Comments on things mean a lot: Ash by Malinda Lo

I really appreciate your balanced review of this b...

2009-10-23T04:42:22.633+01:00

I really appreciate your balanced review of this book! I have heard a lot of praise for it, and I really want to give it a try, but I had such high expectations for it that I was almost scared to read it.

I'm sorry you didn't enjoy it as much as you wanted to, though. It's hard when you can't connect with the characters. For me they are the most important point of fiction : even when the writing is excellent and the plot original, if I can't connect with the character, I will often struggle through the book.

This sounds interesting, I have heard of it before...

2009-10-17T14:30:04.529+01:00

This sounds interesting, I have heard of it before.
Sorry to hear you didnt enjoy it as much as you'd hoped.
It can throw a reader off when they don't connect with the central character.
http://thebookworm07.blogspot.com/

I so struggled with this book as well. I never co...

2009-10-16T21:53:50.294+01:00

I so struggled with this book as well. I never could wrap my head around quite why though. I think in the end I didn't connect with the potential romance on either side. It didn't seem as passion-filled as I would expect it to be. This could have been an obvious choice on the part of the author -- to make it a slow subtle awakening -- which I respect and I certainly wasn't looking for a bodice ripper by any stretch but I honestly didn't feel like there was more than BFF'ery between Ash and Kaisa. The spark wasn't there.

It was a beautifully written story and I enjoyed the fairy aspect and imagery of that element quite a bit. But in the end it wasn't enough to carry the whole story for me.

It's so frustrating when you want to love a book b...

2009-10-16T14:18:30.056+01:00

It's so frustrating when you want to love a book but don't! I was the same with the English Patient, especially as I love the film so much.

You convinced me to read it as soon as you compared it to the Goose Girl though!

Stephanie: What made it so hard was how much I wan...

2009-10-16T12:52:51.614+01:00

Stephanie: What made it so hard was how much I wanted to love it :(

Eva: I somehow thought I'd be alone in feeling so meh about it. It's good to have company :P

Meghan: I hope you do too!

Marisa, hopefully you will!

Amanda: As you know I'm a big fan of retellings, and I can say that this is actually quite different from most. So not normally liking them won't necessarily mean you won't like this one!

Sandy: lol! That's some very tempting reasoning you've got there :P

Lu: Did you review it? I couldn't find your link! Anyway, I'm glad to hear you did like it - I wish I had too :(

Melody: I do want to read whatever she writes next - I'm sure she'll continue to grow as a writer!

Andreea: Exactly! :) Can't love them all.

Jill: Normally I'm better than this at pinpointing specific problems, but in this case it was just a vague feeling of wrongness, you know? Something about the narration was a little off.

Dar: In this case, it was really more with the story as a whole than with the characters. But both things are sad :(

J.T. Oldfield: I'm afraid I do, yes :/ And yeah, the cover is not completely black...I thought it was too!

Bart: lol! I completely understand, yes.

Aarti: You should read at least Ella Enchanted, though! Ella would make an excellent riveter, now that I think of it.

Kathy: I normally love them, but not in this case :/

Zibilee: Lots of people really loved it, so I'd definitely recommend giving it a try!

Iliana: I'm a big fan of retellings, and maybe part of the problem is that I expect a certain voice from them - and that wasn't what I found here.

She: I LOVE that we're seeing more and more books with glbtq characters. It always makes me sad not to love a book I expect to love, but oh well!

Vasilly: Do read it anyway, yes! Hopefully you'll like it more than I did.

Alice: It was a shame :( But oh well, on to my next book!

Kelly, that might be a good idea, yes.

The more reviews of this book I read, the more I t...

2009-10-16T10:42:40.108+01:00

The more reviews of this book I read, the more I think I will probably just see if the library will buy it...

I haven't picked up Ash and I'm sorry to hear that...

2009-10-16T02:30:53.416+01:00

I haven't picked up Ash and I'm sorry to hear that the narration didn't work out too well for you.

Just because this story was done differently I'm g...

2009-10-16T01:45:23.672+01:00

Just because this story was done differently I'm going to read it! Too bad it didn't stick with you. I hate it when a book has most of the characteristics we want in a great book but falls short.

Ohh I've heard about this one-- what an interestin...

2009-10-16T00:23:24.939+01:00

Ohh I've heard about this one-- what an interesting retelling! It's definitely interesting with all the attention homosexuality is getting, in the US at least... I'm not too sure of how it is elsewhere.

I'm sorry you weren't all that fond of it. Sometimes it's so hard to write a review about a book that everyone else loves and you don't so much. :/ Thanks for being honest! :D

I haven't really read many books that get into ret...

