Lady Macbeth was a thrill ride from the beginning. Roschille had so many things stacked against her, beginning with her father to others to Macbeth himself. The writing is beautiful, I literally could feel everything she felt. There were intense moments and her "curse" was brilliant. I was not expecting some of the revelations that occurred at all. It was so so good. I enjoyed every minute and I was surprised when I got to the end because I just wanted to keep hearing more of her and her story. The love aspect of this book is also beautiful and compelling. And Macbeth himself? Overpowering and entitled, and a well fleshed out character. I love this author and will always read anything she writes!

This was… so gothic and atmospheric that it was boring. At least for me. The book where not much happens for the first 100 pages and it’s only 208 pages long. Read if you like the work “ermine “ used over and over and over and… well… You get the gist.

I've admittedly never read <i>Macbeth</i> nor seen it performed, so my knowledge of the source material this book draws from is, admittedly, thin. I do think I'd call this a reimagining of the <i>Macbeth</i> story before I'd call it "Macbeth from Lady Macbeth's perspective", because even I, with little prior knowledge of the play, knew that several liberties were taken here. This will bother some readers, but I didn't mind it so much. More than anything, I wondered why, in a tale that takes several dramatic departures from even what I do know of <i>Macbeth</i>, this story needed to be rooted in <i>Macbeth</i> at all.

This is a razor-sharp, scathing, and powerful tale of female agency denied, set in a world in which men hold all the power and women have very little recourse from lives of being their "pleasure slaves", to borrow the grotesque and apt phrase the narrator of the tale utilizes. In many ways, it's a mirror to the way that patriarchy still poisons in the modern day, and I appreciated it greatly for that fact alone. I also enjoyed following Roscille, the titular Lady Macbeth's, machinations to try and create a place of safety and empowerment for herself in an overwhelmingly male world that, for all her cleverness, she still, at times, cannot fight against. All of these were very good, very interesting discussions that were woven cleverly into the tale.

My question about why this needs to be a <i>Macbeth</i> story at all, then, has to do with the fact that the parts I liked least about this book were the parts where the story deviated so sharply from its source material as to be unrecognizable. Other reviews have pointed out that the seventeen-year-old Lady Macbeth of this telling bears very little resemblance to the Lady Macbeth of Shakespeare's play, and even with my limited knowledge thereof, I could see that, and it took me out of the book every single time. I can totally buy a book where someone turns into a giant dragon, but if that book is a retelling of </i>Macbeth</i>...that's less easy for me to buy.

I think this book definitely has an audience, and a lot of value in what it has to say; it just didn't hit quite as hard for me as I'd been hoping.

Thanks Random House and Netgalley for the eARC!

I feel complicated about this book, because I had really high hopes for it (I’ve really enjoyed Ava Reid’s previous books and I was excited about a Macbeth retelling focusing on the women of the tale). And I was disappointed on how that was carried out.

It’s hard to express what my issue was with the plot without coming across as someone who cares way too much about Shakespeare. But I don’t care about faithfulness to the text out of respect to The Bard. My disappointment comes from the fact that Lady Macbeth is super cool in the original text! As some other reviews noted, she’s extremely gaslight gatekeep girlboss: she’s already a great character to take and focus on to craft a story about complex, manipulative, clever women. And instead, Reid seems to have tried to force the square peg of Lady Macbeth into the round hole of a classic YA protagonist girl backstory (mean father, brutish husband, ugly friend, ~powers~, supposed cleverness that we never actually see). It’s just not a good fit, and feels very formulaic when I was excited for the fun characterization opportunities. Roscille is just, kinda, boring? Not particularly smart (though we’re constantly told how clever she is), enamored with a random prince, determined to start machinations that she can’t see through, and have we mentioned how pale/blond/small she is? (she’s creepy too, so it’s unique!)

