4/5

Drenched in prophecy and blood, Ava Reid's Lady Macbeth provides a new window into the iconic, often misunderstood Shakespearean figure of Lady Macbeth. It's brutal, it's deadly, and it's everything I have come to expect from its author. History intertwines with magic as Lady Roscille is slowly entrapped within the walls of a Scottish castle and the men who rule her fate. Lady Macbeth is a dark and pensive reimagining that dragged me down into its suffocating gothic atmosphere and made me feel every abuse, every cruelty, and every triumph brought down upon its central character. Reid's vivid, biting prose is wielded against those who seek to control women through cruelty and abuse in favor of the women who turn to the monstrous to remake themselves. Lady Macbeth is clever in its slow-turning narrative and the lady herself who fights to survive at all costs. This story does stand on its own, with myriad connections to Macbeth that readers will appreciate; it still has its footing grounded by Reid's skillful character building and dark gothic fairytale undertones. Ava Reid has long since earned the title of my favorite fantasy author. I am completely in awe of their imaginative take on Lady Macbeth and I know others will leave this feeling much of the same.

Like most people, I was introduced to Shakespeare in a high school English class and one of my favorite reads was none other than Macbeth. Why? Because Lady Macbeth’s character was before her time and I fell in love with her. This was an excellent retelling expanding on that character that Ava Reid masterfully put together. I was thoroughly impressed and really enjoyed getting in the mind of one of the best characters in all of Shakespeare in a different way.

Lady Macbeth by Ava Reid was a suspenseful and intriguing read. I kept harkening back to my high school days when I read Macbeth--turning over clever foreshadowing and making connections. Moreover, the characterization of Roscille and the way she thinks, plans, moves chess pieces on the board, including herself was fascinating and made me yearn for more "intellectual wins" in the books I read. The feminist commentary on how women and witches are treated was full of depth and honesty. I will be recommending Lady Macbeth in Reader's Advisories and as a companion read to Macbeth itself.

I liked this book a lot. I loved getting a look into Lady Macbeth's head, and all the little details really made the book for me.

Ava Reid is one of my favourite authors of all time. Regardless of who it is, whether it be customers or friends and family, or somebody I know who wants a book recommendation, I tend to steer towards Ava’s works. She has a versatile selection of books and stories and even characters, so there’s usually something for everyone, whether you want a good fantastical horror story or you want an interesting mythological story about a fairie king. Macbeth is one of my favourite childhood plays, from a young age it has stuck with me throughout my adulthood. Ava has a fantastic story laid out in this book. Lady Macbeth has always been one of my favourite characters, so Reid plunging into her mind made her more than more fascinating to me. The prose in this were fantastic, the gothic style so utterly Ava Reid it was a delight to read. I truly, truly enjoyed this one and cannot, as always, wait to pick up her next releases. Please read lady Macbeth! 5/5 stars!

DNF 33% - I'm finding that women are treated so badly irl that its hard for me to read misogyny in my escapism fiction and enjoy what I'm reading.

I am an english major and Shakespeare lover. I also love the author Ava Reid and have read ALL her books. So after the hit that was A Study in Drowning, I was sooooo excited for this. Ava Reid and Shakespeare??? Sign me up!

But like with all her books, I need time to mull this over. Whenever I read one of Ava's books, they don't quite hit right away. I spend time thinking about them, and then after a month or so, realize I either love or disliked them. So far, I haven't disliked any, so I feel this book is the same. I'm a little torn between loving it and saying... wait a minute, what was that? So I'll withhold my opinion for now, but this was still quite a promising book. Just didn't love it as much as I did her previous ones.

This book will haunt me in the most bone-chilling and empoweringly feminine ways. Not for the faint of heart (check your trigger warnings kids), this was such an expertly executed reimagining and retelling of Shakespeare's Macbeth but with a gothic, woman-centered twist (and sprinkle in a lil romance and fantasy *chef kiss*). I will be holding this story close to my heart and sharing it with the women (and more!) in my life who could sympathize and relate to the strife and wiles of Lady Macbeth.
OG Post date: January 2024

As one of my most anticipated books of the year this ended up being the biggest disappointment. What was toted as a feminist retelling with magical elements fell flat on all accounts. All of Lady M's agency was stripped away and what was left was the bare bones of Shakespeare's story mixed with witches and a out-of-place shapeshifting dragon. The last 50 pages saved the book for me and I only wish that elements from that portion were present earlier in the book. I ended up not caring about Lady M or her story at all and by the end just wanted the curtain to come down. Fantasy is not my usual genre but as a huge Shakespeare fan and theatre person, I wish I could wipe it from memory like the spot on Lady M's hand.

I absolutely loved A Study in Drowning and I could not wait to pick this up, however I have mixed feelings about it

Ava's forte is dark and atmospheric and she again, does this well in Lady Macbeth. Roscille who becomes Lady Macbeth, however is not as strong a character as I expected. I find her a little whiny and self-centered, which considering her age - 17, is to be expected. I struggled to connect with her although I admired her determination to survive and triumph.

Pick this up if you are in the mood for a quick, darkly atmospheric read

Ava Reid has done it again. Even if you've never picked up one of her books you'll fall right into this one.

