This book was...an experience? And definitely not what I was expecting it to be. LADY MACBETH by Ava Reid is a retelling of Macbeth from the Lady's perspective. It was definitely dark and gothic, and would make the perfect seasonal read in the fall/winter. However, it had a magical element that wasn't dug into enough and came across as very odd, and other parts of the plot seemed to drag and felt repetitive in the descriptions. I appreciated how the author wanted to hold true to the spelling of names as they would have been in the time period/country - that was neat! Overall, would not widely recommend this book, but I do think it would make for a fascinating book club discussion with Shakespeare scholars (and have already pinged a friend who is one, letting her know I want to discuss!)

Thanks to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine for a ARC copy of LADY MACBETH by Ava Reid, which is out August 13, 2024. All opinions are my own

Not sure how I feel about this one. I loved the storytelling but in changing a strong female character from a very well known story into a young and seemingless helpless lady didn't really work for me. I think of this was it's own story, unrelated to Shakespeare, I world be rating this higher. Still 3 stars as the writing is fantastic

This was exactly what I hoped it would be and will be a book I reread a million times over. Ava Reid continues to astound and cultivate an incredible writing ability that improves with every subsequent title.

I loved this so much! Ava Reid has a brilliant way with words. This reimagining of Macbeth was so interesting! The pacing was excellent to keep me intrigued the entire time. I loved the dark gothic vibes. I will be recommending to all my followers since you don't need to read the original Macbeth to understand this.

A masterful retelling of Macbeth through the most interesting POV missing from the original play: Lady Macbeth. Reid weaves history, folklore and Shakespeare together in a surreal fairytale like retelling that gives greater insight into Lady Macbeth and who she is outside of Macbeth's wife. Add a much appreciate dose of monster love and you've got a splendid tale that will haunt you for weeks after you finish reading it.

Do I even need to say this was amazing!? Ava Reid can do no wrong in my opinion and doing a book about Lady Macbeth? I mean what more could you ask for! This book was exactly what I wanted and more. It was beautiful and lyrical and eerie. I felt the ghost moving through this book. The anger and betrayal was palpable! This book was simply everything!

Ava Reid's book follows the story of Shakespeare's classic tale Macbeth through the eyes of Lady Macbeth while she navigates through social, political, and personal changes that, for the most part, seem to be out of her control. The twist taken from the character of Lady Macbeth I can see as being controversial as Lady Macbeth in this story is actually a young teenager just trying to survive in a world full of corrupted adults deciding her future for her. This is far different from the woman in the original story. I found it refreshing, and I would market this to anyone looking for a short but intense fictional story with connections to classic literature. There are many dark elements in this story, and it's not exactly an uplifting read so keep that in mind before you begin. It also will require your full attention, and at times, the story does seem to drag. However, fans of Reid's previous book, The Wolf and the Huntsman, I can definitely see enjoying this. It was a bit dreary for my taste, but the elements in the story, when you compare the plot to the original, are quite clever. Overall, this is a three-star for me. However, for those looking for something with a medieval gothic story that leans on the intellectual side with a romance subplot, I can easily see this being the perfect read.

This novel was a little weird. I didn't hate it but I also didn't love it. Solid three stars. I also read the play back in high school though I did read the sparknotes before starting just to get a little familiar with the source material.

Lady Macbeth is narrated in close third person though we mostly follow Lady Macbeth aka Roscelle. Roscelle is a French teenager with madness inducing eyes and must wear a veil at all times lest she use her powers unexpectedly. She is sent to Scotland to marry Macbeth and is immediately isolated from any other women and the narration takes a decidedly sinister air. The novel mostly follows the plot of the play though the characterization of certain characters is changed through Roscelle's eyes. The major changes though are spoilers so I won't mention them here.

The novel reminded me a lot of The Marriage Portrait by Maggie O'Farrell especially in the writing style. I would probably recommend this book to readers that enjoyed that novel.

Overall this book was fine, some parts were better than others, some parts dragged. Roscelle was an interesting character as long as the reader remembers she's a seventeen year old with little life experience.

I was provided a free copy of this book through NetGalley.

Unfortunately, I DNF’d this about 20% through, which really sucks because the author’s writing intrigues me. But this just felt very… bland. Boring. I haven’t felt excited to pick it up at all.

I am one of those reviewers that is NOT familiar with the source material and went in as if it was just a brand new original story I still didn't really like this. I also don't think you need to be familiar with Macbeth to read or even enjoy this either. I think no matter what background I was coming from this was going to fall flat for me when I was originally so excited to read this.