2009-10-15T23:52:32.700+01:00

I haven't really read many books that get into retelling of fairy tales. I don't think I'm that attracted to them on the whole but I have read a few reviews of this book and I'm intrigued. I want to check it out but it just may not be any time soon.

Very insightful review. I am torn about this book ...

2009-10-15T22:35:38.951+01:00

Very insightful review. I am torn about this book because while on the one hand I hate to feel disconnected from the protagonist's voice, I also think that some of the other components of the book sound wonderful. Especially the world building. I really love books that have strong and complex world building, so this seems like a huge plus for me. I think I am going to take a chance on this book, but keep in mind that you had some reservations with it. I will let you know how it goes when I finally get to it. Thanks!

I just haven't gotten into the whole retelling of ...

2009-10-15T21:50:40.727+01:00

I just haven't gotten into the whole retelling of fairy tale things, so I don't think this is for me.

I had a serious obsession with Cinderella when I w...

2009-10-15T21:02:59.050+01:00

I had a serious obsession with Cinderella when I was in high school, but I never wanted to read any retellings. I am not sure I want to read this one, either, as I have such strong feelings connecting me to the book. But it sounds really great, as a fantasy novel. I love when worlds are created so fully in those books. Hmmm... decisions, decisions!

I've seen reviews that love this one, and reviews ...

2009-10-15T20:52:35.850+01:00

I've seen reviews that love this one, and reviews like yours where while they didn't dislike it they didn't quite love it either. Perhaps it's just that sort of book.

I'd love to be a bit more coherent in this comment, but I'm about 3/4 of the way though TAATA, so I'm sure you understand!

It appears from this cover that she is lying in gr...

2009-10-15T20:23:35.951+01:00

It appears from this cover that she is lying in grass...I never noticed that before. I thought it was just her in a black background. Now I don't like the cover so much.

Do you feel like you wasted one of your exceptions to your ban on this?

I haven't read this but I know how disappointing i...

2009-10-15T19:05:44.109+01:00

I haven't read this but I know how disappointing it is when you just don't connect with the characters.

Interesting that you don't know why you didn't con...

2009-10-15T17:05:32.035+01:00

Interesting that you don't know why you didn't connect with it. I think I'm the opposite: I usually know why I don't like a book, but am more at a loss to explain why I really love a book!

I am sorry to hear that you didn't enjoy this one,...

2009-10-15T16:51:23.862+01:00

I am sorry to hear that you didn't enjoy this one, but there are plenty of books out there to read and I am sure your next pick will be great:)

I enjoyed reading this story, but I thought it'd h...

2009-10-15T16:02:57.467+01:00

I enjoyed reading this story, but I thought it'd have been better. The worldbuilding is terrific, isn't it? That's one of the things I enjoyed about this story. I hope the next book (by Malinda) will be better! :)

I actually quite liked this one. I didn't notice ...

2009-10-15T15:17:30.629+01:00

I actually quite liked this one. I didn't notice a lack of a connection between the reader and Ash, but it's possible. I read it really quickly, in one setting, so sometimes I wonder if I am more forgiving of things that would normally bother me because I didn't even give them enough thought. I'm glad there were things you liked though! :)

Two particular bummers...one is that you used your...

2009-10-15T13:27:46.103+01:00

Two particular bummers...one is that you used your precious ration of books on one that didn't blow you away. And second, Cinderella re-tellings have so much potential, which wasn't realized here. You know what I say? If you don't love one of the few books you allow yourself during a book ban, you get to pick another...

Well, I can't say more than we've already talked a...

2009-10-15T13:14:42.407+01:00

Well, I can't say more than we've already talked about on twitter and such, but I'm still sad. I'm still going to try it, even though I don't normally like retellings. If it doesn't work out, ah well.

Oh dear, I'm sorry you didn't enjoy it as much as ...

2009-10-15T12:47:04.204+01:00

Oh dear, I'm sorry you didn't enjoy it as much as you thought you would. Ash is still waiting in my TBR pile, and I hope I'll enjoy it.

It's a shame that you didn't connect with it. It ...

2009-10-15T12:41:23.842+01:00

It's a shame that you didn't connect with it. It does happen to me sometimes though, when I just can't figure out why I didn't love something the way I should have. I still have this book to be read, so I hope I will like it more.

I know I've read other mixed reviews of this one o...

2009-10-15T12:38:45.313+01:00

I know I've read other mixed reviews of this one on blogs, so you're not alone. :) I had already decided on someone else's review that it probably wouldn't appeal to me, and yours just confirmed that.