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amiralikestoread's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
mysterious
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? It's complicated
5.0
I absolutely loved this book! I can't wait to read the second one!!
mariahistryingtoread's review against another edition
2.0
This is the second series I've read, technically the third book - if you count sequels as separate entities rather than group them together - under the ‘Rick Riordan presents’ banner and I am underwhelmed once more.
Tristan Strong at least was only going through the motions of a middle grade novel in general. This book feels a lot like The Lightning Thief; or what I can remember of The Lightning Thief which admittedly I have not read in some time.
Aru has a single mom, Aru is a demigod, there’s a claiming where the god has to claim the kid as their own, Aru is given a special ping pong ball that is exactly the same as the sword pen Percy has, the journey involves fighting monsters from history (PJ’s are from Greek myths whereas Aru’s are from Indian folklore) in seemingly innocuous places, there are super quirky chapter titles, Aru has to travel to the Kingdom of Death (like Percy needs to travel to the underworld).
Obviously, Rick Riordan does not own these story elements nor did he reinvent the wheel when writing The Lightning Thief. The basic formula for both of these books has been used before and is common in middle grade. That's fine. If it ain't broke don't fix it. I’m just saying that all of these elements together did make the book feel very derivative to me.
I appreciate the diversity that does differentiate this book from the Percy Jackson series as a whole as well as other similar books. It's so important for kids to see themselves, their stories and their cultures in the mainstream. It's not only white and/or eurocentric history that matters. I love learning about other cultures and this book certainly delivered on that front. I’ve never read a book with Indian characters that made the fact that the characters were Indian an integral part of the story. I think it’s rather sad that there aren’t more books that are trying to break down boundaries in this way or more books that have been given the chance by publishers to do so.
Unfortunately, this book brought nothing else to the table.
Underneath the representation this story was unoriginal. The real insult however is that it's so by the numbers. I don't necessarily care that a book isn't innovative. I just make a note of it and continue on. This dragged on in such a way that it was impossible to ignore. A majority of the book felt like it was going through the motions, checking off all the boxes to fulfill its tropes. There was:
- the super sassy animal sidekick
- superfluous meta humor because we all know it's silly to be reading a middle grade novel but it's okay as long as we are in on the joke (and can I just say how sick I am of this kind of storytelling? God forbid we ever be vulnerable or show a genuine emotion. Noooo, then people might think we actually care, and that's gross so let's hide all our feelings under several layers of irony because it's 'cooler' to be apathetic)
- gratuitous pop culture references
- predictable story beats; go get thing we need, repeat ad nauseum
- underpowered villain with sympathetic backstory to redeem later
If you’ve read any middle grade adventure book you’ve read this one; I was constantly aware that I had read this before in some fashion.
Chokshi tried way too hard to make Aru edgy and cool. Aru came off as needlessly mean-spirited. She was always so negative about Mini’s ideas or Mini’s interests. Like excuse Mini for having an actual personality. It was clearly intended to be a quirk of their relationship, just banter between friends/sisters. It did not work for me because Aru is so flat. It was annoying to see her pick at Mini when she, herself, had no depth. In this regard, Mini was way stronger a character. She had aspirations, a more compelling arc, legitimate traits that made her feel like a person not just a character. Aru was like a self insert at best. She often acted like what a kid thinks is cool to act like when in actuality it’s insufferable. To a point I expect some childish behavior. It is a kids book after all. And putting on a front is a defense mechanism for a lot of people therefore, Aru acting fake to fit it does make sense based on how other kids have treated her in the past. My problem is that it felt like Chokshi genuinely thought these traits made Aru likable. It wasn't meant to be a flaw in Aru, merely a quirk.
This next bit is a personal pet peeve, though, as I alluded to earlier I hate its prevalence in kid lit. A proliferation of references to tv shows or movies or internet jokes has taken over middle grade that takes place in a contemporary setting. It not only dates the book it nearly always feels like an author trying way too hard to relate to their audience. It so rarely feels authentic. I know why it’s done, it must be enjoyable to the primary demographic so hey my opinion does not matter that much. So I suppose what I really want is for it to be done better, if it absolutely must be included.
There’s a joke in this book where these characters want to take a selfie with Aru. They try to say ‘do it for the insta’ to cajol her. This is exactly what I’m talking about. It’s mindless regurgitation not even done well because it's the wrong phrasing. Absolutely no one says ‘do it for the insta’. That’s never been a saying. It would be ‘do it for the gram’ and the original iteration was ‘do it for the vine’ anyways. Vine is dead so I’m not surprised it’s been co-opted. Nor do I expect that version to be used. I’m just pointing out that even that would have worked better than ‘do it for the insta’. Saying it incorrectly shows the authors' age and/or lack of basic research.
