Ash

I adored this novel. The main character is unique, quiet, and strong. The emotion in it is real. I love how this is not your typical, overly done retelling. I hope she puts her own spin on many more tales that we all think we know.

Spoilers ahead for those who care.

I bought this book, expecting to enchant me and delight me. For the most part it did, until the main character randomly veers off and decides to go for the girl. The fact that this is a lesbian relationship is not the problem to me. The problem to me is that everyone is suppose to love the main character and sympathize with her but she uses people to get her way. In fact, she uses someone who she knows loves her to get her way so she can go and play with someone else. Honestly when I read the line, "if you love me you'll let me go" after he had jumped through hoops to help her out I almost threw my Kindle across the room.

* SPOILER ALERT*

Let me just start by saying that Malinda Lo had a great idea in writing this book. That being said, this book really sucked. Her concepts and plots were unclear and seemed to get lost and restart somewhere off the beaten path. I was excited to read this book and I wish I would have waited for my library to get it in instead of wasting $9.99 on it. This retailing of Cinderella was just not for me. I did not have a problem with the lesbian aspect but how can you go from longing to be with a Fairy Man and then ended up with a woman? This just didn't sit well with me. And I really wished she would have explained more of the fairy world, she didn't answer any questions at all. I was over all disappointed in the book. :(

This review was originally posted on my blog, kourtnireads.wordpress.com.

Knowing that this was a Cinderella retelling that also incorporated a same-sex relationship, I couldn’t resist picking it up when I saw it at the library. I’d heard really good things about Malinda Lo’s writing before and had been wanting to check out some of her books too. So this seemed like a great choice for me to read.

I’m struggling with reviewing this a lot because while I didn’t enjoy it as much as I expected to, I think a lot of that has to do with me being in a bit of a reading slump, rather than being because of the book itself. I’m going to point out everything that I did and didn’t like, but keep in mind that I’m in a slump which made it hard for me to get into the story 100%.

First off, I really liked the magical elements that Lo brought into the story. Obviously, in the original Cinderella story that we’ve all known since we were kids, there’s the Fairy Godmother who helps Cinderella. So it’s not as if the original story doesn’t have magic. But I loved what Lo adds into it. Fairies are the only magical creature we actually see, but there are tons of fairy tales and other magical creatures mentioned throughout the book. I’m actually pretty interested in finding out what Lo’s inspiration was behind all of the fairytales that are told in the story.

Lo’s writing was great too. It’s really descriptive and quite beautiful without being long-winded or over the top. I know a lot of people enjoy super descriptive writing, but I usually don’t because I find it goes on for too long and I get bored before the paragraph is over. But this wasn’t an issue with Lo’s writing at all, which was a pleasant surprise.

The reason I struggled with this book so much was because I really just could not connect with Ash. I didn’t really like her as a main character. She didn’t seem to have much of a personality. I felt bad for her because of the abuse and everything that she faces, but I just wasn’t invested in her. Because I didn’t feel any kind of connection with her, I didn’t get really into the story either. I couldn’t get past not connecting with Ash and ultimately because of that, I didn’t enjoy the book as much as I could have.

Of course, I did really enjoy the fact that this had a same-sex relationship. Ash becomes really close with the King’s Huntress, Kaisa. I liked Kaisa quite a bit more than Ash actually and would’ve gladly sat there and read a whole book about her. Even without really liking Ash, I still liked the scenes with them together.

Overall, this is a good book that I would have enjoyed so much more if I connected with Ash more. If you like reading fantasy, retellings, or are looking for books with LGBTQ characters, I’d recommend reading this. I’d personally love to reread this again in the future when I’m not in a slump and see if I enjoy it more.

Only in the broadest outlines can this book be compared to Cinderella. The book opens with the traditional Cinderella storyline. Ash's real mother dies, her father re-marries a grasping, avaricious woman who brings two step daughters along. The world depicted has a strong tension between folk beliefs and a rigid Catholic Church like structure, with the folk beliefs being attributed more to the poor and ill-educated, and the philosophers' cant to the upper classes. There's a sort of Regency or Victorian feel to the setting: the servants we meet are very Victorian-style house servants, the grand coming-out parties and balls with their glorious gowns and marriage market atmosphere seem to come from some Regency romance.

And yet, we depart quite a bit from the traditional tale. Ash hasn't gotten over her grief after her mother's death before her father has imported a step-mother. There's a strong suggestion that the father is poisoned by the new wife, although this is hinted and never stated. Ash finds her refuge only at her mother's grave, and seeking that grave Ash's path crosses with that of the fairies. A male faerie lord, Sidhean, becomes in effect the "faerie godmother", although the time will come when he demands payment for his services.

