Reviews with content warning for Gore - Lady Macbeth

This was a very interesting retelling of the Macbeths. I loved the barbaric imagery Ava Reid uses to describe Macbeth through lady Macbeth’s eyes. Also the choice to incorporate Fleance into the story really drove home the cycle of violence of men that Shakespeare also tried to convey

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hailslynn's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious tense slow-paced

Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Saying this as someone who absolutely loves Shakespeare, I think this is a fantastic retelling. Ava Reid perfectly blends the original trilogy play with her own fantastical elements to modernize the story and introduce a Macbeth to new readers and people who may not have as deep as a love for Shakespeare. I found a few choices to be quite odd, but I nonetheless enjoyed them and was extremely happy to see more fantasy elements incorporated into a story that already screamed a fantasy.

However, I did find the character of Lady Macbeth very flat, and this is often an issue I have with retellings. I don't expect authors to completely reimagine a character back to life, but I find that authors have difficulty keeping the characters as interesting as the original source material which is the issue I have here. Lady Macbeth is still extremely clever and a wonderful villainess in Reid portrayal, and I love the backstory she gave her. However, she lacks urgency for a majority of the book and almost seems content with her situation instead of trying to progress the story. Yes, much of the "action" happens off page, but it's difficult to root for a character when most of the time you spend with them is them laying in wait.

Definitely not my favorite of Ava Reid's work (that spot is reserved for A Study in Drowning my dark academia love), but it has secured the spot as my favorite modern Shaekespeare retelling (cough*Olivie Blake*cough)

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peppermintlegs's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

Lady Macbeth retells and revamps the story of…I mean, guess. Lady Macbeth, or Roscille of Breizh, is married off to Macbeth, Thane of Glammis, in medieval Scotland at seventeen years of age. She’s known in her home court for her ethereal, supernatural beauty: her silver hair, unbelievably pale skin, and eyes so capable of ensorcelling that she wears a veil to protect the men around her. She’s called witch-touched, and the men around her fear her for it. Moving to Scotland is a dramatic change: Roscille’s handmaiden is removed from her and presumably killed, the castle is high on a cliff’s edge over a cold sea in constant turmoil, and the landscape and court are equally cold and barren. Macbeth of Glammis is an imposing figure, both in notoriety and physical stature, treating Roscille gently at first, but as his power and ambition grow, feeding off each other, he becomes more violent towards her and his fellow Scotsmen.

As the focus of the Macbeth tale has changed, so have the major themes. The original explores ambition and manipulation: Shakespeare’s Lady Macbeth is known in literature for her maturity and uncontested wielding of her power over her husband, and her eventual madness. Reid’s Roscille embodies the ermine of the French court, a naïf thrown alone into a culture and role only familiar for the violence enacted upon the women in the space. And this is the theme of this telling: the eternal and inevitable violence and abuse men do to women, and the ways in which women bear these mistreatments. The witches of the play become Les Lavandières, or the washerwomen, who Macbeth keeps at his disposal for his prophecies. Duncane’s sons become more prominent players, and Macduff is relegated to a handful of paragraphs offscreen.

Reid’s Lady Macbeth is atmospheric and tense, drawn with cold, harsh lines and ragged texture. Roscille is torn between her naïveté and the role thrust upon her as wife and queen, and she finds herself similarly torn between love for another man and service to her husband and country. Attempts at petty grabs for agency are rebuked and punished, and only once she is disposed of entirely does she grasp the power she’s been able to wield the whole time. I enjoyed the atmosphere of the novel and the incorporation of additional supernatural elements that would have been present in the folk tales of the period—the setting is used to its fullest extent. The twists on Les Lavandières and Banqhuo and Fléance’s roles were used to expand upon Macbeth’s character, as for the first half of the novel he spends so much time offscreen. The confluence of cultures—French, Breizh, English, Norse, and Scottish—fleshed out the sprawling politics behind and beyond this Scottish clan.

The nature of adaptation and retelling, however, is that it inherently draws comparison to the source material. Trading the Lady Macbeth for this child in a hostile environment is a bold move, as is the highlighting of more minor or entirely off-page characters, such as Duncane’s sons and the Banqhuo line. I love a clever, manipulative royal, but Roscille was constantly thwarted and punished for the only power she had, which does fall in line with the theme of men’s violence towards women. I do believe I would have found the novel more enjoyable as its own work, divorced from the cultural weight of Shakespeare’s Lady Macbeth—I found myself continually questioning why Reid chose that character to tell this story. Truly, I think Roscille could have been an Ophelia or a Desdemona and would have borne equal similarity to her source. I’d recommend Reid’s Lady Macbeth for those seeking an atmospheric tragedy, political medieval fantasy, or those who want to explore Lady Macbeth’s growth from a porcelain naïf to the Lady Macbeth of Shakespeare’s first act.

