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4.02 AVERAGE
4.02 AVERAGE
I pre-read this before I give it to my niece, who just the turned 8. I was burned by the Ranger’s Apprentice series (It has the *hero* selling someone into slavery) which I gave to my nephew before I found out that wonderful bit of trivia that no one seems bothered by (It has like 5000 reviews, most of which are 5 stars, and i only found 1 review that mentions it). But I won’t turn this into a complete rant against RA.
This book was so FUN!!! I will probably wait. A bit to give it to my niece. Not for mature content reasons, but because I think she’ll appreciate some of the humor more. And there’s good amount of humor. It’s middle grade humor, but there’s stuff in there that adults would appreciate.
I’m extremely grateful (and a bit humbled) that this is Rick Riorden chose to use his very wide platform to support not only authors of diverse backgrounds, but stories that expose readers to mythologies and tales that he doesn’t have the background knowledge to tell.
Even as an adult, I, as a White woman, appreciate these “101’s” of non Greek/Roman mythologies. This series is also a wonderful starting point to find non-white authors of adult fantasy, as many of the authors have written for adults.
This book was so FUN!!! I will probably wait. A bit to give it to my niece. Not for mature content reasons, but because I think she’ll appreciate some of the humor more. And there’s good amount of humor. It’s middle grade humor, but there’s stuff in there that adults would appreciate.
I’m extremely grateful (and a bit humbled) that this is Rick Riorden chose to use his very wide platform to support not only authors of diverse backgrounds, but stories that expose readers to mythologies and tales that he doesn’t have the background knowledge to tell.
Even as an adult, I, as a White woman, appreciate these “101’s” of non Greek/Roman mythologies. This series is also a wonderful starting point to find non-white authors of adult fantasy, as many of the authors have written for adults.
I liked this story, it was a cool world and I liked the culture. The characters came across as young, but they were young. It was fun.
adventurous
funny
informative
inspiring
lighthearted
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:
Yes
Totally freaking great.
We listened to this one in the car and didn’t have any long trips so it was just about half an hour on school days.
Reallllllly great. The imagery, the adventures, the heroines, the magic- all awesome! Loved learning about some of the Folklore from India
We listened to this one in the car and didn’t have any long trips so it was just about half an hour on school days.
Reallllllly great. The imagery, the adventures, the heroines, the magic- all awesome! Loved learning about some of the Folklore from India
This is the kind of book I want my nieces to read. It was fun, educational, and realistic about girls and growing up. I'm so excited to read the next one!
I have had Aru Shah and the End of Time on my reading list since early 2019. I have always loved Rick Riordan's books, and I was eager to read a book he curated. I started the book with an open mind, and found myself very pleasantly surprised to find that while Chokshi's style is all their own, the book is definitely consistent with the type of tales a reader of Riordan would enjoy.
And bless my favourite new character - Mini.
And bless my favourite new character - Mini.
Aru Shah and the End of Time is a Middle Grade Contemporary/Urban Fantasy novel book 1 in the Pandava Chronicles.
This was a pretty good book. Aru Shah was a fun protagonist at times with on point sarcasm, but then there was one of those weird jokes that I usually hear from boy characters in fiction, and its the Aru mistakes uvula for vagina/ovary . . . joke? You know, "So it's a girl (blank)" or "How am I supposed to know if its a girl (blank)"? Aru is 12, by the way. Plus her supporting character Mini was largely obnoxious during most of the book, made reading a lot of the scenes unbearable. However, the integration of the Hindu mythology into our world was fun and I did like the story, its just the fam and I won't be in such a rush to read the next book.
p.s. Still not in the mood for in depth reviews for trad pub books, but I think I can work with this.
This was a pretty good book. Aru Shah was a fun protagonist at times with on point sarcasm, but then there was one of those weird jokes that I usually hear from boy characters in fiction, and its the Aru mistakes uvula for vagina/ovary . . . joke? You know, "So it's a girl (blank)" or "How am I supposed to know if its a girl (blank)"? Aru is 12, by the way. Plus her supporting character Mini was largely obnoxious during most of the book, made reading a lot of the scenes unbearable. However, the integration of the Hindu mythology into our world was fun and I did like the story, its just the fam and I won't be in such a rush to read the next book.
p.s. Still not in the mood for in depth reviews for trad pub books, but I think I can work with this.
This was a pretty fun read. However, I will say that it feels a little Percy Jackson derivative, but doesn't quite pull off the same charm--though maybe that's because I'm reading this as an adult, while I read Percy Jackson as a pre-teen.
I like that Chokshi gives us opportunities to see how beautiful traditional Indian clothes can be--describing Aru dreaming of going to a middle school dance like a Bollywood movie, Urvashi in her beautiful white salwar kameez top, Aru's mom in a vision of the past wearing beautiful black velvet salwar kameez, etc.
I think my primary complaint is that it felt like this was trying to hard to make the main characters believably awkward and middle-schooly--it made them feel a bit stereotypical and less than lifelike.
I'm interested to see how the rest of the series plays out.
I like that Chokshi gives us opportunities to see how beautiful traditional Indian clothes can be--describing Aru dreaming of going to a middle school dance like a Bollywood movie, Urvashi in her beautiful white salwar kameez top, Aru's mom in a vision of the past wearing beautiful black velvet salwar kameez, etc.
I think my primary complaint is that it felt like this was trying to hard to make the main characters believably awkward and middle-schooly--it made them feel a bit stereotypical and less than lifelike.
I'm interested to see how the rest of the series plays out.
Indian mythology, adventure and relatable heroines? I'm here for it. An extra shout out for Minnie and her pinoy roots.