Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for this ARC copy. This dark, brooding twist on the story of Macbeth is captivating and well paced from the start. I loved the characterisation of Lady Macbeth and her moral ambiguity in a difficult time/situation. I definitely recommend this book if you enjoy an atmospheric gothic tale and it would be best read on a dark winter's night in front of a crackling log fire.

I was excited about this book. But sadly this just didn't work for me.
While the writing felt slow and dragging. My main issue was the story itself. This is marketed as a retelling but Lady Macbeth's character doesn't really fit Lady Macbeth. Which kept taking my enjoyment from the overall story.
Maybe this would have worked better if just inspired and not a retelling.

I found this one very odd. It is the second retelling of Lady Macbeth's story I have read recently and no doubt I will read Val McDermid's upcoming Queen Macbeth to round out the set. There will always be liberties taken in historical fiction, especially when that history has already been most famously (and famously inaccurately) told by Shakespeare, but I found it inexplicable that Reid would remove all of Lady Macbeth's known history and change her into a French woman married to the famous king. It's slightly more complicated than that but I won't give anything more away, needless to say, this change threw me off from the start. It is a retelling very much in Shakespeare's vein, in that in mixes the supernatural and historical and is written in that non-quite-YA-not-quite-adult way that seems prevalent at the moment. The content is adult but the writing has an adolescent cast, especially in the realm of interpersonal relationships, that means it will sit awkwardly with some readers. There is also a lot of derogatory language directed at the Scottish characters, definitely accurate for the time-period and the perspective of a Frenchwoman but jarring in the very modern writing style and the fact that the Scottish characters live up to their barbarous blood-and-spittle perception at every turn almost every turn. Except of course the love interest and the less said about that bizarre turn of events the better! After a while it becomes obvious that the story Reid wanted to tell has been shoehorned into the most basic shell of the Macbeth story, I'm perplexed as to why she didn't just tell the story she wanted to without having to pay lip service to Shakespeare or any historical or physical reality of Scotland.

As previous reviews already mentioned, I too was excited about this title and was greatly disappointed. I cannot say I was a fan of Ava Reid's writing previously, but Lady Macbeth is one of my favourite literary characters so I was absolutely intrigued about the premise promising a feminist-heavy novel dedicated entirely to her perspective, and in the Gothic genre no less. Unfortunately, any resemblance to the dubious, power-seeking, grey villainous character that Lady Macbeth is in the original work is sorely missing. Quite the opposite. Reid's portrayal of Lady Macbeth does her a great disservice. Alas.

Thank you to Randomhouse UK Cornerstone and Netgalley for providing me an ARC for this book.

Unfortunately this didn't work for me at all. I thought Lady Macbeth was this impressive, cunning, strong character but in this book she was portrayed by a simpering 17 year old who was merely led by men and comletely unable to come up with her own ideas/opinions. I think this book did more telling rather than showing and it just caused me to feel disconnected to the character due to the amount of discrepancy in the idea of Rosille and what was actually happening. I especially felt this, whenever she was described as extremely smart and clever and then proceeded to make the most idiotic decisions or say the most idiotic things.

Also not really sure why there is some dude that can turn into a dragon and also whats the whole magic system/witch circle thing about? I just felt like this was all over the place and absolutely not for me.

What an amazing book and I thought I couldn’t enjoy a book more than a study in drowning but wow! Lady Macbeth is just beyond words! Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a copy of this book.

DNF at 28%

I'm a huge Shakespeare nerd - I've seen almost every play he's written - and Macbeth is one of my favourites. The conniving, fabulous, iconic Lady Macbeth is one of my favourite characters ever written. You can imagine my excitement to hear that Ava Reid was coming out with a book about her, but Reid's Lady Macbeth bears little resemblance to the titular character.

Reid is a wonderful writer. I'm a sucker for gloomy, atmospheric books and she captures this perfectly. However, that's about the only good thing I can say about it. I think this book really suffers from its relation to Shakespeare's masterpiece. I cannot imagine how difficult it is to write a reimagining of one of the most famous characters in literature, and I think I can see what Reid was trying to do, however I really think she missed the mark. Roscille is all over the place - she's so incredibly flat and has no charisma or personality. She's meek and unintelligent - basically everything that Lady Macbeth is not. I cannot speak to a character arc or growth as I didn't finish the book, but from what I've seen she remains the same flat uninteresting character throughout the story. There is no universe in which I can believe she becomes the Lady Macbeth we all know (and in my case, love) and that's the biggest failure of this book. When you fail with the main character, everything else about the book fails too.

Lady Macbeth is a huge swing and miss from an otherwise solid writer. I'm curious to see what she does next, but this book is the biggest disappointment of the year so far for me.

It was…alright. It is supposed to be a retelling of Macbeth but the characters bear little resemblance to the play. And the protagonist is not nearly as wily or clever enough to give you that feeling Lady Macbeth has. As a historical fantasy it is interesting but nothing special, Not a patch on a study in drowning,

I've loved the original Macbeth by Shakespeare ever since I read it at school. This made me a little cautious going into this retelling.

What if a retelling from Lady Macbeth's perspective ruined my love of the story?

