Review: Aru Shah and the End of Time by Roshani Chokshi

This book was absolutely delightful to read. It is fun, fast, smart, and brimming with heart. I am so excited to continue with this series.

Aru Shah and the End of Time is a middle-grade adventure published by Rick Riordan Presents, Riordan's imprint, with the goal to publish myth/folklore based adventure books written by own voices authors from a variety of backgrounds. The book follows Aru, a seventh-grader struggling with fitting in at her elite school in Atlanta, Georgia, with a bit of a lying habit. She lives with her mom in the Museum of Ancient Indian Art and Culture, where a cursed lamp and school bullies combine to cause Aru to end time (she knows the lamp is cursed but didn't know it was cursed cursed). We find out Aru has the soul of one of the five Pandava brothers of the Hindu epic Mahabharata. From here, we follow Aru, her literal soul sister Mini, and their pigeon sidekick Boo as the two girls prove themselves heroines and fix time.

I have only read one other Roshani Chokshi, The Gilded Wolves, which I liked alright, but I knew I would love reading this book. Chokshi's middle-grade voice is so delightful to read, the book is funny and sweet, and I would have absolutely loved it if I had read it as a child. I still loved the book as an adult; it is beyond a good time.

The characters in this book are so clear, they have flaws front and center, but this does not impact their loveability. In particular, Aru seems like she is going to have an amazing character arc throughout this series, and she does grow a lot just through the first book. Mini was a delightful secondary character; she is 1000% a dork, she is terrified of all the thousands of ways she could die at any moment, but she still manages to be brave and helpful and principled. I am so excited to see how Chokshi writes the next three sisters and the next three books, too obviously. I am sure I have lots of joy in front of me!

I gave this book 4 stars on Goodreads and The StoryGraph. I would recommend this to anyone who has nostalgia for the Percy Jackson series and anyone in the target age range who wants to go on an adventure!