Roshani Chokshi Q&A + Complete Pandava Series
How can one girl in Spider-Man pajamas find the reincarnations of the five legendary Pandava brothers and stop a demon?
Best-selling author Rick Riordan introduces this adventure by Roshani Chokshi about twelve-year-old Aru Shah, who has a tendency to stretch the truth in order to fit in at school. Based on the ancient Sanskrit epic the Mahabharata, the Pandava series follows demigods struggling in a modern setting with monsters, gods, and goddesses.
Roshani Chokshi is the author of commercial and critically acclaimed books for middle grade and young adult readers that draws on world mythology and folklore. Her work has been nominated for the Locus and Nebula awards, and has frequently appeared on Best of The Year lists from Barnes and Noble, Forbes, Buzzfeed, and more. Her popular books include Once More Upon a Time: An Enchanting Romantic Fairy Tale, includes The Star-Touched Queen duology, The Gilded Wolves, and Aru Shah and The End of Time, which was recently optioned for film by Paramount Pictures.
“Chokshi’s passion for history and mythology has always been my favorite part of her books. The reader will come away feeling like they’ve learned a bit about Hindu gods, monsters, and other beings.”—Courtney Reads Romance
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Scroll down to see the books in the Pandava series, and to find a Q&A with author Roshani Chokshi.
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Pandava Series
Aru Shah and the End of Time (A Pandava Novel Book 1)
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?
“Chokshi spins a fantastical narrative that seamlessly intertwines Hindu cosmology and folklore, feminism, and witty dialogue for an uproarious novel.”—Kirkus Reviews
Aru Shah and the Song of Death (A Pandava Novel Book 2)
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.
Aru Shah and the Tree of Wishes (A Pandava Novel Book 3)
War between the devas and the demons is imminent, and the Otherworld is on high alert. When intelligence from the human world reveals that the Sleeper is holding a powerful clairvoyant and her sister captive, 14-year-old Aru and her friends launch a search-and-rescue mission. The captives, a pair of twins, turn out to be the newest Pandava sisters, though, according to a prophecy, one sister is not true.
During the celebration of Holi, the heavenly attendants stage a massage PR rebranding campaign to convince everyone that the Pandavas are to be trusted. As much as Aru relishes the attention, she fears that she is destined to bring destruction to her sisters, as the Sleeper has predicted.
Aru believes that the only way to prove her reputation is to find the Kalpavriksha, the wish-granting tree that came out of the Ocean of Milk when it was churned. If she can reach it before the Sleeper, perhaps she can turn everything around with one wish.
Careful what you wish for, Aru...
Aru Shah and the City of Gold (A Pandava Novel Book 4)
Aru Shah and her sisters—including one who also claims to be the Sleeper’s daughter—must find their mentors Hanuman and Urvashi in Lanka, the city of gold, before war breaks out between the devas and asuras. Aru has just made a wish on the tree of wishes, but she can’t remember what it was. She’s pretty sure she didn’t wish for a new sister, one who looks strangely familiar and claims to be the Sleeper’s daughter, like her.
Aru also isn’t sure she still wants to fight on behalf of the devas in the war against the Sleeper and his demon army. The gods have been too devious up to now. Case in point: Kubera, ruler of the city of gold, promises to give the Pandavas two powerful weapons, but only if they win his trials. If they lose, they won’t stand a chance against the Sleeper’s troops, which will soon march on Lanka to take over the Otherworld.
Aru’s biggest question, though, is why every adult she has loved and trusted so far has failed her. Will she come to peace with what they’ve done before she has to wage the battle of her life?
Filled with wondrous magic, unforgettable creatures, manipulative gods, and laugh-out-loud dialogue, this fourth book in the Pandava series, a fantasy adventure loosely based on mythology, will leave readers wishing they could read the finale right now.
Aru Shah and the Nectar of Immortality (A Pandava Novel Book 5)
Best-selling author Rick Riordan presents the breathtaking conclusion to Roshani Chokshi’s New York Times best-selling Pandava quintet. Will the Sleeper gain immortality or be stopped once and for all?
The Pandavas only have until the next full moon to stop the Sleeper from gaining access to the nectar of immortality, which will grant him infinite power. But how can Aru, Mini, and Brynne hope to defeat him without their celestial weapons?
The Sleeper and his army are already plundering the labyrinth, and the sisters can’t even enter. Their quest to get in will have them calling on old friends, meeting new allies, and facing fearsome trials, like...performing in a rock concert?
When the moment of confrontation finally arrives, it’s up to Aru to decide who deserves immortality, the devas or the asuras. The most unexpected answer will come from a most unexpected place.
More surprises and delights, gods and demons, and laughs and tears await in this immensely satisfying conclusion to the wild ride that began with the lighting of a lamp.
Roshani Chokshi Interviews
Q: How do you set about writing gender in your work? Your characters frequently defy and subvert stereotypes. Your characters also often address gender issues on the page. How do you build these characters that are wholly themselves, despite our societal expectations of their gender?
“I love this question mostly because it makes me feel very smart. Woohoo! Characters take me a long time. They don’t come naturally to me, and it’s one of the parts of my craft I’m always working on. I think the reason why I struggle with building characters is because they demand a part of your soul, and I’m loath to make more Horcruxes and end up as a noseless Voldemort.
