The second book in the Pandava Quartet begins with Aru Shah and her best friend, Mini, in an enchanted shopping center fending off zombies.

Someone has stolen the god of love’s enchanted bow and arrow, and they are using it to turn innocent humans into (literally) heartless, zombielike fighting machines. To make matters worse, Aru gets framed as the thief. The council of gods and Uloopi, the naga queen, give the two Pandavas an ultimatum: find and defeat the real thief in 10 days’ time or be exiled from the Otherworld forever. Aru and Mini unite with two other heroes—a new Pandava sister, Brynne Rao, and her best friend, Aiden Acharya—to save the world from mass destruction. On their numerous adventures in the Otherworld, from a giant-swan attack to their journey to the Ocean of Milk, Aru contemplates difficult questions about what it means to be good or evil, the role of duty, and the power of a good story. In this sequel to Aru Shah and the End of Time(2018), Chokshi seamlessly weaves Indian cosmology and pop culture into a refreshingly feminist plot laced with witty dialogue. The most compelling feature of the novel, however, is the complexity of its characters, who, despite their divinity or semidivinity, are at their core very human.

This will leave fans enthralled and clamoring for more. (Fantasy. 10-13)

-Kirkus Review

I’ve been so excited to read this sequel since I finished the first book a couple of weeks ago. It was such fun and I completely fell in love with the characters and I’ve been waiting to know what happens to them next, and this book was just as spectacular.

While the previous book gave us an introduction to this world of reincarnated Pandavas and prophecies and the Otherworld, we get to go deeper into it in this one. The plot is slightly different this time around, because the characters are more on a quest to prove their innocence of the theft for which they have been blamed. The author does a great job keeping the pace quick and consistent throughout, there is never a dull moment and the humor is totally up to the mark. There are also numerous pop culture references, especially LOTR which I really enjoyed but what delighted me more were the references to Bollywood, Indian dance and music and a certain beloved cricketer. I actually thought Roshani was pretty excellent at making sure the humor and references were very organic to the story and never felt too much. We also go much deeper into some of Arjuna’s story in the Mahabharata and Surpanakha’s story in the Ramayana. I liked the analysis of the epics from a more neutral perspective, that even heroes do wrong things sometimes and we don’t always know the complete story. There is also an underlying theme that two wrongs don’t make a right, and everyone has the choice to make the right decisions despite what has happened in the past. These are things that we probably realize while reading our epics but don’t want to voice our opinions because that’ll make us unpopular, but I liked that the author didn’t shy away from these discussions. This was a very quick read and pretty much finished the book in a single sitting.

I completely fell in love with Aru and Mini in the first book and it was great to meet them again. Due to reasons, we don’t get to see Mini or Boo for a significant portion of the book, and I really missed their banter. But Aru is more delightful than ever and definitely more confident about her abilities too. She has grown very attached to the Otherworld and the various celestial beings, which makes the idea of losing it all very scary for her, but she is also worried that is not capable of being a hero and will ultimately disappoint her found family. But despite grappling with these issues, she never loses sight of her mission and is always thinking very quickly on her feet to get everyone out of troublesome situations. We also get introduced to new characters Brynne and Aiden, who are guarding their own personal family secrets but have to team up with Aru and Mini for the quest. Brynne has used to working alone always and is well trained, so she is not interested in having to tag along with Aru but slowly they start to grow on each other and I loved the progression of their relationship. Aiden on the other hand is like a peace keeper and mother hen wrapped up in a single package, always making sure they don’t fight amongst each other and also have everything that they need to keep up their sustenance. I loved this new dynamic between the gang, and I’m also very excited to see who else will be joining them in the future books. And finally, that revelation of which Mahabharata character Aiden is reincarnated from was hilarious and quite unexpected and I just couldn’t stop laughing at the way it was handled.

What more can I say except if you enjoyed Aru Shah and the End of Time, stop wasting any more time and pick this up immediately. If you haven’t read this series but love middle grade adventure fantasy novels, then this one is just perfect. This book was fun, delightful, fast paced with an amazing group of characters who will keep you smiling throughout. ( )

Not too much to say here except that this was fun ride with Aru. I think that Chokshi did a great job with the adventure story-line while still giving a fun flavor to old stories that Aru, Mimi and the newest additions have heard about. We also had a great set-up into the next book as well.

'Aru Shah and the Song of Death" has soul sisters Aru and Mimi trying to track down a thief who stole the god of Love's bow and arrow. Coming across someone that they believe stole it, Aru and Mimi come across the third Pandava,Brynne. After being summoned before the Guardians, the three Pandavas are told either they find out the name of the thief who stole the bow and arrows or they will be banished and the Pandava cycle will have to start again. Boo is also not allowed to help them so the three girls along with Aru's next door neighbor Aiden all have to go and find the bow and arrows before time runs out.

Of course the three girls have trouble ironing things out and working together and it doesn't help that Aru is a little jealous that Brynne appears to be best friends with Aiden, the boy that Aru had a crush on in the last book. Thank goodness that Chokshi doesn't do any of that love triangle nonsense in this book though. We have the three girls slowly learning to trust each other and figuring out more and more how their powers from the brothers work exactly. I thought that Chokshi did a great job with developing not only Aru but everyone else as well.

Aru still doubts herself at times and doesn't feel that confident as a Pandava (very reminiscent of Sailor Moon). Mimi is still obsessed with good hygiene and Brynne seems obsessed with food. I thought Aiden was a nice addition and am interested to see where that whole story-line with his parents is going.

The writing was very good and I laughed at all of the chapter headings. Some of the headings spoiled what was to come though, but still made me crack up. There is also a lot of pop culture references in this which made me laugh (Taylor Swift, Jay-Z, Bollywood, etc.). The flow was very good and I enjoyed getting to see more of the world of the Pandava's in this one.

The setting of the Night's Bazaar and other locations have always been my favorite part of this series and the other one that Chokshi wrote (The Star-Touched Queen). We get to see some old and new characters in this one which was good.

The ending left things nice and tidy with a hint of what the next book will be about. I loved that this book was focused on the three girls becoming friends and also family and that Aiden was just all of their friend. Please no love triangle hint or jealousy in the next book. It's refreshing to just see a boy and several girls being friends. ( )

Can I have at least one page without any pop culture reference? ( )

Aru Shah and the Song of Death is the second book in what is planned to be a four-book series, or "Quartet." This exciting continuation of mythology-themed adventure immediately drops readers into the action. Aru Shah and her friend Mini are the reincarnated souls of demigod brothers, the Pandavas, from Hindu mythology. In this new installment, they meet another girl, Brynne, who is also a reincarnated Pandava. (There were five brothers in all, so it makes sense that in future offerings, more Pandavas will be introduced.) Putting aside their initial antagonism, Aru and Mini have to work with Brynne and a classmate, Aiden, to recover a bow and arrow that was stolen from the god of love. This was a fun story, due to be published in April under the "Rick Riordan Presents" imprint. I think this book will definitely appeal to readers of mythology-based fantasy.