A character that's unique to Ash is the the King's Huntress, Kaisa. There is a tradition in this world that the leader of the grand hunts is always a woman, and she is shown as competent and skilled with her weapons. Just as visiting her mother's grave brought Ash across faerie, so too does it bring her face to face with the King's Huntress. From the first meeting, a spark is kindled. And with a few more chance encounters, the Huntress's interest is piqued. Kaisa becomes Ash's only real friend. The ball with the prince trying to choose his wife? That's here. But Ash couldn't care less about the prince, when Kaisa's in the picture. No erotica is included, just a warming tale of a friendship that grows to be something more.

I really liked this book a lot. I love that it just wasn't a slap-dash re-telling of Cinderella, I love even more that there's not a beautiful princess subbed in for the prince to make this a lesbian romance. The only part of the book that I didn't like was the payment demanded by Ash's faerie benefactor, which seemed abrupt and intrusive to the story. This is a keeper, I know I will read it again.

Ash by Malinda Lo is an nontraditional take on Cinderella that mixes fairy tales with tales of the fair folk.

When she is twelve, Ash's mother passes away, and her father remarries; the step-mother brings with her her two children and a dismissal of the Old Ways. So when her father gets sick, nobody takes steps to ward off the fair folk, just bring in physicians who bleed him. He dies, and the step-mother takes Ash from her home and her mother's grave to a house on the other side of the woods, where she is slowly forced to become a servant to pay her father's debts. A familiar story?

Perhaps, but less familiar: she starts to see a strange man, with skin as white as snow and clothes and hair to match, who she recognizes as one of the fair folk. She longs to go with him and leave this wretched world behind, as the years pass, but he says she is not ready. He gives her a beautiful cloak, which she hides, and a medallion, and nothing more than hope that someday she might vanish entirely to go to their kingdom. Even though she knows in the stories of the fairy folk, humans who go lose time and humanity, become nothing more than servants—it is better than what she has here.

And that might stay that way until she meets the head of the royal hunt, a lovely huntress who helps teach her to ride whenever she can sneak away, who lures Ash in ways she's unfamiliar with. As the Prince starts to hold events to choose a bride, Ash gets more chances to see the huntress—but has more to lose, as well, with her step-family right there as well, who could spot her and ruin her hopes. And the only way to really get what she wants is to take advantage of a fairy's wishes, but those will come with a price...

I read a lot of fairy tales, and a lot of the ones about fairies kidnapping people, and this took one and melded it with the other quite seamlessly. The prose was beautiful and the way Ash was torn between her two interests was built up beautifully.

The only place that I didn't quite feel was that we never got a good glimpse of what the huntress saw in Ash. We saw a lot of good traits in Ash ourselves, but the reason behind the huntress's feelings were left somewhat mysterious. That's not unusual in fairy tales, so it didn't throw me, but I'd have liked to understand more about what was going on there. As well, the resolution of the central conflict worked for me, but I'd liked to have seen more of it; it felt, in some ways, like it worked up to the climax and then skipped to the denouement and I never quite got a glimpse of the peak.

But even so, I loved the book and how it came together, and I loved the composition of the narration. Really a beautiful read.

I’m always amazed at how creative authors can be when re-imagining fairytales. I’m still deciding whether Malinda Lo’s new take on Cinderella was really for me, but I can say that I respect her work and acknowledge it as a valuable contribution to the wealth of adaptations already out there.

One of the most interesting ways in which Ash differs from other versions of Cinderella is the absence of a Prince Charming character. Most of the other familiar elements are there – an orphaned girl forced to serve her wicked stepmother, a royal ball, enchanted coachmen, etc. – but the romance has been completely transformed.

Taking the place of our prince are Kaisa, the king’s young huntress, and Sidhean, the fairy who has captivated Ash since her youth. Yes, that’s right; we’ve got ourselves a love triangle, and an LGBT love triangle at that. I know there are readers out there who abhor the very thought of love triangles, but in Ash’s case the relationships are important to the plot. One of Ash’s love interests represents new beginnings, friendship, and the continuation of life after loss, while the other represents the pull of magic and the escape from reality that it provides.

While I like the idea of the Ash love triangle in theory, in practice there’s a bit of a problem: the triangle seems more isosceles than equilateral (am I impressing you with my geometry knowledge right now?). The whole point of a love triangle is for a protagonist to be conflicted in his or her choice between two love interests, and in order for that conflict to be believable those love interests should be closely matched, equally appealing. If one character is incredibly alluring and the other is just so-so, there’s no real tension because the choice between them seems obvious.

This is where I struggled with Ash. One side of the love triangle – Sidhean, the fairy – is great. Sidhean is no flitting, sparkling, pixie-dust-covered fairy, but rather one of the cold, dangerous fey capable of luring you into the woods and dancing you to death. He’s cold and conflicted but also alluring and mysterious, with a draw that’s undeniable.

It is Kaisa's side of the triangle that falls short. In order for a literary romance to work for me, I need to be able to fall in love – or at least lust – with the love interest, and I had a hard time doing that with a female character. Kaisa is nice enough, but she seems kind of boring and I just wasn’t attracted to her. This lack of interest was a major contributor to why I couldn’t give Ash a higher rating.

