I did not want to put this book down at any point. The writing is beautiful but not overly flowery where it's hard to read. This author knows how to write about the struggles women face without it feeling bleak. If you support women's wrongs, you'll like this one.

Ava Reid's writing is gorgeous as always, but as a Shakespeare retelling, this book makes some very odd choices. It doesn't feel like a reimagining of Macbeth so much as an unrelentingly dark story about sexual violence, with characters who happen to share the same names.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the arc! Opinions are my own.

This spellbinding and harrowing feminist novel haunted me until the last page. To say I loved it is an understatement.

Roscilla made a beautiful and tragically empowering protagonist, in a world where the horrors of men affront a women’s every desire.

Newly married off to lord Macbeth, in Scotland amidst terrible political unrest, she must face the uncertainty of the new customs alone. She wears a veil, considered a “hagseed”, when she looks into the eyes of men they’re said to be bewitched.

Lord Macbeth has witches ensnared underneath his castle telling him prophesied tales of his impending kingship and emboldens him to move forward with cruel certainty. Roscilla is caught in his web, trying to survive a world pitted against her since birth, where men will use and dispose of women’s power at their whim.

I loved how this washed over me like a dark fairytale, with sweeping prose and harsh realities, I fell in love with Lady Macbeth.

Macbeth is one of my favorite Shakespeare plays, and Lady Macbeth one of the most interesting women of classical theatre. In the recent wave of feminist retellings, Lady Macbeth is a great candidate for a modern author's reimagining and reexamination, so I was very excited for Ava Reid to tackle it and I so wanted to love it. Unfortunately, I'm very torn on Reid's take on the story, which is heavy on the "reimagining" of Lady Macbeth. In this version, Lady Macbeth is a 17-year-old French girl named Roscille sent to Scotland to marry Macbeth, Thane of Glammis. Instead of ambitious and cunning, Roscille is understandably scared, isolated, and grasping at ways to survive a strange, masculine world. While this is fair, it doesn't allow Roscille to really feel like Shakespeare's Lady Macbeth, even as she manipulates her husband and other men into the situations that kick off the plot of the play.

I don't need a retelling to follow everything about the original, but at times it felt too far away from it. This also comes into play with the fantasy elements; while the overall atmosphere, the propecy-telling witches, and Roscille's rumored curse give the book a haunted, magical edge that really works, the book tips into true fantasy with the addition of a dragon (!) and general increase of magic after a more straightforward book.

Still, Reid's writing is lovely and atmospheric, Roscille navigating a dark, lonely place. Her focus on a woman's role - as a daughter, as a wife, in a castle, amongst other men, and more - is well done. I just wish it was better used in the context of Macbeth, which it certainly could have been without stripping the legendary character and marriage of key qualities from the play.

Thank you to @avasreid @delreybooks & @prhaudio for the #gifted #ARC & #audiobook of #LadyMacbeth

I’m a fan of #AvaReid, so this #retelling of Lady Macbeth was at the top of my #TBR.

This story follows a teenage Roscille who has been given to Lord Macbeth to marry by Roscille’s father to gain an alliance. And thus, she becomes Lady Macbeth. She is beautiful & has the capability putting men under a spell to do as she says if they look into her eyes - witchkissed. It is for this reason that she is required to always wear a veil to cover her eyes, except when her husband needs to use her as a weapon. Especially since her new home is made up of only men. There are no other women – not even servants. She quickly learns that her husband and his court are brutal & ruthless. If she is going to survive, she’ll need to strategize & outsmart all of the men who would so easily harm her if given the chance.

While staying true to the Lady Macbeth we know, Reid also gives us a different perspective of her cunning personality – a reason for why she needs to be that way. This retelling was a great example what lengths men will go to for power & how worthless women were/are considered by men & they sufferings endured. As I read this #book, my anger increased with each page. There was a lot of female rage happening both on & off the page. The one bright spot was sweet Lisander.

Fans of Ava, retellings & #Shakespeare will eat this up! It was incredibly dark, atmospheric & #gothic. I would have liked a tiny bit more at the end, but overall, this was a standout #book.

