I am thrilled to be hosting
a spot on the ARU SHAH AND THE NECTAR OF IMMORTALITY by Roshani Chokshi Blog
Tour hosted by Rockstar Book Tours. Check out my post and make
sure to enter the giveaway!
About the Book:
Author: Roshani Chokshi
Pub. Date: April 6, 2021
Publisher: Rick Riordan Presents
Formats: Hardcover, eBook, audiobook
Pages: 400
Find it: Goodreads, Amazon, Kindle, Audible, B&N, iBooks, Kobo, TBD, Bookshop.org
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?
*"A deeply satisfying conclusion to a superb, groundbreaking
series."--Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
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.
Collect the whole series:
- Rick Riordan Presents: Aru Shah and the End of Time (Book
1). Read for FREE with a Kindle Unlimited
membership!
- Rick Riordan Presents: Aru Shah and the Song of Death (Book
2)
- Rick Riordan Presents: Aru Shah and the Tree of Wishes (Book
3)
- Rick Riordan Presents: Aru Shah and the City of Gold (Book 4)
Excerpt:
ONE
Not All Who Wander Are Lost
Kara’s first
reaction when she entered the labyrinth that hid the nectar of immortality was,
well, disappointment. She’d imagined it would look like something out of
the fairy tales she had read over and over until the book spines split
down the middle. She thought it would be beautiful, with ginormous green
mazes carved out of jungle plants where sleek panthers with glowing eyes
would stalk and snarl at them from the sidelines.
But it
wasn’t. It was a cave. And it was dark.
The only
light came from what she gripped tightly in her right hand: Sunny, her
trident, forged from a drop of pure sunshine. Nothing could penetrate the
darkness except Sunny, and as the daughter of Surya, the sun god, only
Kara could guide them through the labyrinth. No enemies would be able to
follow, much less fight them. She’d seen to that a few days ago.
Heat spasmed
through her chest. She didn’t know what to name it . . . Even the thought
of feeling guilty made her feel . . . guilty.
You did
the right thing, her
father had told her over and over.
But then why
did that moment feel so poisonous? Why couldn’t she stop thinking about
Aru’s face? Or the way Brynne had almost bellowed in pain? Or how Mini, the
gentlest of them, had curled around herself like she’d been kicked?
“Are you
ready, daughter?”
Kara looked
up at her dad. He stood tall and noble, his blue and brown eyes beaming
down at her.
“I’m proud
of you,” he said in his deep rumbling voice. “You have been faced with difficult
choices, and each time you have done the right thing.”
The words
glowed in Kara’s heart. She was reminded all over again that Suyodhana
was her dad in every way that counted. He had rescued her from a bad
place. He had taken care of her when her own mother, Krithika Shah, had
abandoned her.
Even so,
Kara sometimes imagined a soft voice speaking to her in her dreams . . . He’s
lying to you.
The voice
belonged to a young girl. If Kara really concentrated, she could almost see
the girl’s face. Dark brown skin, braids framing her cheeks, a pair of
electric blue eyes. She looked like Sheela, one of the Pandava
twins.
You’re
not real, she once
told Dream Sheela.
Sheela had
regarded her mildly. Or maybe you just don’t want me to be real? Kara figured
that her mind was simply reaching for an elaborate way to protect itself
from the truth that she’d finally met her mom and now knew for sure that
Krithika had given her up. And who could blame her? thought Kara with a pang.
Krithika had moved on with her life. She had another daughter: Aru, who
was funny and clever. Aru had the soul of Arjuna, the shining hero of all
the stories. Kara had the soul of a mistake. She was a mistake, and it
was only because of the Sleeper’s mercy that she still existed.
“Remember
what lies ahead,” said her father now, placing a warm hand on her
shoulder. “We will remake the world. We will all be together . . . as a
family. Like I promised.” Family.
That was all
Kara wanted. She’d meant what she said to Aru the moment she broke the
astra necklace. She loved her mom and sister. She was doing this so they could
be together, so they wouldn’t fight one another anymore.
This was the
only way.
He’s
lying to you . . . whispered
that voice in the back of her head.
Kara shoved
it aside and stood up straighter. “I’m ready,” she said.
She raised
her trident, and a stream of sunlight snaked through the darkness. This was
the true path inside . . . the only path inside. Behind her, her
father’s troops held their breath. His army was a strange mix of
individuals.
Some of them
were pale and misshapen rakshasas, burned and scarred from fights
with the devas from long ago. Others were pristine yakshas whose
families had lost their homes due to human encroachment. With each
passing hour, more beings joined her father’s cause— celestial and woodland
nymphs mistreated by human kings who had won the gods’ favor, ghosts who
had once haunted the edges of cremation grounds, members of the bear and monkey
races who had fought in the devas’ wars and won no glory.
Her father
had promised them all that this time the nectar of immortality would not
be stolen from them. This time, they would have the power. Whenever
Suyodhana spoke, his followers listened. Hope shone in their eyes.
