CINDER HOUSE by Freya Marske – Review

I received this book for free from the Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Cinder House by Freya Marske
Published by Tordotcom on October 7 2025
Genres: Adult, Fantasy
Pages: 144
Format: ARC
Source: Publisher
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The nitty-gritty: A unique, ghostly take on the Cinderella story, Cinder House combines both familiar and unexpected elements in unexpected ways.

Cinder House wins the prize for being the most unusual Cinderella retelling I’ve read to date! This is a weird, magical story that incorporates all the familiar elements—the ball, the ashes, the shoes, the “must be home by midnight” rule, even the fairy godmother—and twists them into a very different type of story. I quite enjoyed it, although there was one element that I didn’t care for (more on that below). Freya Marske is a skilled writer with a big imagination, and I’m so glad I had the chance to read this.

Ella lives with her father, stepmother and two stepsisters, until the fateful date Patrice, the stepmother, adds poison to Ella’s and her father’s tea. Her father dies immediately, and Ella stumbles on the stairs and cracks her head open. (All of this happens on page one.) Ella becomes a ghost tethered forever to the house. In fact, she becomes the house and can feel everything the house feels. Only those living in the house can see her, and eventually she comes to realize how lonely she is.

A chance meeting with a fairy named Quaint expands Ella’s world, and it isn’t long before the Crowned Prince Jule announces he’s holding a ball to search for a wife. Ella wants more than anything to be amongst people who can see her, and so she and Quaint figure out a way to make that happen.

What starts as a rather depressing story about a dead girl becoming a ghost turns into something else, as Ella finds ways to improve her life, make friends and go out into the world. Marske does some interesting things with the haunted house trope and creates rules that Ella must follow as a ghost, although she is able to stretch those rules eventually. Still, there is a pervading sadness to the story. Greta is a cruel stepsister who uses magic to hurt Ella, and I really never recovered from Ella’s death at the beginning of the story.

As for negatives, Marske adds some odd sexual overtones to her tale that just didn’t work, and here is where the story lost me a bit. There are a few uncomfortable scenes between Ella and Jule and a woman named Nadya, one of them suggesting bondage (it wasn’t actually bondage, but I’m assuming the author wanted to plant that idea in her readers’ minds because of the language). Honestly, I don’t think these scenes added anything, unless the author was going for a coming-of-age element where Ella discovers her sexuality. But again, was it necessary? Not sure. 

However, I did love the way the story ended. I wasn’t expecting a happily ever after, but I was pleasantly surprised by the clever, upbeat ending. Despite my one issue, Cinder House is a solid four star read, recommended for readers who are looking for an “outside the box” retelling.

Big thanks to the publisher for providing a review copy.