Aru Shah and the end of time

3.75 stars it has been the longest time since i’ve read a middle grade novel and oh boy i picked up a good choice. whenever i read middle grade nowadays, i feel like i’ve grown out of it because i’m now a teen and since middle grade novels tend to be more imaginative and fun, i feel like i’m not enjoying it anymore because i can’t relate it now that i’m a teenager (thanks school and the constant reminder that the real world is about to happen). however, since i graduated from high school, now it feels like i’m about to jump into the real world (and college) and taking that huge step is already overwhelming. this book has helped me relieve that. when i read this book, i feel like a kid once again. i’m not a percy jackson fan (yet) and i’ve watched the percy jackson movies (which i know are totally different...based on the fact i read the lightning thief long ago) but it really became so fascinating to me reading something new and reliving the moments where reading had been fascinating to me back in middle, it felt nostalgic. this may not the kind of book review i would type up but this book give me a reason that i can be able to jump back to when life has been fun and exciting and not stressful. more to come with critiquing the book.

ahhhh this book is SO MUCH FUN. i loved the characters, adventures, and everything! i was a little worried because i'm starting to grow out of middle grade, but i loved it. the writing is so funny and had me laughing so many times. the only thing was that it could get predictable at times, but that's understandable considering it's MG and most MG are super predictable. i can't wait to read the rest of the series. <333

This was really cute. I found its structure very similar to Percy Jackson but with Hindu mythology instead of Greek obviously. Which is awesome! I loved learning about this mythology and getting to know Aru and Mini. I love how flawed Aru was and how important it is for young girls to realize these traits about themselves and how to grow. A success for me!

*4.5

I have a lot of mixed feelings about this book. Let's start with the good stuff. This is a book for middle grade readers written about the pantheon of India's gods by an Indian-American writer. The characters are flawed, which makes them feel so deliciously human. They're also people of color, which is so vital for young readers - especially those looking for representation of people who look like them in their media, be it television or reading. The issues I had with the book were this: it's so damn close to Percy Jackson that I often forgot it wasn't Riordan's book. It's a Rick Riordan Presents book, sure, but the voice is exactly the same and the formula that his stories follow is embedded in this narrative too. It's not that it's bad so much as it was disappointing. I was looking forward to a new narrative with the new pantheon. Side note: If you loved Rick Riordan's books, I doubt you will have much fault with this one. Hopefully the books that follow this get to take a little more creative liberty with the direction of the plot - because this just felt like Rick Riordan helped as a ghost writer so it matched the brand. I also didn't particularly love Aru as a character. She's flawed like crazy, which normally I love, but she doesn't seem to be particularly repentant when she causes someone to get hurt. She just kind of waits for them to forgive her, which frustrates me. She's not a character I could see myself being friends with, and it made it hard for me to like her and therefore care about her as more than a vehicle for the story. I know this is a 4 book series though, so I'm looking forward to seeing how she grows in the later books. All in all, not my favorite thing ever, but it's a decent read. I look forward to reading the next book. Also looking forward to the anime vibes of the 5 magical girl Pandava Sisters.

I wasn't sure how I felt about the Rick Riordan Presents imprint, but based on Aru Shah and the End of Time, I am now very, very excited. I went in knowing that this was going to be completely separate from the rest of the Riordanverse, and even though Aru Shah felt very much like a Rick Riordan book, there were differences that I really loved. Had I read this book when I was twelve, I think it would have taken up the same place in my heart that Riordan's books have. Aru Shah captures the spirit of the Rick Riordan mythological formula while putting wonderful twists on it, and it absolutely stands on its own. The inspiration from Percy Jackson is apparent, because there are gods with silly nicknames who reference Google Maps and Game of Thrones, ancient mythological places hidden in Costcos, and a mashup of the ancient and the modern with gods who have lived through centuries. And Roshani Chokshi does it really well. It all feels very natural and not forced at all, and there were parts that were quite funny. I loved learning about Indian mythology and Hinduism. I hadn't known much about it before - only about Shiva and Ganesh from playing video games - so it was so interesting to read about and I'm very excited to learn more in future books because this really opened my eyes to how cool Indian mythology is and how diverse India itself is. How reincarnation and the afterlife was discussed was fascinating, especially the Pandava brothers - or should I say sisters. I LOVED that spin on mythology. Listen, Rick writes girls wonderfully most of the time, but they're not always front and centre. Aru Shah was led by two incredibly well-written girls and it was so nice to see two girls get a starring role in this one, with more amazing girls to come. Aru and Mini had such a lovely cute friendship and sisterhood and it made me so happy. I am very excited for the next books in this series, as well as the Rick Riordan Presents imprint, and I can't wait to see more of Aru, Mini, and the rest of the Pandavas.

