Aru Shah and the End of Time by Roshani Chokshi

 

Aru Shah and the End of Time by Roshani Chokshi
Series: Pandava Quartet #1
Publisher: Rick Riordan Presents
Published March 27th, 2018
Genres: Middle Grade / YA, Mythology, Fantasy
Pages: 355
Format: Hardback
Buy: Book Depository | Amazon

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?

THIS. WAS. AWESOME! I absolutely loved to know more about Hindu mythology. It’s so freaking amazing!! This was a hell-of-a-fun book!

This story is about Aru. She is a regular 12 years old girl until she isn’t anymore. She lives with her mother above the Museum of Ancient Indian Art and Culture (how freaking cool is that?!), where everything will turn from regular into a world-about-to-end-kind of a mess! One day, Aru lights a cursed lamp (Lamp of Bharata), which causes to free the Sleeper, who freezes everyone in time. The thing is… Only a Pandava is able to light that lamp! Aru learns from her new guardian, who happens to be a pigeon (you read right… A freaking pigeon!) that she is actually a child of the gods. The only thing left to do is try and save the world, and for that, she needs to go on a quest with her new Pandava sister Mini!

This was such an interesting and fun book to read! I’m not gonna lie, Rick Riordan still does it better, but this came to be as enjoyable as one of his books, which I absolutely love. I knew little about Hindu mythology, which I knew was incredible but not how much… And this book made me not only learn quite a lot, but also made me want to know more about it! I love anything to do with mythology, so for that, this book was already going to be interesting to read. But I didn’t expect to love it this much and to be as interested and gripped as I was! It had just so much to it, that I feel that I want to read it again and again just to put all of it in my head because it’s that incredible!

But not only the mythology part was AMAZING, the story itself was too. Aru was an amazing character. I loved her way of thinking, and how scared and prepared she was and felt and yet how strong-willed she was! She was incredibly fun and witty and just an amazing little heroine! And just like Aru, I couldn’t but love Mini too! She is such an interesting and unusual character! She is a little nerdy, which I love and her way of thinking is just completely different and unique! I love all her comments and how she completed Aru so well! They were amazing characters and I can’t wait to read more about them! Also, Boo is freaking awesome and I want a pigeon like him!

Overall this was an incredibly funny and fun book, full of interesting information in Hindu mythology and super cute and young characters that I definitely will treasure forever – and I can’t wait to see them develop in the next books! It was a very “Rick Riordan” type of book, it had slightly the same feeling and I couldn’t but love it! I would definitely recommend it, especially if you like mythology!

Have you read this one yet? What did you think of it? Let’s discuss it in the comments below!

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