This is the fourth installment in the Aru Shah series. The story was very fast-paced and was filled with Hindu mythology. I thought Mrs. Chokshi did an excellent job in portraying a mythical Hindu world! The characters were fun and were very funny! Therefore, this is a wonderful installment to a magical series!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an electronic copy to read in exchange for an honest review.

I'll say it - Aru Shah is better than Harry Potter. This is the fourth in a five book series. Aru and her soul sisters continue on their quest to defeat the Sleeper. We see huge growth in all sisters as they face unprecedented and unpredictable situations.

There is so much to learn while reading- keep Google open so you can research different characters and their stories. This is such a great series!

Roshani Chokshi delivers another great book in the fourth installment of the Pandava's series. I read an ARC, thanks to Net Galley and preordered the book for my Middle grade students. As predicted there is a waiting list for this book and I had to order a second copy for the classroom.

I can't recommend this series enough. Aru Shah is such a relatable character and her adventures just keep getting bigger and better. I highly recommend starting with the first book!

This installment was excellent and I enjoyed it very much. Fantastic character development, world building, and setting. A bit of a higher lexile middle grade read so make sure your younger readers are prepared.

Roshani Chokshi does an amazing job continuing to build upon the story and Hindu mythology that she created with the first Aru Shah book. This fourth book of the Pandava series maintains the character development and pacing that we have grown to love. Aru and her “siblings” are off on another quest trying to stop the Sleeper. Twists and turns interrupt their path. I look forward to seeing how far this story will go.

I loved this book in the series, I think this one was my favorite one so far! It had a lot of fun moments with Aru Shah and her friends, and it also got really deep into family drama with her and her mother and her father. You could really see how torn she was with her feelings towards her father, and her step sister as well. She was so torn about what she was feeling, and I could see her really struggling. It really showed complex family dynamics and how a young girl feels so many complex feelings, a complex emotional character arc, and it also has really high stakes. Things are so much more serious and dire, and intense in this book! Overall if you're looking for a really fun novel or a new middle grade series to read, I highly recommend checking this book out! You won't be disappointed at all!

This series is one of my favorites from the Rick Riordan Presents line, and every time the next one comes out, I get excited. And this one was no different. And although this wasn’t my favorite, I still enjoyed reading it and seeing what kind of trouble the Pandavas got up to!


Aru and her Pandava sisters have found another sister. Well not a Pandava sister, but another daughter of the Sleeper. She joins them to fight the gods and those trying to stop them from getting rid of the Sleeper’s army. To help fight him, they are promised two very powerful weapons if they can win the trials he places in front of them. But how can any teen concentrate on that when all the adults or those in charge are turning out to be missing or just plain not who she thought they were?


The best thing about this was the characters. I always love meeting new characters in these types of stories. It makes me go looking into who they are and if they mean anything to the story they’re in. And these characters that we got to meet were kinda awesome. I especially loved the mongoose with the jewels lol (Read it and you’ll see lol)


There’s also the fact that Chokshi is still a master story teller. This story would be NOTHING without all the humor. The Pandavas all have very different but hilarious personalities and it was wonderful being back with them. There’s also the new characters. I enjoyed learning more about them as we met them. And let’s not talk about that ending scene…….


Now there were some times where I thought she could go a little more indepth with with her writing tho. Idk if that makes sense, so basically what I mean is I wanted more. For example, if the scene is on the cover, I want more of a fight. Maybe it was just me because I kept starting and stopping reading because of my baby, but I did feel that it was a bit light on the fight scene compared to what she usually does.


And I mentioned the ending scene, but what about all of it? Is Chokshi TRYING to kill us with these cliff hangers? She’s given us one in every book! And this one in my opinion was the worst! How can you end a book when about 98% of things have changed?! Like I have so many questions and there’s so many that have not been answered ugh lol I can’t wait to get the next one!


This series is one of my favorites from the RR Presents line. When I heard it was coming out, I knew it was a no brainer to go ahead and read this one. Although it wasn’t my favorite, I still enjoyed it and I can’t wait to see what goes down in the last book. With the ending of this book, I can’t imagine how its all going to end. I guess we’ll see!

