A sincere thank you to the publisher, author and Netgalley for providing me with an ebook copy of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review.

This is not my usual genre, I’m more into romance stories and literary fiction however I wanted to take the opportunity to read something from outside my norm. And I am glad I did!! Thank you for  opening up my mind to something totally different.

This is not a bad book, and I wanted so badly to love it, but I just don't. The writing style feels very blunt, and though I'm ashamed to admit it I really struggled with how much Spanish was integrated into the text - when I've seen this done before, context always made the meaning clear, but Each of Us a Desert left me stranded. And though I really liked the main character, I didn't understand what she was doing or why, and I actively disliked almost all the secondary characters.

It's not a bad book. I can see that. I and Desert just didn't get along.

Each of Us a Desert is a story about sacrifice, responsibility, and stories themselves. Xochital is a cuentista, responsible for hearing people's stories and confessions and giving them back to Solis. Each of Us a Desert explores questions of our responsibility to our community as well as the confines of our own destiny. It's a story told not only in stories, but the confessions of characters and asking us if their confessions purge themselves of guilt? If their performances of regret or the act of speaking their stories into existence change their behaviors and future.

Throughout Each of Us a Desert it feels like Xochital is speaking directly to us, not only because she's speaking to Solis, but also because of the way the stories she hears are passed onto her. Each of Us a Desert is intensely character driven, even though there is plenty of action, because it's focused on Xochital's quest to figure out her responsibility to her community and to Solis. Is she in charge of her own destiny? In the book, she figures out the truth behind not only the stories she takes on from others, but also the stories about her own powers.

Not only is queerness normalized in the world, but the main character is also queer (and there's a sapphic relationship)! Each of Us a Desert is thought provoking, while delivering a story of discovery. It examines the ideas of religion, truth, and sacrifice. The writing style is stunning as Oshiro leads us through deserts, up mountains, and into the depths of the earth. Asking us if we are just all solitary deserts spread out among miles. It's also a book that emphasizes the importance of stories being told, our responsibility as a community to never forget, and the burden of carrying these weights alone. The stories that change us. Without which we become someone who doesn't understand the weight of regret.

Written as a single poem uttered by the storyteller Xochital, Each of Us a Desert by Mark Oshiro was a book I wanted to take my time with. Xochital is the storyteller for her village. She takes the confessions of her neighbors and returns them to Solis and forgets them. It is a life, though not one that she chose for herself. She found poems in the desert, and these poems keep her going. Then she takes a story that changes the way she sees everything—her village and other villagers. Xo begins a journey to have someone take her power away so she will no longer have to accept stories. Along the way, she is joined by Emilia, the daughter of the town’s horrible mayor.
There isn’t much I don’t love about this book. The setting is breathtaking, the writing poetic. With the exception of Julio, characters were well-developed. My favorite aspect of the story was the Spanish words and phrases used throughout. I was glad I read it digitally because it made it easy to look up words I didn’t know.
Thank you to Tor Teens and NetGalley for the digital ARC.

Each of Us a Desert is Oshiro’s second book, set to be published September 15. The cover drew me in and the summary intrigued me. I got a chance to read it early thanks to Netgalley!

Xochitl is a lonely, troubled character. For a good portion of the book, she feels alone, understood only by a mysterious poet. Her love interest, Emilia, is similarly alone, though she comes across more icy at first. This story is about stories and what weight they can carry. For half of her life, Xochitl has been taking on the stories of others, burdening herself with their weight.

In this journey, Xochitl goes to seek the truth: about storytellers like herself, about Solís, their god, about this world. This story is about stories and what weight they can carry. For half of her life, Xochitl has been taking on the stories of others, burdening herself with their weight. This book was a wonderful slowburn, as we learn more about the world along with Xochitl, we experience guilt, betrayal, and love through her eyes. The romance was also a beautiful slowburn, one that progressed slowly and naturally.

