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.

While pretty good, this did not quite live up to Juniper & Thorn for me. I still am glad it exists and to have read it. It was a great retelling of Macbeth through the Lady's perspective.

I'll start with the positive. Ava Reid's prose is thematic, lush, and visceral. Unfortunately that's the end of what I liked about this book. I was devastatingly disappointed, as A Study in Drowning was not only my favorite book of last year but one of my favorite books of all time. This story would have been fantastic had it not been a Macbeth retelling, and I just couldn't let go of what this story should have been.

This book asks the question, what if Lady Macbeth, an ambitious, ruthless, power-hungry, middle-aged woman...was none of those things? And the answer is well, not very interesting. Maybe if this book had been a retelling of a different story or even a prequel to the events of Macbeth I could have forgiven it, but it was such a disservice to one of the most interesting and villainous women in literature.

Slight spoiler here, but when this book was marketed as a "monster romance," I had an image in my head that the romance would be with...you know, Macbeth, that it would be through the intensity of their love for each other that they turned monstrous. But the romance that was included was not with Macbeth and just felt kind of tacked-on and unnecessary.

So again, I just don't understand why this was a Macbeth retelling. You could have changed all of the names and maybe one or two plot points and it would have been indistinguishable.

Thanks to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group for the advanced copy in exchange for a review. All thoughts and opinions expressed are my own.

I received an ARC of this book from the publisher. 5 ⭐️

It is a retelling of a classic tale that manages to elevate its original inspiration while becoming something singular itself. The love story, conflicts, and interpersonal relationships all follow the pacing and style of Shakespeare’s Macbeth which I think is this story’s brilliance.

Witches, a Dragon, Scottish Fairy Pools, and some death. What more could you ask for?

Ava Reid has solidified themselves as a favorite author of mine with this book. They can write in their specific voice as an author while also crafting a tale that feels true to the story itself. Like with Juniper & Thorn, this story pays homage to the feeling and essence of the original work while being made entirely on its own by Reid’s writing.

The witches are my favorite part of the original Macbeth and stay one of my favorite pieces of this retelling. The way they are woven into the story and the overall plot of the women that men manage to demonize, weaponize, and somehow also forget elevates them even beyond their original archetype.

Roscille, our main character, manages to be both strategic and soft, brutal and intentional. In female characters, I often find that this duality is hard to do well or often not done at all.

This story reminds us that looking at the author of a tale and questioning their motives is just as important as the tale itself. It leaves us with an alternative history as important as the original work.

This book is marketed as historical fiction, gothic, re-imagining, etc. and I think that to be very accurate! It is important to note and put emphasis on the fact that this is a re-imagining and not a retelling. That being said... if you are not familiar with Shakespeare's play, Macbeth, I would highly recommend researching it briefly to get an idea of what it was. I was not familiar with the original work and found the beginning of the novel to be confusing but it made more sense once I had a summary of the play and characters (Macbeth and Lady Macbeth).

I was drawn to this book because of the description, author, and the cover. The book is beautifully written and gives off those dark, gothic, eerie vibes that I was expecting. It has lyrical/poetic prose that Ava Reid is known for but also ties in a mix of the native Scottish language and Shakespeare from the original play that it references which I thought was a nice touch. I recommend reading on a Kindle so you can easily refer to definitions if needed. This really helped me while reading since this was not a simple read in terms of the language used.

That being said.... this book is confusing. It was hard to understand and the pace was really slow and I had to read it extremely slow to try and make sense of it. It was written almost in a sequence like a play would be. Instead of chapters it was broken in to "Acts" and it did help with the pacing when it came to imagination because the book itself was slow paced and the ending seemed rushed BUT I assume if it were a play thats how it would be acted out so it worked. The character Lady Macbeth was supposed to portray, in my opinion, a women who is too cunning and clever for her own good and is feared by men but as a reader I portrayed her as a naive girl who was somewhat ignorant and assumptive. She didnt know anything of her husband and the laned he ruled before marrying him so she would just constantly assume things instead of trying to learn which always put her one step behind all the other characters when she was attempting to be clever or scheming. She also always referred to Macbeth as this brute warrior who was abusive and hated woman but he only showed kindness and respect until the very end after learning she betrayed him so it was hard for me to find any credibility or sympathy for her as a character when it was supposed to be a book based on finally giving her a voice and purpose.

I have always loved Macbeth. I knew I absolutely had to read this one and it blew me away. This is definitely already my top fave read of this year and I have read 47 books already lol

Thank you to the publisher and netgalley for providing me with an eARC in return for an honest review!

4.5 Stars

I was first introduced to Ava Reid's work with 'A study in Drowning,' and loved it. I continued to enjoy her writing in 'Lady Macbeth,' and I plan to continue picking up her books in the future!
I can honestly say that I do not remember a single thing about Shakespeare's Macbeth from when I read it in school, so you do not have to know the original story to enjoy this one! That being said, I cannot offer any sentiments on how close it is to the original tragedy.

I would have liked to see more of a certain male character and gotten to know him more, but this seems to be a common feeling I get with standalones. I liked the female main character and I also loved her loyalty to and protectiveness over her handmaiden. Highly recommend for anyone who enjoys her writing or is a fan of Shakespeare!