Malinda Lo’s Ash is a dark retelling of the classic Cinderella story. But instead of featuring a kindly fairy-godmother, this particular fairy is the kind usually featured in fairy tales: one who demands a high price for granting wishes.
Ash has known a fairy, Sidhean, since the time that her mother died. And though they are drawn to each other, he has refused to grant Ash’s wishes to return her mother to life, or to take her to fairy land, where she believes her mother to be living.
As she grows older and accepts the death of her mother, Ash has other wishes, and Sidhean agrees to grant two of them: (1) that she can participate in the King’s hunt, to which she has been invited by the King’s huntress, Kaisa; and (2) that she can attend the King’s ball. The price that Ash agrees to pay for these wishes is to belong to Sidhean. He tells her that he will collect his payment at a later date.
But at the ball, Ash recognizes that the price to which she has agreed is too high: she realizes that it is Kaisa with whom she is in love. Whether or not she can renegotiate a price with Sidhean is questionable, and it is not only her future with Kaisa that hangs in the balance, but her warm friendship with Sidhean.
This book is highly recommended for teens who enjoy fantasy, and for all readers who enjoy reading fairy tale variations.
Reviewed by, Nancy Silverrod
San Francisco Public Library
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