Aru Shah and the Tree of Wishes by Roshani Chokshi: Review and Giveaway (Plus, a Quick Review of Aru Shah and the Song of Death)

These books are such a fabulous foray into Hindu mythology! I adore how many tales Chokshi manages to weave seamlessly into her story—Aru and her sisters (and friends) meet so many characters from these stories on their journey, and each time the original story is reflected somehow in Aru’s tale. This makes Aru’s journeys through the Otherworld that much more exciting and interesting—a point that held true in this book as she went on a quest to find a missing wish tree. This book didn’t have the lag of middle book syndrome—I was eagerly turning the pages to learn of Aru’s next adventure!

In this book, Aru meets two new sisters and must unravel a prophecy before her father, the Sleeper, can. The book focuses on Aru’s conflicted feelings about her father. He is the villain of the story, but throughout this book she learns what brought him to that point and she sees for herself that her father actually did love her. I love the messages here about family and love and good and evil—it’s not always a simple formula. Like real life, the lines get very blurry sometimes. And Aru’s fears about feeling too much sympathy for the bad guys in the story seem very real.

Three new characters are introduced in this book: Sheela and Nikita, twin Pandava sisters, and Rudy a self-absorbed prince. Rudy is especially fun for some comic relief but, as has held true with all the characters in these books, we also get to see his softer side. By the end of the book, I came to love Rudy just as much as the other heroes. I wish we’d gotten to know Sheela and Nikita just a little bit more, but we still have one more book for that!

I’m eager to find out how Chokshi will end this series in book four!!

***Disclosure: I received this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. No other compensation was given and all opinions are my own.***

---

PRAISE FOR ARU SHAH AND THE TREE OF WISHES

“Touching, riotously funny, and absolutely stunning.”–Kirkus

Praise for Aru Shah and the End of Time:

“An imaginative novel that puts girl power and diverse protagonists front and center.”

—Entertainment Weekly

“[An] engrossing adventure tale.”—Teen Vogue

 “Roshani Chokshi spins a modern-day fairy tale that adults and children will love.”-Bustle

Grab the first 2 books in the series!

Aru Shah and the End of Time (A Pandava Novel Book 1)

Aru Shah and the Song of Death (A Pandava Novel Book 2)

---

 

Aru Shah and the Song of Death by Roshani Chokshi
Series: Pandava Quartet #2
Also in this series: Aru Shah and the End of Time
Published by Rick Riordan Presents on April 30, 2019
Genres: Middle Grade, Fantasy
Pages: 304
Source: Won It!
Cover Artist: Abigail L. Dela Cruz
My rating:

Aru is only just getting the hang of this whole Pandava thing when the Otherworld goes into full panic mode. The god of love's bow and arrow have gone missing, and the thief isn't playing Cupid. Instead, they're turning people into heartless fighting-machine zombies. If that weren't bad enough, somehow Aru gets framed as the thief. If she doesn't find the arrow by the next full moon, she'll be kicked out of the Otherworld. For good.

But, for better or worse, she won't be going it alone.

Along with her soul-sister, Mini, Aru will team up with Brynne, an ultra-strong girl who knows more than she lets on, and Aiden, the boy who lives across the street and is also hiding plenty of secrets. Together they'll battle demons, travel through a glittering and dangerous serpent realm, and discover that their enemy isn't at all who they expected.

A fun continuation of the series! In this book, Aru and Mini are joined by two new friends when they have to clear their name and save a whole bunch of men from becoming heartless zombies (literally!).

I especially enjoyed the addition of Brynn and Aiden. Brynn and Aru aren’t so sure what they think of each other at first, and I appreciated seeing the process of Aru learning more about Brynn and realizing that there might be a lot more to her than meets the eye. Actually, that’s a major theme of the whole book—how we can’t really make judgments about people until we know the complete story. As Aru learns more about Brynn, she realizes that the girl has struggles that inform her choices, and the same goes for the villains in this story. Real life isn’t made up of people who fit perfectly into the mold of hero or villain—sometimes heroes make bad choices and villains make good ones. Sometimes people make bad choices because they’re driven to them, and sometimes people make bad choices for the right reasons. This book explores many of those different dynamics!

---

About the Author

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Related Posts