But
sometimes Kara wondered what he really felt. When he thought no one was
looking, Kara had seen him touch a pendant that he wore around his neck.
He never took it off, and every time his fingers touched the stone, a
look of pain crossed his face.
“Well,
daughter?” prompted Suyodhana, snapping her back to the moment. “Lead the
way. Be the hero to guide us into the new age.”
Kara fought
the urge to correct him. Heroine. That was what Aru, Brynne and
Mini always said.
But heroism
was nothing like what she had gleaned from all her books. There was no
shining armor to protect her from emotions she didn’t want to feel. There was
no magical horse leading her into a battle between clearly divided good
and evil. Even the monsters weren’t so monstrous.
So what
does that make you?
whispered a doubt deep inside her heart.
Kara ignored
the voice and stepped into the dark.
TWO
I Hate It Here
Aru Shah’s
life was, to put it simply, an absolute mess.
Her previous
pigeon mentor, Boo, was currently a flammable chick of some kind. Her
crush, Aiden, had kissed her and yet was now acting like she was invisible. Her
friend Kara had turned out to be not only her real-life half-sister but
also the daughter of the sun god. And, as if that weren’t enough for the
past twenty-four hours, Kara had betrayed them, joined forces with the
Sleeper to locate the nectar of immortality, and incinerated the Pandavas’
celestial weapons. On Aru’s birthday.
But even
though Kara and the Sleeper had vanished, at least Aru now knew where she
would find them.
It was
almost evening in Atlanta, and the mid-February wind made her ears burn as
she stared up at the stone gate marking the entrance to Lullwater Park.
According to Krithika Shah, this was the current hiding spot of
the labyrinth holding the nectar of immortality, but just for the next
ten days. The only way to navigate the labyrinth was by the light of the sun,
and now that the Sleeper had Kara’s demigod solar powers on his side, the
Pandavas’ chances of reaching the nectar of immortality first were
looking, well, low.
Maybe it
wouldn’t be so bad if they could simply get through the magical barrier
surrounding the park. For the second time since they’d arrived, Aru held out
her hand. She could feel a pulse of energy near the gate, and it was like
a curtain drawn tight. She couldn’t push past it.
“I told you,
Aru,” said Krithika softly, laying her hand on her daughter’s shoulder.
“You won’t be admitted without your godly weapons. It’s to be expected
that the devas would devise a way to keep humans out.”
“But we’re
not humans!” said Brynne. “We’re demigods!”
Just then, a
young white family walked past. The mom grinned at them and thrust her
fist into the air. “That’s the spirit of the future! We’re all demigods!”
And then she laughed and kept walking.
“You okay,
Brynne?” asked Mini. “Your forehead vein is sticking out a lot. . . .” “No, I’m
not okay!” said Brynne. “We have nothing. We can’t fight without
our weapons!”
“Technically,
we could . . .” said Mini, weakly holding up her fists.
“Only
someone with a godly weapon can control the Nairrata army,” said Brynne.
“We don’t have that anymore! And we can’t get into the labyrinth,
either!” Her voice broke, and she looked away from them right before she
mumbled, “We can’t protect anyone.” “That’s not true, Bee,” said Aru. “We still
have this.”
Aru shoved her
right hand into her pocket. Her fingers instinctively searched for her
lightning bolt, Vajra, which normally would either be nestled into a glowing
ball of static electricity or wrapped around her wrist as a sparking
bracelet. Aru felt a sharp ache. Without Vajra, the world felt a little
less bright.
Aru withdrew
her hand. She had meant to pull out the IO(F)U coin from Agni, the god of
fire. But she must have reached into the wrong pocket, because instead she drew
out half of an expired and possibly fossilized Twix bar. While her left
hand fished around in her other pocket for the enchanted coin, Aru
shrugged and took a bite.
“Aru! NO!”
shouted Mini, smacking Aru’s back so hard that Aru spat out the candy
bar. “That was perfectly good chocolate!” said Aru.
“What is
wrong with you?” demanded Mini. “You cannot eat that! Expired candy
can carry microbes! Some even has strains of salmonella! And if you eat
it, you could die.” “We’re already going to die!” said Brynne, crossing
her arms. “Especially if Aru thinks a moldy candy bar is a way to avoid
doom!”
“What I
meant to take out was this,” said Aru, holding up the glowing
coin. Brynne still didn’t look convinced. “Yeah, but it doesn’t seem to
work, does it?” Aru sighed. Nothing was going her way. She couldn’t even eat
some chocolate without the risk of death.
When they’d
previously tried to contact Agni with the coin, Mini, Brynne, and Aru had
taken turns holding it tight and making a wish. They’d even called out Agni’s
name and held it to the sky, but nothing seemed to make a
difference.
