I did not finish this book. I don’t know there was something about it that I just couldn’t get into this book. I think it had something to do with the historical aspect and I just wasn’t in the mood for it. I’m very much a mood reader and will probably try and pick it up again when my life calms down.

This Shakespeare retelling refreshed the story of Macbeth. Hearing this story from her point of view was gripping, as we just know her from her actions in the play. The book is gripping, and really makes you empathize with Lady Macbeth, which I didn't think I would be able to do.

What an absolutely unique read!! This is not something I would have expected from Ava Reid, but holy smokes do i need more like it. fast paced and i couldn't put it down.

I find myself torn about this book so this review may veer in two different directions. First of all, its a beautifully written story. Reid has taken the time to craft the world of... 11th? century scotland and make it feel accessible. Though, the choice to use time-accurate names for people and places can be a bit off putting at times because they are so unlike the names and places we're used to. I will say the choice definitely centers the reader in a time that is nothing like our own, which for this story is important.

Reid makes some interesting choices in the characterization of Lady Macbeth. Anyone familiar with the scottish play will feel the difference from the start and I can't really say whether that's good or bad. In some ways, I feel it changes the essential character, but in others, it makes Reid's Lady Macbeth wholly her own. This Lady Macbeth is, in many ways, an innocent. She is thrust into the unknown world of the Scots and forced to use her mind (a dangerous thing at this time especially) to not only survive, but to keep her brute of a husband at bay. Much of Reid's Lady Macbeth seems preoccupied with protecting her purity, not for the sake of remaining virginal, but because being a wife reduces a woman to being seen as a breeder and not much more. A few early wins on the board of strategy seems to make this lady macbeth feel like she is a player in the game, a feeling which quickly unravels.

Another pointed difference of Reid's Lady macbeth is the heavy reliance on so-called magic, or the story that looking her in the eye will destroy a man. I found this piece to be intriguing, but also a bit limiting. Never are we certain that she actually has any power. Certainly, the inciting event in her youth could be interpreted many ways. She seems to show true power when doing Macbeth's bidding, and in the end, but I never quite felt like there was a decision about her true power, one way or another.

As a story meant to highlight the abuses of women, their lowly status, how they were meant to serve, this was a good telling.

As a story meant to shed light on Lady macbeth, I found it lacking PURELY because I truly love the unhinged nature of Shakespeare's Lady. I prefer the characterization of Lady and Macbeth working together, of her maybe spurring him on. I feel the "original" has more agency. However, this is not meant to be a true origin story and so I would caution readers to go into this with a clear mind. It is different from the source material, which makes it all the more interesting. Its not a retread.

I love this beautiful retelling of this story. Ava Reid executes it so well. I just wish it was little longer. Thank you for the ARC.

"He crushed her in his fist, squeezing out all of the witchcraft that was valuable to him, and then left her, a husk."

There is something about Ava Reid's books that I find myself drawn to. I have especially always loved the authors atmospheric writing style and the horror elements laced throughout. In comparison to past novels, Lady Macbeth was the most similar to Juniper and Thorn. These books can be an acquired taste in my opinion and people will either love them or hate them. I would recommend if you've enjoyed ARs previous novels or love books that blend history and fantasy together, are thought provoking, and have a delicious dark gothic atmosphere.

I loved this retelling of Lady Macbeth. I've always loved Ava's writing, and retelling Shakespeare is where it really shines. I do wish that the story was a little longer. The ending felt rushed.

This is a telling of Macbeth from his wife's perspective. There is enough elements and familiar characters and plot points for fans of Macbeth to enjoy. It does not hinder the reader if they aren't familiar, though. It does add a fun layer to the novel if you are familiar. The characters are very vivid and interesting. They're characters you care to know what will happen to them. I loved this book so much. Ava Reid never fails with her characters and novels. I highly suggest preordering or grabbing this book the moment it is released. Thank you to NetGalley for allowing me to read this title early!

I loved this!! The way Ava Reid writes just works so well for me.

This was atmospheric and dark and at times gave me a pit in my stomach! I was captivated from the beginning to the end.

I love how many layers there are to this. I love the general vibe (haunting, gothic, suffocating) and the prose. The feminist aspect of this was strong and well written. I’ve seen the complaint that the “men are flat and evil” in this book but if you’re looking through the lens of a young woman who’s being abused by them… yeah. They would be flat and evil.

