Ava Reid cannot write a book I will not devour. Everything blends so seamlessly pulling you in to the atmosphere and story. All the elements were just so well written and beautiful. I loved Roscille and her character arc was so interesting to read, the choices she made and her motivations.

Thanks to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group for the advanced copy of the book.

This is an absolutely amazing retelling of Macbeth. It takes all of the madness and eeriness of the original story and makes it something even better. It shows masculinity at its worst. It is brutal and hard to read at times, but Lady Macbeth’s strength and Ava Reid’s beautiful prose pulls you through. This is beautifully written and you can see every scene in all its gory, dark detail. I had extraordinarily high expectations for this book (Macbeth has always been my favorite Shakespeare work and I enjoyed A Study in Drowning) and this somehow surpassed it. This is one that I’m going to come back to again and again. The way it balances the rage of womanhood with the fear of men is incredible. A must-read for sure!!

This retelling of Shakespeare’s classic is a dark and haunting version that follows a seventeen year old witch-kissed Roscille as she arrives in Scotland after her father arranges her marriage to Macbeth.

First off, Ava Reid’s writing style is simply superb. Her ability to use the simplest of sentences to land an impactful statement is such a treat to feast on. And while many of the sentences seem abrupt, the flow of the overall book is so seamless that you cannot help but to keep reading.

I particularly enjoyed the reversal of many of the characteristics that the Lady and Lord Macbeth possess in this version as compared to the original. Perhaps if this Roscille was allowed to age, she may well grow into the villainous woman of versions past. But in this retelling, she is a young woman forced to fight her first battle of life with nothing but the wits she has honed since childhood in order to survive.

As you are reading, the distinct lack of women and the manner in which those surrounding her are cast as brutish and evil forces you on a lonely, bone-chilling walk through the halls with Roscille. Through her haunting eyes, you see the infuriating plight of a woman unfold.

Sprinkle in the trifecta of witchcraft, dragons and prophecies and you’ve easily found yourself a five star read.

Thank you to NetGalley for allowing me to read an eARC in exchange for an honest review, which will also be posted on GoodReads.

This was probably one of the most unique and fascinating stories I’ve read! I honestly wasn’t sure what to expect when getting into this. I LOVE Ava Reid, but Macbeth has never been a story that particularly interested me. This retelling, however, was so incredible! To me, it feels like this is the way the story of Macbeth was meant to be told. Definitely a story that I’ll be thinking about for a long time (as I do with every Ava Reid story I’ve read) and I highly recommend checking it out when it comes out on August 6, 2024!

In true Ava Reid fashion, a magical experience where you are lost to the words. This is a true re-imagining of the story that keeps the same themes present of power and gender and so much vengeance.

This book is all gothic vibes in a medieval setting with witches, pious rulers, prophecies and a dragon. Reid sets the stage in an isolated castle full of foreign and brute men, and only men. Rosecille is sent there to be married and become Lady Macbeth. Rosecille is described to be of such beauty that she is rumored to be a witch who must be veiled to protect men from her witchy gaze. Through the beautifully written prose you doubt whether Lady Macbeth is indeed witch or just a preternatural beauty. “It is an unearthly Beaty that some in Wrybeard’s court call death-touched. Poison-eyed. Witch-kissed.” This feeling winds itself throughout the book leaving you as the reader struggling to define what is real and what is fiction, until the truth is revealed. (Side note: This is a similar feeling I had when reading A Study in Drowning, so if you enjoyed that story, I highly recommend this book) Roscille believes herself to be cunning only to discover she is quite the novice in this world of political scheming men, leading her on a winding path of guilt and vengeance alike. This book is a 10/10!! The prose is stunning, the themes of gender and power strike a chord even in today’s world. There is no delusion of justice in this book, instead vengeance becomes the plot. Be warned there is graphic violence and SA, however I felt it was utilized in an impactful and honest way that are central to the themes in this book.

Thank you to NetGalley, Ava Reid, and Random House Publishing Group for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I’m impressed by Ava Reid yet again, a Macbeth retelling that actually managed to be new and exciting, sign me up! Did I mention there is a dragon? Macbeth, my lord, I am now your number one hater. My only complaint was that I wanted more towards the end for Lady Macbeth who in this version goes by Roscille or Roscilla. But such is life.