I’m sounding like I hated it at this point, but I honestly didn’t. To be fair to this book, the writing and line-level craft was quality. The thing that kept me reading was largely how much I liked the prose itself, and the feeling of obligation to the first ARC I’d requested and received. and the story itself was not awful, just really underwhelming in contrast to the potential I thought the concept had.

also, somewhat a side point, but I felt uncomfortable with how all the Scottish men were portrayed. kind of icky to depict all the men of one particular ethnicity as brutish and have the one alright dude be part English. just absolutely unnecessary?

planning to post my review on Instagram in the next week or two. will update my feedback with the link when I do. (EDIT: link added)

Ava Reid is one of my auto buy authors and where her other books I adore and love, this was missing something.

The writing was beautiful and being a retelling I would think I would been all for it, but unfortunately something didn’t work.

I wish I could pin point what. Not sure if it’s pace or lore, but this one is not my favorite.

Thank you to the publisher for the ARC. All opinions are my own.

"Lady Macbeth" by Ava Reid is a reimagining of the classic Shakespearean character, offering readers a fresh perspective on one of literature's most intriguing figures. However, my experience with the book was cut short as I stopped reading at the 40% mark due to several issues that hindered my enjoyment of the story.

While Reid's attempt to delve into the lore surrounding Lady Macbeth is commendable, I found myself struggling to follow the intricacies of the world-building. The lore was dense and complex, making it difficult to fully grasp the nuances of the supernatural elements woven into the narrative. As a result, I found myself feeling disconnected from the story, unable to fully immerse myself in the world Reid had created.

Additionally, the storyline itself felt somewhat convoluted and confusing, with multiple plot threads vying for attention and competing for clarity. Characters and motivations seemed muddled, and I found it challenging to keep track of the various storylines and their significance to the overarching plot.

Despite these shortcomings, there were elements of "Lady Macbeth" that showed promise. Reid's prose is lyrical and evocative, capturing the dark and atmospheric tone of Shakespeare's original work. The exploration of Lady Macbeth's character and her descent into madness held potential for a compelling narrative, but unfortunately, I was unable to fully appreciate it due to the aforementioned issues.

Everything Ava Reid writes is compelling and expertly written, with so much to ponder. Lady Macbeth is no different — 4.5 ⭐️

This follows Roscille, a 17 year old French girl who has been shipped off to be Macbeth’s new wife. But Roscille is witch-kissed and can compel men to do her bidding with just her eyes. What may seem like a gentle doe that has landed in Glammis is actually a determined girl who is trying to survive and succeed in any way she can.

I think this is best enjoyed as a novel that has taken some inspiration from Macbeth. It is not meant to be a faithful retelling of that very popular play, because that is a story we all know. This shows an unmoored girl finding her teeth in a bleak and sometimes inhospitable place. Reid does not romanticize certain aspects of this book (something Reid does so well in all of their works) like the large age gap and Macbeth’s simmering domestic violence. The political factors of this paired well with Roscille’s attempts at scheming and I very much felt like I was in her shoes based on the narration.

I so enjoyed the addition of the monster. The feminist take on the witches was very satisfying. It is gothic and gritty and gut-wrenching and it sure is infused with female rage. The female rage in this is perhaps a bit different than what we are used to, but I enjoyed this a lot.

Two quotes I really resonated with: “Madness, of all things, is the most unforgivable in a woman.”

And: “If she cannot have safety, if she cannot have love, at least she can have this. Vengeance.” 🗡️

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the advanced readers copy. This did not affect my review in any way!

Thank you to Del Rey and Ava Reid for the eARC of Lary Macbeth.

I want to start by saying that I love Ava Reid, and I don’t have a strong attachment to the original Macbeth. So I am not sure how that would change my views on this book.

I loved that this felt like a redemption of power, a woman working within the constraints of the male dominated world around her and learning how to be both powerful and cunning. This was a younger woman finding where she belonged and pulling on the power of those before her.

I enjoyed the magical aspects of the witches and the land. I did also enjoy the dragon in the story, I think as in the end it speaks to the monster you embrace versus that which you pretend does not exist, but I don’t want to expand too much and veer into spoilers.

