Each of Us a Desert is a YA scifi fantasy story about a Xochitl, the cuentista (storyteller) of her village who must leave to find her truth. This story has deep roots in finding a place outside of a destiny that was laid out for you. Mark is a new to me author and their storytelling is filled with some of the most beautiful imagery in the darkest places. The prose in this book is gorgeous. I felt like I was reading poetry the entire time I was reading a novel.

What we learn in this book is that Solis requires a strong faith. The journey Xo and Emilia take helps them see that fatih in Solis is different in every aldea they encounter. Xo begins to question all the “truths” she has been led to believe her entire existence.

Each of Us a Desert tells the story of questioning your destiny and finding the truth that makes you happy. I found myself really invested in Xochitl and Emilia finding a place where they can live their own truth outside of the history/destiny forced upon them because of generational obligation.

Thank you Netgalley for providing me a copy in exchange for my honest review.

Se me hice muy difícil de leer porque intenta muy fuerte que quede claro que hay un personaje latino y mete palabras en español que me desconcentraban todo el tiempo

4.5 Stars

This cleverly written fantasy is so beautifully written and magical there easily could have been more books set in this world (maybe there will be...?). I really enjoyed the understated romance and the brilliant world-building by Oshiro.

I initially found the format - a long epistle with the reader framed as the vengeful god, Solis - a challenge but beyond that it was a flawless book.

This was my first time reading a book by Oshiro and I will be on the lookout for more books from them.

I had a hard time getting into this book (some skimming in the early pages) but I ended loving Xochitl and wanted to know more about her journey through the desert. I recommend this book to teens who like fantasy/ mythology.

I might have gone for a 3.5 rating but I might have cried for a second while reading the acknowledgements and that’s worth rounding up! Love to Mark Oshiro and to Baize White.

Thank you to Tor Teen and NetGalley for the advanced copy.

Thank you to NetGalley for an e-copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

This was my first Mark Oshiro novel, but now I’m more ready than ever to pick up Anger Is a Gift. What drew me to this book, aside from all the wonderful things I’d heard about Oshiro, was the first line of the description: “a powerful fantasy novel about finding home and falling in love amidst the dangers of a desert where stories come to life.”

More than finding home, this book was about finding yourself even when you thought you already knew who you were and what your path in life is. This plot was such a refreshing twist on the traditional coming-of-age story. Xochitl, the book’s main character and her village’s cuentista, questions everything from nearly the first page. She had been told that her life is going to be taking care of her people, listening to their stories, and giving them back to their god. Watching her make the decision to advocate for herself and her needs was beautiful and cathartic in a way that I feel only YA books can be. The people she met and the relationships she formed along the way added to the story so much.

The bonus to the story, at least for me, was how beautifully queer the entire book was. The main couple aside, there were so many casually queer relationships in the background: with children, in happy and loving relationships, and more toxic ones. They were as natural as any other part of the magically executed world that Oshiro created.

I didn’t read this book so much as experience it with my entire body and soul. The journey that Xo has in this book - both the physical trek through the desert and the emotional growth that she experienced along the way - had me in tears as multiple moments. This is my favorite YA that I’ve read so far this year, and I’ll be hard pressed to find another read that surpasses that title.

This book was full of Latinx culture. It was magical and confusing. I liked how much of the language was included. There is Spanish peppered into the story. I think there was a smidge too much, but that doesn't really matter. This was a very slow story. I had to put it down around 50% because I just needed a break. The worldbuilding wasn't info-dumpy at all but went on through the whole book. I liked this, but it also left me confused. I understood our main character's wants and desires, but not always their goal, or how they were going to get there. I think once the main character is on their journey the story starts to speed up. The writing style was unique and a little bizarre and I think that made it a bit hard for me to read too. It's one long story that the main character is telling to someone. So, there aren't really separate chapters, just occasional breaks. Overall, it was a good book, not a favorite but still enjoyable.

The writing and prose in this book is beautiful. I think it was amazing to having Spanish woven throughout the story, although if you don’t know Spanish you should probably have some sort of translator on hand.

I feel like the summary given led me to believe this would be a different type of story. Throughout the story, Xochital is looking for her “kindred spirit” or la poeta who is writing the poems that she feels called towards. However, I feel like not much is really done with this information. Sometimes she goes and reads the poems or repeats a part to herself, but for me, it didn’t really feel like much. Even at the end when she does find out who had been writing the poems, there isn’t as strong of a reaction as I thought it would be. The summary says that she would be falling in love, but... idk I didn’t really see that. There were mentions of wanting to hold her hand or some sort of desire here and there, but I wanted there to be more between Xo and Emilia.