Dark and gothic as is all of her works, this proves to be a dazzling addition to her previous novels. I don’t want to go too into details about this already well known story, but Reid does a stellar job at reviving a much hated villainess’ story into something more than what we get from Shakespeare. She sweeps you off her feet with her gorgeous atmospheric writing, making you feel like you’re in Scotland, smelling the mildew and salty air whilst reading. I found myself highlighting so many passages as I’m sure many others will do once they get their hands on this wonderful novel!

Thank you to Ava Reid, Random House Publishing Group, and Netgalley for providing me with an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

“Lady Macbeth” is a reimagining of Shakespeare’s most famous villainess. I had not read much about her story before so I was interested in learning more about this noble woman who is rumored to drive men to madness with her eyes. Once married to Macbeth, she soon learns she can navigate a world built for men if she wields this strange power of hers to her advantage.

I can’t speak to the differences between Roscille in this novel and her original character in Shakespeare’s play since I honestly cannot remember much of the play. So, maybe this wasn’t the book for me, seeing as I didn’t have anything to compare the characters and portrayals to.

However, I did find myself a little disinterested for most of this book. Maybe if I had been more familiar with the original work, I would have enjoyed this book more. The author tells us repeatedly how smart and clever the main character is but this book, in my opinion, shows her as naive. We see clever moments here and there, but until the last 10% of the book, we don’t see any of the female rage and power that I expected. I had expected Roscille to chafe against her environment, but she became exactly what she didnt want to be for most of the book, her husband’s tool to be used and bent to his will.

I expected this book to be a great woman-empowered novel, but felt as if Roscille had little to no agency and only used her cleverness in small schemes that for most of the book, seemed to only benefit the men in her life. The last 10% of the book was more enjoyable and picked up in pace. The main character finally showed a glimpse of the female rage I was hoping to see all along.

Lastly, the writing style left me feeling extremely bored. I haven’t read any other books by this author but some of the prose came across as confusing and made it hard to imagine what was happening in the moment. I do love a good third person POV book, but the way this book was written made it hard to connect with the main character and understand her motives. We only received small glimpses of her past. I really do prefer a deeper dive into character’s pasts so I can get a better picture of character development. With this book, however, I had little reason to root for the main character unfortunately.

As someone who is a big fan of Ava Reid's writing, I cannot tell you my excitement when I heard she was doing a Macbeth retelling. That being said, I found this to be a bit of a letdown. I was expecting more of a villainous, ambitious portrayal of Lady Macbeth, and it fell a bit flat in that regard. I found myself questioning a lot of Lady Macbeth's actions throughout the book and didn't understand the motivation behind a lot of what she did. There was also a romance subplot that I felt was completely unnecessary to the plot of the book, and some of the magical elements were not fully fleshed out. For some of the positives of this book, Ava Reid's prose is truly beautiful and atmospheric in her writing, and that is no different in this book. I would still recommend reading this, especially if you are a fan of Reid's previous works, it was just a bit disappointing as a retelling of Macbeth. Thank you to NetGalley and Del Rey books for this arc!

YES. That’s all I have to say. This book is an immediate yes. Thank you, Ava Reid, for what I can only describe as everything I didn’t realize I was asking for. This is the kind of book I’m going to revisit when I need a reminder about inner strength and all that business. It’s a powerful book that really puts the experience of being a woman at the forefront, rather than the romance or even the magic. It’s excellent and just what I feel like I needed.

“The white of her hair is not natural; it is like draining moonlight. Her skin–have you seen it?–it will not hold a color. She is as bloodless as a trout. And her eyes–one look into them will drive mortal men to madness.”
Ava Reid’s writing is absolutely amazing and atmospheric. I loved this reimagining of Lady Macbeth, it was dark, gothic and absolutely everything I wanted in a reimaging for her. Between the spooky atmospheric lands around her and descriptions of characters.
Roscille was an absolute gem, and although she was pretty much the only woman the entire story, she was all we needed at times. You could sense the loneliness she had from not having anyone close to her, or another woman nearby, but it added to the story. She was constantly overcoming any obstacle she had thrown at her and I loved that for her. She's a wonderful character overlooked because of the tales about her.
What I loved the most about this book was definitely the fantasy aspect, because at times you thought there was magic, but other times you didn’t it added to the atmosphere 100% because you just want to know if there's magic or not. It draws you in more and more.
Thank you to Netgalley and Del Ray for an e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

I am still unsure how I managed to get my grubby little hands on this arc but I am SO glad I did! What a stunning, heartbreaking story. 5 stars!

