--- title: Aru Shah and the End of Time: 100 Best Fantasy Books description: Find out why Aru Shah and the End of Time by Roshani Chokshi is on TIME's list of the best fantasy books of all time canonical: https://time.com/collections/100-best-fantasy-books/5898519/aru-shah-and-the-end-of-time/ article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2020-10-14T19:56:52.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-03-02T23:42:52.032Z og:title: 'Aru Shah and the End of Time' Is on TIME's List of the 100 Best Fantasy Books og:description: Here’s why it made the list og:url: https://time.com/collections/100-best-fantasy-books/5898519/aru-shah-and-the-end-of-time/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt88dad72698a031bf/698a133316d8845ca0c38b2c/Aru-Shah-and-the-End-of-Time-Roshani-Chokshi-100-best-fantasy-books.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: 'Aru Shah and the End of Time' Is on TIME's List of the 100 Best Fantasy Books og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: 'Aru Shah and the End of Time' Is on TIME's List of the 100 Best Fantasy Books twitter:description: Here’s why it made the list twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt88dad72698a031bf/698a133316d8845ca0c38b2c/Aru-Shah-and-the-End-of-Time-Roshani-Chokshi-100-best-fantasy-books.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 --- Oct 14, 2020 # Aru Shah and the End of Time by Roshani Chokshi by [TIME Staff](https://time.com/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff  In an effort to better fit in at her school, 12-year-old Aru Shah bends the truth—a lot. Her mother works at the Museum of Ancient Indian Art and Culture, which is where Aru’s lies catch up with her: She tells her classmates that there’s a curse on the museum’s Lamp of Bharata. When they ask her to prove it, she lights the lamp—and accidentally awakens an ancient demon who has the ability to end the world. Aru discovers that to make things right, she’ll have to track down the reincarnations of the Pandava brothers, the central characters in the Hindu epic poem _Mahabharata_. In her middle grade debut, Roshani Chokshi creates an exciting adventure, interweaving Hindu mythology with her snappy prose. And in Aru, Chokshi unveils an astute young heroine with witty observations about a world she is just coming to understand. —_Annabel Gutterman_ **Buy Now:** _Aru Shah and the End of Time_ on [Bookshop](https://bookshop.org/a/4973/9781368023566) | [Amazon](https://amzn.to/3ns1L9j) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"Article","@id":"https://time.com/collections/100-best-fantasy-books/5898519/aru-shah-and-the-end-of-time/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/collections/100-best-fantasy-books/5898519/aru-shah-and-the-end-of-time/"},"headline":"'Aru Shah and the End of Time' Is on TIME's List of the 100 Best Fantasy Books","datePublished":"2020-10-14T19:56:52.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-02T23:42:52.032Z","description":"","url":"https://time.com/collections/100-best-fantasy-books/5898519/aru-shah-and-the-end-of-time/","keywords":["Books","list"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt88dad72698a031bf/698a133316d8845ca0c38b2c/Aru-Shah-and-the-End-of-Time-Roshani-Chokshi-100-best-fantasy-books.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Staff","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/time-staff/"}],"creator":"TIME Staff","articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt88dad72698a031bf/698a133316d8845ca0c38b2c/Aru-Shah-and-the-End-of-Time-Roshani-Chokshi-100-best-fantasy-books.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/collections/100-best-fantasy-books/5898519/aru-shah-and-the-end-of-time/","name":"'Aru Shah and the End of Time' Is on TIME's List of the 100 Best Fantasy Books"}}]}] ```