While I really like the angle Reid took in this retelling I do have a few complaints which is what knocks this from a 5 star to a ~4.25. I wish Roscille had been older! I wish a few characters had been better fleshed out. I think the ending was resolved a little quickly and neatly.

Overall this was a beautifully written book with an interesting main character and neat plot! Ava Reid is still an autobuy author for me!

The thing is. Macbeth already has such interesting things with gender going on. Macbeth is constantly compared to a woman, and Lady Macbeth to a man (to simplify). It could lend itself really well to a retelling that comments on gender roles, or even with feminism, in a unique and interesting way! But no - we have hulking evil brute Macbeth and tiny sexy innocent Lady Macbeth, which feels like it undoes what the original play sets up.

Some decisions that baffled me:
1. There are a total of 3 women on page the entire book. There is not a single woman in Macbeth’s entire fortress apart from Roscille (Lady M). This is said explicitly on page. Hooray for feminism?

2. The three Weird Sisters are inhuman creatures Macbeth keeps locked in his basement that he goes to when he wants a prophecy. Later it turns out they were once Macbeth’s dead ex-wives.

3. Roscille’s whole thing is that she has witch-cursed eyes that make her able to control men once she makes eye contact with them. When they first brought up that she was forced to wear a veil by her father because everyone found her eyes uncanny and they “seduce men”, I was like, “oh, allegory for women blamed for how they looked/dressed for ‘tempting’ men?” but no. She can actually control them.

4. She killed Duncan (reluctantly, on Macbeth’s orders, I might add) by making eye contact with the king’s guards and ordering them to kill the king and then each other.

5. The end of the book is Roscille killing Macbeth by making eye contact with him. This causes him to shrivel up and die.

6. The book uses the “no man of woman born” version as the actual prophecy, which annoys me pedantically. I suppose they needed some way for Roscille to kill Macbeth. Macduff is mentioned twice, and one of those is to say he’s been killed offpage.

7. Roscille makes friends with the three witches ("wronged women") and fabricates the entire prophecy about Banquo so that Macbeth will kill him and Fleance. At the end, when Roscille is locked in the basement to become another inhuman prophecy creature, the other three give her all their strength and now she has “the power and energy of four women” which makes her able to break iron locks and run really fast and such.

8. Even putting aside any Macbeth interpretation, the romance is not at all convincing. Roscille meets the love interest (not Macbeth, who is a rapist) like twice before they kiss and (almost) have sex. The next time she meets him she takes torture in his stead. The following, they have ardent declarations of love. The final time, he shows up to save her at the very end and then they rule Scotland together.

9. Similarly, even without taking into account how she's not at all like Shakespeare's Lady Macbeth, Roscille was not a compelling character. We were told she had certain traits and saw very little evidence of it. I got the sense the author was trying to get her to have an arc, or become more ruthless, but she seemed pretty stagnant to me. There were like 4-5 times where the narration gave us some version of “But Roscille was dead. There was only Lady Macbeth” which was dramatic (if ineffectual) the first time but made me roll my eyes all the other times, both because of the repetition and because of the fact that I saw no indication of that actually happening.

10. Themes were weak. I don’t really know what they were besides women lacking (and, to some degree, taking, I suppose) agency. And that one had nothing to do with the gender or agency themes in Macbeth. Nor did Macbeth’s ambition (or Roscille’s, though I wouldn’t really call it ambition at all). Nor was prophecy near the kind of driver it was in Macbeth, and it didn’t play the same role. there was enough mention of “time” and its standing still and such that I want to say Reid meant to do something with it, but again, it was only brought up in mentions and never in a way that felt thematic to me, much less thematic in a Macbeth way. They brought in madness a little bit at the end, but only, it seemed, to name-drop another theme (Macbeth was “mad” because he was making erratic military decisions). It wasn’t discussed beyond that.

Overall, this just doesn’t feel like Macbeth to me, or that the author cares about Macbeth as a story. I obviously don’t think retellings have to glorify or 100% agree with the original text - most of the time they do not, and that's what makes them compelling! - but I think they need to respect them and understand them (even if their understanding is different than mine). Adaptation choices I don’t personally agree with are one thing; adaptations that don’t feel like they share a core with the original are another. This one feels like Ava Reid stripped Macbeth down for superficial set dressing for the totally separate story she wanted to tell.

