Oasis

November 22, 2019

Gr 9 Up-Recent graduate Alif is looking forward to a summer working on her father's archeological dig in the desert with her four closest friends. Then a sudden sandstorm hits, sweeping the dig site away and leaving Alif, her friends, and research assistant (and longtime crush) Tommy lost in the sands of Dubai. Fearing the worst, the six are relieved to stumble onto an oasis, even if something seems to be watching them from the trees. But the oasis may not be a refuge after all. Time and space are distorted, and the young people quickly turn on one another as reality shifts around them. The six main characters are diverse and distinguishable, but the friendship between them doesn't always ring true. And though the group spends only a third of the book at the titular oasis, the haven becomes a character itself. Foreshadowing prepares readers for an eerie introduction to the sanctuary, and manipulation and determination are common. Readers will be engaged as Alif and the others encounter one crisis after another, and small details woven throughout the plot build to a surprise ending. VERDICT An X-Files-worthy survival story for readers who prefer a book with more questions than answers.-Maggie Mason Smith, Clemson University, SC

Copyright 2019 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

December 1, 2019
Alif Scholl and five of her friends leave Melbourne for the deserts of Dubai, where her archaeologist dad is leading an excavation. Recent high school graduate Alif looks forward to getting closer to her crush, Tommy Ortiz, her dad's research assistant. But things at the site seem to be off. A mysterious, sunburned Frenchman appears out of nowhere, mumbling about a powerful force from Mesopotamian folklore called Dup Shimati. Rumors of a fantastical desert world suddenly seem possible. Following a sandstorm, Alif is stranded with Tommy and her friends. They come upon a lush oasis teeming with fruit--pears, apples, and strawberries--that shouldn't grow there. The famished, dehydrated group consumes the fruit and fresh spring water. That night, disturbing dreams haunt Alif, making her sleepwalk and attempt to poison her friends. The others begin acting strangely too. The line between dream and reality begins to blur, especially after they find a tablet with sinister powers. The book explores the very real tensions teenagers face in grappling with their desires and learning to understand the importance of trust. While the narrative is engaging overall, with a spirited and ethnically diverse cast (Alif has a Jordanian British mother and German American father), the characters feel underdeveloped and the attempt to play with multiple realities falls short, leaving readers confused by sweeping transitions and sudden, jarring events. Some descriptions border on Orientalism. Overly ambitious. (Science fiction. 12-18)

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Starred review from January 1, 2020
Grades 9-12 *Starred Review* De Becerra's haunting supernatural thriller will stick to readers' skin long after the final page is turned, like sand from the Arabian Desert clinging to Alif and her friends following their horrific ordeal with a mysterious oasis. After Alif convinces her dad, a famed archaeologist, to allow her and four friends to attend his dig site, the group heads to Dubai in nervous anticipation of what they will discover about the world?and themselves?as strange rumors abound about a fallen meteorite and a man materializing in the desert. The author deftly weaves terrifying sf plot elements into various love-triangle stories among the six distinct characters. Alif's life is complicated by the presence of her father's handsome and aloof research assistant, but an abnormal sandstorm soon maroons the crew in an endless sea of sand. When a mysterious oasis reels them in, Alif and her friends must decide if this miracle of nature is a safe haven or death trap. A breakneck pace helps readers share Alif's disorientation when faced with the chilling dangers of the oasis. Suspense, gore, spooky imagery, and creepy plot developments come through via bloodcurdling nightmares, group hallucinations, and uncontrollable desires and obsessions. An insatiable someone?or something?is manipulating them like puppets, and if Alif can't unravel the mystery in time, the people she loves most will die.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2020, American Library Association.)