Oshiro’s writing style is lyrical, their prose lush. I was instantly hooked when I read the first few pages. I needed to inhale this book and sing its praises. Xochitl was deeply relatable and a captivating character. I wanted to cheer her on the whole way. Now, more than ever, is a lonely time of my life. The magic of stories was caught within these pages and has comforted me greatly.

I consumed this book as if it were part of a fever dream, or a landscape seen only through a heat haze. It took me two days.

The world building is a work of art. It is set in a desert landscape where people worship the sun, Solis, as a god. Each small village, scattered throughout the landscape, is struggling to survive years after horrible fires ripped through the land. Those fires were seen as the wrath of Solis, and to appease the sun god, the people of each village would tell the truth of their guilt to la cuentista, the storyteller who would hear the story and then give it back to the desert and Solis. Guilt that is not expunged in this way festers and causes phantasmic nightmares to come to life to terrorize the people. Xochital, our protagonist, is one of those cuentistas, and the weight of her conflicting responsibilities to her home, her people, her family, and herself weigh heavily upon her.

This book features some truly delightful and poetic prose, though it did inspire me to download a Spanish-English dictionary on my phone (Apparently, languages you never use are easily forgotten. I feel guilty. I should speak to my grandma more. I’m losing a heritage I should cling to.)

On a very tangentially related note, I strongly suspect that people who enjoy this book would also enjoy the Rusty Quill podcast, The Magnus Archives. On the surface it may seem strange to recommend a horror anthology when this book is more of a magical realism/cultural coming of age story, but anyone who is familiar with both may see where I am coming from. The cuentistas ability to take and consume stories feels akin to the archivist’s collection of statement in the Magnus Archives. Both feature vividly imagined and well-crafted worlds.

I am extremely grateful to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me a review copy of this book.

3 stars

I was thrilled to receive this ARC because I really enjoyed Oshiro's previous book, and this cover and description looked and sounded ideal for my regular reading tastes. As a person who both teaches mythology and children's literature at the college level and LOVES to read all varieties of each for fun, I couldn't wait. But then it took me multiple attempts to get beyond the first 2%.

Despite the slow start, I did find that the narrative picked up a bit and that I was able to finish the book. I have never wanted to like a book so much, but I just never really got fully invested.

The overarching concept is so cool, though I will admit it felt a bit tangential to _The Giver_ for me at times. While the characters are on a journey in a literal and figurative desert, I didn't want to so acutely feel the length and pain of that quest. Often, I hoped for the events to speed up, the repetition to slow down, and descriptions of physical discomfort to mean more than their surface level connections suggested. It all just felt long. I wanted the kind of story that it seems like so many reviewers got...and that I was expecting.

There's a lot of beauty in the prose, the concept is intriguing, and the representation is noteworthy. I'm glad this work is really resonating with some folks and sad it didn't do more for me.

I made it 65% of the way done, but I could not finish this. I really loved the first 100 pages! It was such an interesting world and I loved the framing narrative of everything told in a prayer to the god of this story. I appreciated the religion the author developed.
After page 100 it fell flat for me. I think the decision to richly establish side characters and then abandon them for far more poorly drawn side characters was strange. It was hard to feel connected to the new side characters as quickly as the story required. I felt the same way about the establishment and very quick removal of one of the major antagonists. It was such a strange choice. The book felt split into two parts in a way that really left it hard to engage with the second half.
The writing of women in this book was fairly uneven. I didn’t love how often the main characters period came up, again it seemed another strange choice.
The main thing was that the plot after about 100 pages in seemed to meander in a way that didn’t make sense. A lot of the moments that should be tense felt lacking in tensions.
Honestly, there was a lot of really good and interesting ideas, but some plotting choices and pacing issues that detracted too much for it to work for me.

ARC was provided by NetGalley and Tor Teen in exchanged for an honest review.

