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4.01 AVERAGE
4.01 AVERAGE
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
***3.5***
Aru shah is a liar. She makes up stuff in her mind and tells the tales to her friends just to fit in. She is poor , has an busy mother who is almost always travelling and they live in a Museum, which they also run for a living.
Aru is lonely. But things change when three of her classmates unexpectedly show up at the museum and confronts her on her lies. Aru , on the other hand is forced to show that her tales are real, lights a cursed lamp ( which she was told to stay away from).
This act awakes the demon called Sleeper, who in turn will wake the god of destruction which will hence end the world. But the time is frozen for others and not for Aru. Aru discovers her true identity and meets new gods, demons, creatures, people and sets out on quest to stop the Sleeper.
It was a good, fast read. The Indian mythology is something we have heard from our childhood and so the book was an easy read ( not like Norse or Greek ). I loved the conversations which were downright witty, I could almost imagine Cartoonish Boo huffing and puffing! One thing which I did not like was this has a feel of Percy Jackson. As the main storyline- a god child (demigod) saving the world, in turn finds out other god children and a new world etc etc.. That's the only thing that was off for me.
Otherwise a good story.
Happy Reading!!
Aru shah is a liar. She makes up stuff in her mind and tells the tales to her friends just to fit in. She is poor , has an busy mother who is almost always travelling and they live in a Museum, which they also run for a living.
Aru is lonely. But things change when three of her classmates unexpectedly show up at the museum and confronts her on her lies. Aru , on the other hand is forced to show that her tales are real, lights a cursed lamp ( which she was told to stay away from).
This act awakes the demon called Sleeper, who in turn will wake the god of destruction which will hence end the world. But the time is frozen for others and not for Aru. Aru discovers her true identity and meets new gods, demons, creatures, people and sets out on quest to stop the Sleeper.
It was a good, fast read. The Indian mythology is something we have heard from our childhood and so the book was an easy read ( not like Norse or Greek ). I loved the conversations which were downright witty, I could almost imagine Cartoonish Boo huffing and puffing! One thing which I did not like was this has a feel of Percy Jackson. As the main storyline- a god child (demigod) saving the world, in turn finds out other god children and a new world etc etc.. That's the only thing that was off for me.
Otherwise a good story.
Happy Reading!!
It's fairly obvious that this tiny graphic is only a sliver of the novel, but it's still done pretty well. I enjoyed following Aru and seeing her grow as a person. I hope we get more!
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
The book had heart and was rather interesting, pretty good worldbuilding too.
A few complaints though.
1) The author continuously injects some unnecessary “heroine” stuff into the thing? Which gets really extra towards the end. Like, I get that you’re female, Aru, but right now I’m reading a pretty emotionally charged scene so I don’t want to hear about it?
2) Urvashi’s comment about Aru being too young was kind of out of character if you ask me. With her being so unsympathetic before (“yeah go get shot by arrows lolz”) it doesn’t make sense that she would care so much about their well-being? Even if she does, surely her focus on image (focus on social graces, dancing, beauty) together with her projected arrogance would make her hide these emotions?
3) I actually found Aru kind of annoying. She was smart, sure, but she seemed unnecessarily mean to those around her.
4) Also, the ending seemed stretched out to dump worldbuilding and a hook/cliffhanger before the next book? Which honestly did the opposite by turning me off.
5) The entire scene with the karma was pretty meh because I remembered the karma? So I was just waiting and waiting for them to whip it out and when they finally did, there was about 0 conflict. I didn’t feel engaged at that moment if I’m being honest.
Things I did like:
1) Aru’s intelligence. Especially the reverse blackmail scene because that was gold.
2) The snow scene. I really like where that one went, though I would love it more if Aru was psychologically tormented by murdering someone who didn’t harm them? Maybe I’m just saying this because I’m not Middle Grade but, you know, it’s never to early to read darker books.
3) The culture. All of it. Including how Aru’s classmates reacted to it. The Halloween costume thing was really pretty good.
And that’s it! Overall, this book wasn’t too bad. I mean, at least the author didn’t make a character change her entire personality just to make his most wonderful character a love interest, right?
A few complaints though.
