 Hello my darling extraterrestrials, I am Kim, this is Dusmoats and Velikor, and Arusha in the end of time is delightful. Just utterly delightful. This sucker is a middle grade reader by Roshni Chakshi, who as you know I kind of adore. Our snarky heroine Arusha lives above the museum of ancient Indian arts and culture with her mom, a distracted and often absent museum curator. So she's got a lot of spare time on her hands. Which she uses to concoct fanciful stories about the fabulous vacations she totally goes on to compete with her wealthy, somewhat snobby classmates. But when three of them try to catch her in a lie under the evil red eye of recording video, she offers proof that she wasn't lying by lighting a lamp that her mother told her is cursed and therefore should never be lit. And she maybe sort of releases a demon called the Sleeper upon the world. What follows is a fast paced adventure filled with Indian mythology and quick thinking heroines and quite a lot of screaming. Their journey takes them through death and reincarnation, the other world, a Costco with a mystical armory department and a sentient palace that has abandonment issues. Aaru and her soul sister Mini, who's her partner on this adventure, use their wits, their skills, their compassion and their imagination as they quest to return the world to the way it was and on the journey they grow into themselves a little bit more. Just enough for the next adventure. Now don't get me wrong, I really enjoyed this book and I really recommend it. But a thing that I noticed was that it doesn't sound like it was written by Rashi Chakshi. Where is the delicious language of Star-Touched Queen? Where are the poignant moments of introspection from Crown of Wishes? Though, to be fair, all three books have a plethora of semi-nonhuman quirky side characters. Yes, yes, I said semi-nonhuman. I guess it feels like some editor somewhere took all of Rick Riordan's books, boiled them down to the salt and said, this is the formula now. Use this, it'll sell. Which makes sense because this was published under Rick Riordan's new imprint with Disney Hyperion. I love Rick Riordan, but I feel like Rashi Chakshi had something new to offer to the genre and she wasn't given that opportunity. Her work has been food for my soul and it was strange to see this one so skeletal on that count. But there are three more books coming in this series. Maybe this story is like the girls at a town hungry for a better understanding of the world and really just getting started. But if you are looking for a fast-paced adventure with quick-witted girls with a lead, definitely check this one out. I would put the reading age at like 8 to 12. It's funny, it's fast, it has girls sprinting headlong into situations that they're totally ready for. They just don't know it yet. If that sounds like your cup of tea, definitely check out Arusha and the End of Time by Rashi Chakshi. Come talk to me. I love talking about books and I'm honestly a little confused about this one because I can't tell. Like am I wrong or did she do it intentionally? I don't know. I feel like Rashi Chakshi could write the next Alana song of the lioness series. Something where your characters grow into adulthood along with their readers. Something where nuance and adventure can run hand-in-hand into the sunset. I don't know. But I feel like she has that potential and I just didn't get it from this one. So come tell me I'm wrong in the comments. A viento!