This review is being published before the release date (September 15th, 2020)

Content/Trigger Warnings: Depictions of graphic violence, graphic injuries, death, allusions to an animal death, emotional and mental abuse, domestic abuse, grief, alcoholism, child abuse, trauma

Friends, I have to admit something… I have never read a book by Mark Oshiro until now. Okay, I said it! However, this book was so good though and now I have a mighty need to pick up anything by Mark Oshiro. There’s something about fantasy books that combine survival, deserts, and semi-apocalyptic elements that lures me in. Or perhaps it was the synopsis about a main character who deserves happiness. Either, I was blown away by this book!

Our story follows Xochitl, is the la cuentista of her village, Emppalme, taking the stories of her villagers and returning them to Solis. Until one day, Xochitl decides to keep a story and nothing is ever the same. When Julio, the murderous man who has has conquered their town, unleashes his wrath like never before and Xochitl’s secret has been revealed, she has no other choice, but to leave her village into the unforgiving desert, to find a kindred spirit who will understand her.

“Solo quiero ser vista. I only want to be seen.”


I truly loved the experience and the way Oshiro built the world in this book. You feel the heavy sense of how harsh the environment is and how sacred water truly is. You have areas that have been scorched or turned to ruin. It really adds to the apocalyptic elements of the world. You also get to experience the mythology Oshiro built surrounding cuentistas. As Xochitl is traveling throughout this book, she encounters various people from many different places who have different relations, experiences, and stories of cuentistas. These challenge the beliefs that Xochitl has always been told and we see, despite the differences, how those beliefs can coexist without there being a default “right way”.

I also really loved the relationship between Xochitl and Emilia. Both of these young women are trying to find there place in the world after each of them have experienced so much. Somehow, despite all the pain they’ve experienced, held back from others, they find comfort within the company of one another. Their relationship isn’t the main focus of this novel, but it’s a consistent slow build throughout the whole book. And if you’re fan of slow burn romances, with slight elements of enemies to lovers, then you’re going to love these two. I also want to take how throughout this book, LGBTQ+ relationships were normalized through this book. There’s no pain, no hardships, you just get these glimpses of them being with one another and living in that moment of happiness.

There’s also a huge theme of community and togetherness throughout this book. Whether it’s through the storytelling or when Xochitl and Emilia are traveling through the desert. There’s just a large sense of connection to everyone and everything. It made my heart so warm and causes the reader to pause to cherish the stories that have been passed to them whether through family, friends, or your relationships.

“We’re shaped by the experiences that we live.”


Also, let me say how much I loved the Spanish included throughout this book. I don’t say it enough, but it truly is a breath of fresh air to see an author speak their native language or a language that’s a huge part of them. I think for many readers who aren’t familiar with Spanish, never learned Spanish, it might be hard to understand certain parts throughout the book. However, it truly makes for an exceptional experience and makes this book an even better read.

Overall, I really loved this story and so many elements this book holds. The journey in itself and the many messages this book holds are unforgettable. I have no doubt that this book is going to impact so many readers. I can’t wait to read more from Mark Oshiro and see where they’re next book takes them! I also want to recommend that if you’re reading this review, then please make sure you look up Latinx book reviewers for their thoughts on this book. I’m not Latinx so I can’t comment on the cultural elements laced throughout this book. But if you are Latinx, please let me know so I can link you.

The quotes above were taken from an ARC and are subject to change upon publication.

If ever there has been a book published in recent years that deserves and can stand the test of time, it is Each of Us a Desert. It compares to me to the likes of Grapes of Wrath or other classic novels taught and tested on in AP Literature. Mark Oshiro has created a novel and a story that is full of such star dust and poignant lines, wrapped in a plot that pulls and drags you in until you're just as much a part of our cuantista's story as the ones she takes. Xochitl is an unreliable narrator, but, as a result, the reader is left pulling out the pieces of her story, one you slowly begin to learn she's giving to Solis. For so long, she's taken others' stories and given them to the earth, in Solis' name. But who exists to take a cuantista's story? The only thing that keeps her going in the draining life of being a cuantista is la poemas she finds, buried in the earth. Each one she finds pulls her to it, calls to her soul until she digs it up and devours the words, embedding them in her head. When Xochitl finds a way to leave her small town, she takes it, regardless of how concerned she is about what will happen to the people she's leaving. The journey she departs on, with the most unlikely of partners, will eat at her and destroy all of that's she known until she's finally given the truth. But is she prepared for what Solis and the rest of the world has been hiding?

