Hey! We hope everyone is doing well and is safe! If you haven’t guessed from the title, the post is about Cinderella, but not the one that has probably already jumped into your mind. No, this post will be about the retelling of Cinderella that Malindo Lo does so capturingly and amazingly in her book “Ash.”
I would like mention at the beginning here that the retelling is gay (cause how else would I countinue our Pride month posts). So in this book Cinderella doesn’t end up with Prince Charming but rather someone who isn’t even a royal. Also her name isn’t even Cinderella, it's Aisling and everyone calls her Ash. One other thing, the book falls in the fantasy genre, so if that's not your thing no worries.
Moving on to the actual content of this book now. So the beginning is pretty much the same, her mom dies, her dad remarries, etc and then finally she basically becomes a maid for her grumpy step-mom and snooty step-sisters. This version of Cinderella, however, has an actual magical element to it. A large part of the story has to do with these magical woods that Ash lives near with (dangerous) fairies and the Fairy Queen’s kingdom. These woods are also where Ash meets her love interest- the (King’s) Huntress- Kaisa. She is exactly what her title is, the Huntress leads a royal group of hunters into the woods every year during hunting season. Ash and the Huntress meet in the woods on a summer day and from there their relationship grows almost naturally from friends to lovers.
That is something that I loved about this book- the naturalness of gay relationships. In the book’s world it doesn’t matter who you love, and wouldn’t that be something nice to have in our world. Ash’s relationship with the Huntress doesn’t spark any intruding rumors other than that the Huntress has found someone. It is even mentioned that the Huntress has taken women lovers before, so it's not a big deal. I would love to see that today.
Another thing that the author does so well with Ash’s and the Huntress’ relationship is how it's written and shown. For me it is a very good representation of young love, especially between two girls. It's slow and a little unsure and then it just is, doesn’t matter what other people say or don’t, the feelings are there and (hopefully) you’re ok with them (or you eventually let yourself be). I think without outright saying it, this book shows that love is love and nothing else matters.
Of course there is a Prince Charming but he plays a really small role and of course there is a ball where Ash and the Prince meet but even then Ash leaves him to go find the Huntress. There are also magical elements that hinder and help Ash to be with the Huntress, but you’re going to have to read the book to see what they are.
SAPPINESS SCALE: HAPPY AND MOPEY
Thanks for reading!
Ju
P.S.: there is a companion book to Ash called “The Huntress,” also gay and aslo really amazing. Same world but different time period.
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