Cece Rios and the Desert of Souls

By: Kaela Rivera

Narrated by: Almarie Guerra

When a powerful desert spirit kidnaps her sister, Cece Rios must learn forbidden magic to get her back, in this own voices middle-grade fantasy perfect for fans of The Storm Runner and Aru Shah and the End of Time.

Living in the remote town of Tierra del Sol is dangerous, especially in the criatura months, when powerful spirits roam the desert and threaten humankind. But Cecelia Rios has always believed there was more to the criaturas, much to her family’s disapproval. After all, only brujas - humans who capture and control criaturas - consort with the spirits, and brujeria is a terrible crime.

When her older sister, Juana, is kidnapped by El Sombrerón, a powerful dark criatura, Cece is determined to bring Juana back. To get into Devil’s Alley, though, she’ll have to become a bruja herself - while hiding her quest from her parents, her town, and the other brujas. Thankfully, the legendary criatura Coyote has a soft spot for humans and agrees to help her on her journey.

With him at her side, Cece sets out to reunite her family - and maybe even change what it means to be a bruja along the way.

Supplemental enhancement PDF accompanies the audiobook.

©2021 Kaela Rivera (P)2021 HarperCollins Publishers

just like Pokemon

if you are interested in looking for something that is a Pokemon book then I highly recommended this book.

Overall I don't regret listening

My biggest problems by far were that the target audience was middle schoolers and that the narrator could sound petulant. Both of these combined just gave a weird vibe. Some scenes just kind of came off as a child being salty instead of some big personal moment.

Other than that I disliked the magic system(if you could even really call it that). Basically you collect jewelry to convince animal people to follow you. It sounds neat at first but then its just the main character chilling with some necklaces while the animal people do all the work. She doesn't really do much except fight the bad guy at the end. Most of the time she just travels from place to place and then channels an emotion into the necklace, its very unsatisfying. There is only 4 or 5 times in the books where she actually does something herself.


Last thing is that the animal people can undoubtedly smack a person into nonexistence faster than they could blink, but elect not to even when they are about to get enslaved. They are tempered by the target audience and the plot armor of the MC. Its worth mentioning that 2 of those aforementioned times the mc does something its her partially enslaving someone that should have immediately killed her.

all in all I think it was a good book. I'm not the right audience and prefer more active protagonists with chracters that have a more consistant ability.

Amazing book!

This is such a great book! I highly recommend it as a wonderful family listen!

This was a phenomenal read!!

I absolutely adored the way the story integrated Latinesque culture and mythology and into a story of brave young girl. Straightforward writing style, beautiful imagery- I had a good feeling about this book when I bought it, and it has not disappointed. Muchas gracias!!

We all loved it

I listened to this with my kids (10,8 &6)
We all really enjoyed it. If your kids get scared easily it might be a little scary.

Latina culture, myths and action at it’s best

I loved the plot and culture of the story. Excellent narration. I’m glad it will probably go onto the next book of cc changing in the world!

Gripping Intense and Soulful

An amazing story to listen to with my 9 yo daughters. Magical, suspenseful and intriguing, we couldn’t wait to listen to each chapter’s twists and turns as the story (and expert narrator) spun a unique tale of loyalty and love where the protagonist and her unlikely new extended familia chooses to set aside prejudices, biases and stereotypes all for the sake of hope for a better world.

Great combination of fantasy and folklore

The world building in this Latin American fantasy is a great combination of some traditional folklore characters like El Cucuy and El Sombrerón. The criatura whose souls are contained in a bead are interesting characters. My favorite character is Cece, who cuts off her hair to become a bruja and save her sister. The magical rules are complex, but interesting. The story has action, suspense, family problems, and an interesting, damaged characters who grow. It’s great to hear such a compelling fantasy that isn’t based in Western European traditions.

Unique characters

Loved the plot and narration! Your children will love this book for the fantasy element, too.

Action, suspense, and folklore

This is one you’ll want to read all at once because you can’t wait to hear what happens next. Great storytelling!