I couldn’t really tell where the plot was going sometimes and I felt like some of the descriptions of what was going on was more flowery than it was helpful for my imagination. I couldn’t really imagine what certain things looked like or how some things worked. However, I feel like other people who read this can get more out of this than I did lol

To read a story about stories, their power, their strength, and the changes they motion within and outside us, is to read about the essence of words, of communication.

Each of Us a Desert is a wonderful post-apocalyptic book dealing with what makes us humans beyond our purposes and our places in society. It is a wonderful novel about finding love for yourself in aridest places. I also love a good character-driven fantasy that completely immerses us and lulls us in its magic, its lyricism, and its voices.

Our main character, Xochitl, is a cuentista, a person to whom others come to and tell her their stories in order to be absolved of their truths and their sins. Her duty is one that asks a lot from her since she has to give the stories to the desert, to the You the vengeful god, and forget about them in the process. It was really beautiful to see how her role, how these expectations weigh on her as the story goes on almost as much as the stories she received do. I am passioned about how Oshiro describes individuals and highlights their flaws, their corruptions, the rotten and dark parts in them, and how it is all striking in the way that Xochitl engages with those who are supposed to be her people.

The romance left me gasping. It is a slow-burn enemies-to-lovers and it owns my heart. Through the lines, you can see how much the romance means to the author, and through the novel’s structure you can see how it elevates the whole story. Xochitl and Emilia are pulled toward each other and it is a wonderful journey, as long as the one they take through the desert, to see them come to the understanding of each other, to the love of each other and to see feelings blossom and nourish a place of traumas, and of misunderstandings. I love them.

I deeply, deeply, love characters who fight for themselves, for the right to figure out what they want from life, for their own agency. Xochitl and Emilia are these kinds of characters who have been molded and defined by other people, by their own communities, by this world with its incertaintities and its truths who may be lies and lies who may be truth, and yet in themselves and each other, they manage to find a way. Something to hold on to. Something to walk forward.

The world created by Mark Oshiro is wonderful, it is filled with brown characters, queer characters, people who suffer and who love furiously. I will let you read the beautiful essay that the author wrote about the unfair expectations and burdens that are put on authors of color writing fantasy, here, because this book is not here to educate white people on a singular, monolithic Latinx culture. It is a fantasy world written by an author of color that is existing and thriving. The bilingualism in Each of Us A Desert is not intended to educate white people. It just is because this is the way Oshiro intended to build their creation, and it is where their imagination is thriving.

I loved how normalized queerness is in this world. How refreshing it was to read about these fleeting characters, their queerness assimilated in the span of two lines. And, I should not be amazed by it. It should be the norm. We are everywhere.

At this point in time, I'm going to have to DNF this read. Additionally, the author using words in a different language every three sentences gets VERY annoying.

tw: graphic violence, blood, alcoholism, body horror, abuse, death, animal attacks, vomit/emetophobia warning all around

Oh how I loved this!

We follow Xochitl, the young cuentista of a small desert village called Empalme. It is her responsibility alone to hear the dark personal stories of her community whenever they might need her, and to return these stories to the deity Solís in a ritual that leaves Xochitl dazed, exhausted, and without any memory of the stories she has heard.

Xo's world is harsh and unforgiving. the climate itself is brutal, water is scarce, there is a threatening foreign presence in Empalme, and the burden of being cuentista wears heavily on her shoulders. She yearns to be free, to be seen, and to be accepted. When she begins to discover mysterious poems buried in the sand, she finds a voice that seems to understand her more deeply than she'd hoped possible.

Through a life-altering chain of events, Xochitl finds herself leaving everything she's ever known to embark on a harrowing journey across the desert with only an unlikely travelling companion and a desire for a better life to guide her.

This novel really shines in the exploration of its own mythology and how multiple truths can be held at once without there needing to be a determined right or wrong. I also loved the natural and unchallenged queerness of its world, frank depictions of menstruation and bodily functions, and the way that Spanish was woven so seamlessly in with English, translated only sparsely and trusting the reader to understand.