“So how
exactly are we going to find the god of fire, Shah?” demanded Brynne. “If
we step foot in the Otherworld and start asking questions, the devas are
going to figure out we don’t have our weapons anymore. Everyone will
panic. What if they know already? What if Rudy goes back to the Naga
Realm and doesn’t keep his mouth shut?”
“I think
Rudy and Aiden are still at home fighting over who gets to hold BB,” piped
up Mini.
BB was what
they had decided to name baby Boo, who had hatched at the museum this
morning and had already left multiple singe marks on the floor. Mini hadn’t
wanted to take him outside, worried that he would catch a cold—even
though Aru had pointed out that he was literally a firebird—so they’d
left him behind with the boys.
Brynne
groaned. “There’s no way to hide what’s happened to us. Hanuman and
Urvashi are bound to check in any minute now.”
Aru flipped
the coin between her fingers, weighing a new idea in her head. “Mom? Can
you talk to Sheela and Nikita’s parents? The twins may be able to help us.” “Of
course,” said Krithika. “But the girls are still too young to have inherited a
godly weapon, so they won’t be able to open the boundary either.”
“But they
still have their Pandava powers,” said Mini.
Brynne
looked like she was chewing on the inside of her cheek. Like Mini and Aru,
she had lost her control of wind, her element. But she was half-asura,
which meant she could still shapeshift. The only problem was that she
couldn’t turn into anything big anymore.
Brynne shook
her head. “So what? It’s not like we can make the twins fight an entire
battle on their own.”
“I know,”
said Aru. “But we need a prophecy. Something that will let us get around
the Otherworld and look for Agni without anyone bothering us for the next
few days.” Brynne kicked at a bottle cap on the sidewalk. “Right. We’ll just
pop over to a convenience store and pick a prophecy off the shelf.”
Aru ignored
her soul sister’s tone. She knew Brynne was hurting—they all were—but
Brynne was taking it even harder than Aru expected. A small part of Aru felt
responsible for this whole mess.
On the drive
over to Lullwater Park, she kept replaying all the things she could have
done differently. She should have worded her answer better when the god
of treasures, Kubera, had asked her to decide who could wield the
Nairrata army. She should have stopped the Sleeper the first time she’d
had the chance. She should have confronted her mom about the truth ages
ago.
But it was
too late for all that.
Aru squared
her shoulders and frowned at the darkening sky overhead before she faced
her mom and her sisters. “I never said it had to be a real prophecy.”
About Roshani:
Roshani Chokshi (www.roshanichokshi.com) is the author of the
instant New York Times best-selling books in the Pandava series, Aru Shah and
the End of Time, and its sequel, Aru Shah and the Song of Death. She also wrote
the New York Times best-selling YA books The Star-Touched Queen and The Gilded
Wolves. She studied fairy tales in college, and she has a pet luck dragon that
looks suspiciously like a Great Pyrenees dog. The Pandava novels were inspired
by the stories her grandmother told her as well as Roshani's all-consuming love
for Sailor Moon. She lives in the south and says "y'all," but she
doesn't really have a Southern accent. Her Twitter handle is @roshani_chokshi.
Website
| Twitter
| Facebook
| Instagram |
Goodreads | Amazon | BookBub
Giveaway
Details:
1 winner will receive a finished copy of ARU SHAH AND THE NECTAR OF IMMORTALITY, US Only.
a Rafflecopter giveawayTour Schedule:
Week One:
|
4/1/2022 |
Excerpt/IG
Post |
|
|
4/2/2022 |
Excerpt |
Week Two:
|
4/3/2022 |
Excerpt |
|
|
4/4/2022 |
Excerpt |
|
|
4/5/2022 |
Review/IG
Post |
|
|
4/6/2022 |
Excerpt |
|
|
4/7/2022 |
Review/IG
Post |
|
|
4/8/2022 |
Excerpt |
|
|
4/9/2022 |
IG
Post |
Week Three:
|
4/10/2022 |
Review |
|
|
4/11/2022 |
Excerpt/IG
Post |
|
|
4/12/2022 |
IG
Spotlight |
|
|
4/13/2022 |
Review |
|
|
4/14/2022 |
Review |
|
|
4/15/2022 |
Review/IG
Post |
|
|
4/16/2022 |
Review |
Week Four:
|
4/17/2022 |
Review |
|
|
4/18/2022 |
Review/IG
Post |
|
|
4/19/2022 |
Review/IG
Post |
|
|
4/20/2022 |
Review |
|
|
4/21/2022 |
Review/IG
Post |
|
|
4/22/2022 |
Review |
|
|
4/23/2022 |
IG
Spotlight |
Week Five:
|
4/24/2022 |
Review/IG
Post |
|
|
4/25/2022 |
Review/IG
Post |
|
|
4/26/2022 |
Review/IG
Post/TikTok Post |
|
|
4/27/2022 |
Review/IG
Post |
|
|
4/28/2022 |
Review |
|
|
4/29/2022 |
Review |
|
|
4/30/2022 |
Review/IG
Post |
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.