Lady Macbeth by Ava Reid was such a smart and atmospheric read. I liked the fact that it was different from the play and that it was very witchy and entertaining. I was curious about this book and I wanted to see how Ava Reid handled it and I was pleasantly surprised. It was good, the writing was a little much sometimes but it was still good.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC.

Lady Macbeth was atmospheric and lyrical. The prose immediately sucked me in and I really enjoyed it.

There are some differences from the play, which is fine. I felt like it ended a little abruptly, but also at the same time, I understand why it did.

Very witchy and very smart.

The atmosphere and prose in this book were amazing. I could imagine the damp spooky halls of the castle in my mind so easily. Unfortunately this fell flat for me, I was interested enough to finish but it felt like so much was missing. There wasn't wasn't enough dialogue to care about the relationships between characters and the world building was lacking on the fantasy aspect. I kept forgetting it was fantasy until Roscille would randomly do something super convenient to what was going on. There was a lot of potential but unfortunately left me just wanting for more.

How can you call this a Lady Macbeth / retelling and do absolutely nothing that is in line with the original character?

Also getting very confused by Ava Reid in general. I dig the at times somewhat obscure feminist themes, and the atmospheres she creates, but sometimes things go off the rails (looking at you Juniper and Thorn.. and now this)

Also, what’s with the xenophobia in every book? Like.. all of them. Following her on Instagram, she seems against that stuff. So it seems like she’s trying to make a statement, but it’s heavy handed in a way that has the polar opposite affect and doesn’t seem to align with her own beliefs, and it’s like.. do you want me to like these main characters or not?

It’s like if you’re going to be like “xenophobia is not good!” Why is there no character development around changing that mindset? Like “ohhh yeah maybe I was wrong for thinking all Scots were bad- wow I’m glad I learned a lesson!” But- no.

I really feel she’s trying to do something with this, and the idea is that “if you get it you get it 🤷🏼‍♀️ the message should be obvious” but again, with no actual growth in that regard, it DOES miss the mark. Or maybe they’re supposed to be unreliable narrators/morally grey, but STILL.

I couldn’t recommend it to anyone because I’d be afraid they’d either think I was a bigot myself, or too ignorant to see that mentality is problematic, even in a fictional book.

I liked A Study in Drowning a lot, the theme of men as monsters and stuff hit home there- the main character was still a xenophobe.. but not as bad as this.

I think this one is going to be overhyped, and the mere aesthetic and promise of it will lure people in.. but they will be disappointed in the end.

Thank you for the arc though!

I think your enjoyment of this book will depend a lot on how you view Lady Macbeth as a character in the original text. Do you see her as a cunning villain in her own right, and want her to be treated as an unlikable heroine or do you see her as a young woman subject to the machinations of Macbeth in his quest for power?

I liked this book and thought it was well done and the element of fantasy was new. I think it works better as a a stand-alone inspired by the original text than a direct retelling of it.

🌟🌟
Shakespeare’s “Macbeth” is one of my all-time favorite plays, and Lady Macbeth sits at the top of the list of my favorite characters. The intensity of emotions she goes through during a story in which she could easily be eclipsed by men is unforgettable: the ambition, the vision, the desire, the devastation. Obviously, a book described as a gothic retelling of her life was going straight to the top of my TBR list.

Unfortunately, Ava Reid’s “Lady Macbeth” does not live up to its source material. Specifically, Reid’s version of the character (called by many versions of her assigned first name, but most frequently the name Roscille) seems to lack the internal motivation that powers Shakespeare’s version throughout her choices. I never really saw Roscille as someone who could look her husband in the eye and influence him to follow her plan to gain power; she was so far-removed from someone who could “look the innocent serpent, but be the serpent underneath.” If a retelling is supposed to breathe life into a character’s existing narrative—but only deflates what was most memorable about her—what was the point in the story being retold?

While I won’t be picking up my own copy of this one when it releases on 8.13.24, that doesn’t mean it’s not worth looking into; you’re a fan of Reid’s previous work, this may be something you’re able to appreciate more than I did. Regardless, huge thanks to @delreybooks for providing me with this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Put her on the archery team because Ava Reid NEVER MISSES.

