Mark Oshiro gives us a great fantasy tale with Each of Us a Desert.

I actually had no clue how long this book was until I was formatting the review. That is how good this tale is. I get bored easily with doorstoppers so I was amazed that this story was so long and I didn’t notice. Oshiro creates a world filled with mystery, drama, terror, pain, and despair. This is not a tale for the faint of heart. This is heartbreak.

This is not a happily-ever-after or a happy-for-now story. Oshiro manages to give us a magical tale grounded in reality. I was blown away.

Funnily enough the negative for me was actually the forced romance in the storyline. It actually feels forced. If the romantic subplot was taken out, the story would actually be better. It makes no sense as Xo hates Emilia through about half the book or more. There are no bonding moments building up to this “love” story on Xo’s part. Now on Emilia’s part, the emotion makes sense as Shiro references Emilia staring at Xo many times during the tale so it could be unrequited love. The author also mentions how much Xo hates Emilia and why and it’s legit. The sudden turn around makes no sense.

Read this story of wanting a better life and the sacrifices people make for that reality. The lies we tell ourselves to make it happen. The smiles we wear. The pain we hide. What we are willing to do to escape from hence we come. Each of Us a Desert is a beautiful story that illustrates all of these ideas.

I received a free copy of this book and I am writing a review without prejudice and voluntarily.

A really lovely novel about the power of stories and love and sharing your heart with another person. I love the writing in this so much

This book feels like a folktale and while the writing is lovely, the story could have done with some editing in terms of length. I had some issues with the Spanish which, since I enjoy immersive reading, was exacerbated by the audiobook's narrator. Seriously publishers, would it have been so hard to hire someone who knows that the u is silent in the Spanish syllables gui/gue.

This was such an intriguing story. It took me a bit to get into the flow of the story but once I did I couldn’t put it down. Another great book from Oshiro.

Once again, Mark Oshiro delivers a masterpiece that is chalk full of emotional pulls of the heart and inspiring characters. Each Of Us A Desert delves into the human condition, but delivers in it a way that is accessible and engaging for YA readers. This book focuses on overcoming ones fears and tribulations for the greater good of finding yourself and manifesting your own truth.

This was a quiet but beautifully written novel, with great themes throughout. The characters were wonderfully written and fleshed out and I enjoyed Xochitl's character arc. I recommend it if you're looking for a character-driven novel filled with philosophical musings.

Gorgeous and poetic. I loved the story and the romance and the really cool almost second person narration style. I listened to it as an audiobook, and that made it even better.

I've said it before and it still rings true: Mark Oshiro has a gift. He weaves such intricate, emotional and character-driven tales that leave an indelible mark on your heart. Each of Us a Desert is no stranger to this magical spell cast upon every reader.

A great story that includes aspects of being bilingual and a bit of poetry. This is definitely a story worth make available to students.

Uhhhhh.......... this book is crazy good of the "holy cow I am so jealous that people's brains are able to think this way" variety. The world-building is incredible. The choice of framing the novel as a story being told in both first and second person (the main character frequently speaks to her God, Solis) made everything feel very intimate.

Each of Us a Desert is a lovely (and at times completely horrifying) book that is ultimately about how stories that travel through generations are accepted without question- and about finding out that you may want to and perhaps SHOULD challenge these stories.

I absolutely loved the inclusion of Spanish words and phrases in this book, it made the writing even more poetic and flowed beautifully.

While lyrical and beautifully written, I was unable to connect tot he characters and get into the story. This one was, perhaps, not for me.

In so many ways, this book and Xochitl's struggles with her community's 'stories' reminded me of the 'history' that was tearing Yetu apart in The Deep. Unlike that novella, this one is a full length novel. It's a very slow start, but once it gets going, it's very worth getting through the extended set up of the world.

One thing I will say is that it's a very multilingual book. For me, an Australian reader who is only fluent in English, the dialogue frequently being in Spanish without necessarily having an English translation was difficult. For the most part, this was well handled through context given thereafter.

This is also a complete departure from Mark's previous novel Anger is a Gift. I found it a lot slower, and the world of the desert took a lot of time to get used to. I didn't feel like I connected to any of the characters all that much and the romance between Xochitl and Emilia felt contrived and not particularly interesting.

The main relationship of this novel was between Xochitl and her god, Solis. A god that she grew more and more disillusioned by as the novel went on, and she understands just how much the 'powers' she's been granted have been taking away her power of autonomy and the rest of her life.

It's a hard story to read through, but the conversations about religion and faith that go throughout are interesting and important.

