Finishing a series is always bittersweet 🥲 

ARU SHAH AND THE NECTAR OF IMMORTALITY is a thrilling conclusion to a series that I wish that I had when I was younger but am so happy to be able to share it with my own students now as a teacher. 

 

The 4th book in the Pandava series left readers on a major cliffhanger (my jaw was on the floor 🤯) with a betrayal and heartbreak. This one picks up in the aftermath of all of that with the young main characters fighting against their own insecurities and trying to save the world all over again. 

 

This NECTAR OF IMMORTALITY was perhaps my favorite in the series–mostly for the really powerful messages that it shared: 

 

💫 You are so much more than just one gift or talent. 

Ary and her Pandava sisters are left without their weapons and the powers that come with them. These weapons and powers had been a part of them for the last 4 books and they struggled with seeing their strength without them, instead focusing on what they felt were their weaknesses. Over time, they come to find that they aren’t powerful in spite of their perceived weaknesses, but because of them. 

 

💫 The power of stories–who tells them, who gets painted as villains or as heroes. 

Aru and her sisters meet several villains and monsters on their path to saving the world–many of whom are women. Women who at one point in their stories made a choice. A choice that sees them painted as a villain–leaving them forgotten and mistreated by history. Instead of fighting and defeating these “monsters”, this group of young heroines decides to listen to them and promise to share their real stories. Powerful. 

 

All of this wrapped up into an epic ending filled with so much adventure and heart, as one of my former 4th graders said upon both of us finishing it: “WASN’T IT EPIC?” 💛