Thank you Random House Publishing Group for providing this book for review consideration via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

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crownedaimee's review against another edition

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Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No

2.0

I just wanted to start of saying that I never read Macbeth or seen a stage production so I was going into this book partly blind. Nonetheless, I was looking forward to reading this but I was struggling to get through it. It had so much potential but kinda just felt a little flat. I often found myself skimming this just to get through it which is such a shame. I couldn't even really tell you anything that happened because my mind as just blanked this book out.

Don't get me wrong the actual writing itself is beautifully written but everything else I just couldn't connect with. The pacing was off and it didn't feel like much was happening in order to keep me entertained or wanting for me to continuing reading. I forgot that was considered a fantasy because there wasn't much fantasy elements within in the book, save from the witches towards the end of the book which was it's saving grace for me. Lady Macbeth has magical powers yet barely uses them? Seriously?

The characters were completely one dimensional and lacked any character growth whatsoever. Lady Macbeth is described to be clever, ruthless, ambitious and manipulative but yet we got none of this, she was just a highly unlikeable character. The only characters that were mildly interesting was the witches and they were barely in it. The romance was so out of place as well, I just didn't care for it at all. And on top of all of this, this version of Lady Macbeth is xenophobic where Scottish people are constantly viewed as violet brutes. Was the really necessary? No it wasn't. I don't get why any of it was added in the part.

Thank you to Netgalley for an ARC in exchange for a honest review.

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lovefromhannah's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense medium-paced

4.0

many thoughts. rtc.

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juliannareads's review against another edition

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5.0

Ava Reid has done it again! Lady Macbeth is the Shakespearean reimaging I did not know I needed.

This is a study of the character of the infamous Lady Macbeth. A villainess of the highest order in Shakespeare’s tragedy. But what if she was a powerless 17-year-old woman named Roscille, growing up in a patriarchal society, making her way toward survival with her wits and her wiles? Roscille is afraid and she’s also ruthless, she’s vulnerable and impenetrable â€“ she’s the perfect morally grey heroine. The feminine rage in this book is palpable.

This book is gritty and violent, and Reid immerses us so thoroughly in the world of Medieval Scotland that I can almost hear the ocean crashing on the shore. I feel the bite of the collar around my neck and the cold on my skin, almost as if I’m Roscille, Lady Macbeth herself.

This is a short book, just under 300 pages. Reid sets a slow pace, but with a feeling of foreboding, building slowly to the point of crisis and an incredible conclusion to the story. I sobbed at the point where everything comes together and Roscille makes a momentous decision. It was so powerful and moving.

There are fantasy elements of this book â€“ think witches and dragons â€“ but it reads like a historical or literary fiction, and I think this book will appeal to more than just fantasy fans. I definitely recommend picking this book up when it comes out in August. Huge thanks to @delrey for the free ARC.

#ladymacbeth #avareid #bookrecommendation #mustread #fivestarreads

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kabrahams's review against another edition

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4.25

(I received a free eARC from NetGalley for review purposes.)

Ava Reid is one of my favorite authors, so this was one of my most anticipated releases of 2024. That being said, I think this is my least favorite of their books, although that could change with time as I think about it more or if I decide to reread it. Definitely not a bad book though, I just have complicated feelings about it that I will try to articulate.

From the very beginning, Ava Reid's prose had me in a chokehold. There is something about her prose, both lyrical and concise, that captivates me and I truly think they are one of the best writers currently publishing novels. While sometimes the metaphors in this book got a bit overused (particularly with the ermine), I loved the writing style and was constantly underlining things in my eARC. That said, I struggled to read this for long periods of time because this book deals with some very heavy topics.

When Roscille is forced by her father to marry MacBeth, she is both terrified of getting trapped in the cycle of breeding and birthing that is the burden of married ladies and determined to do whatever it takes to escape that fate. She has found that her gaze can entrance me and she uses this to bend them to her will. Roscille is a fascinating heroine because she is both tragic and terrifying. Some readers will probably find her incredibly unlikable in her ruthlessness, and yet, I could not help but root for her in the end. Ava Reid has really turned this classic tale on its head and I cannot wait to devour whatever they write next!

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