Genuinely I was stunned by this book. I think I have (possibly unfairly) low expectations for YA, and because I read so little of it, that's rarely challenged. But the prose of this novel was lovely, the worldbuilding was fascinating. The central question of Xochitl's character, the conflict of self and duty, of what it means to carry your community's trauma, it was riveting and incredibly well handled. It reminded me of what I liked about River Solomon's The Deep, the idea of purging a story, and what it means to forget. Thank you so much to Netgalley and TOR for the opportunity to read this book!

Disclaimer: I voluntarily read and reviewed a copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own. Thank you to Netgalley, Mark Oshiro, and Tor Teen for this free copy. All quotes in this review are taken from the Advanced Reader Copy and may change in final publication.

I legit just finished this novel a few minutes ago and I’m trying to sit down and figure out the words to say to write this review. This happened to be the first Mark Oshiro book that I finished – I started Anger is a Gift but I set it down to finish at another time – and I don’t know what I was expecting. It completely blew my mind and I think I’m still trying to process everything that happened and what I’m feeling towards this novel.

In the acknowledgements of this novel, Oshiro tells us that this book ended up becoming a love letter to his late partner Baize White, and after I read the full acknowledgments, I could immediately see how that was so. That is what this book felt like to me, even with all of the violence and death and despair that our characters had to go through: it ended up becoming a love letter between the two main characters Xochitl and Emilia as they take their journey to Solado, to where they need to find out the truth of their lives. I also feel like it was a love letter for Xochitl, for her to finally learn about herself in a way that she never had a chance to before. It felt like a journey that she needed to take for herself, and it was great that she was able to take this journey with Emilia.

It took me a while to get through because I kept feeling really emotionally drained as I read this. Nothing is inherently wrong with that; it just made me really sad hearing all of stories that Xochitl heard and kept within her during her journey, and how much they physically caused her pain. I could almost feel her loss of self-control, and how it was slowly descending her into a state of despair. She was strong in trying to go through her journey with this much physical and emotional pain inside her, this pain that didn’t even belong to her, but it hurt to see her suffer through it. Yes, I understand that sometimes journeys need to be difficult in order to get through them, and that sometimes it ends up building character and opens the eyes up to something they needed to overcome in their lives. I get that. But that doesn’t mean that I wish it could have been done differently. This is just my emotional take on the journey, and this has nothing to do with what I think about the book or the plot itself. That was great.

This is possibly the second Latinx-coded YA fantasy novel where the sapphic romance is a slow build, with the main character feeling like their feelings are wrong? I don’t know if “wrong” is the right word, but it just felt like Xochitl kept fighting her feelings for Emilia even thought it was pretty clear that her feelings were developing into something much more than friendship. Its just something that I’ve noticed, and while I do love the outcome, it hurts me to feel like these girls have to hide their true feelings from the world. I do think that the relationship between Xochitl and Emilia did grow a lot during this journey, and the transition from distrust to partnership was one that I liked seeing a lot. I guess one would have to learn how to work together with your traveling buddy if you intend on making it to the end, right?

I think Oshiro’s writing style can be flowy at times, but in a way that I actually enjoy. I don’t usually like writing that’s too lyrical and it feels like things are being overly examined, but that’s just my personal thoughts. This story may have taken a while to get through, and it may have *seemed* like there were quite a bit of dead space, but everything came together the way that it needed to. It was an emotional journey like I mentioned before, and I’m glad with the way it turned out. The ending makes me a little sad though, but I understand it.

A great read, perfect for the lockdown. I managed to read this book very quickly, highly recommended!

Each of Us a Desert is a powerful book that encourages readers to consider their own stories, what they’ve been told about themselves, and who they want to be. Grab it if you’re ready to be challenged.

I really enjoyed this! I do love when my books combine fantasy and LGBTQ+ themes so Each of Us a Desert was a perfect fit for me : diverse, character-driven, a story of self-discovery. I would love to read more by this author!

Mark Oshiro has written a captivating tale beautiful story that is steeped in fantasy, mythology, lore, and also joys and struggles rooted in our contemporary realities. Xochitl is the kind of character we’ll simultaneously relate to, wish we could have lived up to, and be happy to have our youth emulate. There’s definitely a reason Each of Us a Desert has shown up on so many Best-of-2020 lists! I’ll be thinking about these characters and this world for a long time to come.

Thank you immensely to NetGalley and the publisher for this advance e-copy!

I have no idea if I met this book at the wrong time or if its pace was slow. Pandemic reading brain is no joke, and the premise is absolutely intriguing and the characters interesting. But it could not hold my attention, and I eventually had to give up.

It took me too long to finally read this book and I regret it greatly. Really!

A beautifully written come of age book about a girl who doesn't know who she is outside of what people expect her to be and how love can happen unexpectedly.

I loved the adventure, that scary bits, the romance that is not the center of the story but is so important to it's development.

I can't wait to read other books from the author!