This post contains affiliate links, including Amazon and Libro.fm. As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases, at no extra cost to you.
Verdict: A lyrical, grief-soaked sapphic Cinderella that mattered enormously in 2009 and still has some of the loveliest prose in YA fantasy. It’s held back by glacial pacing and a romance with Kaisa that arrives so late many readers never believe in it.
Best for: Readers who want a quiet, folkloric fairy tale about grief and choice, who read for atmosphere and sentences rather than plot, and who can take a love story that is felt more than it is shown.
Heat level: ★☆☆☆☆ (1/5 — YA, closed door; readers report the first kiss comes near the very end)
Rating: ★★★☆☆ (3.4/5 — a 3.63 Goodreads average across 38,000 ratings, with pacing and a late romance as the dominant complaints)
Tropes: Cinderella retelling, fairy bargain, grief and healing, wicked stepmother, fairy-tale-within-a-story, huntress love interest, slow burn, standalone, queer-normative world, happy ending.
Ash by Malinda Lo is a standalone young adult sapphic fantasy, her 2009 debut from Little, Brown, and one of the first mainstream lesbian fairy-tale retellings. It’s a Cinderella story in a kingdom where belief in fairies is fading. Ash, orphaned and made a servant in her stepmother’s house, is torn between Sidhean, a dangerous fairy who offers her escape, and Kaisa, the King’s Huntress, who offers her a life.
It has a 3.63 average across roughly 38,000 Goodreads ratings, a starred Kirkus review and four major award shortlists. It also sits 0.7 of a star higher on Amazon (4.3). That gap is wide, and it comes from readers splitting hard over whether a quiet book is also a slow one. Both halves of that split are worth understanding before you start.
What Is Ash About?
Ash is a fairy-tale retelling first and a romance second, and that ordering explains most of the reviews. It keeps the Cinderella bones: the dead parents, the stepmother, the stepsisters, the ball, the midnight deadline. But it replaces the fairy godmother with something much older and less kind, drawn from the folklore of the Greenwood. The stories Ash’s mother told her run through the book as stories within the story.
Ash starts the book with nothing. Her mother dies, then her father, and she has no money and no protector. She has a stepmother who treats her as a debt to be worked off. She has grief strong enough that going into the woods and never coming back sounds like relief. Sidhean assumes she will eventually take that way out and go with him. Kaisa assumes nothing, and that’s her appeal. The close narration gives you her numbness in full, which is also why some readers find her hard to reach.
What Makes This Sapphic Fairy-Tale Retelling Work
- The prose: The book’s most praised element, and even many 2-star reviewers concede it. Readers use words like lyrical, elegant, lush and haunting.
- Grief as the real subject: Fans single out how seriously the book treats loss. The fairy bargain works as a picture of depression as much as a magic plot, and that’s why the book stays with people.
- A queer-normative world: Loving a woman carries no stigma in Ash’s kingdom. For many readers this was the point, and for 2009 sapphic YA it was unusual. Several five-star reviews describe finally seeing themselves in a fairy tale.
- The folklore: The embedded fairy stories and the old-religion texture give the retelling an identity of its own. It doesn’t read like a reskinned Disney plot.
- Critical standing: A starred Kirkus review and shortlists for the Morris, Andre Norton, Lambda Literary and Mythopoeic awards. Trade outlets agreed with the fans about the craft.
Book Synopsis
Aisling, called Ash, grows up on the edge of the Wood, raised on her mother’s stories of fairies who steal people away. When her mother dies, Ash keeps visiting the grave and keeps reading the old tales, because they’re the last thing she has left of her. Then her father remarries and dies soon afterwards. He leaves debts behind him and a widow with no warmth to spare for his daughter.
Ash’s stepmother takes her into her household as a servant, and the years that follow are spent scrubbing floors while her stepsisters prepare for society. The only place Ash feels anything is the forest. There she meets Sidhean, a fairy lord who is beautiful, cold and patient. He seems to know her better than anyone alive, and he is clearly waiting for something. Her mother’s stories taught her that fairy help always has a price.