My primary issues are with the characterizations of the Scots. Her internal monologue is pretty immature and I never felt that it was truly challenged. Her forced marriage and then husband is so one dimensional but all in the FMC's head because to the reader he really isn't even that bad at first?? I kept waiting for the brutishness she claimed to come through but he was respectful just in a bigger body than the actual MMC/love interest. Yes he eventually does change but just like with a lot of characters in this story they are suddenly forced to switch to (what seems like to me) fit the author's narrative.

My favorite Ava Reid book, Juniper & Thorn, starts off similarly with a young woman with very little agency. Then we get to see the development and explosion of feminine rage and eventual control. I am still chasing that high. I would have loved to see the same with Lady Macbeth which honestly this seemed like it was building up to that, a perceived to be vulnerable woman trying to figure out how she can manipulate men for her own gain but I don't feel I got that.

The driving motivation for at least 65% of this is for her to delay consummating her marriage. This is of course extremely valid and holds such cultural significance for women throughout history. I wanted more for her though or more of this topic explored. I wanted her to get out of the defense and not necessarily "fight back" as that would be victim blaming of me and she does have her own tactics but have more of an exploration as to what she truly wants and what it would mean to be forced and what it means for other women in this same time period. This is such a narrow view story of the FMC pretty much being the only woman around. I just really feel like there was a different way to go about this topic and other reviewers are more articulate than I. CW there is SA in this and it is primarily off page and not gratuitous so I do appreciate that.

This was unfortunately so contradictory. In the same page she would inner monologue about her attempts to placate her husband by being meek and quiet because that's what he would want and then a few sentences later say her husband in particular wanted/wants witches for wives and women with teeth aka not docile women. So which is it?? Ava's prose and fairytale kind of writing is what I usually love but moments like this kept taking me out of the flow of it.

I am very grateful to Del Rey for the eARC. I'll still keep reading Ava's books this just was a miss for me.

I was wary of starting this ARC just because the reviews are so mixed. I think I was definitely at an advantage since i’m not very familiar with the source material and so for me, a lot of others biggest gripes were not an issue for me. That being said, I wasn’t 100% sold on this.
Ava Reid’s writing is so lyrical and the prose are so amazing and that’s definitely what got me through this one. I found the story kind of dull and anticlimactic almost and I also think that may be due to the prose. This wasn’t a book I was thinking about all the time when I wasn’t reading it, but I flew through it when I was reading it in those moments.
There wasn’t really much there that drew me in like I was with A Study in Drowning. I felt Roscilles inner monologue was extremely repetitive at times and that did wear on me a bit. Ava Reid will forever be an auto buy author for me, this one just didn’t hit the way other works have.
3.5 Rounded up for NetGalley ◡̈

In 𝙇𝙖𝙙𝙮 𝙈𝙖𝙘𝙗𝙚𝙩𝙝, author Ava Reid takes one of Shakespeare’s most iconic female characters and crafts a fantastical reimagining of her story. In Reid’s version, a young woman, aged 17 — comes into her own power after being married off to a stranger in a new, barbaric {her perspective} land.

𝑾𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝑰 𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒅:
💀 𝗹𝘆𝗿𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹, 𝗵𝗮𝘂𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝘀𝗲: This was my first time reading Reid’s writing, and I’m all in. She expertly weaves together beautiful storytelling and builds a strong narrative for her characters.
💞 𝗴𝗼𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗰 𝗮𝘁𝗺𝗼𝘀𝗽𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲: This story is dark, brutal, and even gory at times. This atmosphere paired with Reid’s use of language really worked for me.
💀 𝘀𝘂𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗻𝗮𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗮𝗹 𝗲𝗹𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘀: I loved Reid’s choice to include new elements to push this story even further into the fantastical.

It did take me a bit to get into this book. The writing does take a little time to adjust, but I devoured the last half. This story is unconventional — Shakespeare purists may take issue. If you haven’t read Macbeth, I highly recommend diving right into Reid’s reimagined version, especially if you enjoy chivalric romances, gothic stories, feminine rage with extreme vengeance, and a bit of weird.
𝘔𝘺 𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨: 4.5⭐️

Thank you @netgalley @delreybooks for the free eARC! Opinions are my own.

Ava Reid has so far been an auto-buy author, and she will continue to be so, but I think I will move forward knowing that her fantasy books are more for me than her.... hm. Historical magical realism retellings? I don't quite know what category to put this in, frankly. I admittedly have never read Macbeth, so I did not go into this with the love of a Shakespeare buff, but I still enjoyed myself for the most part. The book read a bit slow, the character development was not as strong as I liked, and the depiction of Scots was a little uncomfortable even for me, a non-Scot. What I do know about Lady Macbeth is that she was a bit unhinged, and I wish I saw more of that depicted here instead of the almost meek character she is in this book, allowing her every move to be determined by whatever man she's around at the time. I still did enjoy this book, and Ava will continue to be an immediate auto-buy, but this one did miss the mark more than her other works.

