Ash

A queer retelling of Cinderella in which the fairy godmother is sort of a combo of Ash's dead witch mother and a fae dude with the hots for her. There is a prince and a ball and hidden identities, but there's also a lady royal hunter, and Ash has some choices to make.
Fabulous retelling - I loved the twists put into the original tale, and except for the ending feeling a bit rushed and a little too pat, I really enjoyed it.

Reviewed by Samantha Clanton, aka Harlequin Twilight for TeensReadToo.com

There's something about fairy tales that always feel magical. No matter the story, no matter the characters, there is something about them that just makes you feel the magic inside them. ASH makes you feel every bit of that magic, and more.

Just about everyone, everyone female at least, over the age of 13 or so has heard and/or seen the story of Cinderella. Whether it is Disney's version or the classic fairy tale or the Brothers Grimm version or even one of the other hundreds of versions that have been created over the years, we all know it. ASH is a version that I'm sure you've never heard of before, but that you should.

After losing her mother, Ash's father takes a show more wife, Lady Isobel. Soon after meeting Lady Isobel, her and her two daughters move into the house with Ash and her father and things drastically change. In line with the fairy tale, Ash's father becomes gravely ill and passes away shortly thereafter. Which not only leaves Ash heartbroken, but also leaves her without either of her parents, and stuck with a "family" that doesn't even like to look at her.

This is the beginning that we all know about Cinderella, and while Ash has many aspects that are the same as the original tale, they are not the same in the slightest. Ash doesn't get the typical fairy godmother; she gets something else all together, but something even more powerful than anything in the candy-coated version that is fed to us as children.

Ash gets a fairy, Sidhean, who is even more lethal and dangerous than anything her stepmother or stepsisters could do/say to Ash. But that's masked in an extent by the beauty and the friendship that lies between Ash and Sidhean. And I mean that to an extent far more than the typical connection between two characters; their relationship is more developed and deeper than most would have thought possible in a novel that doesn't even break 300 pages.

But one day Ash's life, and heart, changes forever. She meets Kaisa, the King's Huntress, and there is something between them that's different from the second they meet. Ash begins to stop chasing fairies and starts to live in the world without fairies and the fairy tales, and learns how to hunt and to ride and to track animals. But in this change of life, there is a price for keeping it and for continuing to let it grow.

Through her relationship with Kaisa, Ash finds what it means to grow and what it means to let her heart guide her and, in that realization, she also finds a new capacity to live. Ash prefers the company of the Huntress to the company of the Prince, and that makes this story even more powerful. Malinda Lo has created a world that is magical and finds its own footing in a world where fairy tales are viewed as being for children and has given the older crowd a fairy tale of their own.

This is some of the most beautiful, lyrical writing I've seen in a long time and that is so refreshing. The imagery just blows me away and it's like you're standing right there with Ash through everything, whether it be pain, joy, adventure, or terror. It would kill me to see this story get cast aside and labeled a "lesbian retelling of Cinderella," because it's so much more than that. It's a beautiful story that anyone could relate to and that everyone could take something away from.

I found myself hoping for a sequel in a story that doesn't need one, just because I wanted to spend more time with the characters in this world that Ms. Lo has created. It's beautiful, it's magical, and it's a story that, until now, I didn't know could even exist, but it does, and it needs to be heard. Not to mention, look at the cover. It is so beautiful! This is easily one of my favorite stories this year and I hope that if it's given the chance, it can become everyone else's. show less

Everyone is familiar with the sadness of the Cinderella story: Cinderella's father is dead, or isn't around to defend/protect her from her wicked stepmother and stepsisters; said steps treat her cruelly and force her to be a servant; they don't let her go to the ball. But Ash is soaked with grief from beginning (we open on Ash's mother's funeral) to almost the end. Grief and a desire to escape is the constant throughout the story. An explanation is given for the stepmother forcing Ash to be a servant: Ash's father saddled the family with his debt when he died. The numbness from grief and depression explains why she stays and doesn't fight back. Ash does feel grief about her father's death, but it's more about losing the last bit of show more childhood safety and security that she had. If her grief for her father's death is a lake, her grief for her mother's death is the ocean.

The plot with the fairy Sidhean is interesting. The fairies of this book and its stories are the dangerous, alluring fairies of Irish (and other) folklore. They spirit unsuspecting or enthralled humans away, steal babies and leave changelings, time in fairyland is different than time in the human world, and they are said to be found in the deep forest. Ash returns to the forest again and again for this reason. Her life is so miserable that she'd prefer to be taken by the fairies, and wonders if they took her mother.

Ash's relationship with Kaisa, the King's huntress, grounds her and gives her hope. While Sidhean represents the deep, dangerous, and dark part of the forest, Kaisa is the normal, light-filled, nature part of the forest. Ash has been cooped up in the house and walked constantly in the dark of the forest, hoping to be taken, but Kaisa brings light into her life, offering her kindness and friendship to Ash. Kaisa teaches Ash to ride a horse. Ash goes to the royal hunt and the ball to see her. It may seem to most readers that less time and effort is spent on developing or depicting the relationship between Ash and Kaisa, that it lacks the spark that Ash and Sidhean have, but it's important that love is shown as not the flash of attraction, but as a quiet, steady thing you build together over time.

Read the full (spoilery) review, including trigger warnings, at https://fileundermichellaneous.blogspot.com/2022/06/book-review-ash-by-malinda-l... show less

Is this the best retelling of Cinderella?

I mean- it might be. This is a beautifully crafted world with a lovely queer cast and a different take on the Fairy Godmother-trope. Ash is a dark fantasy that really reminds you how heartbreaking the tale of Cinderella is- the abuse, the pain, the hopelessness... I started and finished this book in one night, sitting outside, freezing- but not wanting to stop for even a second to go inside.

The cold toes were absolutely worth it.

Unlike most retellings of Cinderella, this is not the usual “be a self-abnegating good girl and rewards will come to you” propaganda. Features both old-fashioned fairies (the kind with whom there is always a price) and a non-heteropatriarchical society.

ASH was everything I could want in a fairy tale. It was soft and sweet, with just the right amount of adventure and suspense to keep the story flowing and intriguing. Malinda Lo’s writing style is very reminiscent of early fairy tales, and so was perfect for a retelling.Ash was a wonderful character. I easily sympathized with her, and her emotions and thought processes came across beautifully. The stepmother and stepsisters were perfectly done – they were present enough to be a hinderance to Ash, but still in the background like an afterthought, which just felt right to me. I do wish I had gotten to see more of the fairy Sidhean, though. The book jacket promotes him as dark and dangerous, but I saw him more as lonely with the show more ability to be dangerous. He was just not what I was expecting. Kaisa, on the other hand, was a wonderful enigma. A huntress who feels sadness for her kills, and a member of the King’s court who may still believe in the old fairy stories. She is gentle, kind and generous and it was inevitable that Ash fall for her. The parts of the story where Ash was with Kaisa were some of the best written. You could almost feel the confusion and wonder that Ash felt.Malinda Lo manages to create her own unique vision of the Cinderella fairy tale while still staying true to the original. The father dies, leaving Ash alone with a stepmother and two stepsisters. Ash is then relegated to the position of servant. Although there is no fairy god-mother, Sidhean plays that role. Lo adds in her own celebrations and fairy stories, creating an entire world that you don’t see in Cinderella, but there is still a fancy ball at the palace, and a rush to be home before midnight. And above all, there is still a happily ever after. show less

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 show more 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. show less