Then a hunting party comes through the Wood, and Ash meets Kaisa, the King’s Huntress. Kaisa is competent, curious and entirely human. She teaches Ash to ride and track, and she treats her as someone with a future. For the first time since her parents died, Ash wants something in the daylight world. That wanting runs straight into the bargain she’s been drifting toward in the dark. The royal ball is coming, and so is the moment Sidhean collects. The question the rest of the book answers is whether Ash can choose a life when she has already half-promised it away.
My Review
Lo’s sentences are the best thing about Ash, and I want to say that plainly because the rest of this review is qualified. She writes in a hushed, deliberate register that suits a fairy tale about mourning. Even readers who gave it two stars keep stopping to say the writing is beautiful, and that kind of agreement from the unhappy side of the reviews is rare.
The second real strength is what the book does with grief. Sidhean is written as a real temptation, and that’s why readers argue about him. He stands for the pull of giving up, and Lo makes that pull sympathetic without romanticising it. Kaisa, by contrast, stands for staying and getting better. Framed that way, the choice has a weight most Cinderella retellings lack.
Where it struggles is pace, and this is the main complaint in the low-star reviews, not my own quibble. In the 2-star reviews I went through, slow or dull pacing and an underdeveloped romance with Kaisa were the two biggest themes, each raised by six or seven separate reviewers. Readers note that Kaisa barely appears before the second half, and that the two don’t kiss until the last few pages. Around that sit the secondary problems. Five reviewers call the characters flat or distant, and Ash’s numbness is accurate to grief but hard to live inside for 264 pages. Four found Sidhean more interesting than Kaisa, which unbalances a book that needs you to choose Kaisa. Three said the lack of any stakes around queerness left the plot with little friction.
One expectation to reset: Ash gets shelved and sold as a lesbian romance, and it’s really a fairy tale about grief with a romance at the end of it. If you come for a love story, you’ll spend two-thirds of the book waiting for one. If you come for a quiet, melancholy retelling with a sapphic happy ending, you’ll find exactly that. If “romance” is what drew you, calibrate; if “slow” is what worries you, pick your moment.
My honest note: A landmark book with gorgeous prose, and a romance that’s mostly potential. If you need to see two people fall in love on the page, it will frustrate you. If you read fairy tales for their atmosphere and their sadness, it’s still one of the best.
| Element | In Ash |
|---|---|
| Central relationship | Ash & Kaisa, the King’s Huntress — an orphaned servant and a woman who offers her a future, with the fairy Sidhean as the rival pull |
| Core tropes | Cinderella retelling, fairy bargain, grief and healing, wicked stepmother, slow burn, queer-normative world |
| Setting | A fairy-tale kingdom on the edge of the Wood, where the old fairy lore is fading |
| Heat level | 1/5 — YA, closed door, a late first kiss |
| Series | Standalone; companion prequel Huntress (2011) is set centuries earlier with different characters |
| Content notes | Death of both parents, prolonged grief, emotional abuse and servitude under a stepmother, manipulation by a supernatural figure |
How Spicy Is Ash?
A 1/5, and that’s a description, not a criticism. Ash is a young adult novel from Little, Brown’s teen list, and I found no romance.io steam band to cite for it. That fits a book nobody is cataloguing as adult romance. The on-page evidence comes from readers, and they’re unanimous and a little exasperated about it: the romance is built from glances, riding lessons and conversations, and several reviewers point out that Ash and Kaisa don’t kiss until roughly ten pages before the end. There is nothing beyond that.
The one thing to know in advance isn’t sexual at all. Sidhean’s interest in Ash is possessive and bound up with her wish to disappear. Some readers find him romantic, and others read him as a darker figure. No reviewer I found flags anything more explicit than a kiss. For sapphic YA at the same heat, These Witches Don’t Burn sits in the same 1/5 band. Crier’s War runs a notch warmer at 2/5 with the same restraint.