Issues with Kaisa aside, I still appreciate the direction Lo has taken with her version of Cinderella. It’s a testament to Lo’s talent that she is able to retain the feeling of a traditional fairy tale even while putting a very unconventional spin on the story by making Ash bisexual. This classical feel is due in large part to Lo’s beautiful descriptions and choice of diction and syntax. The level of detail she provides does slow down the pace of the story, but her writing is undeniably lovely. As an example, here’s a short excerpt:

“When Ash finally fell asleep, she dreamed of the Wood, the tall dark trees, the shaft of sunlight that shone through the canopy to the soft forest floor. She could smell the spicy pine, the dampness of bark after rain, and the exotic fragrance that clung to Sidhean. It was the scent of jasmine, she remembered, and night-blooming roses that had never felt the touch of a human hand.”

Beautiful, no?

Something else I really liked about Ash is that there is a strong undercurrent of magic throughout the story. There are curses and covenants, bewitched dreams and fairy circles, magical rings and an enchanted Wood. This really added to my enjoyment of the story and is much cooler than a one-time conjuring of glass slippers and a ball gown.

It's funny - now that I've written this review and taken the time to really evaluate Lo's work, I'm realizing that maybe I liked this book more than I originally thought. I'm still disappointed that I wasn't enthralled by Kaisa, but the originality of the story and the quality of the writing goes a long way to making up for a less-than-perfect love interest.

This review can also be found on my blog, http://AngelasLibrary.com.

Twelve-year-old Aisling – Ash for short – is having the worst year imaginable. In midsummer, her beloved mother Elinor died suddenly and mysteriously; and, before the last of autumn’s leaves turned brown and blanketed the ground, her merchant father William had remarried. To give Ash a mother, he said.

To the marriage, Lady Isobel Quinn brings two daughters: twelve-year-old Ana and her ten-year-old sister Clara. From the more “cultured” town of West Riding – located just a stone’s throw from the Royal City – Lady Isobel has grand designs for her daughters: they are to marry well and become gentlewomen like their mother. The wild Ash, with her love of books, fascination with fairy tales and magic, and still-fresh grief for Elinor, isn’t much more than a minor annoyance to her new stepmother. She provides neither comfort nor sympathy to the grieving child.

Shortly after the marriage, William falls sick; rather than allow “superstitious” greenwitch Maire Solanya attend to him, Lady Isobel uproots the family and moves them from Ash’s home in Rook Hill to the Quinn House. William dies just two weeks later, and Lady Isobel wastes little time in claiming Ash as a servant – to pay off her father’s (alleged) debts. (I love how Lady Isobel recounts bitterly to Ash how her father spent Lady Isobel’s money to prop up his failing business, while openly admitting that she married William for his money. Hypocrite much?) From orphan to slave in less than six months.

For the next six years, Ash spends her days stoking the fires; toiling in the garden; scrubbing the floors; washing and mending the laundry; and tending to her cruel stepmother and husband-hungry stepsisters. Psychological abuse is a daily occurrence, and impertinence is met with physical violence. The one day Ash tries to run away, she is locked in the cellar for months, allowed out only when supervised to perform her chores.

Ash’s only escape is the Wood, the one place where magic still lives. When she was thirteen, Ash stumbled upon an enchanted path that led her back to her home in Rook Hill – and her mother’s grave, still fresh then. There she met Sidhead, a beautiful fairy; and, though she begged him take her to his world, he returned her to the Quinn House instead: it’s “not time yet.” During the next five years of her indentured servitude to Lady Isobel, Ash escapes to the Wood whenever she can. Sometimes Sidhean meets her, and they walk the forest paths together. Though he occasionally acts as her protector, Sidhean is not entirely a kindly fairy godfather: his designs on Ash are much more sinister and self-serving.

During her travels in the Wood, Ash also meets and befriends Kaisa, the King’s Huntress. Like many villages, Royal City has a hunting party; but because it is the King’s, it’s much grander than any other. Though many of the hunters are men, the party is led by a woman: always a woman.

This year, Prince Aidan – newly returned from war and ready to choose a bride – will be joining the opening hunt, so it’s to be an even more majestic and opulent affair than ever. Kaisa invites Ash to the hunt, and the Yule ball after that; in order to escape her stepmother’s notice, she asks for two favors from Sidhean, which she must pay for dearly.

Malindo Lo’s ASH is a retelling of Cinderella that’s as subversive as it is magical. Ash differs from Cinderella in two key ways: Sidhean isn’t your average fairy godmother. (In fact, fairies are integral to the story, and Lo spends the first half of the book explaining fairy society, and its changing role in human life.) And Prince Aidan’s quest for a bride takes a backseat to Ash’s own budding feelings for Kaisa, the King’s Huntress.

With Ash, Kaisa, and Sidhean, Lo introduces a “queered” love triangle that’s neither boring nor contrived – no small feat considering the popularity of love triangles in the YA genre. Refreshingly, Prince Charming has no place in this romance, as his search for a broodmare is eclipsed by Ash’s opposing friendships with Kaisa and Sidhean, and her eventual sexual awakening. (Parents, take note: ASH is rated PG-13 at worst, with zero sex and just a few rather tame kisses.)

