Roshani Chokshi

When twelve-year-old Aru Shah's schoolmates dare her to prove that the museum's Lamp of Bharata is cursed, she doesn't think there's any harm in lighting it. Little does Aru know that lighting the lamp has dire consequences. She unwittingly frees an ancient demon who freezes her mother in time - and it's up to Aru to save her.

Aru Shah and the End of Time

Anna Stewart

The problem with growing up around highly dangerous things is that after a while you just get used to them.

As far as cursed objects went, this was by far the most boring. It was shaped like a pinched hockey puck. Small markings, like bite marks, crimped the edges. And yet, for all its normal-ness, even the statues filling the Hall of the Gods seemed to lean away from the lamp, giving it a wide berth.

“Sometimes light illuminates things that are better left in the dark.(...)"

As Aru had expected, the day was on its way to being uneventful. That should have been her first warning. The world has a tendency to trick people.

 to be noticed. But she kept getting noticed for all the wrong reasons.

“No? Look around—do you see my room?” 

Between a demon that could end the world and a seventh-grade girl, Aru (and probably most people) would choose the demon any day.

When her finger brushed the clay, a strange thought burst into Aru’s head. She remembered watching a nature documentary about deep-sea creatures. How some of them used bait, like a glowing orb, to attract their prey. The moment a fish dared to swim toward the little light floating in the water, the sea creature would snatch it up with huge gaping jaws. That was how the lamp felt: a small halo of brightness held out by a monster crouching in the shadows…. 

“Oh, Aru, Aru, Aru…what have you done?”

Aru Shah and the End of Time quotes

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