Ash by Malinda Lo (2010) [4.5 stars]

[warriorofworry]

The transformative power of love triumphs in this melodious YA about awakening to one’s own power.  Ash is a sensitive and intricately plotted and characterized retelling of the Cinderella legend. 

As in the fairy tale, Aisling’s widowed father leaves her to the machinations of her stepmother. Not so much mindlessly cruel as taking advantage the only way an unmarried woman can, she installs Aisling – known as Ash - as an unpaid servant to work off her father’s debt while the stepmother concentrates on marrying off her two daughters.

Beloved of a(n almost mythical and palpably dangerous) fairy, Ash attends the ball – but not before participating in a hunt, with the King’s Huntress. She discovers a connection with the huntress that both confuses and exhilarates the young woman.

A fast-moving ending celebrates Ash’s quick-thinking solutions to a series of problems, with an underlying theme about discovering and creating family.