Aru Shah and the City of Gold by Roshani Chokshi

To start, in an alternate ending to the previous episode, Principal Krupp ends up in prison (“…a lot like being a student at Jerome Horwitz Elementary School, except that the prison had better funding”). Not that there aren’t pranks and envelope-pushing quips aplenty. Sure signs that the creative wells are running dry at last, the Captain’s ninth, overstuffed outing both recycles a villain (see Book 4) and offers trendy anti-bullying wish fulfillment. With each entry, the series expands into deeper and richer experiences, delving into more complex themes of friendship and family without sacrificing any of the clever banter.

Chokshi’s ability to craft stories of adventure, humorous dialogue, strong South Asian female characters, and Hindu cosmology is pure magic. Aru, Mini, Brynne, Aiden, and Kara must look inside themselves and find freedom in letting go, as distrust, jealousy, and betrayal could upend everything. If they win, Kubera will give them command of the only army that can defeat the Sleeper’s troops, who are marching to Lanka to find a certain weapon capable of destroying all godly defenses and rendering his enemies powerless. Two months have passed and much has happened since she last saw her companions: Travel to the Otherworld has ended, their mentors are missing in the city of gold, and its ruler, Lord Kubera, has summoned the Pandavas to compete in his trials three days hence. Needing to escape and get back to her other Pandava sisters, Aru agrees to bring Kara with her. Aru Shah wakes up in the immediate aftermath of Aru Shah and the Tree of Wishes (2020) to find herself imprisoned in the Sleeper’s lair, staring at his other daughter, Kara, a half sister she didn’t know about until this moment.

Aru Shah and the City of Gold by Roshani Chokshi