There’s the orphaned Ash, there’s the Stepmother and Stepsisters, there is the Fairy Being who protects Ash but at a cost, there is the other worldly sense of what we cannot perceive always present, and there is the love that saves….This first time novel by Malinda Lo is good reading.
…UNDER REMODEL CURRENTLY…..BE RIGHT BACK WITH THE REST OF THE REVIEW…
I’m back. Really, I had to change that review after I got to thinking about what was actually going on the book. There are some MAJOR ‘archetypes’ in this one – meaning, if you ever read a fairytale and were told it was more than just about a little girl, a basket of cookies and a big bad wolf and you suddenly went ‘Oh, yeah, deep…” . Don’t let that scare you off (aka BBW scare) but just to know Ash is a tale of ‘Cinderella’ loosely and incorporates some heavy fairy magic – good & evil; mother/daughter connections; plain good & evil; self-governance (what’s that?) and even celtic-old english imagery of ‘The Huntress’. Ash also has to navigate between the ‘old ways’ and the ‘new ways’ and decide her own foundation 
when making personal choices. The writing is well done although I have to say the ending seemed rushed and kind of a ‘wrap-up’ rather than a resolve. Ash doesn’t end up with the prince. I like the way the writer transforms the Cinderella tale into a contemporary story hidden within the timeless story of coming into one’s own.
Other authors such as Donna Jo Napoli or Susan Spinner have retold myths and fairytales in their books. I suggest you take a look at their books, too. Or, better yet, why not WRITE YOUR OWN RETELLING of your fairytale – are you a Cinderella, a Little Mermaid, a Jack in the Beanstalk, a Hansel or a Gretel or ? If Rick Riordan can re-enliven the Greek myths, who’s to say what else is ready to get a literary makeover?
