PRIDE!
Ash by Malinda Lo. OH. MY. GOD. It’s Cinderella, but a little different. Rest assured, just because this is an LGBTQ book, it does not dwell on it. Whoever the characters fall in love with is not so important in the magical kingdom the main character, Ash lives. Or is it magical? In the West Wood, people still believe in fairies and brownies and elves. But some believe these are just stories. Ash’s mother believed in magic, and when odd things happen to Ash after her mother’s death, she begins to question just who her mother was. One thing that’s good about this book is that it opens with so many questions. Like, what do Ash’s dreams mean? Are they dreams? Who the person with the gleaming, beautiful face that watches her, and why is there glittering dust in her window sill? As the questions slowly get answered, then the story begins to go in the direction of a Cinderella tale. There are also a number of fairytales that different characters tell as Ash goes about her life. Stories that serve to warn her, foreshadow the future, or reveal the past. So this book is a fairytale filled with other little fairytales.
When both of Ash’s parents die she has to live with her mean stepmother and stepsisters and cook and clean for them because blah, blah you know the drill. But all Ash wants is to be taken away from her horrible life to be with the fairies, who have watched over her through her life, but they won’t tell her why.
Ash’s life gets even more complicated when she meets the prince and the royal huntress. Also, instead of the fairy godmother just lavishing beautiful gifts onto her, what Ash wants comes with a price that has been entangled in curses and negotiations between witches, fairies, and humans before she was born. But don’t worry, all the plot thingies tie back up together nicely. I was hooked reading this, and I hope you will be too.
If you like Young Adult fiction, Ash is exactly like those books. If you like fairy tales, then you’ll like this. If you want some light summer reading, you’ll like this. I really enjoyed this book, and I think you will too.
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