The parallels to Rivers Solomon's The Deep (a recent favourite of mine) were impossible to ignore, but in no way took away from this novel's own strength. Both reflect on storytelling, connection, identity, and the weight of bearing a heavy burden alone, and both do so in their own beautifully compelling way. i also can't help but find it fitting that stories that centre storytelling would evoke thoughts of each other in reading. what better way to emphasise how universal and vital the practice is?

Thank you to Tor Teen and NetGalley for providing this e-arc

yes i stayed up all night to read this. this book was incredible, i love the diversity of characters, of queer found families, platonic love, romantic love. oshiro has such an incredible writing style and it's obvious how much they care for the stories they create. i loved every second of this book so much.

* I received this as a free ebook from Netgalley*

This was absolutely beautiful! The writing style is much more poetic than what I normally prefer to read but I really enjoyed it. The role of cuentista reminded me so much of the concept of sin eaters but a very cool scifi/dystopian twist. My only issue was that the initial plot line with Julio seemed to be overstated in how important he would be later in the story, but the part at the very end about his sabueso broke my heart! I did cheat a little bit and read Oshiro's commentary on the allegory of his story but I'm glad I did, it really too the meaning of all this to another level.

I LOVED THIS BOOK. Everyone should read it. The characters, the narration, the plot, the world building. It’s an exquisite read. I definitely recommend this book!

This book is so incredibly beautiful. It has poetic prose that is unapologetically bilingual. It has fascinating world building. It has complicated characters. I love this book so much! This is a great book about dealing with the world's expectations of you and finding yourself.

TW: Descriptions of graphic violence, injury, death, and decomposition; descriptions of throwing up; allusions to animal deaths; instances of emotional abuse and domestic abuse.
EACH OF US A DESERT is about Xochital, a 16 year old cuentista, or storyteller, but in her world, she doesn’t tell stories, she takes stories from the people in her village who need relief, and then she returns them to Solis, the god of this world. When her perception of her world is turned upside down, she realizes she must travel outside of her small village with an unlikely companion to get her answers.
Would it really be one of my fantasy book reviews if I didn’t gush about the world building? No, so here I go again. I really enjoyed learning about this world that is mostly desert and living in constant fear of the sun, Solis, who punished humanity before. It was great to learn about the world through Xo’s eyes, someone who had never left her village and had only heard stories about what was beyond her village.
A major part of the worldbuilding was Solis, the sun and essentially this world’s god who punished humanity long ago for mistreating the Earth. This book explores how Solis is viewed on Xochital’s journey. I’ve never seen a YA fantasy make religion less than a single, accepted rigid truth, but that’s what this book did.
I feel like the summary makes it seem like the f/f romance is more central to the story than it actually is. There is a f/f romance and the main character is sapphic, but the romance is very much in the backburner. This is very much a coming of age book, as it centers Xo’s journey to discover the truth about herself and her role in life as a cuentista.
The writing was very lyrical in places, especially in the poems. I think this would make an amazing audiobook.
I rated this 3.5 stars. It was good and I really appreciated what it did with the ideas of "truth” and challenging ideas given to you since birth.

Each of Us a Desert is certainly a beautiful book. Oshiro's prose borders on poetry and free verse at times, and their language is measured and lyrical throughout. But this also gives moments in the story that should be tense too much distance, as though someone is describing them from far away - an odd feeling and at odds with the fact that the story is told in first person, present tense. Xochitl, our protagonist, is a bit too much of a cypher, partially by design - her role is to take on the stories of others and return them to the earth, cleansing the storyteller - but eventually it becomes hard to pin her down and connect with her. The story is a familiar one, protagonist goes on a journey to discover herself, but the worldbuilding and liberal sprinkling of Hispanic language and folklore make it unique. There's a lot to love about this book, but it doesn't come easy, and the reader needs to be willing to do some work to get it. It's worth it in the end.

This is hands down one of most beautiful books I've read this year. It was thought-provoking, honest, heart-wrenching, and I am so in love with the prose and the writing style of the author. (Also, I'm not gonna lie, I definitely could not hold back the tears anymore as I read the final pages of the book.)

Highly recommended! Full review will be posted soon on my blog!

Each of Us a Desert comes out on September 15th and I need everyone who loves YA fantasy to put this book on their radar because it is SO GOOD.