This is a slower book, but I think the prose was really beautiful and the story itself felt so atmospheric and you could feel the loneliness and cold that Lady Macbeth was feeling throughout as well

This felt very much like an Ava Reid book and I’d highly recommend if you enjoyed their other works!

This is a gripping retelling of Shakespeare's classic tragedy, offering a fresh perspective and feminist take. The author continues with psychological depth and beautiful historical detail yet if you’re expecting a story true to manuscript, this wouldn’t be for you. You have to throw everything out the window you think you know. But true to theme for Ava Reid she leaves us deep within our thoughts and her gorgeous dark academia writing. I absolutely enjoyed it and definitely recommend it!

Being a Shakespeare fan, I devoured this in less than two days. Unfortunately, I finished it feeling confused and unsatisfied. Reid has an undeniable talent for cultivating atmospheric worlds and beautiful prose, but it threw off the pacing and muddied the plot at times. It deviated so significantly from the source material that it was like a completely different story, so Shakespeare purists be warned. This is more reimagining than retelling, which is still enthralling but ultimately lacked to me personally.

Giving the Lady a voice and her specific backstory was creative, adding to the intrigue of the 'villain origin story' I knew was coming. However, the love affair and later plot twists with a *certain* character were completely out of left field. In a way, Roscille's decisions in relation to the Prince are completely in character with what she has fallen victim to at the hands of Macbeth. However, the abnormality of the Prince's arc and his overall importance to the story seem forced and used as a device to create unnecessary drama.

The first half of the book may have been slow, but it followed canon and was mysterious. I personally enjoyed that. Reid successfully wrote a build-up that was both quiet yet charged, but that upward momentum plummeted with the choice of a supernatural subplot.
And Roscille became very unlikeable following this. I'm still unsure if that was Reid's intent (since the Lady is the villain in the original 'Macbeth'), but it was a lazy pivot. It's an insult to the character to write her outsmarting and surviving an evil man, only to have her rely on another man to save her in the end. Girl, WHAT HAPPENED!!

Said ending was also quite rushed, considering I as the reader would have thrived off seeing Roscille make Macbeth suffer for the shit he put her through. Instead, he meets a quick end and the Lady's happy future is left to the imagination, all in a matter of a handful of pages. Talk about anti-climactic!

Overall, this wasn't an awful book. Reid wove some real goodness into this one but I felt a bit robbed at how everything played out. It could have easily been longer, if it had gone in a more realistic and classicly-Shakespearean direction.

I enjoyed this title. Having not read Macbeth the play, I was able to follow the plot very well. The point of Lady Macbeth being a witch who can entrance men with her eyes was fascinating, and an excellent way to take the story and give her the power she lacks in the original story. She has a voice, and she's strong. I can't tell if the author means to paint her as a hero or a villain at some parts of the story- like when she kills the king. I saw her as a hero the entire time, and felt for her as she went through her life married to Macbeth. The ending where she gets her freedom was powerful, and I thought it was a perfect ending to the story. My only complaint is that I sometimes got lost in the plot and didn't know what was happening, which is my own fault for not reading the play!

Unfortunately I had to dnf this book as I could not finish it. I have tried picking it up multiple times over the last few months but it never grabbed my attention. I love Ava Reid but this book lacked something I can't quite pinpoint. it pains me to leave this review but I really tried.

Lady Macbeth tells the story of one of Shakespeare's most infamous characters, but from the female gaze.
I'll be honest, I'm not well versed in Macbeth. I remember reading it in high school, but I don't really remember all of the details of the story.
I enjoyed Reids more magical interpretation of the story. Truly embracing Lady Macbeths connection to the supernatural. This book also humanizes her in a way that we don't get to see in the original.
I found the pacing of the story odd. It would drag at times, and then feel like it's speeding through the plot. This reimagining in my opinion could have taken more risks. It felt more like a reinterpretation or retelling based on Reid's interpretation of the source material versus a true reimagining that could have expanded the story, lore, and world.
Ultimately I liked this book, but I didn't think it did anything remarkable.