1) The author continuously injects some unnecessary “heroine” stuff into the thing? Which gets really extra towards the end. Like, I get that you’re female, Aru, but right now I’m reading a pretty emotionally charged scene so I don’t want to hear about it?
2) Urvashi’s comment about Aru being too young was kind of out of character if you ask me. With her being so unsympathetic before (“yeah go get shot by arrows lolz”) it doesn’t make sense that she would care so much about their well-being? Even if she does, surely her focus on image (focus on social graces, dancing, beauty) together with her projected arrogance would make her hide these emotions?
3) I actually found Aru kind of annoying. She was smart, sure, but she seemed unnecessarily mean to those around her.
4) Also, the ending seemed stretched out to dump worldbuilding and a hook/cliffhanger before the next book? Which honestly did the opposite by turning me off.
5) The entire scene with the karma was pretty meh because I remembered the karma? So I was just waiting and waiting for them to whip it out and when they finally did, there was about 0 conflict. I didn’t feel engaged at that moment if I’m being honest.
Things I did like:
1) Aru’s intelligence. Especially the reverse blackmail scene because that was gold.
2) The snow scene. I really like where that one went, though I would love it more if Aru was psychologically tormented by murdering someone who didn’t harm them? Maybe I’m just saying this because I’m not Middle Grade but, you know, it’s never to early to read darker books.
3) The culture. All of it. Including how Aru’s classmates reacted to it. The Halloween costume thing was really pretty good.
And that’s it! Overall, this book wasn’t too bad. I mean, at least the author didn’t make a character change her entire personality just to make his most wonderful character a love interest, right?
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
reflective
relaxing
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
If you liked percy jackson this is for you. With a dive into the Hindu gods and tales Roshani will have you laughing at Aru's inner thoughts.
I have wanted to read this for awhile after I suspected it was the Hindu religion version of the Percy Jackson series...and I was correct! In fact there were times it felt very...knockoff? But for anyone who has an interest in the Hindu mythology or even enjoyed the Percy Jackson series i think they would like this one.
Aru Shah cracked me up because she was such a...typical 12 year-old girl trying to not look too uncool. LOL.
The primary negative I had was the in this book, Aru Shah deals with the idea of her lying...but instead of taking accountability for it, she "DISCOVERS" that it's not lying so much as having an "imagination". And I don't like that message. She DOES change and realize that lying hurts people and can complicate relationships---but the primary thing is that saying things to people--making up "stories" is having an imagination more than lying. And I don't like that being promoted.
For those who would want to know--there is one place in the book with the Seasons where Summer isn't male or female--but is a "they". It's a passing moment and is relatively low key. But it is still there.
I enjoyed it enough to want to read the next books in the series.
Aru Shah cracked me up because she was such a...typical 12 year-old girl trying to not look too uncool. LOL.
The primary negative I had was the in this book, Aru Shah deals with the idea of her lying...but instead of taking accountability for it, she "DISCOVERS" that it's not lying so much as having an "imagination". And I don't like that message. She DOES change and realize that lying hurts people and can complicate relationships---but the primary thing is that saying things to people--making up "stories" is having an imagination more than lying. And I don't like that being promoted.
For those who would want to know--there is one place in the book with the Seasons where Summer isn't male or female--but is a "they". It's a passing moment and is relatively low key. But it is still there.
I enjoyed it enough to want to read the next books in the series.
4.5 STARS
Planning to write a full review on my blog soon. I'll link it here once it's up!
Planning to write a full review on my blog soon. I'll link it here once it's up!
It’s fun, less intense than Rick Riordan’s books (so far, maybe later in the series), and the humor is top-notch. Reading this book is like watching a movie; I could feel the color burst from the stories (if that makes sense) (or more like my imagination runs wild). The mythology part is fun, too, reading familiar names and learning more about them. But the thing that I really love about this book is the way the author describes ‘things,’ from four p.m. (I wrote a whole ass love letter from the description of four p.m. alone), adulthood with its strange flavor, the sip of old age that is like a happy kind of fullness, memories as the grandest illusion, even the way she describes the palace and its sadness of being forgotten by the Pandavas (I cried... a bit) (why middle-grade books make me feel all sorts of stuff???) But yes, it's a good, light-hearted read that will make you stop and ponder upon things, even more as an adult.