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.
About Malinda Lo
Malinda Lo’s first novel, Ash, a retelling of Cinderella with a lesbian twist, was a finalist for the William C. Morris YA Debut Award, the Andre Norton Award for YA Fantasy and Science Fiction, and the Lambda Literary Award. Her second novel, Huntress, a companion novel to Ash, is an ALA Best Book for Young Adults. Her young adult science fiction duology, beginning with Adaptation, will be published in fall 2012. She lives in Northern California with her partner and their dog. Visit her online at www.malindalo.com.
Editorial Review
An unexpected reimagining of the Cinderella tale, exquisite and pristine, unfolding deliberately. Aisling—Ash—knows the fairy stories and lore told her by her now-dead mother, but she does not know if she believes them. When her father dies and her stepmother and stepsisters move her away from the Wood to the City, she finds herself returning to her mother’s grave, where she meets the fairy Sidhean. Ash barely notes her harsh treatment at the hands of her stepfamily, as she both longs for and fears her glimpses of Sidhean. He longs for her, too, in ways she is slow to understand. Ash also is slow to see Kaisa, the King’s Huntress, as the source of her own desire. When she does, Ash turns to Sidhean to make it possible for her to spend time with Kaisa, despite the price Ash knows she will have to pay. Ash and Kaisa’s dance at the King’s Ball is a wild and gorgeous moment, no less so than the night Ash must spend in Sidhean’s Wood. Beautiful language magically wrought; beautiful storytelling magically told. – Kirkus Reviews
A Beautiful Mask
The Los Angeles Review of Books – July 12, 2012 (Excerpt)
KNOWN AS A LESBIAN retelling of “Cinderella,” Ash by Malinda Lo is a beautifully subversive fairy tale, but the main character’s attraction to another woman is not what makes the story so astonishing. Rather, Lo’s booksets itself apart from recent young-adult novels through its contemplative pace, subversion of gender roles, and sad, lovely, dreamlike descriptions. The experience of reading the story is not unlike sinking into a soft blanket of moss in the Wood, as afternoon sunlight filters through the trees above you.
At its heart, Ash is a book about what it means to read and love fairy tales, and what it might mean to have the opportunity to live in one. (For what is the point of fairy tales if not to tempt the reader into making a wish to exchange his or her world for a different one?)
Ash‘s “Cinderella” roots are clear: Evil stepmother Isobel and slightly-less-evil stepsisters Clara and Ana make life miserable for 11-year-old Aisling (nicknamed Ash), claiming that Ash’s late father has left them in debt. They force Ash to repay her “family” by working as their maid (read: slave). Her only solace comes from the book of fairy tales left behind by her mother. Ash cherishes the stories and relies on them for comfort. [Read the full article...]
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Two Women Hunting A Rogue Vampire
Vampire Valeria Trumaine must confront old demons and face new possibilities as she struggles to bring a rogue vampire to justice. Her best friend and powerful Sidhe princess, Irulan, joins the hunt. Valeria will find that Irulan’s motives for keeping her safe are not what she thinks. And soon she is faced with an undeniable attraction that makes her question everything she knew about herself. [Read More...]
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