If Heathcliff was your first book boyfriend, odds are you will love this.

I myself am constantly chasing the high I got after reading Wuthering Heights for the first time in high school, and this retelling of Lady Macbeth sated my gothic romance appetite.

Ava Reid’s reimagining of Lady Macbeth’s story has it all; scheming, murder, romance, vengeance, witchcraft, and even a dragon.

I devoured this ARC, and I highly recommend it to my fellow gothic romance lovers ♥︎

I don’t think I've read a book that has emotionally moved me, this deeply, in quite some time. This book made me feel so much anger for our main character, Lady Macbeth. I was rooting for her the entire time. I felt so much anger and sadness at how this 17 year old was thrown into a world ruled by men all on her own. I was eagerly waiting for Roscille to get her vengeance. You get to read about a woman’s role during this time period and feel the pain Roscille feels on being forced as a pawn and suffering at the hands of men who relish in being violent and brutish for the sake of power. You feel a sense of claustrophobia from reading of how women were forced into positions of powerlessness and a complete lack of autonomy.

Ava Reid fully had me immersed with their work of imagery. I was right beside Roscille in that cold, dark, and dreary castle. I felt miserable reading how Roscille saw her new home. It all just made the book come to life for me. I absolutely enjoyed it. Ava Reid accomplished what they set out to do with the retelling of Macbeth. I felt so much for Roscille, Lady Macbeth, that when the ending came around I was so happy and content with the conclusion. I loved this book so much. I don't think I can recommend it enough. It had such a satisfying ending.

Will be posting this review on my goodreads (goodreads.com/songreqst) as well as on my Instagram (instagram.com/bookreqst). Thank you so much to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC.

This novel is a fantastic take on one of Shakespeare’s most memorable plays. I felt as though the internal monologue we received from our protagonist was not only informative to the reader but also held so much value in what the plot ended up being. If you go into this novel having zero experience with Macbeth you will find it a delightful and rich fantasy novel circling Roscille, a puppet master to the men she should be subservient to, and her journey in her new life. This is a great novel for any reader.

★★★.75 /5

well… i have to say: don’t go into this expecting purist Shakspeare cause it does NOT adhere to the original — it’s heavy on the reimagining. i haven’t read macbeth in a few years by now, so it’s not exactly fresh in my mind, but even then, i was not expecting reid’s lady macbeth to be who and how she was. we see the cunning and sneakiness in the beginning of the story, but… it kind of fades throughout the rest of it?? there are definitely feminist themes in this story that i appreciate and roscille, despite not being like Shakespeare’s lady macbeth, undoubtedly holds power within herself, as well. however, it’s just not the kind of power i was expecting from a supposedly lady macbeth character (i need insanity/highly manipulative-level power). at times, i felt like if i took away the names of the characters, i wouldn’t have even thought this was a macbeth reimagining. perhaps this story could have sufficed, or maybe have been better, without being one.

that being said, i did generally enjoy the plot of the story. reid does not disappoint with atmosphere or prose, nor do they ever, let’s be honest; i felt as cold and barren as she describes Glammis and dreadfully slimy and grotesque when we meet the three witches, which, by the way, was hands-down my favorite part of the story. i REALLY enjoyed her spin on the three witches and how they were humanized, because we don’t get as much characterization in the original novel. lisander, who is not part of the original macbeth, was also another favorite. his retorts, his gallantry, and his subtle (but VERY tense) romance with roscille were all chef’s kiss, though i wish we got more time with him and his “affliction”, rather than having it be a *bit* of a convenient plot device at the end of the book. i do have to add that the romance was insta-lovey, though i’m willing to look past it for the scenes it brought to the book 😗

between this and ASID, i haven’t been raving over reid’s books as much as i did for J&T, which makes me a bit sad, cause their books’ synopses always sound so amazing. still holding out hope and looking forward to reid’s next book, though!! 😭

thank you to netgalley and the publisher for the arc!