Who Should Read This Book?
You’ll likely love it if: you read for prose and atmosphere first, you want a fairy tale that takes grief seriously, you’re happy with a romance that’s quiet and mostly offstage until late, and you’d like a complete standalone with a sapphic happy ending.
You may want to skip it if: slow pacing makes you put books down, you want to watch two people fall in love scene by scene, you need strong conflict and stakes to stay invested, or you’d rather have a fairy-tale romance with some heat.
In short: exquisite sentences and real emotional depth, delivered at a pace, and with a romance, that will lose readers who came for a love story.
What Readers Are Actually Saying (September 2026)
Ash is a backlist book, and it lives like one. At seventeen years old, it has no fresh hype cycle. What keeps new readers arriving is Malinda Lo herself. Last Night at the Telegraph Club won the 2021 National Book Award for Young People’s Literature and the 2022 Stonewall Book Award, and readers who find her through it work backwards to the debut. Little, Brown put out a new edition in May 2019, and Ash still collects ratings steadily: just over 38,000 on Goodreads, with more than 4,000 written reviews. For this update I didn’t get a reliable read on Reddit or BookTok, so I’m not describing either. The Goodreads reviews and the trade record are the evidence here. The audiobook is from Recorded Books, narrated by Emily Woo Zeller, and runs 6 hours 45 minutes.
Prefer audio? Listen to Ash on Libro.fm — the audiobook shop that supports independent bookstores.
Why readers love it (according to the discourse): The prose, first and by a distance. “Lyrical” is the recurring word, with “lush” and “atmospheric” close behind, and the fairy-tale atmosphere gets named in the same breath. Next is representation. A strong thread of five-star reviews comes from readers who describe the book as the first time they saw a girl like them get the fairy-tale ending, and that is the emotional core of its reputation. Then grief, handled honestly. Gail Carriger’s five-star review called Kaisa the book’s “most vibrant” character. That’s notable, because the most common complaint is that Kaisa barely registers.
What readers argue about and complain about: Pacing, above everything. Low-star reviewers call it dull and slow and say nothing much happens until the final stretch. The romance is the second theme, and the more specific one: Kaisa shows up late, the relationship grows mostly offstage, and the first kiss comes almost at the end, so readers feel told rather than shown that Ash has fallen in love. Third: distance. Several reviewers found Ash flat and hard to connect to, which is the cost of writing a numb, grieving narrator from close up. Then the Sidhean problem. A noticeable group of reviewers found the fairy more complex and more sympathetic than the woman Ash chooses. Smaller notes: the embedded fairy stories feel like digressions to some, a couple find the ending abrupt, and a few say a world without homophobia leaves the plot short on friction. Opinion on that last point is genuinely split, because it’s exactly what the book’s biggest fans love.
The trade record agrees with readers about the craft and mostly skips the pace. Kirkus starred it, Publishers Weekly said the debut should “establish Lo as a gifted storyteller”, and Booklist, School Library Journal and The Horn Book were all positive. The pull-quotes I could find don’t mention pacing at all. The New York Times is the exception that confirms the readers: its review found the book lovely but called it “conventional”.
The standalone question worth asking first: Ash resolves completely. Ash makes her choice, the fairy bargain is settled, and it ends happily, with nothing left for a sequel. Goodreads files Huntress (2011) as a prequel in the same world. It’s set centuries earlier with different characters, it can be read in either order, and at 3.78 across about 13,500 ratings it rates slightly higher than Ash. If you want Lo at her strongest, go to Last Night at the Telegraph Club. It sits more than half a star higher on Goodreads, and it’s the book that made her name.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Ash by Malinda Lo a romance?
Partly. It’s a fairy-tale retelling about grief first, and the romance with Kaisa develops mostly in the second half. The most common reader complaint is that the love story arrives too late and too quietly to feel fully earned.
Does Ash have a happy ending?
