Ash [NOOK Book]

Imaginative reworking of a classic fairytale

An imaginative reworking of a classic fairytale. A fairytale with real fairies, a male fairy protector rather than the fairy godmothers of old.
Wonderful ethereal imagery. Fabulously sensory descriptions. As a bibliophile I adored the description of a book left to Ash by her mother.
A truly enchanting tale. However, I did find the homosexuality to be glamorised. The book makes it sound like an easy choice to make, I do not believe this is the case. I have a few homosexual friends and know from their experience that it is a very difficult admission and can cause rifts with family and friends.
On the whole a beautiful modern fairytale but I don't think I will be giving it to my children to read until they are old enough to understand the full implications of such choices.

4 out of 5 people found this review helpful.

Very good book... im impressed

The funny part about this book is you have to remind your self that this is a "take" on a classic fairy tale. Theres only 1 scene that closely relates to cinderella, and the fact that she is left to the mercy of her step mother, other wise this books stands on its on. the writting style of the author is rock solid, you find your self cheering out loud for the main character and at the end of the book all you really want is for her to get happy ending no matter what she decides. I loved it!

2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

Cinderella retelling

What drew me to this book first off is the gorgey cover. And trust me when I say that it's even prettier in person than on this here screen.

After the death of her beloved father, Ash is left to fend for herself against her cruel stepmother, who forces her to work as a servant to repay her father's debts. Lost in her despair, far away from friends, Ash begins to seek out the faeries - when she meets the dangerously beautiful Sidhean, whom she hopes will take her away from all her pain and misery. Then Ash meets the King's Huntress Kaisa who befriends Ash and teaches her to hunt and ride; showing her things Ash never thought possible. Kaisa's friendship forces Ash to consider her choices and eventually leads her to turn to her dark faery for help as she tries to keep her place in the world of the living for a chance at love.

Knowing Ash was a Cinderella retelling I was looking for the proverbial plot devices and was pleasantly surprised to find only slight mentions at the most. Yes, Ash is orphaned and left to her cruel stepmother, yes, she ends up sleeping next to the fireplace a time or two, and yes, she does charm the prince at the ball - but those details are by no means the most intriguing parts of the story. Malinda Lo seamlessly weaves a lyrical story of not just a girl trying to find her place in the world but also of in faeries and love and the strength to fight for what you want. All this happens in a completely spell-binding new world that I found myself too lost in to even begin thinking about how this is not your traditional wishy-washy Disney Cinderella. Ash is no storybook princess and it's no surprise she is drawn to the King's Huntress with her steady sword and ability to roam free.

I do wish Malinda Lo had taken a bit more time to explore Ash's world since the world building was only partway explained and I wanted more back-story on the Huntress, more about the faeries, and more about the royal family and their customs. Each of these facets brought a new and compelling aspect to Ash but the details for each left me hoping for more. Although, what we do get is unfailing beautiful and compelling and made this a standout in amongst other Cinderella retellings.

Since I've never read a book that featured same-sex romance, I was pleasantly surprised to see how well Malinda Lo handled the entire situation. It's not over the top and the buildup quietly subtle and by no means unnecessarily dramatic. In Ash, homosexuality isn't even an issue, which created this wide open space for Kaisa and Ash to maneuver in since no one even felt like it was anything out of the ordinary - other than the fact that the two were well on their way to True Love Land.

seemichelleread.blogspot.com

2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

Good read

This is one of my favorite books. I am a sucker for that uncomfortable feeling a person gets when they start to figure out that they are attracted to another person. Well written.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

i wouldn't recommend it

i wouldn't recommend this book because the plot isn't well developed and neither are the characters. Ash is supposed to be cinderella and she is supposed to fall in love with one of her new found friends but the development of the relationship is seriouly laking. also i think she took too much from the originial story and didn't put enough of herself into it. this is one of those books that could have been really but was laking a couple of key factors. if your looking for a modern day fairy tail with a twist look elsewhere and pick up the child thief by Brom. he is my personal favorites.

1 out of 4 people found this review helpful.

No....

Now i love cinderella. I mean who doesn't. This is nnothing like cinderella. Were was all the magic. And if you are going to remake a classic i think making her a lesbian is a little much....

1 out of 13 people found this review helpful.

like a C movie remake of Cinderella

I really didn't like this book. The last 30 pages of so I just kept rolling my eyes at the stupid things the main character did or that happened. It didn't feel anything like Cinderella at all so I don't know why she bothered to pretend like it was a retelling of the story. Basically the only thing similar was the prince looking for a wife and balls and fairy magic. But the prince story line is randomly mentioned so it feels really disconnected from the huntress and fairy parts of the book. it would have been better if she just took the story she seemed like she wanted to write and ran with it instead of trying to randomly connect it to Cinderella, like "umm... and she sleeps on the hearth sometimes! that's what Cinderella does! Annnd.. it's been like 40 pages since there's been anything for me to pretend that this is based off of Cinderella so I guess I'll throw something in about the prince looking for a wife! Oh I know! And then I'll have her dance with the prince and then have her randomly leave him in the garden!"