I loved this book! Ava Reid is such an amazing writer and I adore their characters. I cannot recommend this book enough!!

This book, I wanted to love it. I loved the previous books from this author. But I had a really really hard time getting through the beginning. It's a total swamp of info dumping. It was so much that I couldn't actually keep up with the story. I didn't even know what was going on. so I did not finish this book as it was too much of a headache to get through,

5 star read. What a gorgeous, dark, and grimy telling of my favourite from the Bard. Ava Reid’s atmospheric Lady Macbeth transported me to a damp, cold,
Scottish castle, brimming with off kilter magic and beasts.

This is beautifully written, well-constructed book with an interesting perspective on an age-old tale that critiques the girlbossification-of-historical-women trend so hard it actually ends up undermining itself in the process. As much I can appreciate the literary and feminist merit of this novel, situating a well-known "villainess" in the mind and body of a young teenager struggling to escape her fate, something about this characterization still rubs me the wrong way. To erase Lady M's bad, selfish aspects is to erase so much of what makes her unique and fascinating as an early-modern character: Reid's Lady M doesn't strictly lack ambition or negative qualities, but we are made to sympathize with her, to understand the context of her actions and the fear driving them, to see her ambition as a desire to escape and survive rather as a desire for power or influence. Does a woman need to be seeking power or influence to be ambitious? No! Does strength come in many different shapes and forms, and is survival its own form of ambition? Yes, absolutely! Does it sit kind of weirdly with me to have one of the few examples of a power-hungry, desperate, and complicated woman in historical literature burdened with a contemporary feminist lens that both co-ops history while applying modern moras to it? I mean...also yes!. Reid's Lady Macbeth is undoubtedly a compelling story of survivorship and a fresh new reading of story told and retold for generations. I just don't think this characterization of Lady M is as meaningful or daring as Reid clearly means it to be.

ava reid, the writer you are.

hands down one of the best books i’ve read. Macbeth is a Shakespeare play I really enjoyed, so to see it reimagined from Lady Macbeths POV was so intriguing and exciting. I knew the second it was announced that Ava would absolutely nail it.

This book went above and beyond my expectations. Every page had me so compelled and obsessed. Roscille was such an interesting character, I had not known much about Lady Macbeth and Ava’s version of her is absolutely beautiful. When writing this book they really went into dept with the mistreatment of women back in those times, the power play between the important, powerful men, and the fear of witchcraft that existed at that time.

I’m in awe. the writing was so truly beautiful and i highlighted such heart-wrenching quotes i cannot wait to share once it’s released. Every sentence was so perfectly written. Ava had such a visual aspect through their writing with Lady Macbeth. In my head I can truly imagine what’s going on and what it all looks like. Her details in the writing add so much to the dialogue and overall scenes themselves.

Lady Macbeth is a book you don’t wanna miss. Shakespeare lover or not— you will throughly enjoy this masterpiece of a novel.

Now this is how you do a retelling.

Already liked Reid's work after Juniper and Thorn but this book really solidified my enjoyment for her writing style.

Just enough is altered from its Shakespearian origin to give this story it's own identity. Lady Macbeth is a different breed of tragedy.

The few nitpicks that I have with the text are a few motifs that I find repetitive regarding the physicality of Macbeth himself. But that's very nitpicking of me and shouldn't hold any weight against the quality of the novel.

I very much enjoyed this retelling of Macbeth as told from the perspective of Lady Macbeth. It explores her reasoning for some of the choices she made that lead to Macbeth’s choices. I loved the back story to the witches! If you are a fan of retellings, this is a must read.

I adored this book but was infuriated the entire time, This is the same story as Shakespeare’s play with a lot more meat on its bones. It’s also from a slightly different perspective because this is Roscille’s story. Ava Reid’s writing is so atmospheric and I love it so much.
Lady Macbeth shows us that you can be calculated without being cunning. Highly recommend. This is a good one.

This is definitely one of the best reimagining historical fiction I have read in some time! It is one of those novels that you read and enjoy vividly through the lush descriptions and good storytelling. I was unable to put it down and once I finished it, I miss reading it. Perfect for those who love historical gothic fiction.