Yes. The book resolves completely and ends happily for Ash and Kaisa, with no cliffhanger. A couple of readers find the final stretch abrupt, but nothing is left open.
How spicy is Ash?
A 1/5. It’s a young adult novel with a closed door, and readers report the first kiss comes close to the end. There’s no sexual content beyond that.
Is Ash part of a series?
No, it’s a standalone. Huntress (2011) is a prequel set centuries earlier in the same world with different characters, and you can read the two in either order.
Is there an Ash audiobook?
Yes. The Recorded Books edition is narrated by Emily Woo Zeller and runs 6 hours 45 minutes.
If You Loved Ash, Read These Next
If you want Malinda Lo at the height of her powers, Last Night at the Telegraph Club swaps the fairy tale for 1950s San Francisco and gives the romance the page time Ash doesn’t. For the same restrained, longing-heavy YA register with a much sharper plot, Crier’s War puts a servant and a noblewoman on opposite sides of a revolution. And if the folklore was the draw but you want an adult romance at its centre, The Honey Witch keeps the magic and the grief and makes the love story the point.
For more in this register, browse our YA sapphic fantasy books list or the full Book Reviews collection.
The Bottom Line
Ash wanted to give a lesbian girl the fairy tale, and it did, years before most of the genre caught up. The prose is beautiful, the handling of grief is serious and moving, and the folklore gives the retelling a real identity. It’s also slow, emotionally distant, and it builds its central romance so late and so quietly that a large share of readers never believe in it. For atmosphere and melancholy, it’s still one of the most beautiful books in YA sapphic fantasy. For a love story, it will feel like waiting. Check Ash on Amazon →
The Eikna Overall Ranking
On the Eikna scale, Ash ranks as a landmark lyrical sapphic fairy tale. It’s beautifully written and genuinely moving about grief, held back by its pace and a late-blooming romance, and best approached for the prose and the folklore rather than the love story.
The Evidence Scorecard
Overall ★★★☆☆ 3.4/5
- ✓ 3.63 average across 38,000 Goodreads ratings
- ✓ Starred Kirkus, four award shortlists
- ✓ Landmark 2009 lesbian fairy tale
- ✓ Pacing is the dominant complaint
Romance ★★★☆☆ 3/5
- ✓ Kaisa offers a life, not escape
- ✓ Quiet, tender, never melodramatic
- ✓ Happy ending for both women
- ✓ First kiss near the final pages
Characters ★★★☆☆ 3.1/5
- ✓ Ash’s grief rendered honestly
- ✓ Sidhean compelling and unsettling
- ✓ Stepmother a credible domestic menace
- ✓ Many readers found Ash flat
Writing ★★★★☆ 4.1/5
- ✓ “Lyrical” is the recurring word
- ✓ Praised even in 2-star reviews
- ✓ Embedded folklore gives it texture
- ✓ Digressions slow an already slow book
Emotional Impact ★★★★☆ 3.6/5
- ✓ Grief and depression taken seriously
- ✓ Representation moved many readers deeply
- ✓ Fairy bargain carries real danger
- ✓ Distant narration mutes the payoff
Heat Level ★☆☆☆☆ 1/5
- ✓ Young adult, closed door
- ✓ One late kiss, per readers
- ✓ No romance.io band to cite
- ✓ Sidhean’s possessiveness adds dark undertone
Ending ★★★★☆ 3.6/5
- ✓ Happy ending, no cliffhanger
- ✓ Fairy bargain fully resolved
- ✓ Complete standalone
- ✓ Some readers found it abrupt
Re-read Value ★★★★☆ 3.5/5
- ✓ Prose rewards a slower second read
- ✓ Short at 264 pages
- ✓ Huntress prequel extends the world
- ✓ Pacing discourages a quick return
Affiliate disclosure: Lesbian Romance Reads participates in the Amazon Associates Program and the Libro.fm affiliate program. If you buy through a link on this page we may earn a small commission, at no extra cost to you.