Aru Shah and the Song of Death

Rating: 3/5 stars

I am enjoying these books enough to finish, however, I really don't know how I feel about them. They're okay, but nothing special. I echo what I said in my review of the first book, I honestly think the wonderfully beautiful (and largely unknown to me) stories of Hindu mythologies are constrained and held back by the Riordan universe/formula. I guess that could be a positive thing though, maybe these stories are more approachable. Not that other mythologies are less beautiful and therefore better with this formula....

I don't really know what it is about this story. This book (and the first) get off to a rocky start. Even though the action starts right away, I think that is actually a weakness. Comparing it (as obviously one will) to Percy Jackson, we got a lot more time in the human world where Percy just... lives his life. I honestly don't feel like I know these characters very much outside of their jokes. The middle of the book is the best part (I thought the inherited powers and traits from past lives is super interesting). I enjoyed the additional characters and story lines and the ambiguous nature of morality with the villains. There is just something about everything that it feels... strange and not as good as it could be.

Perhaps it's because Percy Jackson takes place largely in our human world, so I can connect to the locations better, while this series focuses on magical travel and different realms, so it is hard to place and connect as much. The overhanded pop culture and technology references were annoying, but it makes sense why they are there–I just prefer a more subtle use.