There are some wonderful feminist elements in the story as well, most notably in the conflict between “old world” superstitions – personified by greenwitches, most of whom are women – and more cultured “philosophers” (all of them men), which at times reads as a code for organized religion. This battle is played out on William’s body: while Maire Solanya advises (begs) Lady Isobel to let her treat him with herbs and potions, Isobel elects to take him to the more urban town of West Riding, where he can be properly treated (read: bled) by physicians. William’s own beliefs – which stand in stark contrast to those of wife Elinor (who was at one time an apprentice to Maire Solanya) and daughter Ash, who inherited a little bit of the old magic from her mother – prove to be his downfall.

The framing of hunting as a feminist endeavor (as evidenced by the female Huntresses traditionally chosen to lead mixed-gender hunting parties) is a little more difficult to swallow. Lo appears to anticipate her target audience’s likely ambivalence towards a heroine who kills sentient creatures for fun and sport (BAMBI!) – so she instills in Kaisa a sense of remorse and sorrow for the nonhumans she’s paid to hunt down and slay. Kaisa justifies her actions with a trite line about the circle of life – never mind that, in nature, predators single out the old, the young, and the weak – not the healthiest animals in the prime of life. (In the opening season hunt, an entire team of hunters, trackers, and hounds spends the day chasing down a buck until he collapses from exhaustion.) But a baby’s head just wouldn’t look as majestic hanging above the King’s throne now, would it?

Also interesting is the Fairy Hunt, which plays out alongside the King’s Hunt. Just as the human hunters (and their benefactors) sustain themselves on the meat of those animals they killed, the fairies feed off the souls of enchanted humans. Certainly, we’re meant to mourn the humans used and consumed by the fairies; but what of the nonhumans similarly exploited during the human hunts?

Ash tells Kaisa that most fairy tales are dark and frightening because they’re meant to impart an important life lesson: “Do not be seduced by false glamour; do not shirk your duties; do not wander off alone into the Wood at night.” Breaking with this tradition, ASH is an uplifting story about the transformative power of love.

Ash suffers from many of the same ills that afflict others in the teen supernatural romance sub-genre. (If you don't believe teen supernatural romance is A Thing, walk into a Barnes & Noble and go to the teen section. What you see there will depress you.) You have a heroine who has a lot of things happen to her, but doesn't really do anything. Said heroine also doesn't have a personality. Last but certainly not least, you have a plot that is slow moving and almost nonexistent.

Many writers in this genre go for writing that is not technically skilled or beautiful, but nonetheless manages to evoke an emotional connection from the reader. Malinda Lo certainly writes much better than your Stephenie Meyers in a technical sense, but she never really pulls off that emotional connection with the reader.

She spends a lot of time describing the environment and the way that the characters look, but you don't get that much elaboration on the feelings and motivations of the characters or the relationships between the characters.

Sidhean, a very important character in this story, is very rarely anywhere other than the background. Kaisa is not much better. This makes it very difficult to create any kind of sexual tension or romance with either of them.

I am assuming, of course, that Lo was going for a love triangle scenario. I honestly couldn't tell.

The way that Lo described Sidhean is often how YA writers will describe a potential love interest for their main character, but Ash's reactions to him were vague and confused and never analyzed. I never had any idea what she felt about him--not even an "I don't know what all these feelings are" type of thing. Rather than having too many feelings to parse, it was like she had too little to care. That made her actions concerning Sidhean all the more baffling.

This is true not just about Sidhean, but about everything in the novel. When Ash does actually act or make decisions for herself, I never knew where they were coming from because she never seemed to have any emotional reactions to anything.

Sidhean's reasons for being interested in her, in a really brilliant twist, were subject to a bit more elaboration but still might have benefited from more.

I can't tell if the relationship between Ash and Kaisa was done better so that I noticed it as a romantic relationship, or if I just knew that's where the book was headed since I was told beforehand that the book had a lesbian relationship. They continually run into each other, then hang out for a while, and Ash blushes whenever Kaisa looks at/speaks to/touches her. Sure, all the elements of a teen romance are there, but I never believed it.

The only relationship Ash had that was elaborated on was the relationship with her mother, which was done acceptably well. But none of the other relationships--not just romantic, but the relationships with her father, housekeeper, stepmother, or stepsisters--are elaborated on in nearly as much detail. Ash barely seems to respond to any of them. Even her reactions to leaving her housekeeper, who she seemed to have spent time with for some years (in fact, she seemed to be more upset about leaving the house than the person living in it), and to the death of her father were muted. This further enforces the feeling when you read the book that the world interacts with Ash, but Ash does not interact with the world.

When you are writing what is essentially a romance novel, the relationships (between characters as well as between characters and reader) are the most crucial aspect of the story. You can get away with a slow and barely-there plot. You can get away with poor technical skill. You can get away with a lot in this genre if you can nail those relationships, and unfortunately this is where the author falls short.