Ava Reid is a master at engulfing the reader in her world via atmospheric imagery and prose that makes her work something I find impossible to put down. Her stories are layered and nuanced in a way that resonates with me. I don’t think I have the words to properly articulate a witty rebuttal to all the Ava Reid haters out there, yet I find myself wanting to SCREAM at those who don’t like her work… “YOU’RE MISSING THE POINT!”

I digress, this is becoming a love letter to Ava Reid’s writing.

Here is what you should know…
- this is dark, gothic, atmospheric, moving, gruesome, magical, and thrilling!
- This book has endless vibes and I’m here for them.
- Ava Reid’s writing isn’t for everyone, but the ones that get it will really get it.
- Lady Macbeth is a fantastic retelling and not meant to be a carbon copy of Shakespeare’s Lady Macbeth - please don’t go into this expecting it to be, that is the point of a retelling - a different perspective on a beloved classic.


and just to further drive it home…
No, I have not read Shakespeare’s Macbeth and do not have a frame of reference for Shakespeare’s Lady Macbeth vs Ava Reid’s Lady Macbeth but this is a RETELLING, it is meant to have a different perspective than the original work (as any good retelling should), so I don’t think a lack of reference matters. Also if I’m being honest I think people getting angry that this Lady Macbeth is not TRUE to Shakespeare’s Lady Macbeth might be missing the point of a retelling.

Thank you NetGalley and Random House Publishing | Del Rey for sending this book (eARC) for review consideration. All opinions are my own.

This is the first book I have read by Ava Reid, so I wasn't sure what to expect. I don't think I realized how loose of a loose retelling of Macbeth this would be, but I thought it was a fun take on the story. Reid's writing is very atmospheric, which I enjoyed a lot for this story. I also think Reid made me consider a character I felt like I knew very well from a totally different perspective.
I would absolutely recommend this to YA readers, maybe not so much for die-hard Shakespeare scholars.

Ava Reid has done it again! Giving a voice to a character that I have held dear to my heart has given one of my favorite plays a new breath of life! I cannot wait to incorporate this into my curriculum and recommend this for students who LOVE Macbeth as much as I do.

DNF’d quite early on. I normally love Ava Reid’s work, but I love Scotland more. I appreciate the opportunity to read this in advance but alas, this particular title was not for me.

Yes! Lady Macbeth, by Ava Reid is a fascinating, entertaining, and horrifically fabulous book! It's gothic, intrigue, horror, and magic is the perfect cocktail for a great story, and when you add Shakespeare's characters to it... That said, it is not necessary to have read Shakespeare to enjoy it. It is perfect on it's own, but if you have read Shakespeare's Macbeth there are some fun Easter eggs for you.

I don’t think you need to have read Macbeth or be familiar with the story to like this gothic tale. I read it way back in high school and have largely forgotten the main beats of the story. Some of the imagery of the original play has stuck with me and I saw echoes of it in this book. So if you are a Shakespeare fan, those little easter eggs would probably be very satisfying. However, the story is quite different seeing it from Lady Macbeth’s point of view.

The characters are much different than the original. Roscille is not made out to be the conniving partner she is in the original. The full weight of her situation is told in realistic terms. She was used for her beauty and her political station. There’s no sugarcoating the fact that she was essentially a teenager sold to Macbeth. Her sexual situation with him is a main conflict throughout, Roscille finding ways to put off being with him and of keeping her sexual independence for as long as possible but ultimately failing. She’s given as much agency as she can in her situation. Little moments she’s able to think her way out of a situation and glimmers of bravery that make up the heart of her story. Her relationship with an English prince is full of gothic romance and provides more motivation for her to resist Macbeth however she’s able.

This is close to a horror novel in the amount of tension throughout. It falls perfectly in the gothic genre.

DNF at 60%.
Thank you to NetGalley and Del Rey for the opportunity to read and review this book in exchange for my honest review.
Unfortunately I did not enjoy this book and am DNFing at 60%. I have only read one other book by this author, A Study in Drowning, and while I wasn’t a fan of that book, I had higher hopes for this book as a reimagining of Macbeth.
To put it quite quickly this book was bland and boring. At no point while I was reading it did I feel any desire to keep reading. I don’t think I will be reading any more books by this author and won’t be discussing this title on my social media when it releases in August.