A Fantastic Middle Grade Fantasy This was my first Rick Riordan presents book and I loved it. The characters in this novel were so interesting, and I loved getting to know. Them. I don’t know much about Hindu mythology, and I loved learning about it though Aru and her sisters. Writing, especially in Fantasy, needs to hook me, and I was hooked from beginning to end. The siblings in this book were excellent, they didn’t know each other, and yet they had a bond which I loved. I recommend this for anyone who enjoys Middle Grade Fantasy or if you’re a fan of Mythology.

This was really cool. :)

This book was an absolutely amazing addition to Rick Riordan’s world and Roshani Chokshi did an incredible job bringing Hindu mythology to life! I fell completely in love with this witty, magic, fantastic world and I cannot wait for the second one!

Two unlikely heroes take us on a hilarious romp through Indian mythology while completing a series of trials - watch out Percy Jackson!

This is a wonderful book and I feel guilty for not giving it 5 stars. But truth be told I knew nothing about East Indian mythology and couldn't experience this book the same way I do Rick Riordan's books where I recognize all the gods and creatures and squee with excitement. I loved Aru as a character and I liked how she grew as a character throughout the book. The pop cultural references were totally awesome. I think I might pick up the next book but probably will read about the mythology a bit more first.

Я уже не раз упоминала, что люблю мифы и с радостью хватаю любую эпичную историю про богов, даже если ничего про конкретно эту мифологию не знаю. В случае с индуизмом я знаю совсем чуть-чуть – читала в пятнадцатилетнем возрасте Бхагават-гиту, которую мне дал на улице чувак из Общества сознания Кришны, мама переживала, что я начитаюсь и попаду в секту. В секту я не попала, так что про Арджуну еще помню, но дальше как-то уже нет. Рошани Чокши берет за основу сюжет Махабхараты (частью которой и является Бхагават-гита) о пятерых братьях Пандавах и их героических деяниях, но переселяет души братьев в новых носителей (реинкарнация же!), и братья становятся сестрами. Одна из них Ару, главная героиня, и в первой же книге мы встречаем вторую сестру – Мини. Ару случайно будит Спящего, древнего демона, и чтобы спасти мир, девочкам понадобится помощь богов. What’s not to like? А я вам, к сожалению, скажу what’s not to like – глубину проработки персонажей и отношений между ними. Даже про Ару мы узнаем довольно мало – мама её вечно в разъездах и вечно нарушает обещания, а самой Ару приходится много врать в школе, чтобы её считали за свою. Про Мини узнаем и того меньше – она аллергик и ботаник, родители её любят, но всегда думали, что Пандавом переродился её брат. Мне категорически не хватило backstory и объемности героинь – и я вспомнила, что примерно те же самые мысли у меня были, когда я читала The Gilded Wolves, другую книгу Чокши. А еще это то, чем берет сам Риордан, особенно в моей любимой римской серии «Герои Олимпа». Там половина персонажей описаны так, что их хочется взять на ручки и долго рыдать. С отношениями еще хуже. С одной стороны, нам не устают напоминать, что девочки – новообретенные сестры (для Ару, единственного ребенка, это завораживающий концепт). С другой стороны, общение между ними показано в довольно пассивно-агрессивном ключе, Ару постоянно стебет Мини за её ипохондрию и ботанство, куча диалогов выстроена по принципу «так, давай вспомним анатомию…» - «отлично, сейчас вытащу из кармана учебник, хотя погоди-ка, откуда ему взяться в чреве кита!». Понятно, что для девочки с вечно отсутствующей мамой логично иметь плохие социальные навыки, но мне жутко не понравилось, что Мини на это никак не отвечает, а в конце книги их с Ару называют лучшими подругами. Блин, это книжка для двенадцатилеток! Должна же какая-то ответственность у автора перед читателями быть, не? Однако, как первое знакомство с индуистской мифологией книга неплоха – про всех встречных богов и героев поясняется, кто они и откуда, а еще постоянно встречаются попкультурные референсы – типа Небесного Суда, который собирается вместе на просмотр первого и последнего эпизода каждого сезона Игры Престолов. Можно брать, но с оглядкой.

