Ava Reid’s writing gets better and better with each book they publish. Macbeth has always been one of my favorite Shakespeare plays, and her take on play feels fresh while staying true to the key elements of the original

I’m going to need 3-5 business days to recover because WOW. I was chilled to the bone the entire time I was reading, which is exactly what a horror novel should do. Reid cultivates such an excellent sense of dread with their authorial voice. The word choice and atmosphere are immaculate, and now I desperately want to visit Inverness.

Note - this retelling is very different from the original Macbeth in characterization and tone. Just be aware.

Thank you Del Rey and NetGalley for the digital ARC. I will be preordering immediately.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC!

I have always loved Macbeth, so seeing that this would be a retelling from Lady Macbeth's POV was a slam dunk for me. The choice to make her a 17 year old girl instead of an older adult woman threw me, but it really worked. The plot does differ significantly from that of the play (there's a dragon and Macbeth dies differently). I think the characters we dynamic and the dark and moody atmosphere was great. Pacing is fairly slow, but I still managed to finish it in a few days. The witches in this were so good!

Just a heads up for folks: there was a pretty rough torture scene and one scene of marital rape (not graphic).

As much as I absolutely loved Junior & Thorn, this is the second novel by Ava Reid that I wasn’t a fan of. A Study In Drowning was easily set to be my new favorite book of 2023 — a gothic dark academia story focusing on mythology, misogyny and the way women are treated in exclusive academic spaces. Yet, I didn’t love it. With Lady Macbeth, I feel the same way. A feminist, moody retelling of Shakespeare’s Macbeth, it had all the ingredients to make for a compelling read, but the outcome was quite dull. Reid’s prose, as usual, is exceptional, but I wasn’t keen on the characterization or her interpretation of Macbeth itself. I’m still looking forward to whatever Reid puts out next, but I’m hoping it’s more in the style of Juniper & Thorn.

Ava Reid can do no wrong. This book is all of the things you could want in a Shakespeare retelling. It’s gritty and gothic and unapologetically filled with female rage. The perspective of lady Macbeth is not a perspective I knew I wanted until I had it. Lady Macbeth was reflective, poetic, and brilliant. I highlighted so many of Reid’s beautiful quotes because her prose was blowing my mind.

Our main character, Roscille, was brave and fascinating, flawed and dark. The way that she used her cleverness as a weapon and outsmarted the people around her had me hooting and hollering. The subtle love story was just enough to make me swoon, but wasn’t a main part of the story at all. Still, it was incredibly sweet and spicy in a book full of caution and violence. I cannot wait for this book to be out in the world in August!!

LADY MACBETH was one of my most anticipated reads this year and has turned into one of my most conflicting reads ever. I have a special attachment to the Lady since I was her in a play once, and Macbeth is tied for Twelfth Night as my favorite Shakespeare play, so I have to admit I got up and screamed when I saw Ava Reid was writing a Lady Macbeth reimagining and then did it again when I was accepted for the ARC.

I'll start with the good things first, because to be clear, I do not regret reading this book. The writing style was beyond gorgeous and I was spellbound by the craft put in at the sentence level. Every time I had to put the book down, it only took a line for me to be back into the bleak, gothic setting, and I know I will be returning to study this style. I also loved the linguistic care paid attention to the shifting names and rejection of allowing one language to dominate the landscape. It was naturally done and I was never confused by it, so it remained one of my favorite things about the book once I'd finished.

Character wise, I enjoyed Roscille and Lisander the most as characters who are regularly divorced from humanity, a theme that has always been important to me; I think the characterization was strong and Macbeth loomed larger than life in a way I liked reading about. But I think I enjoyed Roscille more as her own character. Comparing her to the Lady Macbeth many know and love is where my disappointment begins to creep in.

As I've mentioned, Lady Macbeth is an important character to me, but I also love ruthless, cunning, conniving women. When I heard reimagining, I was excited to see what had been crafted of her personality and backstory. For such an iconic character, there is little established about her; there was an endless possibility of directions to choose, and while I liked what was offered, I liked less that it was what was offered for her specifically.

If you're attached to the bloodthirsty middle-aged woman who shamed her husband for weakness, you will not find her here, and I'm not sure you will even find the start of her here. In her place, we are offered Roscille, a 17-year-old French bride sold off to the hulking, violent Macbeth. Her witch-touched nature had created a reputation of inducing madness, and so she arrives veiled and adrift with a plan to keep herself from the marriage bed as long as she is able. She has been trained to be clever and at first succeeds at her ploys easily, but has to work harder to arrange the pieces as she wishes as Macbeth's madness grows and she meets unexpected roadblocks.

I want to stress that I love Roscille as Roscille. But offered as a spin on Lady Macbeth, she and her worldview fall flat. I found myself craving nuance or at least a small challenge to Roscille's intense xenophobia and prejudice against Scottish men (I would absolutely not recommend this one to Scottish readers), but as it was, the gender politics felt flatly crafted and gave an unfortunate one-dimensional view of most of the male characters surrounding Roscille. I think this also lended to the disappointing declawing of one of my favorite ambitious female characters; Roscille is passively reacting to a world that was historically sexist, but even in sexist societies women have their own power and value to wield.

In the end, I think I just don't agree with what seems to be the foundation for this reimagining, which is that women being portrayed as villainous is a fault of men around her finding her mad and uncontrollable. This feels less of a roadmap for a young Lady Macbeth sharpening her teeth and more like a defensive defanging, which I don't think was fully sold to me. If this had been an original story with the names changed, I probably would have been in love with it. But as it stands, I adore evil, ruthless female characters, and though I can admit most of my disappointment is probably self-inflicted for entering this book with too many expectations, this did not end up being the Lady Macbeth I've adored for much of my life but instead a sweeping, enchantingly painted portrait with a disappointing subject.

