret briefcase in Quinton's room meant for her. It contains a nomination for a summer tryout at the Bureau of Supernatural Affairs. Amari soon discovers a whole supernatural world she never knew about. Her own brother is one half of the superstar investigator team, VanQuish, who brought in one of the most powerful dark magicians ever known. He and his partner are missing, and now Amari knows it had something to do with his work at the Bureau.
Even with a celebrity older brother, things aren't much different at the Bureau than at her private school back home. Rich kids teased her for being a scholarship student there, and the supernatural world is full of old families with lots of money and experience. Most of the kids at the tryout have grown up in the supernatural world, and Amari is definitely at a disadvantage on that front.
Things get even worse when Amari is revealed as a magician. Magicians are feared and hated in the supernatural world because of the terrible deeds of the Night Brothers, powerful magicians who wreaked havoc. But Amari just found out about this magical ability, and she's never used magic for anything. Now, people are against her for her ability, too.
It's a good thing she has her roommate, a weredragon who has yet to shift into dragon form, and her partner in the agent training program. Everyone else may hate her, but Dylan seems to be on her side even if he is a Van Helsing, one of the oldest and richest families in the supernatural world. His older sister, Maria was Quinton's partner, and he is just as invested in finding them as Amari is. The only way they can really investigate is to win spots as junior agents. They will need to trust each other to make it through the highly competitive trials in order for that to happen.
An evil magician is threatening destruction on the entire supernatural world, and VanQuish's disappearance may be connected. Can Amari learn to use her new abilities, with the aid of her new friends, to stop a madman, or is it already too late?
This new book by B.B. Alston is the best reading fun I've had in a while! There are shades of Harry Potter here for sure and a dash of Men in Black, but Amari's story still manages to feel fresh and immersive. There's humor, friendship, bullying drama, and plenty of twists and turns, and Alston also manages to deftly tackle issues of class and race privilege without bogging down the story. Highly recommended. This is a must-read!
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