I know I don’t read middle grade books at all but I still should have trusted the judgment of my dearest friend Nandini when she said this book was brilliant.... because my lovely fellow bloggers, this book really is. After my not so great experiences with Roshani’s writing before (except TGW), I expected this one to be fun and maybe a bit youngish for my tastes, but I didn’t think I would be so delighted and nostalgic. The most intrinsic part of my reader self is that I think the Mahabharata is the best epic in the world, and any new book based on it has a potential chance to become a top favorite of mine. But it also means that I can be very nit picky and I might be upset with the way the authors interpret the epic. However, that’s not the case here. The way the author incorporates the story of the legendary Pandava brothers and other characters from Hindu mythology like Urvashi, Hanuman etc, some of the stories from the Puranas and the concept of Karma and reincarnation, is seamless and done with a lot of care and understanding of them. Hinduism is not a religion that is talked about a lot in international discourse and our diverse traditions and polytheistic beliefs can be a source of feeling othered or being made fun of outside of India. It’s not easy being an Indian American kid trying to follow your faith, but also struggling to explain to your friends that your religion and traditions are not wrong or weird. And that’s why this book is so special. Roshani writes a fun and entertaining adventure novel that is perfect for young teens and is such wonderful representation for Indian kids, who not only get to read about someone who looks like them but also read about the same stories they have grown up listening to. The author also makes sure that any mythological elements in the story are very accessible to readers who are new to the Hindu epics, the pacing is perfect and action packed, and the quest that the characters go on is pretty high stakes and keeps us on our toes throughout the book. The writing is also completely witty and hilarious and I couldn’t stop grinning and laughing all the way. As someone who really couldn’t get through the author’s lyrical writing style in her YA novels, the simpler language in this book felt perfect for me and I will definitely be continuing this series. Aru is such a realistic pre teen character. All she wants is to feel accepted by her so-called friends at school, not be so different from everyone, and maybe have her mom pay more attention to her. She has a very active imagination, and she makes full use of it to lie and tell stories to get out of tricky situations or make others like her. She is a good person, but obviously too young to understand long term consequences of her actions. However, she is all in to accept her destiny and go on this quest to save the world and her mom. Mini, her soul sister, is a very smart, loves reading medical books already, is allergic to almost everything under the sun and loves reciting all the ways in which they can die. Mini is also half Indian half Filipino (just like the author) and her trying to navigate both sides of her heritage while not offending her extended family felt very heartfelt. These two girls, with their smarts and cunning, make for a formidable team and complemented each other very well. This story really symbolizes girl power and how important it is for young girls to support each other. They are also wonderfully supported by the grumpy talking pigeon Boo, whose quips are the source for many laughs in the story. We also meet a lot of other small characters during their journey and I loved every one of them, including the villain. My particular favorite is actually not a person, but this one lonely “thing” was absolutely adorable and I hope we will get to meet again. If you love middle grade adventure novels, especially Percy Jackson, I highly recommend this book to you. If you want a wonderfully diverse fantasy which draws its inspiration from the Mahabharata and other stories from the Hindu mythology, then this book is perfect for you. This will entertain you, make you laugh and cry and think, and will ultimately take you on a breathtaking journey.

Another fantastical world set in the realm of Hindu mythology akin to The Serpent's Secret- but more complex. And, another book with a problematic main character and some egregious prejudices against people who are different from said main character. The story introduces us to the main character, Aru, who lies a lot. Aru's mad at her mom for working all the time and constantly making promises she doesn't keep. Oh, and her mom works all the time so she can put her in a nice school with a bunch of other affluent children. The other affluent children, however, are evil and bully Aru. There's always some kind of commentary on some kind of social status that is paired with a generalized and prejudiced view, namely the rich kids here that go to Aru's school (Aru lies to them all the time because she feels the need to impress them). Additionally, another character in the book, who I won't specify for the sake of not spoiling it for other readers, happens to be from the suburbs and also happens to be stereotyped as kind of naive, for lack of a better descriptor, and plagued with allergies and such. (I would say the author really writes her as stupid, but she does some things that are decidedly not so. At first, she seems entirely shallow.) It really is completely ridiculous. As to the plot, as many hoards of other reviews have described it, it's just about Percy Jackson but in the realm of Hindu instead of Greek mythology. It also puts females as the MC's instead of males. More boxes ticked. I really wanted to explore something different and amazing, but just came away feeling embittered and reluctant to read anymore books like this because of how prejudiced the narrative is against what is generally portrayed as bad these days (suburbs, rich kids, etc.). Maybe next time. If not, probably never.

This was such a cute book. It was my first time reading about Hindu mythology and I really enjoyed it! I can't wait for the next book.

DNF I hate not finishing a book but I'm so bored with this one. I only started reading it for my school book club, we were given four weeks to read it and I only got to page 104 before giving up. I couldn't stay awake while trying to read this book. It reminds me of a lame wannabe percy jackson, this book had potential and I was excited to hear it has a poc mc and it is based around Indian beliefs but it flopped. I'm supposed to have this book done with by tomorrow and I'm just going to google chapter summaries. Very disappointed :/

I really like this read overall. I am not familiar wit the myths but found it to be super fun read that was super fast pace. I also really liked the two girl main characters were at the heart of the novel. I like how this book had a clear quest that they had to follow but also had so many smaller moments the really fleshed out this world. I thought some of plots twists were not predictable in the novel but just predicable for me as a YA reader. I really am am excited to keep reading this series.

