Title: Aru Shah and the End of Time
Author: Roshani Chokshi
Length: 355 pages
Genre: Fantasy; Juvenile Fiction; Mythology
Spice Level (if applicable): 0 / 5*
Series: Pandava #1
Overall Rating: 9.5 / 10
Overall Thoughts are:
Aru Shah and the End of Time was a blast to read, as it was filled with sarcastic characters such as Mini and Aru, tons of funny dialogue and an exciting introducing into Hindu mythology and Epic Poetry.
Aru and Mini are part of the reincarnated Pandava siblings, that are tasked with finding their remaining siblings and destroying the Sleeper. The sleeper is an interesting villain, one that began as an innocent but was cursed with a darker path. However, as the Sleeper, he is properly terrifying and villainous.
When Aru awakens the Sleeper, she is pushed into a world that she would never have thought existed. A world filled with monsters, different realms, and talking pigeons. Among this new revelations, is the largest one. Awakening the sleeper has frozen the entire world and started the countdown to the end of the world. Aru is joined by her soul-sibling, Mini, a scared, brave young women with deep knowledge of the world that Aru is blind too.
The connection between Aru and Mini is adorable. Even though I expected, Aru to feel jealous of Mini’s strong family connections, Aru is quick to take Mini under her wing. These girls are strong siblings and the banter is real!
After being claimed by two gods, as their soul-fathers, Aru and Mini are tasked with stopping the Sleeper from freeing the Lord of Destruction. They must venture to the Kingdom of Death and discover the way to vanquish the Sleeper. However, like any good quest, it won’t be easy. The door to the Kingdom of Death is closed, and three keys are needed to open the door (as the girls want to be alive when they enter the Kingdom of Death). These keys lead the girls to the Night Bazaar, a crazy hairdresser, and a poison cauldron puzzle.
Once in the Kingdom of Death, Aru and Mini go through further challenges to find the Sleeper’s weakness. As they learn the truth about the Sleeper, they decide (with only one day left before the end of time) to confront the Sleeper. Luckily, they have the help of the Godly steeds.
After an epic final battle scene, the Sleeper escapes but not without shaking Aru’s faith in the future and giving her a horrible vision of the future. Aru and Mini are left with the good news that the world did not end and they must train for the next fight.
Final thought, Chokshi’s addition of a personalised glossary at the end of the book was delightful. I loved the homey, personalised touch to the entries, that removed the clinical dictionary style that can happen with glossaries.
” ‘What kind of thank-you is that?’
‘Why should I say thank you?’ asked Mini. ‘I knew you could do it.’
I knew you could do it.
Aru bit back a grin. ‘Fine. Next time I’ll let you drown a bit longer.’
‘No!’ squeaked Mini. ‘Drowning is number three on my Top Ten Ways I Don’t Want to Die list.’ “
Page 211- 12
Illustration Discussion
For a cover, this one is beautiful. All the colours and the soft art style draws the eye (which was probably purposeful as children are the target audience.) On the cover, is a young girl (who I believe to be Aru) holding her ball of light surrounded by three animal spirits. There is a tiger, a three headed horse, and a peacock. The ball ends up being Aru’s gift from the god Indra. The horses come into play in the Night bazaar chapter. I still remain puzzled about the connection of the peacock and the tiger, both representations (and sometimes the steeds) for gods. Aru and Mini eventually come into contact with the captured godly steeds, which ends up helping them in the ‘final’ battle.
Spoilers Bee-ware!
You have been swarmed. Reading past this post means that you understand that you might spoil the book for yourself.
Stats + Facts for this book are:
Pages per Chapter: 7.7
Top three favourite chapter titles: (1) Why are all enchanted things so rude? (2) Can you Give me Better Hair on the Way out? and (3) Why, why, why? Stupid words.
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