This book had so many wonderful ideas and Malinda Lo is technically a much better writer than many bestsellers in the same genre, but nothing ever really comes together to a level that is anywhere close to what the ideas behind the story deserve.

As Ash is Lo's first novel, I would chalk it up to inexperience. I certainly look forward to her other books, but I was disappointed by this one.

Hopefully I will not be spoiling people's reading experience when I say that the thing I liked most about this book was the normal treatment of a lesbian relationship. For once, everything awkward and heart-stopping and forbidden about a relationship came from the characters' life situations and normal hesitance, NOT from the fact that "omg but we're both girls." (There's not even a discernible negative reaction from anyone else in the story based on the homosexuality!) The heterosexual relationship is also just as weird and just as compelling and just as mismatched (being as it is between a human and a fairy). I liked the story's natural magic, and I of course liked the reinvention of the Cinderella tale, but as for the storytelling and the characterization, I felt it could have been much smoother and much more convincing. There wasn't anything too outwardly wrong with either aspect, but it didn't take great pains to draw me in either--and the parts that got me excited were few and far between. I felt like this Ash character WAS her situation a little too much to be a person in and of herself, though there were little glimmerings of it. She was manipulated a little too often and got a little too lucky for me to particularly admire her or feel attached to her.

This book does an excellent job melding the feeling of a classic fairytale with a more modern style. The subplot with Sidhean seemed a little bit rushed in its resolution, but oddly, even that seemed to fit with the overall fairytale feel. The part of me that enjoys a good Grimm's story wishes that the stepmother and stepsister(s) had received more of a tangible comeuppance in the end--I'm not saying I wish they'd had their eyes pecked out by birds, but I probably wouldn't have minded it--but I did appreciate that in its place was a sort of peaceful indifference that felt like it would be the worst sort of punishment those characters could imagine.

You'll enjoy this book if you're a fan of T. Kingfisher, women saving themselves from abusive situations, flirting via casually sharing wlw stories so she knows you're gay, and/or intricate fairytale mythology.

My thoughts...Ash is a hauntingly beautiful retelling of the fairy tale classic Cinderella. That being said, this is an entirely different story, one that left me turning pages, desperate for a happy ending.

Ash is full of colorful characters that are both entertaining and mysterious. The heroine Ash, finds herself an orphan child who is forced to live with the cruel stepmother and her selfish stepsisters. We see quite a bit of growth in this story, both physically and mentally. She comes of age as a girl, but she also grows into a strong woman who is able to endure the physical abuse of the step-family while maintaining her sanity.

Ash spends a great deal of time in the woods where she encounters the other two important characters. The first friend she makes is Sidhean, the fairy. He is very mysterious and rather creepy. The reader is often left to guess his true intentions. Ash also develops a friendship with Kaisa the King's Huntress. They develop an impossible friendship that causes Ash to make some decisions that could affect the rest of her life.

This story is based on the original fairytale, but Ash is something else. She does not crave the prince and all of his riches. She does not desire to live in a palace surrounded by servants. This is what makes the story interesting. Ash finds comfort and strength in the woods. While she does crave a different life, it is an unexpected one.

Ash is a beautifully written story that leaves readers craving more. My only qualm with the story was the ending. I want to know what happens next. Ash is full of old stories and magic. I would also want to learn more about the legends and lure provided by the greenwitch. This character made several appearances and I was always sad to see her go. Overall I love this book. I recommend it to fans of YA fantasy and fairy tale retelling.

A la Cinderella, Ash loses both her parents, and is forced into servitude by her stepmother. She grows into a beauty, and her story continues to follow much of the traditional Cinderella story, but the ending has a lesbian twist.

I am not sure why Cinderella was chosen to tell Ash's story. In the traditional story of Cinderella, she is a good girl who always does what she's told. She's not strong, she's not overly intelligent, and she doesn't act to make her life better. Instead, other people do it for her.

Ash isn't like that. She's an independent thinker, strong-willed, and smart. She doesn't wait for someone else to come along and change things, she seeks them out. First, it's the faeries, then it's the huntress. Not very Cinderella-like.

On top of that, the traditional Cinderella story is about a girl who cares nothing for herself, and in the end a man sweeps in to take care of her. Without the man, the story doesn't feel like a Cinderella story. And there is a large absence of men in ASH.

The only consistent male figure throughout the story is the faerie, Sidhean, and his appearances are few and far between. There is Ash's father, of course, but once he dies that's it. She doesn't even think about him until late in the story, when she happens to pass by the graveyard where he's buried. Instead, she focuses her anger, hurt, and love on her mother. I thought a lot of that anger would have been directed toward her father, since he's the one who married her stepmother, uprooting her from everything she'd known. Instead, he is forgotten. Didn't make sense to me.

