When I first saw Ash by Malinda Lo start popping up about a year or so ago, I was really excited, because I love fairy tale retellings. While what we view as the traditional Cinderella isn't my favorite of fairy tales, it definitely has a lot of room for improvement with the retelling. Cinderella is one of the most notoriously weak heroines in Disney fairy tale, so authors on the retell have a lot of room to make their heroine strong.
Then, I found out it was a GLBT retelling of Cinderella — She doesn't end up with the prince at all! I was doubly intrigued, but also wary. You see, I have this habit when it comes to reading, and that is, I read what I know. All throughout jr. high, my mom would cajole and tempt me into other genres, because all, and I mean all, I read were murder mysteries. Then, as I mentioned in a past post my friend literally bribed me to read a few fantasy novels (gasp... !) and then a YA historical fiction, all in desperate attempts to help me branch out what I read.
I was not familiar at all with the GLBT genre, so I was nervous about this one, because it was outside my norm. (Cowardly, I know...) But, I got a hold of a copy and I read the book. And for the most part, I was pleasantly surprised.
I really liked that Ash has some gumption. She tries to fight back when her step-mother comes down hard on her. She runs away from home to be close to the grave of her mother. She doesn't just sit there and willingly take the abuse, but she does start to learn that there is a time and place to fight back that makes life a little less painful.
I also really enjoyed the writing itself. The descriptions were vivid and beautiful, and I found myself wanting to be involved in certain aspects of the world Ash inhabited. The initial stories surrounding the faeries were beautiful and enchanting. I found Ash's fantasies involving the Fey to be a little disturbing, but understandable in relation to her character.
The only real problem I had with this book was the relationships between characters. I felt that we were denied the ability to watch the relationships between characters grow. We see a lot of personal growth in Ash. But I felt that too many of her personal relationships were glossed over and brushed passed.
She is pretty heavily involved with a member of the Fey, who are notoriously possessive, demanding, unforgiving and unwilling to release their... prey before they are ready. But, when she starts changing what she wants from life, we get a great big black screen of mystery surrounding what happened that made Mr. Fairy man not kill/keep her.
And, the entire purpose behind this book is Ash falling in love with the King's female huntress. But, I didn't see any of that. I know that Ash went on horseback rides with Kaisa, and I know they find a lot to talk about. But, I only know that because Lo tells me it's so. Most of those scenes, which are crucial and essential to building a connection between our two heroines are missing. All those scenes run something to the effect of — Kaisa rode up to our house and we rode together. End. The characters can have a relationship completely off screen, but you can't really expect me to believe it when I don't get to see any of it. I felt like it was more of a, Trust me, they are in love, even if you didn't see it happen.
The author even glosses over relationship building scenes with the step-family! There are moments of tenderness with one of the step-sisters that is completely glossed over. It happens and then nothing changes as a result. Nothing. I felt like it was unnecessary, and just one more thing Lo didn't quite follow through on.
Don't get me wrong here. I did enjoy this book. It just felt a little bit like Lo made her main female character fall in love with another girl to make a statement. And that's fine. I'm totally okay with you using your book to make statements. You are the writer, you go and do your thang. But, I do have a problem with writers who use their books to make statements and have that ultimately damage the integrity and quality of the book overall. The character development was really good. The relationship development and follow through was... not.
It's a good first book, not great but good, and I'm definitely interested in reading the prequel, Huntress, which comes out this year.
(And really, how gorgeous are each of these covers?!)