What if Lady Macbeth got pushed out from being my favourite character in the original story by this reimagined version of her character?

Turns out these concerns were completely unnecessary because:

Ava Reid was born to write this retelling!

Within this version of Macbeth's story, we get an atmospheric and claustrophobic feeling of women being trapped within the confines of men. We get a deeply descriptive prose that makes each feeling the character expresses pour out of the page onto the reader. We have a version of Lady Macbeth that conforms to all the wise and cunning personality from the original, but with a delicacy and fragility that completely humanises her, endearing her towards the reader.

I love Reid's version of Lady Macbeth: the voice she has been given, a personality more befitting to her name, a character arc that left me enthralled more and more as I turned each page. And an ending more true to what she deserved.

This is a Lady Macbeth story truly befitting of a queen.

DNF. I think this book is largely mis-marketed, because you might - like me - think that it's about Lady Macbeth. And to a degree it is, but to a further degree, it's really not. I found the language and how the writing was used to tell the story incredibly off-putting and difficult to follow. I knew I was sunk when I saw a glossary at the very beginning of the book. I don't want to be constantly referring back and forth to work out what you're trying to say as you tell this story. You can still achieve the same level of atmosphere without completely confusing the reader throughout. I've never read Ava Reid before and I have seen reviewers mention that this is very different to the style of her other books, so I might have a better shot there. Unfortunately, this one just wasn't for me.

📚 review 📚
lady macbeth - ava reid

this is one of the darkest, gorgeously written gothic stories i’ve read for a long time but it isn’t for everyone.
firstly this is a very different lady macbeth to the one we know and love. while shakespeare’s lady macbeth is the ultimate hbic this one is young, naive and definitely not subtle in her machinations. while i enjoy ava reid’s writing and this one is just as rich as her other books, there are a few things i didn’t enjoy - there seems to be a little bit of an anti scottish feeling which is odd when this is a retelling of one of the most famous scottish stories in the world.
my other criticism would be that this is marketed as being a feminist retelling - and though we do have elements of this a lot of the action is dependent on the men in the story, which does over shadow the feminism that we were promised.
overall though i thought it was a fairly enjoyable take on a shakespearean classic, full of iconic characters that we get to see in a new way.

thank you @netgalley for the early copy

Really disappointed with this one as my last Ava Reid was 5 stars!

I'll start off with the positives - the prose is good. I love Ava Reid's writing, and she creates a really gothic, gloomy atmosphere and sense of suspense. It was what kept me reading even though I wasn't enjoying much else about it!

I would say the choice to characterise Lady Macbeth in this way is a strange one. She's very meek and powerless for the majority of the book, and I was hoping she'd have a powerful character arc that brought her closer to the OG Lady Macbeth, but she felt almost exactly the same at the end of the book as she did at the beginning.
We're constantly told she's wily and clever but I saw no evidence for this - I couldn't tell you one time where she was scheming effectively and it influenced the plot. The plot and her character are both pulled along by men - and there's so many men. There's 2 other women in the whole book (besides the witches), but they appear very briefly. Are you saying the whole castle is run by men? Why is that? I can't think of a practical reason they wouldn't employ women as servants, the only reason I can think of is that it's serving to isolate Roscille more than she is already.
The fantasy elements felt wishy washy as well. There were so many times when I'd be reading like hello?? don't you have magical eyes??? whip your veil off!! Or when she got given a key to the basement with the witches and didn't even think to utilise them while she was left on her own to run the castle???
I think the another issue I had is that I still don't know Roscille's goals other than to escape(?) and even then I'm not sure. She doesn't seem to want anything throughout the book, and is only driven by what she does not want. It's a choice, but I think it makes for a very weak character, especially a Lady Macbeth.
Finally my biggest issue - what in the xenophobia?? I understand the temptation to create an atmospheric gothic environment by writing Scotland like that but the other characters made me really uncomfortable and offended. Lady Macbeth, aka Roscille is French and has Never Done Anything Wrong In Her Whole Life. EVERY Scottish man she interacts with is a violent brute, ready to rape and murder. The only semi-decent man she interacts with is half English. I know that the play itself is full of violent people and it's set in a very different time, but also this is a fantasy book. Are you telling me all your other characters only have 1 setting? It's not even just because it's through the lens and judgement of the French main character (although this is part of the reason), it's just that they're Like That. I really hated it, and would have loved to see some more variation.

This was a DNF for me at 32%. As this is my first time reading anything by Ava Reid, I was really excited to jump into the retelling. Unfortunately it fell quite short for me and did not live up to expectations I had for it. The storytelling was brilliant but I just couldn’t get my head around it and I think I spoilt myself by reading other reviews first to get a feel for the book.

I want to preface this by saying that this simply wasn't the book for me, which is the reason for the 3 stars (3.5 really). I neither loved, nor hated this book - it just isn't the type of story or storytelling for me.
A very interesting concept and unique storytelling. I love re-tellings with every fiber of my being, getting a different view or take on a much loved classic is always interesting, especially with the creative direction that this particular story took. Like i said before, it was just hard to get into, and didn't grab my attention fully.