I'm truly not kidding when I say this novel could be the next YA classic. Or even just a classic. Oshiro writes so well, so vivid, but also advanced. It's a novel that stands apart from most other YA novels in that the blend of Spanish and English is woven intricately, but never in a way that makes the reader feel lost. It is equal parts strenuous and enjoyable. The plot is a diverse fluctuation of a story, the separate waves and stories overlapping and diverging in an almost unbelievable way. At the novel's end, you simultaneously wonder how you got there as well as how you missed at the minor pieces cast within in the novel that hinted towards the end. There are high points that bring joy and low points that make you gasp. There is a narrator that is unsure and it leads the reader to be just as unsure. Each of Us a Desert is ultimately a novel that will stick with you for a long time. While true it might not resonate with everyone, I will admit as a teacher I can see being included in classrooms for years to come and will definitely earn its place on the AP Literature exam, cementing it as a classic.

I was not expecting to feel so many things. I will not be reviewing this book critically because that is not what it deserves. Each of Us a Desert deserves to be loved and cherished and shared and told. This is a story that you will find yourself in no matter who or what or where you are. This is one of the most powerful stories I have read in a very long time. It is a story of finding yourself when you feel so far gone you don't know your way back. this book is your way back. This story, these characters they are your way back. I hope this story falls into the right hands at the right time. It truly deserves to be read and loved.

The short summary: This is desert fantasy, but not on a faraway Dune planet. This is south of the border, and much more of an allegory for political happenings along la frontera. A teenage girl named Xochitl is a cuentista, a storyteller who absorbs others' stories and vomits them into the desert as part of a ritual to Solís, the sun god. After returning the stories to the earth, she forgets them, and the rest of her days are spent finding water and finding mysterious poems left by a stranger in the desert. One day, she keeps a story that has to do with a secret surrounding Julio, the town's brutal conqueror, and leaves with Julio's daughter and heads north in search of answers about the town, about her powers, and about herself.

I went into this book without reading a summary or anything else my Mark Oshiro, and at first, like with any fantasy, it was a bit disorienting getting used to the fantasy elements (magic powers, spirit guardians, storytelling powers, etc.) mixed in with Mexican city names and a lot of Spanish. But this book has a lot of beautiful writing, from descriptions of the desert to surprisingly inclusive visions of fantasy cities that have diverse people in terms of race, language, queerness, and ability. It says a lot about the power that storytelling has but also the burdens of holding other people's pain within you when you hear those stories. It's about forgiveness, about coming to terms with religious belief and indifferent gods, about reaching out to others despite feeling deep loneliness, etc.

And, this part is kind of a spoiler, so don't read ahead if you don't want to be spoiled!!
the main villains of the novel, the ones who corrupt spirit guardians, wreak violence on every town they see and conquer, and kidnap brown people to enhance their own wealth are called los pálidos, the pale ones. It's a clear nod towards not just the current moment, where more eyes are on the fascist violence wreaked at the border, but also towards a history of white people conquering and exploiting those who belong on that land.

If you like desert fantasy with great heart, this would be a good one to pick up.

Xochitl is la cuentista of her village. She takes stories from people, absolving them of their secrets, guilt and anguish, before spilling them in the desert to the sun god Solis. But Xo wishes to create a story of her own. When she discovers a horrible truth, she is forced to flee with Emilia, the daughter of the village’s merciless conqueror. As they journey together across the desert, Xochitl seeks the truth about her power.

