PoC Author: Malinda Lo, Ash
I try to avoid spoilers for books I already know I want to read, and I knew I wanted to read Malinda Lo's Ash the first time I saw it on the shelf at Barnes & Noble. I did read the opening comments of at least two posts that said, "Everyone keeps saying they wish this was longer, and so do I." I'll say that too, and I have some ideas about how it could be longer.
But before I get to that, I will say that I loved this. It's essentially a Cinderella retelling, except that instead of the Prince, Ash falls in love with Kaisa, the King's Huntress, and it incorporates other fantasy novels about fairy elements. One of the things I loved was the way Ash and Kaisa's relationship is awkward and unsure without being embarrassing. That takes a lot of skill.
In addition to the usual Cinderella story elements, Ash encounters Sidhean, a fairy who functions in the story as both her fairy godfather and the magical force of the story. Apparently he tried to take Ash's mother, but she refused and created a spell that would make him fall in love - without knowing he would fall in love with her own daughter. When he grants Ash's wish to go to the ball, his price is that she come with him to fairy when it's time. Ash eventually comes up with her own way out of the bargain, based on her reading of her mother's spell book. My feminist critical brain wants to like this, but there were two things that made it not quite work. First of all, we don't see enough of the spell book and Ash puzzling through it for that to quite work. Secondly, that's not what the story sets up. There are a couple of different fairy tales that people tell Ash wherein the King's Huntress travels to fairy and deals with the Fairy Queen. When Ash goes with Sidhean, I expected Kaisa to come save her.
There was a similarly dropped element where Ash dresses as a pageboy for a festival, and the girl who arranged for her to borrow the clothes says she makes a good boy. I expected that to come back, and it didn't.
Someone should really pay me to edit, because as an editor, I would not have let either of those things go.
But despite her not following through on those elements, I did very much like the book, and I read it all in one sitting.
I did buy the book (yay for multiple Barnes & Noble gift cards!), so if anyone wants to read it, let me know and you can have my copy.
But before I get to that, I will say that I loved this. It's essentially a Cinderella retelling, except that instead of the Prince, Ash falls in love with Kaisa, the King's Huntress, and it incorporates other fantasy novels about fairy elements. One of the things I loved was the way Ash and Kaisa's relationship is awkward and unsure without being embarrassing. That takes a lot of skill.
In addition to the usual Cinderella story elements, Ash encounters Sidhean, a fairy who functions in the story as both her fairy godfather and the magical force of the story. Apparently he tried to take Ash's mother, but she refused and created a spell that would make him fall in love - without knowing he would fall in love with her own daughter. When he grants Ash's wish to go to the ball, his price is that she come with him to fairy when it's time. Ash eventually comes up with her own way out of the bargain, based on her reading of her mother's spell book. My feminist critical brain wants to like this, but there were two things that made it not quite work. First of all, we don't see enough of the spell book and Ash puzzling through it for that to quite work. Secondly, that's not what the story sets up. There are a couple of different fairy tales that people tell Ash wherein the King's Huntress travels to fairy and deals with the Fairy Queen. When Ash goes with Sidhean, I expected Kaisa to come save her.
There was a similarly dropped element where Ash dresses as a pageboy for a festival, and the girl who arranged for her to borrow the clothes says she makes a good boy. I expected that to come back, and it didn't.
Someone should really pay me to edit, because as an editor, I would not have let either of those things go.
But despite her not following through on those elements, I did very much like the book, and I read it all in one sitting.
I did buy the book (yay for multiple Barnes & Noble gift cards!), so if anyone wants to read it, let me know and you can have my copy.