The clash between green witches and the church thing was really underdeveloped, it was like she threw that in in the beginning and then once the dad died she didn't need to deal with that crap anymore and hardly mentioned it again for the rest of the book.

I feel like Ash herself wasn't very fleshed out, and her interactions with her stepmother and sisters aren't very believable or don't really show Ash's reactions. There's once scene near the end where they're doing all this horrible stuff to her and there's hardly any detail about how she's reacting. Did she just stand there and do nothing to try and defend herself? It was just really irritating that she could escape at practically any time and then doesn't.

It was just a really irritating story and I really wish I hadn't wasted the time reading it.

1 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

not my cup of tea

this book was not good at all. i never totally got in to it. i felt detatched from the story and to be frank the story was plain weird! The begining is to long about Ash's life from ages 1-18 giving you more details than you need. this book also has many homsexual references that made me gasp. the ending in my oppinion is not good! this is a waste of money and time i will never get back! (PS. it only got a star becasue i had to have at leaste one star to post the review, it really doesnt deserve any!!!!!!

1 out of 13 people found this review helpful.

From Page at One Book At A Time

I knew about the difference in this story from the traditional Cinderella fairytale. But, it was still hard for me to acknowledge the fact that she doesn't end up with the prince in this story. And, I was very glad the biggest difference wasn't thrown in your face. Instead, what you have is a beautifully written story. It is raw and emotional. You can help but feel for Ash through every heartache and ordeal she goes through. I also felt that fairies and their myths and tales were such an intricate part of the story. Ash's belief and interactions with them made her such a different lead character. This story was far different from anything else I read in 2009. I would recommend it to anyone who likes fairy tales retold, and don't mind something different.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

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 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...

Read the full review at www.teensreadtoo.com

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Well-written, diverse tale mimics "Cinderella"

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

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

I loved this book so much that I couldn't put it down! I love to

I loved this book so much that I couldn't put it down! I love to read and someone at the library recommeded it to me so I gave it a shot and am so glad I did! It is a favorite among many and I would tell anyone who enjoys fantasy and a cinderella type story with a twist to read this. Please check it out!

Great book

I loved this book

The first thing that struck me in Ash was the prose. Every sente

The first thing that struck me in Ash was the prose. Every sentence is strung together as if by magic, it’s so lyrical and almost poetic. It’s the definition of “mesmerized by words”.

Imagery, setting, worldbuilding: it absolutely does not lack in any of those departments. The attention to all the little details is just beautiful, and the fact makes Ash’s world all the more real.

At first I felt the characters were overshadowed by the prose, but as I read on I realized that in the midst of such a vividly described world, their personalities were defined by it in not so much as thoughts or feelings but through their actions and words.

Ash is a retelling of Cinderella, so readers know more or less how the story goes, yet the deviations from the original and overall plot are well-thought out. The pacing proceeds at an even rate leading to a smooth finish that isn’ unexpected, but for me that didn’t take away the excitement even knowing what would happen.

Overall Ash is a heartfelt and fantastic story that I would recommend to anyone who enjoys YA, though in closing I feel I must quote Kristi from The Story Siren in her own review of Ash:

“I’d hate to see this novel labeled as nothing more than ‘a lesbian retelling of Cinderella’ because it is so very much more than that.”

I thought it was an amazingly well written book. The description

I thought it was an amazingly well written book. The descriptions were so vivid and telling. I wish it didn't end or there was a follow-up to know what happened to Ash. Can't wait to read the prequel Huntress.

Excellent book!!

Its a love story with a twist!

Lovely and poignant

This was a unique interpretation of the classic fairy tale. The writing style was richly descriptive yet concise, which gave me the impression that every sentence, every passage was carefully chosen. Ms. Lo is definitely on my must-read list.

Not all that sure on what to say...

I'm not really sure what to make of this book. It was a quick read, vibrant with details and imagination. It was kind of fun to read and learn more about the fae-like stories. But I had a hard time connecting the dots on the true love aspects, it seemed as if Ash and Kaisa's meetings were so far and few between almost like walking past the same person on the street. Its hard for me as the reader to feel their connection. Honestly this felt like three seperate stories that were only barely connected to each other.

I don't know, its an iteresting book but I don't think I really liked it.

Who woulda thought

I never thought that cinderella could have totAlly ended up with another girl. New twist on a classic tale

Beautiful

Lovable,good and a fun read