As with all of Ava Reid's books, the storytelling was exceptionally lyrical, descriptive, atmospheric and compelling. As enjoyable as this can all be to read, i think that it was a little bit overdone this time, making everything a little more complicated and confusing to read,
Like i said before i think the concept was really intriguing, but i might have interpreted it wrong. I thought that there would have been a lot more magic/witchcraft in the more literal sense, but it just fell a little short.
Lady Macbeth/Roscilla as a character was also incredibly frustrating. She was simply not a likable character and i found myself frustrated every time she was making decisions and commenting on the 'scots' and women. A lot of the things she said just didn't sit right with me. The most frustrating part was she didn't really seem like she had a goal for her life other than getting out of the marriage she didn't want in the first place. I also mean that it seemed like she didn't really have any goals/aspirations or anything of the sort before she was shipped away to marry someone of her fathers choosing. Simply, in my opinion, she was just lacking substance that would have made her a better character.

Taking away the fact that i didn't like her as a character (its a me problem) this book is full of a child like yearning for a simpler life - one where she isnt hurt at the hands of men, and can instead go about her life the way she wants. It is ultimately about a terrified girl of only 17 years old taking back control of her life from the hands of men who would otherwise manipulate, violate, hurt and sell her off for their own gain. Quite the accurate reflection on the period of time that this book is set in.

This is a brutal haunting take on the classic, so i would read with cation. I would also try not to associate it too heavily with the original (of you've already read it) as there are a lot of differences and deviations that might otherwise leave you feeling confused and frustrated with this rather artistic retelling.

Thank you to Netgalley, the publisher and the author for giving me the chance to read this!

An interesting concept, but I found it hard to get into. The story just didn't grab me unfortunately.

2.5 Stars

Ava Reid is an auto-buy author for me. I have enjoyed all her books and have been excited to delve into this one.

Reid always manages to create a fantastic atmosphere in her books and this one is no exception. It is gothic, grey and I could feel how cold it was with her descriptions.

However I really did not connect Ava's Lady Macbeth with the Lady Macbeth I studied previously. Maybe that is a me problem, and maybe this is only meant to be a loose retelling of Lady Macbeth, but this meant I struggled to root for her in this novel at all. She has no agency and spends 50% hating the Scots and Scotland, and the other 50% making rude remarks about women? She is also described to be smart in the book but makes no smart decisions ever and is always caught or found out? This was just frustrating. I also didn't really ever understand what she wanted, what the best outcome she was seeking would be other than not having to consummate the marriage.

I also found chunks of this book to be incredibly boring and had to drag myself though it. Essentially there was a lot going on, but nothing really happened.

Thank you to NetGalley and the author for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Published 13 August 2024. Sadly this re-imagining of Lady Macbeth did not work for me. Having read Ava Reid before, I was anticipating this but I think that having spent 15 years discussing the Shakespeare play with students, of picking apart the character of Lady Macbeth, all of that spoilt the book for me. I went into this expecting to see facets of the Lady Macbeth I knew and I didn't find them. This Lady M, Roscilla, is 17 and sent by her French father to be Macbeth's bride. Touched by a witch's curse, the rumour is that if a man gazes into her eyes, he is doomed and so Roscilla is always veiled. The court/castle that she enters is full of men, brutal men. Her handmaid is immediately sent away. Who does all the work - who knows? but Roscilla seems to be the only woman in the castle. She is terrified of the marriage bed and spins a yarn to avoid it as long as possible. So our Lady M, rather than being the strong, manipulative woman of the play is a 17 year old virgin plunged into a castle full of dangerous men who see her as a threat, a danger. It is a violent time and she suffers violence, she loses power and at one point is blindfolded so she loses her sight as well. But ultimately, I suppose, this is a story about her taking back ownership of her life. If I could have read the book as that - of a woman overcoming dangers to take back control of her life - I would have enjoyed it more than I did, but I kept looking for the Shakespeare references and finding them either missing or changed. Several times, I shook my head in puzzlement when something happened in the plot in a totally different way to the way that the event had occurred in the play. Ava Reid is a super writer and I will pick her up again as I thoroughly enjoyed A Study in Drowning. But sorry, this was one that was not for me.

A beautiful, haunting story. As always I'm in awe of Ava Reid's ability to transport me into a different time and place with a few pages. I might be one of the few who went into this without any preconceptions, as I've never read Macbeth nor seen any adaptation. So while I cannot comment on how it compares to Shakespeare's Macbeth, I can say that I did enjoy this exploration of a Roscilla's fight to survive in the world of men, which is something every women can relate to even today. The story was well paced and I was captured by Roscilla's plight and the way she gradually reclaim her life.

Special thanks to Random House UK and Netgalley for providing me an advance copy of the ebook in exchange for an honest review.

4.5 STARS. A dark, gothic, haunting, beautiful tale. Ava Reid does not disappoint. A scathing look at women's roles in this era. GORGEOUS, GORGEOUS, GORGEOUS.

A promising premise, but didn’t deliver. For a story that is so rooted in Scottish history, the author makes some very odd choices, and doesn’t seem to actually like Scots very much. Read Macbeth instead.