Most of the time the jokes are built on either ‘isn’t it hilarious to repeat word for word this joke from something else’ or it being inherently funny for some reason to allude to another piece of media. When the humor was not entertainment based it was repetitive running gags run straight into the ground.
The same joke would be made over and over. For example, Aru attempts to be intimidating while Mini obliviously ruins the effect due to her earnest nature. This happens almost every single time the two encounter a new person. It grows tiresome because not only does it not reveal anything new about their personalities it loses comedic value after maybe the first time. And I only say maybe because personally I found this to be mediocre at best even the first time, but I'm leaving room for other readers to enjoy it more than I did. It's part of this underlying idea that Aru is the 'fun' one and Minnie is low-key boring because she's the prim one. Again, Aru tries way too hard for me to perceive her as cool by any standard so it’s unnecessary to emphasize it.
The villain is milquetoast. Rather than keep him a secret until the final showdown we meet him halfway through ruining the tension that had built up. The Sleeper has a chance to kill the girls or at least one girl yet doesn’t because ‘they aren’t strong enough anyways so why bother’. Yeah, okay.
He needs them to get the celestial weapons since he can’t do it himself. I don’t understand why the central conflict wasn’t the Sleeper manipulating Aru to get him the weapons or else he’d do X,Y,Z. That would better serve Aru’s arc as the actual conflict doesn’t make any sense.
Aru lights the lamp per the synopsis. She tells Mini it was an accident. Obviously this isn’t true. Except I don’t get how this is a big deal? Aru apparently lit it way sooner than was anticipated, but it was always fated to be lit at some point. So who cares that she lit the lamp on purpose? If it was always fated to be then isn't this what fate wanted? You can't argue fate on one hand and then say that she went against fate. Fate encompasses every action no matter what. Mini already forgave her for lighting it accidentally. I don’t see how this is really all that different. Their families are still at risk. The world is still at risk. Nothing has changed outside of semantics. The fight that stems from this is revolved immediately too so I don’t see why this was ever an issue.
The compact gift given to Mini was a crutch. The best part of the book that really highlighted a characters’ ingenuity was when it was unusable.
Aru's mother is awful. I understand her reasoning but it does not excuse emotional neglect especially once Aru knows the truth. Her mom still refuses to communicate. I know she has to go on the trips, however, that does not explain or justify why she is so absentee when she is present. I don’t like that her mother is not held accountable for how she falls short at all. It’s a messy situation but again she could still do better so Aru would be well within her rights to address it anyways.
I’ve lost faith in the Rick Riordan presents label. I do still plan on reading all of them because I’m curious. Let’s be clear, I don’t think this is a bad book. I definitely think kids will enjoy it. It’s competently written, kids aren’t as picky as me - an adult woman - and it’s got an interesting world to explore. I just think that this could have done a lot more.
Tristan Strong at least was only going through the motions of a middle grade novel in general. This book feels a lot like The Lightning Thief; or what I can remember of The Lightning Thief which admittedly I have not read in some time.
Aru has a single mom, Aru is a demigod, there’s a claiming where the god has to claim the kid as their own, Aru is given a special ping pong ball that is exactly the same as the sword pen Percy has, the journey involves fighting monsters from history (PJ’s are from Greek myths whereas Aru’s are from Indian folklore) in seemingly innocuous places, there are super quirky chapter titles, Aru has to travel to the Kingdom of Death (like Percy needs to travel to the underworld).
Obviously, Rick Riordan does not own these story elements nor did he reinvent the wheel when writing The Lightning Thief. The basic formula for both of these books has been used before and is common in middle grade. That's fine. If it ain't broke don't fix it. I’m just saying that all of these elements together did make the book feel very derivative to me.
I appreciate the diversity that does differentiate this book from the Percy Jackson series as a whole as well as other similar books. It's so important for kids to see themselves, their stories and their cultures in the mainstream. It's not only white and/or eurocentric history that matters. I love learning about other cultures and this book certainly delivered on that front. I’ve never read a book with Indian characters that made the fact that the characters were Indian an integral part of the story. I think it’s rather sad that there aren’t more books that are trying to break down boundaries in this way or more books that have been given the chance by publishers to do so.
Unfortunately, this book brought nothing else to the table.