Each of Us a Desert is the story of Xochitl, la cuentista of Empalme. As la cuentista, it is her duty to bear witness to the stories of the townspeople - like a priest taking confessions - and absorb their pain, grief, and guilt (literally) in order to absolve them of their sins.

Xo isn’t sure if her duty is a gift or a curse, and she dreams of life beyond the confines of her village… so when evil comes to Empalme, Xochitl strikes out on a journey to discover the truth about la cuentistas and her own destiny.

My favorite part of Each of Us a Desert was the magic - the mythology of Solís and las cuentistas, the magical creatures, and even the desert itself - its all just so fully-realized and elegantly (though sometimes also terrifyingly) crafted!

While this story is set a dystopian-esque fantasy world of Oshiro’s invention, it is not otherworldly. In creating Xo’s world, Oshiro pulls from Mexican geography and culture, and uses Spanish throughout the book, which results in a profoundly atmospheric and immersive reading experience.

As a whole, Oshiro’s writing is incredibly beautiful and the driving force of Each of Us a Desert. I was so captivated by the lyrical nature of their storytelling and the profound emotional depths of this tale - I am truly in awe of Oshiro’s imagination and talent.

Each of Us a Desert is truly one of a kind and I have a feeling that it will be one of my favorite YA books of 2020. I can’t wait to chat about it with everyone when it comes out!

I highly recommend this book to lovers of YA fantasy and LGBTQIA+ and Latinx own voices stories, as well as fans of Silvia Moreno-Garcia’s The Gods of Jade and Shadow and Isabel Ibañez’s Woven in Moonlight.

"Each of us a desert. Weren’t we all? Weren’t we all so vast and solitary inside?"
- Each of Us a Desert by Mark Oshiro
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The beginning of the book was confusing for me, I wasn't sure what was going on and what to watch out for. But soon enough, everything was explained. The story follows Xochitl, who's a cuentista. She has a special ability which allows her to retain people's stories for a brief period to then deliver them to the god Solís. It's a form of confession or bringing solace. It's a privilege to be a cuentista, but also a duty and a very draining process. Soon, Xochitl begins to see it as a curse, as she had no say in whether she wants to do it or not. And all she longs for is a friend. The real adventure starts when she discovers the secret of the man who's been terrorizing the community.
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It's a beautiful book, and at times, very gruesome. The violence depicted in the book weaves seamlessly into the story so that it doesn't stand out. It may be thanks to the language, which is both poetic and accessible. The style of narration is unique in that Xochitl speaks directly to the god Solís.
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The ending was a bit too long for me. It was very introspective, uneventful and comprised too much walking.
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The book also involves a very slow-burn enemies-to-girlfriends romance. Both parties involved are super cute and I'm not entirely sure where the initial animosity came from.
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As a person who doesn't speak Spanish, I was glad that even though it was used a lot across the book, it was always put in context and therefore, easy to understand.
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Yet again, I realize we need more diversity in the way fantasy books are set. It can't all be castles and dragons and muscly manly men.

4.75* This is a book unlike any I've read before. It's also quite difficult to properly describe and review this book. I don't think I have words to do it justice. Mark Oshiro's writing conveys an atmospheric, beautiful, lyrical, magical post-apocalyptic desert world that had been burned by Solis (the sun god) in an event called "La Quema". Xochitl is a 16 year old cuentista of her village., who was given her powers when she was 8 years old. A cuentista is a storyteller, but instead of telling tales, they take people's stories of wrongdoings or sins, to basically absolve them. Xochitl takes the tale into herself, then goes out into the desert, and gives the stories back to the earth to go back to Solis.
Certainly, I did not find this a very easy book to get through. There were times when I felt like I'm also stuck in the desert, with the heat oppressive and heavy. That's definitely a compliment to the author's skill. This is also a book that explores faith and fate. The power of words is shown, as the stories la cuentista take in are alive and can cause pain. There's also the power of the poemas that draws Xochitl. They're spread out in the desert written by an unknown poet. They gave shape and form to what she's feeling and thinking.
Written as a long prayer from Xochitl to the silent Solis, we see the world open up to Xo as she ventures out of her village on a personal quest to escape the bound confines of her role as cuentista. From Xo's small village to a sprawling city to burned-out ruins, where arid deserts and steep mountains cross, this harsh but beautiful world is deftly painted by Oshiro's very talented pen.

**Huge thank you to Tor Teen for providing me an ARC in exchange for an honest review.**