Cinder House
#7253.77 adjusted 3.79 for sample size in the official ranking · full ranking
Books 1 book Status Complete 2025 Reading commitment Low Freya Marske Last reviewed 2026-08-19
Overview
Cinder House is Freya Marske's standalone 2025 fantasy novella retelling Cinderella: Ella, murdered at sixteen and trapped as a ghost in her father's house, bargains with a fairy charm-seller for three nights in which she can be seen and touched again. It is a distinct setting from Marske's existing A Marvellous Light trilogy, not a continuation of it, marking her first published work set outside that world. The novella reworks the Cinderella fairy tale's familiar ball-and-transformation structure into a ghost story, with Ella's bargained three nights of physical presence standing in for the original tale's limited-time magic, and her murder recasting the story's stakes around reclaiming a life and body that were taken from her rather than simply escaping a cruel household.
Fairy-tale retelling · For Adult
Core Canon: Reading Order (1 work) counts toward ranking
Cinder House (2025) core · 3.77 (7,524 ratings); Published by Tordotcom, 2025.
Quick answers
- How many books are in Cinder House? Cinder House's Core Canon is 1 book.
- Is Cinder House finished? Complete (2025).
- How much reading does Cinder House take? Low reading commitment (estimated from 1 Core Canon book · ~144 pages).
- How is Cinder House ranked? #725 in this site's official ranking, based on 7,524 reader ratings across 1 Core Canon book. See the full ranking for how this is calculated.
Why is it ranked #725?
Ranked #725 in the official ranking.
- Average reader rating of 3.77 across 1 core book.
- A smaller readership (7,524 ratings), so the score carries less weight of numbers.
- Less than 0.01 behind #724, Blanca & Roja (a finer tie-break level decides the order).
- Below the top-10 average of 4.45.
- A single standalone novel: ranked on that one book alone.
Why explore this universe?
Rated · 1 book · Complete · 8k ratings · Ranks #725 overall
Good choice if you want a quick, low-commitment fairy-tale retelling fantasy universe that's already finished, so there's no wait for the next book.
Reading order
A single Core Canon work: no sequencing question to resolve.
Awards (verified)
- No awards found for this universe.
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Official resources
Research details
Ranking metrics: weighted average 3.77 across 7,524 ratings on 1 Core Canon book. See Why is it ranked here? above for the full breakdown, or the full ranking.
How do we know this?
Admission: Admit Cinder House (Freya Marske) accepted 2026-08-19
Sources: (see source tier definitions)
Last reviewed: 2026-08-20
Rule: Registered as a single-work universe: one standalone novella, no announced sequel, confirmed separate from this author's other admitted setting.