If this had not been written as a Cinderella retelling, but had been an original story with maybe a few parallels to Cinderella, I would have loved it. But the author worked so hard to tie her story to Cinderella's that it ended up lessening my enjoyment and left me scratching my head. This story could have been so much more powerful, and it's a shame it didn't turn out that way.

Aisling ("Ash" for short) was still a young girl when both of her parents died, and she found herself living with her stepmother and two stepsisters, who treated her as a lowly servant. Her mother had instilled in her a love for the stories of the fairies who reportedly inhabited the Wood, a place where humans - especially young girls - were cautioned never to wander alone at night, since they might be captured by these magical creatures. Since the fairies were her only link to her carefree life before her mother's death, Ash ignored the warnings, and soon found herself bargaining with the head fairy, Sidhean, in order to be closer to Kaisa, the King's Huntress, whom she encountered on one of her walks in the Wood. But as it came time to pay her debt to Sidhean, she began to understand what her mother had told her about finding happiness.

Touted by the publisher and other reviewers as a "lesbian take on Cinderella," it is actually much more than that. Sure, we have the gala ball at the palace, dancing with the prince, a midnight curfew, and even an evil stepmother. But the story also gives a plausible introduction to how "fairy tales" may have evolved through the ages, commendable illustrations of conflicts between social classes, and a lesson on diversity that can inspire its intended young readers in today's world. This first-time novelist shows significant talent in being able to weave such a complex, magical tale, inhabiting it with beautifully-drawn multidimensional characters, in a life-lesson that can appeal to readers of any age, gender or sexual orientation. Feminists may object to the fact that it emulates Cinderella, a story about a young lady who relied on others to provide the means to live her life, but I think this update shows Ash to have significant initiative and empowerment. Though I am not generally fond of fantasy novels, I found this story to be rewarding, with my only complaint that I found the pace of the story to be uneven and occasionally plodding. Overall, I give the book a rousing chorus of "Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo" ... and four fairytale stars out of five!

- Bob Lind, Echo Magazine

I originally got this book because I love fairy tale retellings. I didn't even notice it was about a potentially lesbian girl. I have no interest in that aspect so I won't be reviewing that element of the story. I will go over the fairy tale retelling scope. While the story did have some elements of Cinderella (wicked stepmother, stepsister, etc.) it lacked heart. Something all fairy tales should have. I had real problems connecting with Ash and felt no chemistry between her and her love interests, therefore, I felt no conflict throughout the story.
While there were some interesting elements to the fairy part of the tale it wasn't enough for me to enjoy the story or consider it a good fairy tale retelling.

I did not find this book interesting on any level for young adults or adults.The plot never grabbed me, and I found myself skimming through the book. Fantasy should be fun to read, taking us away from the daily grind. This story was dry and forgettable.

This is a moving tale about love, loss, and desire. Malinda Lo engages readers, as her words are lyrical, her story is magical, and the reader is enveloped in such a way that the tale wraps around you so that you cannot put it down.

The story of Ash opens with her mother dying at midsummer, and we follow the path that her life takes after this tragic event. Her father re-marries, only to get sick himself, and when he passes on, Ash is left with the anger and hostility of her step-mother and her two daughters. She becomes their servant to pay off her father's debts, and has little hope or any joy.

Her solace is found in a book of fairy tales her dad had once bought her, and she stays up late at night reading these tales of other worlds. What transpires when she visits her mother's grave or The Wood behind the house is where the magic begins. She meets Sidhean, who is handsome and enchanting. Their visits are brief, but fill Ash with a longing to escape her indentured servitude to live in the fairy kingdom.

On one of her visits through The Wood, she meets Kaisa, the King's Huntress. Their friendship blossoms as Kaisa teaches Ash the art of the hunt, they discuss their favorite tales, and spend more time together. Ash is further intrigued by The Huntress when Kaisa asks her to join them on the Royal Hunt.

To get away from her crazed stepmother, Ash asks a favor from Sidhean, which comes at a price. She gets bolder, asking for a second favor, to buy her some time and to give her some space. The culmination is moving and thoughtful, and Lo finds a way to give Ash what she really wants and needs.

This modern-day Cinderella story is nothing short of entrancing and romantic.

I thought this was a very well done reimagination of Cinderella. However, I had issues with the resolution of he conflict. It was too fast/too easily resolved for the amount of build up put into it. So...I liked the first 90% of it, and hated the last 10%.

SPOILER BELOW!

First issue: Why would the fae just...let her go? All that build up for a crappy, "oh, if you really loved me, you'd let me go"?! Really?

Second issue: so after Ash has that gut wrenching talk with her love interest, being all, "alas you'll never see me again!", she just appears out of nowhere the next day with no explanation, and they all live happily ever after?

Aisling is distraught at the death of her mother, but nothing has prepared her for her life after her father's remarriage and subsequent death. Torn from the only home she has known in a small village, to serving her step family to "repay" her father's debts is quite a shock. Her only "friend" is a fairy prince, who is as frightening as he is intriguing. Ash only sees him when she walks in the woods, and then only when he decides to show himself to her.

