In her debut novel, Malinda Lo carves a rural small town world embedded deeply with the traditions of magic. Ash (our heroine)'s homeland is full of stories about fairies, stories about their convivial parties and abduction of children. After being left in the clutches of an evil stepmother after becoming orphaned, Ash is left with no choice but to take solace in the stories of her mother and the belief of fairies. Yet, Sidhean, a fairy himself, takes interest in the heroine. However, Ash grapples with the question of the the King's Huntress Kaisa (Yes this is a woman). Caught between these two loves, Ash must take it in herself to make the right choice for her future and for her heart. 
 Ash (the novel) has everything it takes to succeed. It is enticing, seductive and addictive plus wrought with fairy mysteries and a relatively strong heroine. Yet, in the same way as Timeless by Alexandra Monir, it fails at the execution. Ash, as many have noted, sounds a bit stiff and unemotional, flat, because of the 3rd person narrative. I concur as well, and I feel that Ash rarely has her moments at being human. She just seems to do things, without any rationale, because we don't see any emotional thought process. Ash sounds like a ghost of a girl, haunted by Lo's inability to express the emotions of characters. Sidhean, the fairy, is mysterious and gorgeous, yes, but we never find out enough about him. He might give us his background tale and reasons, yet it seems odd never to find out about him as a person; neither do we know much about the personality of the Huntress. All of Lo's characters seem to fail to express themselves to the audience, leaving them trapped behind a wall of glass. 
 However, many other things are just as wrong. (view spoiler)[ Kaisa and Ash fall in love (which I'm impressed by Lo's audacity to tackle a LGBT topic), yet I don't see the chemistry. It seems odd in many ways and maybe there's just not enough understanding about the country. (hide spoiler)] Ash is a retelling of a Cinderella story, and it has all those elements, yet it doesn't seem to improve the story at all - and instead I think the twist hurts it and shows the childish-ness of the novel. Ash fails at execution greatly, which is sad because it's such an interesting novel. 
 I like the realm Ash is set in. It's almost an ancient land with magical roots that are presently being ignored. Mysticism, the unknown are wonderful teasers in this book, yet their full potential is not used. Lo's book could have been so much better, so much stronger with a bit more character interaction and characterization. In other words, Ash has a enticing premise, but a weak delivery.