I thought this was very good and I will have to add this to the shop shelves. Thank you for the chance for us to review.

Ava Reid can do no wrong. The writing style is so incredibly unique for Lady Macbeth and truly transports you into the Shakespearean world. Darkly captivating characters and female rage propelled me through this novel and it was impossible to put down. I will never not recommend any of Ava’s work to everyone I know. A beautiful masterpiece rewritten to show the true power of women- even in a time when they supposedly had none.

Lady Macbeth by Ava Reid is truly a showstopper. This reimagining of the classic Shakespearean character offers a fresh and compelling perspective, diving deep into Lady Macbeth’s motivations and inner world. Reid’s vivid storytelling and nuanced exploration of power, guilt, and ambition make the novel a captivating read. I’ve really been enjoying these retellings that center on women, as they provide new layers to well-known characters and often give voice to those who have been overlooked in traditional narratives. This book is a powerful addition to the growing trend of reimagining women’s stories in literature.

Ava Reid’s writing is incredibly immersive and captivating, pulling you in so completely that I devoured this book in one sitting. Their atmospheric prose is nothing short of enchanting — every word and scene seems to effortlessly transport you to another world. I’m in awe of how their storytelling wraps around you, making it impossible to put the book down.

I adored this book. I had all the emotions. I was mad and sad(smad iykyk). I cried and yelled at this book. Lady Macbeth was such a great character. I loved the witches. The story was so interesting. I did not want to put the book down. The book was a bit creepy and the twists were great. I highly recommend it. Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine for the arc in exchange for my honest review.

I was so so excited for this book. Ava Reid has a lovely, rich way of writing and invoking emotion.

While this book definitely ticks those marks, I felt like it was lacking something her earlier works seem to have.

The book feels a bit heavy-handed with the information. Even the introduction had me seriously questioning whether I was intelligent enough to read this.

Again, this book is beautiful and poetic…it’s just not what I was expecting from this particular author and I feel her other books are a much better example of her talented storytelling.

So, I love Ava Reid as an author. She’s an Auto-Buy author for me, I would read this woman’s grocery list. That’s how talented she is in my opinion, when it comes to writing — Juniper & Thorn was so dark and mystifying as a retelling, and A Study in Drowning is one of my favourite books ever the setting was incredible and the romance between the two main characters was to die for. Having said this, I’m not entirely sure why there are so many negative reviews for Lady Macbeth, and people are calling her writing style juvenile, which I find to be completely untrue. Lady Macbeth was an interesting read — I feel like the people that are angry are the theater kids that have read Shakespeare’s play. Yes, if you’re stumbling into this story expecting it to be like the classic/play with a cutthroat, old lady as Lady Macbeth, sorry to disappoint, but you won’t find that version of Lady Macbeth in this story. She’s a young woman in Ava Reid’s rendition of the story, this entire book is from her point of view and I found it to be quite thought provoking, gruesome, and macabre. Overall, a very dark story. The character of Lady Macbeth evolves and there’s quite a bit of self exploration throughout the book, I personally enjoyed it very much and I highly recommend it. I thought the relationships between so many of the characters was fascinating, everyone had an interesting role to play!

Thank you Random House Publishing for the ARC!

1/5 stars

Macbeth is one of my favorite Shakespeare plays, and initially I was very excited for a new spin on Lady Macbeth. However, my history reading Ava Reid has fluctuated vastly over the years. While I loved what she did with The Wolf and the Woodsman and Juniper & Thorn, her writing has grated heavily on me lately and I have to admit that Lady Macbeth is the latest victim.

Attempting with the heaviest hand, Reid spins a story of a young Lady Macbeth forced to marry a man described as savage and brutal, attempting to twine together historical facts that read like a book report and a flimsy portrayal of some extremely stunted feminism.

In the end, Lady Macbeth is a cowering young woman who does not strive for ambition and power, only for a feeble sense of control over her own self. Much like in other Reid novels (A Study in Drowning), the men in the book are the ones being the "feminists" and explaining to the woman how she can do better for her own sex. She does not draw her own opinions or conclusions, only listens to these men tell her how to be a better woman. Plus, one of them turns into a dragon for some reason.

This book did not make sense, does not follow the story of Macbeth, and feels more like a book report ("See? See? I read Macbeth, you can see here how I reference something!!") with supremely juvenile writing.

This was just boring. I couldn’t get into it. Granted I didn’t get very far, but I’ve read 3 other novels by this author and each time I knew early on if I was going to enjoy the novel in it’s entirety, and unfortunately for this one I feel I would not.

The writing was lovely, definitely atmospheric. Which I think is a strength of Reid’s writing. So I did enjoy that part of it. Where it fell flat for me was the information dumping early on along with a long a list of people whose names I instantly forgot and a glossary. Which that may be fine for a print copy reader, for me who enjoy audiobooks, this was not interesting or engaging to hear read to you. I didn’t enjoy that element.

I can’t say one way or another if I would recommend this, as I didn’t finish it completely. What I will say is if you’ve read other stories from this author and were underwhelmed, you may just wanna skip this one too.

Thanks to NetGalley & the publisher for the arc.