This book has a content warning for colorism. I had a great time reading this book. It was a fun adventure story with two fierce main characters. I wasn't the biggest fan of Aru Shah because she could be annoying at times. She also just acted very much like a know it all but she's an idiot most of time and needs Minni or other people to actually teach her something. She barely grew throughout the novel but with the way this book left off I'm expecting huge growth over the course of the series. I really liked all the other characters though. I didn't know anything about Hindu mythology but I think this book did give a great introduction to it. I loved learning more about it the more we got through the book. I also really liked the plot of this book. It was just a fun ride with some twists I didn't see coming. I think this would be a great book to read for young girls, as it's just very empowering. But hey, it's great for everyone. This book also has quiet a bit of pop culture refferences in it and I'm not entirely postive they would be understood by a middle grade audience. You could tell this author usually writes YA as most of the refferences were very appropiate for a YA audience and even refferecened some YA novels. So yeah, I don't know yet how to feel about that but for the rest I would highly recommend this novel.

I said I was on the verge of a reading slump and wasn’t sure this was the right time for me to be reading this. However, I powered through and ended up really enjoying this in the end. Sure! It has it’s flaws, but most of them are petty or personal and shouldn’t deter anyone else from reading this. I know personally, I would really like to own this in the future, so that I can share this wonderful, culturally rich introduction to Hindu mythology with my kids one day. Books like Aru Shah and the rest of the future books to come out under this imprint are so very important right now. I cannot stress enough how much we need new stories from different people. We need to learn and understand each other better. The world could use a whole lot more sympathy and a whole lot less hatred. For more of my thoughts on this book, see my blog review: https://modernwitchsbookshelf.wordpre...

humor really didn't land with me on this one. very reliant on pop culture references, which i rarely enjoy. i would recommend if you like the found family trope or animal sidekicks.

Disclaimer: I bought this book! Support your authors! Book: Aru Shah And The End of Time Author: Roshani Chokshi Book Series: Pandava Quartet Book 1 Rating: 5/5 Publication Date: May 27, 2018 Genre: MG Fantasy Recommended Age: 10+ (slight violence and a little gore, some scary moments) Publisher: Rick Riordan Presents Pages: 355 Amazon Link Synopsis: Twelve-year-old Aru Shah has a tendency to stretch the truth in order to fit in at school. While her classmates are jetting off to family vacations in exotic locales, she'll be spending her autumn break at home, in the Museum of Ancient Indian Art and Culture, waiting for her mom to return from her latest archeological trip. Is it any wonder that Aru makes up stories about being royalty, traveling to Paris, and having a chauffeur? One day, three schoolmates show up at Aru's doorstep to catch her in a lie. They don't believe her claim that the museum's Lamp of Bharata is cursed, and they dare Aru to prove it. Just a quick light, Aru thinks. Then she can get herself out of this mess and never ever fib again. But lighting the lamp has dire consequences. She unwittingly frees the Sleeper, an ancient demon whose duty it is to awaken the God of Destruction. Her classmates and beloved mother are frozen in time, and it's up to Aru to save them. The only way to stop the demon is to find the reincarnations of the five legendary Pandava brothers, protagonists of the Hindu epic poem, the Mahabharata, and journey through the Kingdom of Death. But how is one girl in Spider-Man pajamas supposed to do all that? Review: I absolutely fell in love with this book! The character voice and development were amazingly well done. The author did great to keep explanations and scenarios exciting, but also young child friendly. The writing was sublime and the language (some was Sanskrit, I’m not sure of the term for the others) used were done well. I also loved the pacing, it wasn’t too fast or too slow. However, I did feel like some of the world building was a bit lacking. I felt a little lost at times, but it wasn’t a lot of the time. Verdict: It was a great read! I highly recommend!

The book was so rich with imagery, it was a delight to read. I appreciated learning more about Hindu mythology, and I loved to see Aru and Mini's relationship/sisterhood unfold and see both of them really come into their their own selves. I also enjoyed how aware Aru is of all of her flaws and how she navigates those and ultimately uses them to her benefit.

I can’t wait until the next one! Thank you Roshani for writing such a great read, and for Incle Rick for supporting this series. I’ll definitely be checking out Roshani Chokshi’s other works 💜 This book is full of middle school sass, the doubt of being all good or all bad, and two girls struggling to get to know each other and save their families in place of the adult male heros who their supposedly reincarnations of. The Hindu mythology as well as concepts like Karma and Reincarnation were beautifully crafted in this middle-grade read.

3.5 stars