I wish I could have liked this story more. I loved the idea behind it, and the ending in particular. However the lead up to that was full of misses for me. The pacing of the story always felt a bit off, certain parts felt rushed while others seemed to drag on. There were also parts that were just straight up confusing, like many of the creatures that I just couldn't picture in my head due to lack of description (maybe it's just cultural lore that I don't know?).
I do think it's a book that's worth giving it a shot due to the overarching theme and ending that solidifies this sense of self idea. ( )

Each of Us a Desert follows Xochtil, a cuentista (storyteller) of her village; a teenage girl who takes the stories of people and gives them back to the sun, forgetting them as soon as the ritual is over. After taking a story from Manolito, Xochtil leaves her village to rid herself of her powers. Emilia, the daughter of Xochtil's murderous "mayor", comes to help her. Along the way she meets others, taking their stories as well as she tries to figure out the real meaning to why she is here.

This took me quite a few pages to get into, but once I did, I was reading it every minute that I could. I couldn't get enough. The first 50 pages or so Mark Oshiro gives you the ground floor of what this story is about, but they always give you a few things here and there that you don't really register are even important until much later on. Worldbuilding for fantasy is always a bit tricky, and in my experience, a lot of words to get everything right. But as I said before, it was worth it to keep going. Besides, if a story takes a bit to get started, I usually don't realize then that I will be so submerged into it until I'm eyeballs deep! This novel is definitely a slow burn but it's full of great stories.

Oshiro did this amazing trick within the writing where he had multiple short stories woven into it, but that also fit well into the story. They all still had their own beginning, middle, and end. No story was not needed, for those stories built onto the larger tale that was being told.

I did keep up Google translate a lot for this reading. Spanish words were sometimes mixed in with English words. Most of the time, context would play a part in figuring out what was said or mentioned and sometimes it was translated after, but I did find it helpful to keep that up. I've only studied Spanish a little bit here and there and this book actually helped me learn new words!

This book is an in-depth look at love, loss, secrets, faith, and figuring out oneself. It's a slow burn read, and might take quite a few pages to get into, but I promise, if you enjoy magical realism and coming of age stories with a lyrical voice, you'll enjoy this book. ( )

This book is too unique and fully self-embodied to give it any lower than 4 stars. I'm not sure Mark Oshiro's writing is for me... but maybe that's because they're challenging me more than I'm used to? The closest read-alike I can think of is Pet by Akwaeke Emezi. ( )

I finished this several days ago and I'm still thinking about it. My heart is still in the desert with Xo and Emilia, thinking about all the layers of this intricately built queer Latinx fantasy world. It's a gorgeous, deftly written lyric of a book, at times so intense I had to take breaks from it. Another top tier novel from Mark Oshiro, and I can't wait to read their next book, whenever that comes out and whatever that may be. ( )

*I received a free ARC through Shelf Awareness

This was a difficult book to rate (and review), but the book was so beautifully written and original (something that rarely happens in fantasy). At it's heart, this book is a young woman's journey to discover the truth about what she had been taught to believe about her duties to her people, and her desire to chose how to live life for herself.
Pros:
-gorgeous writing
-f/f romance
-darker elements
-unique setting
-character's looks are not described in detail, nor are characters defined by their looks/ beauty

Cons:
-the mixture of Spanish and English was confusing at times
-abrupt ending
-slow read
-abstract setting left me confused a few times as to what was going on

Overall, highly recommended to those who are interested in a different and unique character- driven fantasy. ( )