Aru Shah and the End of Time Kicks off a Terrific New Series Inspired by Rick Riordan
Many are the readers who love Rick Riordan’s wild and crazy mythological fantasies, but prolific as he is, Riordan can’t give cover the mythology and folklore from every culture in the world. Fortunately, he has a new publishing imprint, “Rick Riordan Presents,” that is going to bring us closer to that dream of multicultural mythological mayhem! The first book from this new imprint is Aru Shah and the End of Time, by Roshani Chokshi, and it’s a winner!
Aru Shah and the End of Time (Pandava Series #1)
Hardcover $16.99
Aru Shah and the End of Time (Pandava Series #1)
Hardcover $16.99
12-year-old Aru Shah struggles to keep up with her wealthy, jet-setting classmates, and so she spins all sorts of stories to make her life seem more exciting. When three of the most obnoxious classmates show up at the Museum of Ancient Indian Art and Culture that her mother runs to get cellphone proof that she’s a liar, Aru is desperate. They don’t believe the museum’s Lamp of Bharata is cursed, and they dare her to light it. Aru doesn’t exactly believe in the curse herself, and so she lights the lamp…and unleashes a demon.
12-year-old Aru Shah struggles to keep up with her wealthy, jet-setting classmates, and so she spins all sorts of stories to make her life seem more exciting. When three of the most obnoxious classmates show up at the Museum of Ancient Indian Art and Culture that her mother runs to get cellphone proof that she’s a liar, Aru is desperate. They don’t believe the museum’s Lamp of Bharata is cursed, and they dare her to light it. Aru doesn’t exactly believe in the curse herself, and so she lights the lamp…and unleashes a demon.
The demon’s mission is to awaken Shiva, the God of Destruction, who will, true to his name, destroy the current incarnation of the world. With her classmates and mother frozen in time by the demon, Aru’s only source of help and guidance in fixing the mess she started comes from a pigeon. It’s a pigeon who talks, and who has a mythological identity of its own, but as you can see from the following exchange, Aru’s not exactly reassured:
“The pigeon puffed out its chest. “Is there something wrong with how I sound, human girl?”
“No, but—”
“Do I not look like a bird capable of great devastation?”
“I mean—”
“Because I shall have you know that whole cities revile me. They say my name like a curse.”
“Is that a good thing?”
“It is a powerful thing,” sniffed the bird. “And between good and power, I will always choose the latter.”
“Is that why you’re a pigeon?”
Aru’s incredulity is heightened when the pigeon tells her she is a reincarnation of one of the five legendary demi-god Pandava Brothers (protagonists of the Hindu epic poem the Mahabharata), and that she must journey through the Kingdom of Death to stop the demon before it can wake Shiva. The pigeon is also incredulous; Aru does not cut a very heroic figure in her spiderman pajamas (which she herself is keenly aware of). But there’s no time to change before they set off to find the other Pandava Brother who has been reincarnated, and who will join Aru on her mission.
To the pigeon’s dismay, this companion is another 12-year-old girl, Mini. She’s more than a little neurotic, but she’s better prepared and more practical in many ways than Aru, and the two are a good match for each other. As the two girls/reincarnated demi-gods travel into a strange other world of gods and monsters, where traps and dangers await them at every turn, they learn to trust each other, and that trust turns out to be the key to their success. Success in staying alive for the moment, that is—this is the start of a four book series, so there is more excitement to come (yay!).
Aru Shah and the End of Time is a fast-paced adventure, full of the sorts of mythological wonders, reworked with a touch of the snark that makes Riordan’s own books so much fun to read! Aru and Mini are perhaps harder to love initially than Percy and co., but as they grow in self-knowledge and acquire shaky confidence, they become more sympathetic. As well as being a great adventure in its own right, it’s a great introduction to Hindu cosmology and folklore.
Riordan’s books push into Young Adult territory, but Aru Shah is firmly middle grade, and as such she should be able to find her own solid fan base with no trouble at all.
Aru Shah and the End of Time is on B&N bookshelves now.