Ms. Lo's take on the Cinderella fairy tale replaces the fairy godmother with a fairy prince who demands a price for the wishes he grants. Complicating that potential romance is the growing friendship and attraction between Ash and Kaisa, the King's Huntress. Sacrifices must be made but who will make them is up in the air.

Cinderella is my favorite fairy tale; I had the Disney sound track on a record as a child and can still sing those songs. I had to have the movie when it was released on VHS even though I was in college at the time. So, I read a lot of retellings of this tale. Ash blends the traditional story with a love triangle, and weaves in its own "old tales" of fairy. I wasn't familiar with the tales Aisling/Ash told, but then, I haven't read everything. I am working on it, though! I'll be reading The Huntress next; it is a companion to this book.

The Good: Why hasn't anyone thought about this type of retelling before?!? I loved that the author thought outside of the box. Not only is it refreshing to read about a lesbian story, but about the character not falling for the supernatural hottie (though I did like Sidheane, too). The author killed two birds with one stone and that will certainly appeal to many readers.

It really has that whole fairy tale like quality to it. I know that might sound a little redundant, but it's true! I could just imagine it as it's own real life fairytale (like the ones in all those "The Treasury of Fairy tales type of thing). Anyway, my point is: Ash has fantastic writing.

The Bad: It's not awe-inspiring as everyone makes it to be.

I didn't like this book as much as I thought I would, I didn't feel any special connection to it. When I finished it I wasn't like, "Now that was a fantastic book" but rather, "Hm, good. Okay, on to the next book". The storyline was too slow for it to hold my attention and while I did feel sorry for Ash and happy for her when she her life got better, other than that, what I feeling while reading the book was indifference.

While Ash wasn't that boring, it didn't spark anymore interest beyond the premise and that was SO disappointing.

And that sucks because I really did want to love this book.

Overall: Ash is the type of book that must be read slowly to enjoy and while it wasn't the book for me, it was still very interesting to read and a fabulous retelling even though I did have some problems with it.

Grade: B/B-

I found this to be a very satisfying interpretation of the Cinderella story. There was a level of romance and suspense in this story that was new, and the sapphic over tones are exciting beyond a mere adolescent curiosity; the societal acceptance of this in the immersive world building was encouraging and engaging - I recommend the other books in the series if you are interested in this mash up of Oriental myth/Medieval culture. Ultimately the story won me over as a retelling where the main character, Ash, was not consumed by her role and her prescribed happy ending; she remained true to herself in ways that touched those around her as she found happiness.

As a modern retelling of the classic fairy tale of Cinderella, this book certainly succeeds. The author has taken the basics of the tale and interwoven the faerie world into it, and topped it off with a very modern lesbian romance twist. Even though this twist could have failed miserably, it didn't. The romance portion didn't come off as forced. The reader is introduced to it at the same time as the main character, and the author doesn't attempt to explain it or make a big deal of it, so the reader simply comes to accept it.

As much as I enjoyed this book, I truly wish the story hadn't wrapped up so quickly. There were opportunities to develop the story at the end that Lo missed. All of the ends seemed to be tied up so neatly, though things were left unexplained or perhaps taken for granted. The happy ending shouldn't have come so easily or so abruptly for Ash, not after all the struggle she went through in the first nine tenths of the book.

Overall, "Ash" strikes me as a success. Lo's descriptions of the faerie world and the palace ballroom scenes were breathtaking. They took the reader in and allowed them to be lost in Ash's world. The writing was well done and the story flowed nicely, although it was a bit rushed at the end. While I think this book would also be enjoyable to most adults, it would be a welcome read for most Young Adult readers that enjoy a good fantasy story.

Forget that this groundbreaking novel is a lesbian retelling of Cinderella. That's not the whole story. That's just a buzzline that is, yes, intriguing, but does little justice to Malinda Lo's elegant narration of a new story: the story of Ash. Aisling is the daughter of a greenwich's former apprentice, and was raised on the fairy stories of old. But these stories have lost favor in the city, and when Ash's father remarries after her mother's tragic death, it is Ash's poor luck that he would choose a city woman for a wife. Ash's stepmother also brings two daughters, and it isn't long before Ash is delegated to the lower class of the household. When Ash's father falls ill, she knows her life will never be the same. Now a servant in her own home, Ash's only reprieve is her walks in the woods, where she meets the mysterious Sidhean, a fairy man who, unlike the fairies of Ash's stories, does not seem to wish her harm. But it isn't Sidhean who enchants her - it's the King's Huntress, Kaisa, who stays on Ash's mind. Melinda Lo's elegant style makes this is truly one of the most remarkable books I've read this year, and readers who like a good fairytale - regardless of their sexuality or gender - will fall in love with Ash.