“Each of us a desert.
Weren’t we all?
Weren’t we all so vast and solitary inside?”

Told in beautiful prose, Each of Us a Desert is a tale about identity, community and discovering your own path. The writing style felt unique, vivid, and laced with emotion. Set in Central America after solar devastation, it slips effortlessly between English and Spanish. A hint of the mystical adds to the novel’s rich atmosphere. The pace is fairly slow, the strength of this book lies instead in its introspective character development- particularly in the case of Xochitl and Emilia. Each of Us a Desert is an original and poetic reading experience and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

*Thanks to the publisher and netgalley for providing an arc in exchange for a honest review.

WARNING: This review contains spoilers.

“Each Of Us A Desert” is a young adult book centered around a character named Xochitl, who is supposed to wander the desert alone until she ends up going on that journey with the other main character, Emilia. The journey the two of them go on and the stories of their village make up the majority of this story’s plot.

I honestly found myself confused while reading some of this story. That being said, I still thought the overall plot was pretty interesting, and would still recommend this book to YA fans.

This is a hard one for me to review. My feelings on this book are swimming and I’m not sure where I stand. It took me quite a bit longer to finish this book than it should have.
But I feel this book is worth doing my best

Let’s start with the cons, because I prefer wrapping up on a positive note. Keep in mind not all of these “cons” are an issue for me, personally.
I think the biggest hurdle I could see this book facing is accessibility. A lot of us don’t mind it, but having Spanish words at random can be an issue for some people. There were times it threw me off, even. I like having them speak in Spanish but it is a bit jarring and confusing to have one random word in the “narration” in another language. Again. Not at all a deal breaker for me, but I can definitely see it causing issues for some readers who would need to pull a dictionary out every five minutes.
Parts of the book feel rushed while others seemed to drag on unnecessarily. The relationship between the two main characters didn’t “work” for me. It made little sense, but after reading the authors notes, I find it easier to accept. It wasn’t for me, it was for him.
Another minor thing...I found it a bit distracting how many times “relieving” themselves was mention, but I suppose it is a simple fact of life after all lol.

I loved the premise of this book. I love the world this book is set in and it’s history is intriguing. Unique mythology and I love the creatures. Most especially Amato.
The opening was a heavy hitter for me. It really drew me in, and through the entire read I had a clear picture in my head of this desolate world they inhabited. It reminded me of how much I hated living in the desert.

Ultimately I feel a bit let down by the book. Like there was so much more potential. And the end fell flat for me. But it’s still an interesting read with some good high notes.

CWs: Descriptions of graphic violence, injury, and death; allusions to animal deaths; instances of emotional abuse and domestic abuse.

This is an ambitious fantasy novel that explores the power of stories—how we pass stories onto each other, how we hold stories in our hearts, and how our lives are the stories we tell ourselves and each other.

Thematically, I found myself incredibly moved by this book. It calls to mind stories like The Deep by Rivers Solomon, in the sense that it's also about one person taking on a community's stories in the most literal sense. Like in Solomon's novella, Each of Us a Desert calls us to recognize that forgetting is not the same as healing, and that our obligation to ourselves matters every bit as much as our obligation to those around us.

The magic and mythology surrounding cuentistas in this world is really well thought-out, because it emulates how a singular idea can exist across times and across cultures, but the manifestation of that idea or belief is rarely ever exactly the same from place to place. As Xochital travels further away from her home and the only way of life she's ever known, she's encountering people whose relationships to cuentistas are very different from her own, and that challenges this belief system she has always thought to be self-evident—a system dependent on her pain and her sacrifice. It's interesting to see how her faith is challenged and how these different beliefs can coexist without there being one "right way."