“I give each of my characters a part of myself. Either a part I’m ashamed of or a part I’m proud of, and then I put those characteristics in situations that move in the opposite direction…that which made me feel shameful becoming a benefit, that which I was proud of becoming its own poison. That is how they stay themselves despite the expectations the world may shove upon them.
“When it comes to societal expectations of gender, it makes me happy when a character celebrates who they are relentlessly, even if they’ve got other flaws. For example, Vikram is a prince and he knows he’s smart and adorable and celebrates that in himself. He would walk around in a shirt that says “BETA HERO” and really not think less of himself. Laila is different. She is a character aware that she exists on the margins; aware that she’s exoticized; aware that she sometimes must participate in exoticizing herself to live in this world. But she thinks no less of herself. I think knowing how your characters think of themselves is key to making them feel more alive.”—Roshani Chokshi: There’s not a one-size-fits-all when it comes to the Chosen One (Sirens Conference)
Q: What initially inspired you to start writing stories that draw from Hindu myths?
“My initial inspiration was my grandmother. I was fortunate to grow up in a family filled with gifted storytellers. My mom, who is Filipina, told us ghost stories and monstrous tales. My Ba, who is Indian, told us tales about the gods and demigods. I rarely saw books that dealt with those cultures growing up. If I did, they were very heavy issue books based on diasporic struggles, and while those stories are necessary and wonderful, I wanted something that more fully engaged with my heritage’s magic. So I started writing stories where those myths became a lens. I realize that sounds somewhat intelligent, so I’ll be frank: I WROTE A LOT OF FANFICTION WITH HINDU AND FILIPINO ELEMENTS. And then I realized I could tell my own story.”—Q&A: Roshani Chokshi, Author of ‘Aru Shah and the Tree of Wishes’ (The Nerd Daily)
Q: How did you go about choosing which elements of Hindu mythology to bring to life in the world of ARU SHAH? What kind of world-building went into building your foundation for the series?
“That was a particularly difficult task because these myths have so much nuance depending on the region. This is also a great thing because I had a wealth of interpretations to choose from. For me, I chose the worldbuilding that I thought would have the largest common denominator among readers, which meant sticking with major characters/villains from the epics. The modernized settings, though, were my touch :)”—BWW Interview: Roshani Chokshi, author of ARU SHAH AND THE END OF TIME (Broadway World)
Q: You were the first author to launch your series under the Rick Riordan Presents imprint. How does it feel to close this chapter on Aru Shah, and what was the most daunting part of entering this fifth and final book in the series?
“Oh, gosh. Well, first of all, it’s just been a huge honor, and an extraordinary privilege to be able to launch the Rick Riordan Presents imprint, to honestly become friends with the other authors. Jen Cervantes and I, we talk all the time. When I moved into my new house, I was sending her photos of quilts and bedding and duvets, and was like, “Just tell me what I should buy! I don’t know how to set up my home!” We’re very close, and I love them.
“It’s just so odd because I’ve been writing these books now since 2015/2016, and there are children who will write me messages telling me they’re about to graduate high school and that they grew up reading Aru Shah. Those are particularly bad days for me when I read those emails after I’ve found my third gray hair, or I wash my face and I feel like my eyelashes are slowly falling out, and I’m just this mortal sentient meat sack with an expiration date.
“There’s something about writing these stories especially that reminds me that yes, the flesh is mortal, and it will fade, and yet, the copyright will outlive me. And that’s pretty cool. [Laughs]
“The idea that these stories will go on to have lives beyond me. That I can only control what I put on the page, but as far as someone’s emotional reaction, as far as someone’s response to a story, that’s not mine. It’s somebody else’s. And I find that uniquely humbling because it’s an act of creation to see something to take on other lives and other people’s ideas, and perhaps to also hopefully make room for their ideas.
“One thing we always come back to—or that I’ve found particularly exhausting being in this space, even though I’m very grateful for it—is like, ‘Well, how does it feel to write a book that’s so diverse? How do you feel about diversity? Let’s talk about diversity. And do you want to be on this diversity panel?’
“And honestly, I would rather hurl myself into the sun than talk about diversity one more time. And I think that that is the gift that these books have given me. That hopefully the gift they’ll give to other people is that we will stop having these conversations because there’s no need for them anymore. That we are seeing so many different kinds of celebrations of mythology, that we are seeing nuances of cultural experiences, and nothing would make me happier than to know that Aru Shah had helped make space for that. That we’re not just content with, ‘Oh, we’ve got this Hindu mythology story. We don’t need any more than that.’
“Are you kidding me? We need thousands! Thousands more! And that would be great, and then I could disperse my hate mail with all the other authors. [Laughs] It would be so nice not to be cancelled all alone! I joke. But yeah, intensely rewarding. I really don’t have a bad thing to say about it.”—Roshani Chokshi talks ‘Aru Shah and the Nectar of Immortality’ and the end of the Pandava series (Subjectify Media)
Q&A with Rosh Chokshi (Read Riordan)
“Hi, guys, I’m Roshani Chokshi. I’m the author of the Pandava Series with Rick Riordan Presents. As you may know, Aru Shah and the Nectar of Immortality is our fifth and final book. We are at the end of our time together. So in honor of that, I’m answering all of your burning questions in 11 seconds or less. Ready, let’s go!”
