• Home
  • Browse by…
    • Browse by Genre
      • Children’s
      • Comics
        • Manga
      • General Fiction
        • Adventure
        • Anthologies
        • Crime
        • Fairy Tales
        • Lesbian Pulp Fiction
        • Literary Fiction
        • Novellas
        • Retellings
        • Series
        • Short Stories
        • Thrillers
      • Historical Fiction
        • 1920s
        • Regency
      • Horror
        • Vampires
        • Zombies
      • Mystery
      • Memoirs
      • Nonfiction
        • Biographies
        • Essays
        • History
      • Poetry
      • Romance
        • Butch/Femme
      • Erotica
        • BDSM
      • SFF
        • Sci Fi
          • Dystopia
        • Fantasy
          • Mythical Creatures
            • Mermaids
            • Witches
          • Paranormal
          • Steampunk
          • Urban Fantasy
      • Young Adult
    • Browse by Rating
      • 5 Stars
      • 4 Stars
      • 3 Stars
      • 2 Stars
      • 1 Star
    • Browse by Representation
      • POC Content
        • Main Characters of Color
        • Black Representation
        • Asian Representation
        • Latina Representation
        • Indigenous Representation
      • Authors of Color
        • Black Authors
        • Asian Authors
        • Latina Authors
        • Indigenous Authors
      • Lesbian Representation
        • Lesbian Authors
      • Bisexual Representation
        • Bisexual Authors
      • Trans Representation
        • Trans Authors
        • Nonbinary Representation
      • Asexual Representation
        • Asexual Authors
      • Disability Representation
      • Neurodiverse Representation
      • Mental Health
    • Browse by Reviewer
      • Danika Ellis
      • Alice P.
      • Amanda Růžičková
      • Anna N.
      • Caelin
      • Casey
      • Emilia Ferrante
      • Emory Rose
      • Ire
      • Jamie Rose
      • Jazelle
      • Kody
      • Laurel
      • Liv
      • Meagan Kimberley
      • Nat
      • Rachel Friars
      • Raquel R. Rivera
      • Sritama Sen
      • Susan
      • Susanne Salehi
      • Theo
      • Til
      • Vic
  • Recommendations List
  • About
  • Review Policy
  • Support the Lesbrary
  • Advertise with the Lesbrary

The Lesbrary

Sapphic Book Reviews

Guest Lesbrarians, Lesbrary Reviews

Guest Lesbrarian: Emily

April 26, 2010 by Danika Ellis

For Once, Being Gay Isn’t the Problem

Most lesbian literature to date, it seems, details the common struggles of coming out and of dealing with the consequences of being a homosexual in a heterosexual world. Not Ash, the new teen novel by former afterellen.com editor Malinda Lo.

A revisionist Cinderella novel complete with pagan holidays and faeries reminiscent of those rampant throughout Irish and British folklore, the novel is indeed a modern fairy tale. Instead of a submissive Cinderella, Ash is a rebellious teenager. Instead of getting wishes from a kind fairy godmother, Ash makes a deal with a dangerous fairy knight. But what at first appears to be the most significant twist, that Cinderella falls in love with a woman, is not. What is truly refreshing about this story is that her falling in love with a woman, not a man, doesn’t bother anybody.

“It was clear to me from the beginning that I didn’t want to have a world where there was homophobia,” said Lo in an interview with afterellen.com’s Heather Aimee O’Neill. “I decided to not make [homosexuality] an unusual thing.”

It’s easy to see, reading her book. Casual references to women loving women are sprinkled here and there throughout the text, and when you read that “a young couple stumbled away from the dance hand in hand, one woman dressed in gold, the other woman in green”, or that one character nonchalantly voices her opinion that Ash, the cinderella character, is one of the “many who would cast themselves as the huntress’s lover”, you begin to understand that in the world of Ash, there is no “gay” or “straight”. There is only love, and the gender of the person you love doesn’t matter.

“She has enough problems,” said Lo, without having to deal with a world discriminatory towards gays. It is the difference in class between Ash and her “true love” that rankles with her society, not the lack of difference in gender. While many factors impede the progress of their relationship, stigma associated with sexual orientation, for once, is not one of them.

Ash really is a fairy tale. A world in which being gay isn’t a problem—doesn’t that sound like happily ever after?

Interview with Malinda Lo, conducted by Afterellen’s Heather Aimee O’Neill on October 15th, 2009: http://www.afterellen.com/people/2009/10/malinda-lo

Lo, Malinda. Ash. New York: Little, Brown and Company, 2009. p. 106

Lo, Malinda. Ash. New York: Little, Brown and Company, 2009. p. 184

Interview with Malinda Lo, conducted by Afterellen’s Heather Aimee O’Neill on October 15th, 2009: http://www.afterellen.com/people/2009/10/malinda-lo

Thanks to Emily from Wacky Word Woman for this excellent guest review! I’ve been wanting to read Ash for a while, and this just moved it up the list. Definitely check out Emily’s blog. It’s new and awesome, but she doesn’t have a lot of followers yet.

Have you read Malinda Lo’s Ash? What did you think of it?

Categories: Guest Lesbrarians, Lesbrary Reviews
Tags: , cinderella, fairy tales, fantasy, guest lesbrarian, lesbian, Malinda Lo, retellings, sff, YA, young adult

Related Posts

Danika reviews Other Ever Afters: New Queer Fairy Tales by Melanie Gillman
Messy Perfect coverAn Underground GSA at Catholic School: Messy Perfect by Tanya Boteju Review
Spitting Gold coverA Twisty Sapphic Spiritualist Con: Spitting Gold by Carmella Lowkins
Maggie reviews Girls of Storm and Shadow by Natasha Ngan
Previous:
2009 Lesbian Fiction Readers Choice Awards
Next:
Danika reviews This One’s Going to Last Forever by Nairne Holtz
About Me

About the Lesbrary

The Lesbrary is a sapphic book blog that started in 2010. It's run by Danika Ellis, and we have about a dozen reviewers from around the world recommending sapphic books in every genre. Check out the top navigation bar for more about the Lesbrary as well as options to browse by genre, age category, rating, and more.

Sapphic Book Blogs

  • Bi and Lesbian Literature: The Lesbrary's tumblr
  • Autostraddle's Books Coverage
  • I Heart Sapphfic
  • The Lesbian Review
  • Okazu: Yuri Manga

Queer Book Blogs

  • Book Riot's LGBTQ Coverage
  • Gay League: LGBT Comics
  • Lambda Literary
  • LGBTQ Reads
  • LGBTQ Reads tumblr
  • Our Queerest Shelves: My LGBTQ Books Newsletter at Book Riot.
Theme by SkyandStars.co
Back Top

Copyright © 2025