OH!! And there’s a #Dragon – nuff said!

#2024 #August #NewRelease #MustRead #Bookstagram #Read #Reading #Audio #Review #Fiction #Adult #Thriller #Mystery #Suspense #Fantasy #Historical #Romance

I've been a fan of Ava Reid since I read Juniper and Thorn, a visceral and strange fantasy like nothing I'd ever read before. I seriously saw the house from that book in my dreams, it was so vividly drawn. With Lady Macbeth, we're transported to 11th century Scotland. Roscille (or Lady Macbeth) a 17 year old French noblewoman with eyes that supposedly bewitch any who gaze upon them, is sold to Macbeth, a brutish lord who is hungry for power. I wasn't terribly familiar with Shakespeare's Macbeth before reading this retelling (I had to remind myself about the plot via the play's Wikipedia page). From what I can gather, Reid put a unique spin on the source material. Rather than a brutal and cunning villain who acts for her own self-serving causes, Reid's Lady Macbeth is a tool of her husband, a "dagger" he can use to advance himself. I understand some Macbeth fans might balk at this, but I appreciated how Lady Macbeth was humanized. I expected to read a story about a cutthroat female villain, and instead got a subtle, complicated portrait of a young girl being used by the men around her, a cog in a strongly patriarchal society.

Ava Reid is a fine writer and I will read anything by her.

I adored A Study In Drowning by Ava Reid so I had high hopes for Lady Macbeth. Unfortunately, I only found it to be okay. I felt like there were pacing issues, I was a good 30% into the book and still felt like barely anything had happened. I also felt like having Lady Macbeth be a 17 year old girl in the retelling took away a lot of the impact from Shakespeare's play, because we don't get the fearless, middle aged Lady Macbeth, but instead a young girl. As someone with Scottish heritage, there was an awful lot of xenophobia towards Scotland/Scottish people that I also did not appreciate. Sadly, I can't really recommend Lady Macbeth.

I really love Ava Reid's writing. Everything she writes is so beautiful, she's incredibly talented. That being said, I struggled a little with this book. It was of course still beautifully written, it was just a bit of a grim read and I'm not sure I really love what she did with the character of Roscille/Lady Macbeth.

Thank you Del Rey for my free ARC of Lady Macbeth by Ava Reid — available Aug 6!

» READ IF YOU «
🎭 can’t get enough of mythology/literary retellings
🩸 love to watch a woman come into her power!
🖤 absolutely live for gothic, atmospheric books

» SYNOPSIS «
Our Lady has lived her life behind a veil, as her naked gaze turns men instantly mad. Her father has sold her in marriage to a British Scotsman, and now she must make the best of this dangerous labyrinth she now calls home.

» REVIEW «
This is a retelling (emphasis on retelling — it’s not just a tweak to the original Scottish Play) of the story of one of my favorite literary villains. Lady Macbeth often gets blamed as the wicked influence on an otherwise upstanding man, which is a narrative I’ll just never get behind. She gets her redemption in this book, for sure! It’s unique, dark, heavy, and glorious.

If you’re into witches, the occult, magical realism, gothic literature, strong female characters, and men getting what they deserve, then this book is for you, babe. I absolutely loved this twist on the classic Shakespearean tale!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

I honestly love what Ava Reid puts out - retellings with gothic and even monstrous elements centered always on the experience of the woman in the story. It took me a couple of days to let this simmer, but I think the more I think on it, the more I like it.

In this, instead of being an evil mastermind, the new Lady Macbeth is a girl just trying to survive. Haunted by rumors (possibly truths?) that she’s a witch, she is forced to leave her home in France for Scotland, where she marries Macbeth and is surrounded by no women. What sets the stage for the events of Macbeth’s attempts at power consolidation and bloodlust is Lady Macbeth’s attempts to keep Macbeth from forcing her to consummate their marriage. But as Scotland gets more violent and Macbeth more extreme, life for her gets more dangerous. The magical realism twist comes as she fights for her life and freedom.