If you are a fan of beautiful prose and aren't quite as attached to Lady Macbeth as me, I would still recommend this book, even just to hear what you think about it.

I absolutely love Ava Reid’s prose and will read anything she writes. Lady Macbeth fell a little short on the momentum for me, but picked up on the latter half and I breezed through it. I would have loved more depth on certain plot-lines and characters, but nonetheless this was still a great read. For anyone who loves a good, classic, retelling, this is a perfect pick. I look forward to the official release and will be buying a copy.

3.5/5 STARS: Another solid work from Ava Ried. Will post a full review on Instagram post release day! @haileysgoodbooks

I really, really wanted to love this one, but for me it was just an okay book.

I thought the actual writing was beautiful, but I did not connect with how this retelling was done.

I think some other people might enjoy it tho based off other reviews!

Thank you NetGalley and DelRay for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

I'm a big Shakespeare fan, so I felt pretty confident I would love this book from the get-go. I did not, however, know the writing would be utterly luscious. I floated through this book as though caught in the haze behind Roscille's veil. I don't mean the story didn't feel grounded; it did. I mean the whole book read like a sharp-toothed dream. By showing this story from Roscille's point of view, Ava Reid makes this age-old classic brand new. It is dark and harsh and cold as Glammis castle's stone, but it has a secret soft underbelly for those who follow it to its end...just as Glammis castle has secrets for those bold enough to search for them.

This was ambitious and she easily delivered. This book is like time traveling to a world where women are powerless. This lady Macbeth is different from the original. She’s trying to stay one step ahead of her husband. Masterminding her way through the fragile male ego.

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This was incredible. I wasn't a HUGE fan of the idea of making Macbeth this Gigachad dude-bro toxic masculine character as I've always kind of read him as less than confident-- but this take on the story really works for me. This will be one that should be read in schools. Thank you, Net Galley, for providing me with an ARC of Lady Macbeth. I savored every sentence.

I absolutely loved this book and consumed it with a ferocity akin to the characters within the book. As the title indicates, this story is a retelling of one of Shakespeare’s darker stories, Macbeth but from the perspective of Lady Macbeth herself. I loved the authenticity Ava Reid brought to the time period and her ability to provide us with an incredibly complex and richly developed Lady Macbeth. Ava Reid’s prose is beautiful and her ability to create these spooky, ethereal and gothic worlds is top notch.

Lady Macbeth takes the reader on a very wild ride. At one point I told my friend that this book was giving me major Game of Thrones red wedding vibes and honestly that vibe never dissipated; it slowly grew and blossomed into a masterpiece in fury and revenge. Lady Macbeth is beautiful and savage, calculated and ruthless, intelligent and empathetic. I could go on and on forever.

If you love a good retelling, fantastical or classic, with a beautiful mix of horror please check this out when it hits shelves on August 13th.

There were parts of this I really loved, parts I didn't fully understand, and parts where the story seemed to drag. I'm not sure I have the necessary affinity for the source material to really appreciate this retelling. That said, the prose was beautiful, something I expect (and love about!) Ava Reid, even if the story itself wasn't always for me.

A novel based upon Shakespeare's play. Some license is taken with the story line. It's an interesting take on the play.

I was incredibly excited to get approval for this title, as it's been on my radar since Ava Reid announced it on her socials. Juniper and Thorn was a top title I read last year and I have looked forward to reading her books ever since. She masters blending historical fiction with incredible characters, dialogue, and scene setting and Lady Macbeth is no exception to this. She gave our titular Lady Macbeth such a lush and complicated background, which may cause Shakespearean brainiacs to dislike it. For me, personally, I enjoyed it. I thought Roscille being a scared and anxious 17-year-old (a literal child) was a bold move but made sense from a humanistic POV. It gives her more nuance and explains WHY she was the way she was in Macbeth, and isn't that what a prequel (so to speak) is supposed to do?

I was so intrigued by a Lady Macbeth retelling. I'm a former theater kid and was in Macbeth as a witch, and it was one of my more interesting acting experiences. Initially, it was hard for me to become engaged with the story. I think it took a minute to grasp Roscille's world and some of the characters in the story. It helped me to reacquaint myself with the politics and characters of Shakespeare's original play. In all, I feel like Ava Reid's reimagining was very creative. I enjoyed the feminist spin, the appropriating of the witches as other former Lady Macbeths. I also enjoyed some of the other magical elements, including the dragon and the romance. Ultimately, I just felt that the writing was a bit too complex at times and it was hard for me to maintain my attention. There are some good bones but maybe it could have used more development.

I feel like this book might be a little more YA than I originally thought. Speaking on vibes alone, I just wasn't interested.

I got this book as an eARC from NetGalley in February and finally read it. I wish I had read it sooner for it was truly an amazing read. In this retelling of Macbeth, Lady Macbeth has a name. It’s Roscille. While in the play she seems to be one of the ones pulling the strings, in this, her strings are being pulled. First, by her father, then by her husband, Lord Macbeth, who is cruel in this one. Here, it seems he has already started to go mad. She has a destiny thrust upon her until she finally takes the reins of her own destiny. She actually finds love as well amongst the chaos. When this book comes out in August, do yourself a favor and pick it up.

Thanks to NetGalley for the eARC!!!!

Thank you to Del Rey and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review. As a Shakespeare enthusiast, I was so excited to get approved for this book. I loved this author's A Study in Drowning and couldn't wait to get more of their writing. However, I think I might have gone in with too many expectations. This wasn't necessarily a bad book, but I think Reid was not sure of what to do with this book and with the characterization. Everything just felt clunky and off and I just could not enjoy this as much as I wanted to.

3.5 stars.