Underneath the representation this story was unoriginal. The real insult however is that it's so by the numbers. I don't necessarily care that a book isn't innovative. I just make a note of it and continue on. This dragged on in such a way that it was impossible to ignore. A majority of the book felt like it was going through the motions, checking off all the boxes to fulfill its tropes. There was:
- the super sassy animal sidekick
- superfluous meta humor because we all know it's silly to be reading a middle grade novel but it's okay as long as we are in on the joke (and can I just say how sick I am of this kind of storytelling? God forbid we ever be vulnerable or show a genuine emotion. Noooo, then people might think we actually care, and that's gross so let's hide all our feelings under several layers of irony because it's 'cooler' to be apathetic)
- gratuitous pop culture references
- predictable story beats; go get thing we need, repeat ad nauseum
- underpowered villain with sympathetic backstory to redeem later
If you’ve read any middle grade adventure book you’ve read this one; I was constantly aware that I had read this before in some fashion.
Chokshi tried way too hard to make Aru edgy and cool. Aru came off as needlessly mean-spirited. She was always so negative about Mini’s ideas or Mini’s interests. Like excuse Mini for having an actual personality. It was clearly intended to be a quirk of their relationship, just banter between friends/sisters. It did not work for me because Aru is so flat. It was annoying to see her pick at Mini when she, herself, had no depth. In this regard, Mini was way stronger a character. She had aspirations, a more compelling arc, legitimate traits that made her feel like a person not just a character. Aru was like a self insert at best. She often acted like what a kid thinks is cool to act like when in actuality it’s insufferable. To a point I expect some childish behavior. It is a kids book after all. And putting on a front is a defense mechanism for a lot of people therefore, Aru acting fake to fit it does make sense based on how other kids have treated her in the past. My problem is that it felt like Chokshi genuinely thought these traits made Aru likable. It wasn't meant to be a flaw in Aru, merely a quirk.
This next bit is a personal pet peeve, though, as I alluded to earlier I hate its prevalence in kid lit. A proliferation of references to tv shows or movies or internet jokes has taken over middle grade that takes place in a contemporary setting. It not only dates the book it nearly always feels like an author trying way too hard to relate to their audience. It so rarely feels authentic. I know why it’s done, it must be enjoyable to the primary demographic so hey my opinion does not matter that much. So I suppose what I really want is for it to be done better, if it absolutely must be included.
There’s a joke in this book where these characters want to take a selfie with Aru. They try to say ‘do it for the insta’ to cajol her. This is exactly what I’m talking about. It’s mindless regurgitation not even done well because it's the wrong phrasing. Absolutely no one says ‘do it for the insta’. That’s never been a saying. It would be ‘do it for the gram’ and the original iteration was ‘do it for the vine’ anyways. Vine is dead so I’m not surprised it’s been co-opted. Nor do I expect that version to be used. I’m just pointing out that even that would have worked better than ‘do it for the insta’. Saying it incorrectly shows the authors' age and/or lack of basic research.
Most of the time the jokes are built on either ‘isn’t it hilarious to repeat word for word this joke from something else’ or it being inherently funny for some reason to allude to another piece of media. When the humor was not entertainment based it was repetitive running gags run straight into the ground.
The same joke would be made over and over. For example, Aru attempts to be intimidating while Mini obliviously ruins the effect due to her earnest nature. This happens almost every single time the two encounter a new person. It grows tiresome because not only does it not reveal anything new about their personalities it loses comedic value after maybe the first time. And I only say maybe because personally I found this to be mediocre at best even the first time, but I'm leaving room for other readers to enjoy it more than I did. It's part of this underlying idea that Aru is the 'fun' one and Minnie is low-key boring because she's the prim one. Again, Aru tries way too hard for me to perceive her as cool by any standard so it’s unnecessary to emphasize it.
The villain is milquetoast. Rather than keep him a secret until the final showdown we meet him halfway through ruining the tension that had built up. The Sleeper has a chance to kill the girls or at least one girl yet doesn’t because ‘they aren’t strong enough anyways so why bother’. Yeah, okay.
He needs them to get the celestial weapons since he can’t do it himself. I don’t understand why the central conflict wasn’t the Sleeper manipulating Aru to get him the weapons or else he’d do X,Y,Z. That would better serve Aru’s arc as the actual conflict doesn’t make any sense.
Aru lights the lamp per the synopsis. She tells Mini it was an accident. Obviously this isn’t true. Except I don’t get how this is a big deal? Aru apparently lit it way sooner than was anticipated, but it was always fated to be lit at some point. So who cares that she lit the lamp on purpose? If it was always fated to be then isn't this what fate wanted? You can't argue fate on one hand and then say that she went against fate. Fate encompasses every action no matter what. Mini already forgave her for lighting it accidentally. I don’t see how this is really all that different. Their families are still at risk. The world is still at risk. Nothing has changed outside of semantics. The fight that stems from this is revolved immediately too so I don’t see why this was ever an issue.
