Each of Us a Desert

by Mark Oshiro

Overview

From award-winning author Mark Oshiro comes a powerful coming-of-age fantasy novel about finding home and falling in love amidst the dangers of a desert where stories come to life

Xochitl is destined to wander the desert alone, speaking her troubled village's stories into its arid winds. Her only companions are the blessed stars above and enigmatic lines of poetry magically strewn across dusty dunes.

Her one desire: to share her heart with a kindred spirit.

One night, Xo's wish is granted—in the form of Emilia, the cold and beautiful daughter of the town's murderous conqueror. But when the two set out on a magical journey across the desert, they find their hearts could be a match... if only they can survive the nightmare-like terrors that arise when the sun goes down.

Fresh off of Anger Is a Gift's smashing success, Oshiro branches out into a fantastical direction with their new YA novel, Each of Us a Desert.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781250169228
Publisher:	Tor Publishing Group
Publication date:	11/09/2021
Pages:	432
Sales rank:	1,078,296
Product dimensions:	5.30(w) x 8.20(h) x 1.20(d)
Lexile:	HL700L (what's this?)
Age Range:	13 - 18 Years

About the Author

MARK OSHIRO is the Hugo-nominated writer of the online Mark Does Stuff universe (Mark Reads and Mark Watches), where they analyze book and TV series. Their debut novel, Anger Is a Gift, was a recipient of the Schneider Family Book Award for 2019. Their lifelong goal is to pet every dog in the world.

Editorial Reviews

★ 07/20/2020

Honesty, the weight of caregiving, and the space between absolution and compassion span deserts in this tender, postapocalyptic Latinx fantasy. As cuentista, restless Xochitl, 16, takes the village of Empalme’s confessions and spills them to the desert and Solís, the departed sun god who scorched the earth in punishment generations ago. When a roaming warlord plots massacre in Empalme, she breaks a cuentista’s strictest law—to magically forget confessions—and runs. But the warlord’s daughter enlists Xochitl’s help to return her home, where another cuentista can dispatch Xochitl’s powers—a journey through shining and ruined desert cities, shape-shifting beasts, hidden poetry, and an ever-unfolding, uncomfortable truth. In a storyteller’s cadences, #OwnVoices author Oshiro (Anger Is a Gift) maps a sincere journey through nuanced struggles: the weight of pain, how hope and complicity feed immigrant exploitation, and breaking flawed social cycles. While not always deft in handling complex moral territory, this ambitious, organically Spanish-studded examination of trauma stays adventurous and accessible, resulting in a grace-filled, loving declaration of human value and worth. Ages 13–up. Agent: DongWon Song, Howard Morhaim Literary. (Sept.)

Publishers Weekly

Praise for Anger is a Gift:

"Anger is a Gift is an explosion of fury and revolution. Mark Oshiro's beautiful and brutal debut proves that not only can anyone be a hero, but great change comes when the heroes work together."—Adam Silvera, New York Times bestselling author of They Both Die at the End

"Raw, unflinching, and full of heart. Anger is a Gift is a masterpiece." —Marieke Nijkamp, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Before I Let Go

“A masterful debut rich with intersectional nuance and grass-roots clarity, Anger is a Gift is hella precious, hella dope.”—Kirkus Reviews, starred review

"Powerful and timely debut novel." —Publisher’s Weekly

“Part sweet love story, part social justice commentary, this title begs to be read. Give this to fans of Angie Thomas’s The Hate U Give.”—School Library Journal, starred review

"Anger Is a Gift, and so is Oshiro's arresting, nuanced work."—Shelf Awareness, starred review

From the Publisher

08/01/2020

Gr 9 Up—In a future where the world is mostly dry desert after La Quema burned everything, Xochitl is counted on in Empalme to pass on the truths confessed to her by the villagers to the god Solís—an essential task that must be done to keep dark truths from manifesting as dangerous pesadillas. Exhausted from the heavy burden of this ritual and beginning to question her role as cuentista, a role she never chose and does not want to spend the rest of her life doing, Xochitl makes the drastic decision to keep a story her friend gave to her—a story that could have dire consequences for Empalme. This act sets off a chain of events that cause Xochitl to abandon her duties as a cuentista and leave Empalme, and which entwines her destiny with that of Emilia, daughter of Julio—a dangerous man who brings death with him everywhere he goes. As Xochitl and Emilia embark on their journeys, their separate searches bring their destinies closer together. Exploring the world outside Empalme, Xochitl begins to question everything she thought she knew about herself, the world, and about Solís. VERDICT A cross between Lois Lowry's The Giver and Tehlor Kay Mejia's We Set the Dark on Fire, this haunting story will stay with readers just like the stories Xochitl has kept.—Selenia Paz, Harris County P.L., Houston

School Library Journal

Frankie Corzo narrates the story of Xochital, the cuentista of her remote village. She has the magical ability to accept people’s stories of guilt and wrongdoing and purge them into the desert, effectively cleansing them. An unexpected and jolting confession leaves Xochital questioning her role, and Corzo’s gentle narration fits Xo’s introspection as she plans to journey across the desert for answers. Corzo fluidly shifts from English to Spanish and back in this atmospheric audiobook, adopting a leisurely pace that allows listeners to savor the setting, poetic language, and slow-burn romance. Corzo creates distinct voices for a variety of casually queer Latinx characters. This meditative listen shouldn’t be missed. A.K.R. © AudioFile 2020, Portland, Maine

NOVEMBER 2020 - AudioFile

2020-06-25
What does it mean to come into your own power by letting go of it?

The villagers of Empalme devoutly pray to Solís, the feared higher power who unleashed La Quema, or fire, on humanity for its ills of greed, war, and jealousy. As the village cuentista, Xochitl listens to and receives the villagers’ stories into her body, clearing their consciences, preventing the manifestation of their nightmares, and releasing them to Solís in the desert. Having diligently played this role since childhood, she is now a deeply lonesome 16-year-old whose only comfort comes from cherished poems. Worn weary by her role, she leaves on an odyssey in search of another way to exist. In their sophomore novel, Oshiro deftly weaves an intricate, allegorical, and often gory tale within a post-apocalyptic desert setting that readers will feel so viscerally they may very well need to reach for a glass of water. It is a world parallel to ours, rife with Biblical references and the horrific traps that Latinx immigrants face while seeking better lives. Xochitl’s first-person, questioning narration—interlaced with terrifying cuentos that she receives on her journey—is the strongest voice, although secondary and tertiary characters, both human and mythical, are given a tenderness and humanity. All main characters are Latinx, and queer relationships are integrated with refreshing normality.

A meditation and adventure quest offering solace to anyone bearing an unfair burden. (Fantasy/horror. 14-18)

Kirkus Reviews