Aru Shah and Various Things (Pandava Series 1-5) - Roshani Chokshi

Category: Adventure, Fantasy, Novel, Teen & Young Adult
Language: English
Keywords: hindu Indian Mythology YA

Written by Roshani Chokshi
Read by Soneela Nankani
Format: MP3

Another series I had to migrate to a different hard drive. Combined into a single complete series torrent. I also obtained a new copy of book #5 as the one I grabbed from here had audio issues.

What is this? It’s a decently entertaining YA series that is basically the Hindu/Indian girl version of Percy Jackson, for whatever that’s worth. (So… I rated it mostly 3 stars on Goodreads. 4 stars for the final book.) In fact, Rick Riordan promoted one of the author’s other books. (”The Spirit Glass”, which I think is much better than this series.) The author goes fucking hog wild with pop culture references (is this what the kids today like???) and I hated that and wanted to slap her for it, but the rest of the content is pretty good, especially if you are interested in Indian mythology. As a warning, the main character starts out insufferable, but she really does experience a ton of character growth and improves.

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Aru Shah and the End of Time

Twelve-year-old Aru Shah has a tendency to stretch the truth in order to fit in at school. While her classmates are jetting off to family vacations in exotic locales, she’ll be spending her autumn break at home, in the Museum of Ancient Indian Art and Culture, waiting for her mom to return from her latest archeological trip. Is it any wonder that Aru makes up stories about being royalty, traveling to Paris, and having a chauffeur?

One day, three schoolmates show up at Aru’s doorstep to catch her in a lie. They don’t believe her claim that the museum’s Lamp of Bharata is cursed, and they dare Aru to prove it. Just a quick light, Aru thinks. Then she can get herself out of this mess and never ever fib again.

But lighting the lamp has dire consequences. She unwittingly frees the Sleeper, an ancient demon whose duty it is to awaken the God of Destruction. Her classmates and beloved mother are frozen in time, and it’s up to Aru to save them.

The only way to stop the demon is to find the reincarnations of the five legendary Pandava brothers, protagonists of the Hindu epic poem, the Mahabharata, and journey through the Kingdom of Death. But how is one girl in Spider-Man pajamas supposed to do all that?

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Also contains:

Aru Shah and the Song of Death
Aru Shah and the Tree of Wishes
Aru Shah and the City of Gold
Aru Shah and the Nectar of Immortality