OT-Real Book Rec
Ash, by Malinda Lo, is a fairy tale...I want to say 'with a twist', but that makes it sound like too many of the current titles out there that are 'vampires with a twist' or 'Jane Austen with a zombie twist' and it most certainly doesn't fall into that category. Although it has elements that will remind you of other fairy tales, it departs from it/them in a way that is wonderfully satisfying. In fact, one of the really beautiful things about this book is the 'fairy tales' the characters tell each other and themselves that add to the larger narrative and overall worldbuilding.
I have to admit that I was prejudiced against this book and hadn't even considered it because the author was an editor/writer for AfterEllen and although this is a site I check daily, I find it frustrating and downright infuriating at times. But that's on me and it's not at all fair because, hello! we all have to make a living. And Lo's writing in Ash couldn't be more different than her writing for AfterEllen. Actually, it was Nicola Griffith's rec that got me to take another look at and ultimately buy it and I'm glad I did. It's not without its faults -- I found the pacing to be the most frustrating thing (the book takes a great deal of time setting up Ash's story and her involvement with the fairy, Sidhaen, leaving not much time/room for Huntress's story and the book's ultimate resolution -- I seriously kept checking the jacket with twenty pages to go thinking that the book could never resolve itself in the remaining pages and must have a sequel) -- but I can say that I loved it (and seriously, I can find fault with anything I read -- I'm a a grad student, that's my job!). It was beautifully written and imagined and I can't stop thinking about it. And even though I found it very enjoyable as an adult reader, I, like Nicola, wish that someone had given me a copy of this book when I was a teen or tween. It would have changed my life. And that's no small thing.
I have to admit that I was prejudiced against this book and hadn't even considered it because the author was an editor/writer for AfterEllen and although this is a site I check daily, I find it frustrating and downright infuriating at times. But that's on me and it's not at all fair because, hello! we all have to make a living. And Lo's writing in Ash couldn't be more different than her writing for AfterEllen. Actually, it was Nicola Griffith's rec that got me to take another look at and ultimately buy it and I'm glad I did. It's not without its faults -- I found the pacing to be the most frustrating thing (the book takes a great deal of time setting up Ash's story and her involvement with the fairy, Sidhaen, leaving not much time/room for Huntress's story and the book's ultimate resolution -- I seriously kept checking the jacket with twenty pages to go thinking that the book could never resolve itself in the remaining pages and must have a sequel) -- but I can say that I loved it (and seriously, I can find fault with anything I read -- I'm a a grad student, that's my job!). It was beautifully written and imagined and I can't stop thinking about it. And even though I found it very enjoyable as an adult reader, I, like Nicola, wish that someone had given me a copy of this book when I was a teen or tween. It would have changed my life. And that's no small thing.