Xochital's struggle is a universal one, I think, because she's trying to understand her place in the world and she's realizing for the first time that she doesn't have be defined by her role or her relationship to other people—that she is not only worth what she can provide to others. In her experience as a cuentista, her role is about being a fail-safe and maintaining everyone else's purity by cleansing them of their secrets and their stories. She has always seen contrition as a performance, and playing the part of cuentista doesn't leave room for her to just be a person with fears, and desires, and dreams. The stories she takes on literally take up space in her body, and she wants to reclaim that space and make room for her own stories for once.

But there's also this community element of storytelling that I really appreciate, because we get to see that telling each other our stories makes them real, and gives people something to remember us by. So whether Xochital is taking on stories or giving them back to the desert, there is a feeling of connection and mutual transference there.

I will say that this is not necessarily a plot-driven fantasy. The main conflict is interior conflict as Xochital is struggling to determine who she wants to be and where she sees her place in the world. So if you're not into gradually evolving, character-driven fantasies, this may not be for you. The bulk of the legwork is thematic and emotional, so that's something to keep in mind. I was also a little thrown off because the story did start off with a Big Bad, who was definitely a bit of a mustache-twirling type, but then they didn't end up playing a huge role in the story overall. It's one of those cases where I think maybe they're weren't truly needed in the story, because there's already a lot at stake, but that could just be me.

All in all, I really enjoyed this story. It's a true journey in every sense of the word, and it really makes you want to see Xochital to the end of that journey. I'm excited to see where Mark Oshiro goes from here!

Each of Us a Desert
By: Mark Oshiro
2.5 / 5.0

I really enjoyed Oshiro’s other novel, but this one wasn’t my cup of tea. I loved the inclusiveness of a different culture and language, but I was confused for most of the beginning. The information was just given to you and you were expected to know it or put it together through the little context clues that were given. The writing was good and flowed well just like their last novel. I just personally didn’t enjoy this novel that much. I will still give whatever Oshiro writes a try and will look out for what they write next.

Author’s Site: https://www.markoshiro.com/

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1250169216/ref=tmm_hrd_title_0?ie=UTF8&qid=&sr=

Barnes and Noble: https://m.barnesandnoble.com/w/each-of-us-a-desert-mark-oshiro/1129417283?ean=9781250169211

This review will appear on my blog on September 18,2020.

Xochitl is la cuentista for her people, but she wishes she wasn't. She hears their sins through their stories and releases them into the desert to give the stories back to Solis. Her position is lonely and she longs to feel like someone understands her. Her breaking point comes after witnessing a tragic event that shakes her. She sets off into the desert to find the truth and search for her destiny, but she isn't the only one searching to escape. Emilia, the daughter of the murderer running their town, follows. As they journey together, her loathing of Emilia begins to turn into something different and unexpected.

This is a very emotional and character-driven story that goes deep into Xochitl's struggles and life, making her journey feel intimate and powerful. I enjoyed the character growth and the way her relationship with Emilia changes over the duration of the story. The desert setting played perfectly into her journey and the post-apocalyptic angle well. It was also a nice change of pace to get a desert story based on Central America for once. However, the book did feel a little slow at times, especially when it was focused on characters that I couldn't seem to get interested in.

I received an arc from NetGalley and the publisher for review.

Unfortunately this wasn't an amazing read for me - it felt like another YA fantasy, in a different setting for sure, but the main character was so interchangeable with other YA fantasy MCs that I lost interest very quickly. I also had issues with the writing style, which was stilted, dry and didn't help me connect with the characters at all. I personally also dislike when words that can be directly translated into the language the book is written into (like "my family" in English is a perfectly good translation to "mi familia" from Spanish) but the author insists on adding these random words in Spanish, which is their style choice for sure but I personally don't like it when authors do that. If the book were set in Brazil (I am Brazilian) and random words were in Portuguese, I would also feel this way, and it does annoy me too when it's done in Portuguese translations of English books - it gives me the impression that it's keeping the characters a bit apart from the reader by adding so many words an English-reading person (as the book is written in English) could understand.

A wonderfully crafted story. The worldbuilding is impressive, and the characters are as alive as the universe this story takes place in. So many emotions.