The compact gift given to Mini was a crutch. The best part of the book that really highlighted a characters’ ingenuity was when it was unusable.
Aru's mother is awful. I understand her reasoning but it does not excuse emotional neglect especially once Aru knows the truth. Her mom still refuses to communicate. I know she has to go on the trips, however, that does not explain or justify why she is so absentee when she is present. I don’t like that her mother is not held accountable for how she falls short at all. It’s a messy situation but again she could still do better so Aru would be well within her rights to address it anyways.
I’ve lost faith in the Rick Riordan presents label. I do still plan on reading all of them because I’m curious. Let’s be clear, I don’t think this is a bad book. I definitely think kids will enjoy it. It’s competently written, kids aren’t as picky as me - an adult woman - and it’s got an interesting world to explore. I just think that this could have done a lot more.
queenenjoyer's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
relaxing
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? It's complicated
3.75
uutopicaa's review against another edition
2.0
Aru Shah and the End of Time no es un mal libro dentro de lo que intenta lograr, aunque es una hormiguita puesta junto a The Star-Touched Queen, de la misma autora. No solo se trata de un texto que apunta a otra clase de lectores, sino que me resultó insatisfactorio en muchos aspectos. A mí no me gustó porque no colmó ni siquiera un 5% de mis expectativas.
La reseña que leerán a continuación es mucho más subjetiva que lo que acostumbran a ver en este blog, lo siento. Se titula: Por qué detesté cada página de Aru Shah.
----------------
En pocas palabras, podría resumir todo en decir que siento que la autora escogió la fama por encima de la calidad. Y eso quizá no sea cierto, pero así lo percibí yo como lectora.
En otras obras de Roshani Chokshi, vemos un estilo fantástico que recuerda en parte al de Laini Taylor, con excelente uso de recursos narrativos, personajes entrañables, representaciones fenomenales de la mitología de la India, historias únicas y llenas de mensajes entre líneas, paisajes de ensueño, etc., etc., etc. Libros que se graban en nuestra memoria y que resaltan entre el montón.
Acá, sin embargo, tenemos una copia de Percy Jackson con otra mitología. Fin.
¡Y no digo que eso sea malo! A mí me gustó Percy Jackson en su momento (hasta que la fórmula se tornó demasiado repetitiva). Y sé que está bien armada para chicos jóvenes, pero no es a eso a lo que apunto con la reseña.
Aru Shah es una historia poco memorable, un pingpong de sucesos uno atrás del otro que no dejan tiempo a respirar o reflexionar. No encontraremos buenas descripciones de nada y todo el concepto de la mitología de la India (que es lo que a mí más me interesaba) se pierde entre los malos chistes y la acumulación innecesaria de datos superficiales.
Cuando leí The Star-Touched Queen, aprendí muchísimo sobre esta clase de mitología porque se toman apenas algunos lugares y personajes que se exploran A FONDO. Llegamos a comprender y analizar el reino de la muerte, el bazar de la noche, el concepto de la reencarnación y muchísimo más. Vemos el modo de vida de una cultura tanto desde el “así es” como desde una crítica social a lo que debería cambiarse (la inferioridad de la mujer).
Acá, en Aru Shah and the End of Time, sin embargo, todo es pasajero. Aparece por una o dos carillas como mucho y no vuelve a ser nombrado. Es imposible aprender algo así y retenerlo o comprenderlo. Se tocan TANTOS temas que pareciera que la autora hubiese arrojado todo el glosario de mitología al manuscrito sin poner las definiciones. Un lector que desconoce el tema no se lleva nada, no aprende nada. Sí, verán “qué lindo que es que se hable de la mitología de una cultura que en general no vemos a menudo”, pero el lector promedio no gana conocimiento alguno. Y sí, se hacen comentarios constantes de “no soy un héroe, soy una heroína” como reivindicación de la presencia femenina en la cultura de la India, pero nada más.
En otras palabras: siento que este es un libro escrito para quedar bien con las masas y ser popular. Nada más.
Pero de nuevo, no es un mal libro desde lo técnico. Y me alegra que la mitología de esta cultura vaya a llegar al público joven hispano. PERO hubiera preferido que tradujeran cualquier otra obra de la misma autora.
Si quieren leer la reseña completa, pueden verla en mi blog: http://pardonmispanglish.blogspot.com/2018/05/resena-aru-shah-and-end-of-time-roshani.html
La reseña que leerán a continuación es mucho más subjetiva que lo que acostumbran a ver en este blog, lo siento. Se titula: Por qué detesté cada página de Aru Shah.