Aru Shah and the City of Gold by Roshani Chokshi is the fourth installment in this wonderful middle grade series. When I first recieved this arc from Netgalley and Disney books I was super excited for it, and I still am after finally reading the book a month later. Lol! So what can I say about a fourth installment in a five book series without spoiling u guys...
Well we follow a 14 year old girl name Aru Shah and she is ur average 14 year old trying to foucs in school and then this big bird comes into her class and tell her she's a pandava which is one of their mythology. I love how sassy and witty Aru is in this newest installment. The group of gang Aru is with is amazing too. We have adien, brynn, kara (I find kara annoying though and u will know why) and boo. Boo is a funny character to read from because he's a big fat talking bird.....
With each installment the actionness of these books keeps getting more and more instense. I love the narrator for this series too because the reason why I finally got around to reading this new installment I have listen to the audiobook of this one like I did with the other 3.... That's all I can say without spoiling this book but I will totally receomend this to all my friends and family!
4/5 stars

This has been one of my favourite Rick Riordan Presents series and it stayed that way all the way to the end. Every moment of Aru Shah is just so fun and nice to read

A great continuation of the series. Great humor and just enough tension to keep you reading and hoping for the best.

This series just gets better and better and deserves a full blown tv adaptation. I love Aru and the Pandavas (or should I say the Potatoes?) with all my heart.

Note: I did not read the ARC prior to publication; this review is based on the audiobook

I really like this series, and this volume was probably my favorite since the original. I really loved the characters, the adventures, and Aru's continued growth. For some reason I had thought this was the final book, so I was quite surprised by the cliffhanger ending. I look forward to the next book.

This Pandava series keeps getting better and better! The City of Gold once again leaves us on a cliffhanger anxiously wanting to know more! Aru Shah and her Pandava sisters have grown a lot in this series. They have been through every test imaginable and their bond has never been stronger. It is awesome to see such strong female characters depicted in books. They are great role models for young girls everywhere. Great series that I enjoy recommending to my students and children. Can't wait for the next book!

Long awaited, this fourth book in the series doesn't disappoint. I found this volume harder to get into as I'd forgotten many details from the end of volume #3. But I soon settled in to enjoy old friends and get to know Aru's newly discovered sister Kara as they scrambled to stay ahead of the Sleeper. The plot becomes more complicated, characters grow in depth. There are fewer laughs than in previous volumes, fitting as the fate of the Otherworld rests in balance. The pace of action never slows. Thankfully, there is no cliffhanger ending, but I put down the book knowing this is the calm before the storm. Book #5 can't come out soon enough for me!

An exciting addition to the Pandava saga (previously billed as a quartet, now apparently a quintet). This volume begins immediately following Book 3 (<i>Aru Shah and the Tree of Wishes</i>) and covers a little under a year of "real world" time, although the vast majority of the tale focuses in on three Otherworld days. Because Chokshi provides pretty solid summaries of relevant plot points from the past it would be possible to enter the series at this point, but then you'd miss a lot of character development and world building. This volume ends on quite a cliffhanger as well, can Spring 2022 get here quicker please?

The adventures of Aru and her Pandava Sisters never disappoint! Filled with adventure, heart and pop culture references, Chokshi spins one amazing tale after another, leaving readers wanting more! Aru Shah and the City of Gold is a must read for any middle-grade reader!

absolutely loved the continuation of this world ... the characters are amazing and the storyline was epic ... fabulous YA book!

I loved this book so much! It played with Hindu mythology and I loved how Aru and her soul sisters and friends (The Potatoes) raced to save the day with Kubera's army. The plot twist with Kara was so good and I loved how Aiden finally admitted his feelings. I loved the second to last book in this series so much and I can't wait to read the next one.

I really love this series. I have enjoyed all the new characters introduced to the Potatoes and how the group dynamic changes and grows stronger with each new addition. This book is no exception with great new characters and challenges for the group of young heroes. I also thought this book did a great job of feeling like an important journey of its own while the last few chapters set up so much excitement for the next book. Each of the main characters went through so much personal growth and had their heroic abilities and their group bonds tested more than in the previous books. It was so satisfying to see them protect their Pandava family. Overall I greatly enjoyed this book and am anxiously awaiting the next book.

Aru is such a fun character to watch develop, as she's not perfect but she's clearly trying. There are scenes when her anger gets the better of her, but her friends help her or she learns a lesson, and there are scenes where their flaws get the better of them and Aru hops right in to help. In this book, especially, she struggles more with the reality of her absent father, when compared to how he has been treating her sister, and while he is center stage the villain that she has to fight but has complicated feelings about. Her Mom is also absent for most of this book, and while that frustrates Aru, I think we also see how much she has grown in her behavior without her mother there to help tell her what to do. And I LOVED the budding romance, and I hope we see more of it in future books, which I can't wait to read.