I was so excited for this release and I wrote a review over two months ago when I first finished this advanced reader copy of the highly anticipated Lady Macbeth, but unlike some of the readers who REALLY loved this novel, it really fell flat for me and there were many aspects of this retelling that didn’t really sit right with me. This book put me in a really strange mood after finishing, and while Ava’s writing was very atmospheric— guess I was hoping for more out of this than I actually got. I know people will love this, but it wasn’t my favorite by any means.

I’m really disappointed in Lady Macbeth. This was one of my most anticipated reads of the year - I adore Ava Reid’s writing and Macbeth is one of my favorite Shakespeare plays. The character of Lady Macbeth (Roscille/Roscilla) was such a let down. I was so excited to see this badass, insane woman come to life, but it felt like her character was dimmed down so much. I wanted chaos and drama, but all I got was a bunch of boring nothing?? The flashbacks of Roscille’s father and her life in France before marrying Macbeth did nothing to heighten her character or the plot. This was nothing like what I expected and I’m really sad I didn’t enjoy this. Thank you NetGalley and Ballantine for the arc

Never in my life have I had to sleep on a book before sitting down to review it, but my thoughts towards Lady Macbeth are complicated and I needed the time to process how I felt about them. At its core, this is a Macbeth retelling, yes. The main players are still present and, in line with the original play, still scheming and murdering and betraying one another. But Ava Reid's Lady Macbeth, elusive in her power and a figure who I regarded as the real orchestrater of so many of the events in Macbeth, has been reduced to someone that I don't quite recognize in this novel.

When I originally think of Lady Macbeth, I think of power and ambition and madness. I also think of the infamous Lady Macbeth Syndrome, which has been an interest of mine as of late. I feel like it was definitely... a choice, I guess, to make Lady Macbeth a seventeen year old French girl named Roscille, and though I don't hate that direction, I believe that it changes the reader's relationship with this once manipulative, ambitious woman who turned her husband into the dagger in her hands, not vice versa.

But while I'm not entirely decided on my feelings to change Lady Macbeth from puppet master to accomplice, I can appreciate the feminist themes of this novel. Though they were a bit heavy handed and wildly repetitive, Lady Macbeth's journey towards agency and self-autonomy was enjoyable enough to read. I also enjoyed the decision to turn Lady Macbeth into a witch and have her uncovered eyes enchant men should they stare into them. I just felt that that particular trait was not used as much as I'd like it to be.

I think that this book also needed more space to simply be. At times, the pacing felt off and certain scenes incredibly rushed. I also can't say that I was a fan of the insta-love that happened between Roscille and another character, especially because there was no build up to it. Don't misunderstand though: some of the lines between Roscille and her love interest were the best in the novel, and I can appreciate the purpose of this love for what it was meant to do and the power it was supposed to help Roscille accept. I'm just, at my core, incredibly critical of relationships with no genuine direction.

Finally, my last issue with this novel lies with the infamous Macbeth, who, by the end, felt almost cartoonish in his villainy. Perhaps it's because Shakespeare's Macbeth, though undoubtedly a villain, is still a sympathetic character manipulated by forces outside of his control. Perhaps it's because I felt like Macbeth's absence shaped more of the narrative then his presence on page. Whatever it is, Ava Reid's decision to to cast him as a one-dimensional villain and disregard the complexities of his character to make him truly awful (and he is, truly, awful) towards his wife really clashes with the united force that was Macbeth and his Lady in the original play. But I digress.

What this book does really, truly succeed at, though, is atmosphere. Glammis is a bleak, wind-swept place and Macbeth's basement, especially, has Ava Reid's signature dose of locational horror. There's an undercurrent of dread that continues the build throughout the novel's progression, starting almost immediately from our opening scene. That, I think, was one of my favorite aspects of this novel and a real redeemer for me when I sat down to organize my (still very messy) thoughts.

Even by the end of this review, I'm still conflicted with my thoughts. Ava Reid has been my favorite author for years now, and I'm disappointed that this book was not an immediate five stars like the rest of their work has been. That said, you bet I still have this novel on preorder.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for providing me with an arc in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.