Another well-executed, self-contained narrative that’s consistent themes carry through the book *excellently*. Reid’s biggest strength in my opinion is myth-building, the stories /within/ the stories, and they really make the worlds she’s created feel alive and three-dimensional. Folklore is truly her specialty. Beyond this, her second biggest strength then has to be delivering complex, unique main characters that you want to root for no matter how troubled and no matter how bloody their hands are.

I’m not a Shakespeare girly. All I knew about Macbeth going into this was - there’s a guy named Macbeth. And witches. And murder, probably. No preconceived notions of Lady Macbeth, so take that for what you will. Lady Macbeth in this book is a young woman, Roscille, forced into an arranged marriage who finds out that she is at once too clever for her own good and not clever enough. She’s witch-cursed, or just a witch or just cursed maybe, and has to navigate a world of men who all want to use her for something, while she tries to survive by learning how to use them first. She’s beautiful, and cunning, but not infallible. She falters, she fails. She’s truly the heart of this book and I adored her.

The portrayal of Macbeth himself was also captivating. He’s a larger than life figure - imposing, surprisingly rational, bloodthirsty - and an excellent foil for Roscille. Senga, Lisander, and Fleance are also standout characters though I have no idea whether they’re original or exist in the works of Mr. Speare.

Other thoughts:
•The story is tight, starting at Roscille’s arrival in Glammis for her wedding to Macbeth and leading up to and through Macbeth’s ultimate end. No scene feels wasted, no scene feels out of place.
•Reid’s prose are endlessly quotable. Her dialogue is witty and believable and never corny or overwritten.
•I like what this book has to say about women’s relationships to their fathers and in general the men in their lives. Their usefulness weighed against their inconvenience.
•Shakespeare isn’t exactly known for writing an abundance of women into his stories, but the additions of Roscille’s relationships with Hawise, Senga and the Witches added a lot to the overall narrative and her character that I enjoyed.
•And finally, there’s a subtle well-placed reference to A Study in Drowning where I Leonardo-DiCaprio-pointed at the book like, hey, hey I get that!!

I still think The Wolf & The Woodsmen is my favorite of Reid’s books, but this has pushed its way into second.

She did it. Another bullseye.

Let me start by saying thank you for receiving a ARC of this book for my opinion.

Poetic, vivid, foreboding, gothic, and horror are all the words I would use to describe this complex and atmospheric feminist reimagining of LADY MACBETH!

Beautifully done by Ave Reid with a bit of historical and supernatural elements. The pov of Lady Macbeth embodied feminine rage. I was throughly intrigued by the witchcraft and magic entwined throughout the storyline.

The combination had me engaged as hidden secrets kept unfolding revealing more complexity to the characters throughout the book.

This novel is a masterfully crafted, riveting tale that reimagines the classic story from the villain’s perspective, offering a fresh and deeply compelling narrative. As an avid fan of such retellings, I found this book to be an exceptional addition to the genre. The author’s portrayal of Lady Macbeth's loneliness and sense of otherness was nothing short of brilliant, capturing the complexity and depth of her character with expert precision.

Through evocative prose and rich character development, the story immerses readers in Lady Macbeth's world, allowing us to experience her struggles, ambitions, and vulnerabilities in a profoundly intimate way. The emotional landscape is painted vividly, making her internal conflicts and motivations both relatable and poignant.

This book is an enjoyable and thought-provoking read that will undoubtedly resonate with fans of literary retellings and those who appreciate a nuanced exploration of the human psyche. The author’s ability to breathe new life into a well-known character and story is commendable, making this novel a standout in its genre.

have not read Macbeth, nor do I know the plot, so I had no preconceived notions about what this story would be.

Lady Macbeth, much like Ava’s other books, explores what it’s like to be a woman in a deeply patriarchal society.
I could see some people being frustrated with this book because of the choices Rosille makes. She is a character that makes mistakes, but I think that is what makes this book so interesting. Rosille is simply trying to survive in a world where she has very little power and in a situation she has no control over. Unlike a lot of fantasy books, she isn’t super strong or clever, which I think makes her very relatable.
The romance was gorgeous while not being the main plot of the book.

As always, Ava’s prose is 10/10…I simply love her writing style.
If you enjoyed A Study In Drowning I would definitely put this on your tbr.