----------------
En pocas palabras, podría resumir todo en decir que siento que la autora escogió la fama por encima de la calidad. Y eso quizá no sea cierto, pero así lo percibí yo como lectora.
En otras obras de Roshani Chokshi, vemos un estilo fantástico que recuerda en parte al de Laini Taylor, con excelente uso de recursos narrativos, personajes entrañables, representaciones fenomenales de la mitología de la India, historias únicas y llenas de mensajes entre líneas, paisajes de ensueño, etc., etc., etc. Libros que se graban en nuestra memoria y que resaltan entre el montón.
Acá, sin embargo, tenemos una copia de Percy Jackson con otra mitología. Fin.
¡Y no digo que eso sea malo! A mí me gustó Percy Jackson en su momento (hasta que la fórmula se tornó demasiado repetitiva). Y sé que está bien armada para chicos jóvenes, pero no es a eso a lo que apunto con la reseña.
Aru Shah es una historia poco memorable, un pingpong de sucesos uno atrás del otro que no dejan tiempo a respirar o reflexionar. No encontraremos buenas descripciones de nada y todo el concepto de la mitología de la India (que es lo que a mí más me interesaba) se pierde entre los malos chistes y la acumulación innecesaria de datos superficiales.
Cuando leí The Star-Touched Queen, aprendí muchísimo sobre esta clase de mitología porque se toman apenas algunos lugares y personajes que se exploran A FONDO. Llegamos a comprender y analizar el reino de la muerte, el bazar de la noche, el concepto de la reencarnación y muchísimo más. Vemos el modo de vida de una cultura tanto desde el “así es” como desde una crítica social a lo que debería cambiarse (la inferioridad de la mujer).
Acá, en Aru Shah and the End of Time, sin embargo, todo es pasajero. Aparece por una o dos carillas como mucho y no vuelve a ser nombrado. Es imposible aprender algo así y retenerlo o comprenderlo. Se tocan TANTOS temas que pareciera que la autora hubiese arrojado todo el glosario de mitología al manuscrito sin poner las definiciones. Un lector que desconoce el tema no se lleva nada, no aprende nada. Sí, verán “qué lindo que es que se hable de la mitología de una cultura que en general no vemos a menudo”, pero el lector promedio no gana conocimiento alguno. Y sí, se hacen comentarios constantes de “no soy un héroe, soy una heroína” como reivindicación de la presencia femenina en la cultura de la India, pero nada más.
En otras palabras: siento que este es un libro escrito para quedar bien con las masas y ser popular. Nada más.
Pero de nuevo, no es un mal libro desde lo técnico. Y me alegra que la mitología de esta cultura vaya a llegar al público joven hispano. PERO hubiera preferido que tradujeran cualquier otra obra de la misma autora.
Si quieren leer la reseña completa, pueden verla en mi blog: http://pardonmispanglish.blogspot.com/2018/05/resena-aru-shah-and-end-of-time-roshani.html
simobae's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
funny
informative
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
4.25
libbey_wolfe's review against another edition
5.0
A very enjoyable series, I would recommend to anyone who enjoyed the Percy Jackson and the Olympian series and the Heroes of Olympus series by Rick Riordan.
I'd give it more stars if I could but I'm limited to 5 stars.
I'd give it more stars if I could but I'm limited to 5 stars.
rebekahentz's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
reflective
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
4.5
dunnotish's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
fast-paced
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
3.75
This was epic af
priya_amrev's review against another edition
3.0
It was nice enough but over cliched. It was supposed to be representative but ended up having a lot of the same stereotypes that are so perpetuated in media.
And the mc was extremely dumb, often, but then again ig I am 10 yrs older than she is. I think I would’ve enjoyed this a lot more when I was in 7th grade.
But again, I am very happy about the representation and sharing of Hindu mythology that is unfortunately so lacking. I wish there were more (detailed) books like this and I wish I’d had something like this when I was younger.
And the mc was extremely dumb, often, but then again ig I am 10 yrs older than she is. I think I would’ve enjoyed this a lot more when I was in 7th grade.
But again, I am very happy about the representation and sharing of Hindu mythology that is unfortunately so lacking. I wish there were more (detailed) books like this and I wish I’d had something like this when I was younger.
aclopez6's review against another edition
4.0
I would recommend this book for young adults and middle-grade readers who like fantasy, folktales, mythology, and adventure. There are also a lot of characters to keep track of, but the glossary at the back is helpful! Features Hindu mythology, and two perfectly imperfect heroines
CW: multiple gods, demons
CW: multiple gods, demons