Reviews tagging 'Blood'

Each of Us a Desert by Mark Oshiro

11 reviews

caseythereader's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Domestic abuse, Gore, Animal death, Vomit, Murder, Blood, Child death, Colonisation, Excrement, Alcoholism, Death, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Infidelity

tree_star's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Blood, and Gore

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Body horror, Grief, Animal cruelty, Death, and Animal death

alabiblioheck's review

challenging dark emotional reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death

Moderate: Blood, Emotional abuse, and Violence

puttingwingsonwords's review against another edition

adventurous emotional reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Grief, Gore, Murder, Trafficking, and Violence

Moderate: Alcoholism and Alcohol

bookcaptivated's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, Death of parent, Gore, Murder, Violence, and Vomit

Moderate: Emotional abuse

Minor: Infidelity

meagangrace's review against another edition

challenging dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Death, Murder, Animal death, Blood, and Violence

Moderate: Vomit, Animal cruelty, and Child abuse

Minor: Alcoholism and Domestic abuse

hannahr's review

adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, Death of parent, Gore, and Grief

Moderate: Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Murder, and Vomit

Minor: Infidelity

piperlee's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Vomit, Murder, Grief, Gore, and Death

Moderate: Blood

Minor: Animal death

nesstea's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

Really connected to this spiritually.

Knocked a fourth off the rating because that ending with no clue what happens to Xochitl was not enjoyable but ultimately leads to having faith I guess and at least I’m comforted that Emilia will still be there.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Child abuse, and Blood

Moderate: Trafficking

Minor: Alcoholism

plumpaperbacks's review against another edition

adventurous reflective slow-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

Each of Us a Desert was my introduction to Oshiro’s work, and I can definitely see their potential in it. The characters and the world are both well-developed, and they have a very nice writing style, pretty yet simple. I also enjoyed the slow-burn sapphic romance and general queerness of the story.

However, the downfall for me was the extremely slow pacing. I was invested at first but slowly lost interest as the story dragged on, and I considered putting the book down unfinished. There was just barely enough intrigue for me to continue, which is why I took longer than I expected to read it.

Additionally, when I finally reached the end, I found it unsatisfying, and more open than I would’ve liked. Oshiro created something that could’ve been fascinating, but the meandering pace hindered that. I do think that the themes of faith and self-honesty and making your own path were interesting and managed well, though.

The last thing I’ll address is the unapologetic Latinx nature of the novel, something I’ve seen in many YA books, but as I recall, not quite to this extent. The story is full of Spanish poems and phrases and food, written in a way that’s also understandable for those like me with very little knowledge of the language. I did like this element.

While Each of Us a Desert wasn’t my cup of tea, I’d recommend it to those that enjoy slower stories, thematic stories, and unique fantasies. I plan to read Oshiro’s debut, which I will hopefully enjoy more.

Representation

• full Latinx cast
• main sapphic romance
• numerous queer side characters

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Gore, Death, and Vomit

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Excrement

Also contains mention of murders.