This definitely pulls from the source material, and at first I didn’t like that this Lady Macbeth seemed more passive than Shakespeare’s. But the more I’ve marinated on it, the more I appreciate how this seems so realistic - that a 17 year old thrown into a political marriage who is loved only for her beauty has to fight for freedom. I also loved how she learns to use her power to fend for herself. There is also a bit of a romantic sub plot between Lady Macbeth and one of Macbeth’s enemies that I thought added depth and again was a good showing of how she was struggling with her limited choices. Overall, I could not put this down and even though Lady Macbeth is flawed - in different ways than her original character - I was super rooting for her. And I *loved* the touches of magic throughout. I honestly want a whole Macbeth retelling of just the witches. This is a great beginning of spooky season read and another hit retelling from Ava Reid!

Big thank you NetGalley and to the publisher for the chance to review this book pre-release. I think why I really loved this book is because I went into this with limited knowledge and zero pretenses of Shakespeare's original Macbeth. I read it just like everyone else in high school, but it was well over 10 years ago, and has since left my mind clear out so I got to work with a blank slate. I LOVE Ava Reid's writing style, and in this, it just clicked perfectly with the story even though it's nothing like she's really written previously. I feel like reviews might be polarized with people expecting a retelling of the original, but those with an open mind, or no previous ties to Macbeth I think will really enjoy it.

Arguably beautifully described gothic atmosphere and talented writing, but struggled to keep me engaged. I lost the plot in many of the verbose political dealings and struggled to reconcile the Lady Macbeth who was strong and manipulative with the one who folded immediately when threatened. I don’t know whether I was hoping for something spookier? I think I’m just not well-suited for this historical type fiction.

The following review has been posted on Instagram as of August 6th, 2024. It has also been posted on Goodreads, BookBub, Storygraph, Barnes & Noble, Waterstones, & Books-a-million. It will be posted to Amazon as soon as the book publishes.


Most of you must know by now that I’m a huge fan of Ava Reid! I was so stoked I got approved for Lady Macbeth on Netgalley & even more excited to read it of course!

Needless to say, this book did not disappoint! I read Macbeth in college, & while I didn’t recall the nuances, I didn’t think I needed to. I did remember that Lady Macbeth’s character is often considered a villain, though, & that was definitely an important aspect to remember while reading Lady Macbeth. This book gives Lady Macbeth more context to her actions. She is considered “hagseed” by most, & a witch by the rest, simply because of the accident of her birth & her genetic predisposition to ethereal beauty. She is then married off (read traded for an alliance) to a foreign clan chief in a country quite dissimilar to her own (she is from Brittany, a Celtic region of North-Western France), & therefore she is as foreign to, & thus alienated from, them. She is further alienated by the sexist (even more so than the usual of that time!) tradition of separating women servants from castle life—immediately upon arrival Roscille’s handmaiden is removed.

Focusing on Lady Macbeth’s name is also quite an important nuance. In the original text, the character lacks a first name & is only referred to by her relationship with a man––thusly she is defined only by the men around her. Reid gives Lady Macbeth the name Roscille, which is changed upon her arrival to Scotland to the more Scottish Roscilla (another act of alienation & attempt of definition by the men around her). Throughout Roscille’s mistreatments by the men in her life (historical context: women were property & childbearers at that time), she learned from a young age that while her body may be owned by men, her mind could be free. So she sharpened her wit & attempted at every turn to use her wiles to keep herself as safe as possible from the men in her life. Unfortunately, that did not go very well for her, & she was often reduced to using her cunning in service to her husband, et al, to save her own life, the last thing she had besides her mind. Each time she was forced to choose between autonomy & breathing another day, she hated herself & resented even more the men around her. She recognized that the women of her time had very little to barter with, & even being a noble woman seemed to afford her less freedom, for she was expected only to produce male children, or else.

In the end, there is so much more I can say, like the pan-Celtic symbolism of the animals of Scotland, Brittany, England, & even Wales Reid uses throughout the text, or further examples of the sexism of the time, the plight of the prisoner witches in the dungeon, or the small ways Roscille fights for feminism. But a good summation is a quote from the text: “Let them call you witch, as they do any woman who professes strength.” Five stars. Period.