Ash
By Malinda Lo

Publisher: Little, Brown and Company
# of Pages: 264
Age Rating: 14+
My Rating: 2 Stars

Synopsis:
In the wake of her father's death, Ash is left at the mercy of her cruel stepmother. Consumed with grief, her only joy comes by the light of the dying hearth fire, rereading the fairy tales her mother once told her. In her dreams, someday the fairies will steal her away, as they are said to do. When she meets the dark and dangerous fairy Sidhean, she believes that her wish may be granted.

The day that Ash meets Kaisa, the King's Huntress, her heart begins to change. Instead of chasing fairies, Ash learns to hunt with Kaisa. Though their friendship is as delicate as a new bloom, it reawakens Ash's capacity for love-and her desire to live. But Sidhean has already claimed Ash for his own, and she must make a choice between fairy tale dreams and true love.

Entrancing, empowering, and romantic, Ash is about the connection between life and love, and solitude and death, where transformation can come from even the deepest grief.

Review:
Ash is a darker but beautiful retelling of Cinderella. The writing was very full of detail and I did enjoy the book but there was a few things that I didn't really like about this book.
One of the thing was the lack of men, it seen like it was a all-women-world with the littlest hint of men. And I didn't like the ending at all, the idea of Cinderella being gay? No way! I mean, this is Cinderella, the fairy tale!
Overall, I did enjoy it,this book is for those who like reading retelling of fairy tales or who wants a darker fairy tale to read.
I give it 2 stars

Enjoy! :D:D:D

Spoilers ahead for those who care.

I bought this book, expecting to enchant me and delight me. For the most part it did, until the main character randomly veers off and decides to go for the girl. The fact that this is a lesbian relationship is not the problem to me. The problem to me is that everyone is suppose to love the main character and sympathize with her but she uses people to get her way. In fact, she uses someone who she knows loves her to get her way so she can go and play with someone else. Honestly when I read the line, "if you love me you'll let me go" after he had jumped through hoops to help her out I almost threw my Kindle across the room.

I thoroughly enjoyed Malinda Lo's first novel, Ash, a beautiful and very well-written retelling of the story of Cinderella. The language is lovely,the images memorable, and the characters are engaging. The love story is well-drawn, and not until the end is it clear how it's going to turn out, which was great fun. I enjoyed the depiction of the overlap of the regular world with the fairy world, and the various choices that the protagonist faced. My only complaint with this book is that the middle seemed to drag on a bit. I would have been happier if it was a bit tighter. Highly recommended for those who enjoy YA romances with magic and complexity.

I absolutely loved the story... it was a breath taking romance, but there were a few things I was unhappy with. For one, I didn't like the fact that there was absolutely no display of sexuality in this novel. Nothing in the slightest. Now, don't get me wrong, I wasn't exactly looking for an erotica or soft core porno by any means. I under stand that the main character was very innocent but I would have preferred if she sort of discovered a bit of her own sexuality in this piece of writing. This would be an inherently shy work of fiction even for a teen reader.

The conclusion where she decides she's had enough of her step family.. is amazingly dull. I was shocked that she was not made to have a righteous final confrontation with her awful stepmother.

I just wish that there was a bit more romance explained into her interactions with Kaisa... please incorporate a bit more sexuality into your novels. I really enjoyed this piece aside from the few problems I had.

After reading the positive reviews here I decided to read this book even though "fairy tale" usually is a red flag for me. I should have trusted my instincts. I was very disappointed. The story develops very slowly, almost drearily plodding, and has no forward momentum. I found myself longing for it to be over. Most of the characters are stereotypes, and to call them two-dimensional would be a compliment. The love relationships just "happen" without any motivation or complexity developed. The story is very chaste, by the way, with no passionate interludes. The heroine is a mopey dreamer, who is really only admirable for her perseverance through drudgery and mistreatment, not for any particular courage or cleverness. In the end she is rescued through the benevolence of others rather than through her own efforts, so what kind of moral is that: "hang on and someone might fall in love with you and rescue you." I guess that is the moral of the original Cinderella tale, but in this day and age do we need that message? About the only thing that is refreshing about the story is that apparently it happens in a universe where no one blinks if a woman falls in love with a woman. Wouldn't that be nice?

There are so many different types of books; books that scare you, bore you, challenge you, make you think, scare the pants off of you, and so many more. Then there are books that eventually in the end somehow change you. There are books that are so beautifully written and so gracefully told that you are unsure as to whether they were actually written by a human in this lifetime at all. I have never read a book like this, until now. There is not one thing about Ash that I would change, it's characters are absolutely amazing, it's plot is so fresh and told so wonderfully that you aren't even aware while reading it that it's a re-telling of anything that ever existed before this author wrote it down. I have read so many different types of books in my life, the ones mentioned above, ya, children's books, adult books, sci-fi, fantasy, reference, art books, fairytale collections, and I can tell you without a shadow of a doubt in my mind that Ash is by far the most fantastic, most beautifully written book that I have ever had the pleasure of reading. In fact, I think I may have just spoiled the rest of my to be read list because I don't know how any other book will ever live up to how outstanding it is. It is one-hundred percent, no questions asked, pure magic.