Ash

Title: Ash

Author: Malinda Lo

Publisher: Little, Brown and Company (2009)

Genre(s): Young Adult Fiction, Fairy Tales, Gay/Lesbian Interest

Length: 264 pages

Synopsis:  Aisling, nicknamed Ash, lives in a kingdom where the tradition of magic is as deep as the roots of the mysterious and wild Wood.  Ash’s mother trained with the local greenwitch in the old ways of magic, and though her husband thinks her fairy-tales are folly, after his wife’s death, he still brings returns home from merchant business with books of fantastical stories for Ash.  When Ash is left in the care of her unfeeling stepmother and more alone than she has ever been before, she turns more and more to her books, the both the fairy tales her father gave her and the little herbal journal written by her mother.  She finds comfort in these “rustic beliefs,” as her stepmother calls them, but even Ash cannot quite believe it when she begins to develop a friendship with a fairy called Sidhean.  He is a strange, dangerous, and fascinating being, and Ash’s only link to her beloved mother.  But when Ash meets Kaisa, the King’s Huntress, she begins to realize that it may be possible for her to love, and be loved, again.  Sidhean’s powers hold the key that could let her escape her stepmother, but among the fairies there is always a price to pay for magic.  The closer she comes to happiness, the more Ash begins to wonder what price she will have to pay for love.

My Rating: 4 Stars

My Opinion: 

This is a truly elegant retelling.  It is easily recognizable as a Cinderella story, but none of the conventions are forced into place.  Those that are used fall naturally in the course of the story, and those that are left out are not missed.  The unique twists to this retelling are also logical extensions of the story as it develops, so that by the end it seems that perhaps this version of the story has always existed alongside its better known cousin.  The end is somewhat troubling, however.  As promised, I won’t spoil it for readers, and I do certainly recommend it for fans of fantasy and fairy tales.  While Lo has created dangerously unpredictable fairy characters more reminiscent of the Brothers Grimm than Disney, Ash’s escape from Sidhean’s influence seems to resolve itself a little too easily.  Where the relationship between Kaisa and Ash explores the more tender aspects of love, Sidhean represents a darker side.  Though the threat he represents is real and quite frightening, that particular storm dissipates with nothing but a grumble of thunder.