3.5
This was solid; very much "women are powerful" but I found it a bit heavy-handed at times. I also felt at times that it was perhaps too internal? Like sometimes there was more telling than showing. This was my first book by Ava Reid, and I found it very easy to read (stellar considering my book slump), though I was never quite on the edge of my seat.

What a stunning novel! Drawing inspiration from Shakespere’s *Macbeth,* Ava Reid weaves a fascinating fantasy story centered on one of his most one of the most interesting Shakespearean characters, Lady Macbeth. This story does not “tell Lady Macbeth’s side of the story” in the traditional play, but instead uses the characters and setting from the original to create a unique and compelling story full of magic, mystery, and drama.

>> ❤️ What I loved: Reid’s writing here is stellar, and creates a really compelling story that kept me guessing—a huge feat, considering this was inspired by a pre-existing story! The romance plot is also surprising, and I found myself really drawn in by the character. Woven throughout this story are some great ruminations on societal expectations of women and the many varieties of female strength.
>> 💔 What I didn’t love: On its own, I actually think this book is incredibly strong. However, I am deeply conflicted about this story as it relates to the pre-existing character of Lady Macbeth. The version of Lady Macbeth provided by Reid feels *so different* from anything I might have imagined for Shakespere’s character, which raises a lot of questions for me about what she chose to align the book as a “retelling.” My thoughts on this are incomplete, but this has created a certain ambivalence about the book that makes it more of a “4” than a “5” for me.

I would highly recommend this book to fantasy readers, especially those who enjoy a historical fantasy. This was my first Ava Reid book, and after reading this I look forward to diving into her other work!

**Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐/5 (4.0-4.55)**

**Acknowledgments & Disclaimers**
✨ Thank you to NetGalley, Ava Reid, and Random House Publishing/Ballentine/Del Rey, for providing an ARC and the opportunity to share an honest review of this book.
✨ All thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are my own.
✨ My reviews and ratings strive to evaluate books within their own age-demographic and genre.

This book was beautiful. it was beautifully written and i loved the style of writing and the structure of the book/storyline. i really felt like the author truly took us back to this time and gave tribute to this story. otherwise though, i just didn't find myself liking it! it was super easy to read and the reader experience was wonderful, but actually being invested in the story and having it just grip me by the shirt and pulling me in... just never happened. i don't know why this book didn't click for me, but at the same time i really do appreciate it and think it was well done. i hope that makes sense? it was a weird feeling.

Lady Macbeth is a reimagining of a shakespearean classic that gives a voice to one of Shakespeare’s most iconic villains. This story is a reimagining not a retelling. Reid takes the broad plot points of a will known story and uses them to craft a unique narrative full of historical details and feminine rage.

This book is gothic, atmospheric, and completely enthralling. Reid gives Lady Macbeth’s character a voice that has been denied her for too long.

This book is dark, and adventurous, and emotional, and I need people to read it so we can discuss it!

Ava Reid never fails to hit the ball out of the park. This Lady Macbeth reimagining was dark and creepy. I really loved it!

This settles it: I adore Ava Reid. This book was atmospheric, thoughtful, creative, and elegant. Reid's writing is completely engrossing and always matches the tone of their stories beautifully; they have a voice perfectly suited for gothic storytelling, and they use it brilliant Lady Macbeth has long been (in my opinion) one of the most interesting and compelling characters in English literature, and this examination of her was well executed and intriguing. I will say, I would not consider this to be a retelling so much as a revisiting. The story is different than Shakespeare's and while I have no issue with that-in fact I prefer it-, calling this a retelling is somewhat misleading. Regardless, this book casts a new light on one of Englands's most interesting female characters, and I don't believe that anyone else could have done this the way Reid has. I can't wait to see what they do next.

I found it hard to connect with Lady Macbeth as a character and kept wondering when she would start to reveal more of herself and her motivations, but it hasn't happened yet which caused me to soft-DNF this unfortunately. I love Ava Reid's writing though and can tell that maybe this is one of those stories when you don't *need* to connect to a character so iconic but unfortunately this didn't work for my tastes