Reviews with content warning for Abortion - Lady Macbeth

Reviews tagging 'Abortion'

Lady Macbeth by Ava Reid

36 reviews

agw622's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

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

4.5

This book is intense. I love how it does make Lady Macbeth much more sympathetic than the play makes her. However, she is bound to her fate, and it does get dark. Personally, I do not think it's as strong of a feminist reclaiming of her charecter as some suggest. While I think she is more her own person, she is very much limited in what she does. Also make sure to check trigger warnings

Content Warnings

ptitirodactyle's review against another edition

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dark mysterious reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

Wasn’t so sure about how I felt towards the story at first. The slow pacing made me question if I should DNF or not. I’ve loved everything I’ve ever read by Ava Reid in the past, so I needed to finish Lady Macbeth to be sure.

The story got more interesting along the way during the last 50%. it tooks some turns I hadn’t seen coming at all. I’m still not sure if I LIKED the story or liked it. I’m probably gonna have to sit on this one for a while in order to make up my mind.

It wasn’t bad at all, the author wields her pen majestically. Every sentence feels like a perfectly woven tapestry. It’s the final product I’m not so sure about.

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cristina_margarita's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Yet again, Ava has written a hauntingly beautiful character study. I always struggle with rating & reflecting upon Ava’s books because her characters are rarely likable & the theming is so deeply discomforting but the writing is stunning.

I do think this was my least favorite of her books story wise. I think it needs to be separated from the inspiration material to be appreciated & that’s hard when the source is so well known. I appreciated this book as a fan of Ava’s more than as a fan of the book itself.

As always, Ava’s books come with many trigger warnings & are most certainly not for everyone.

Content Warnings

sophiamophia's review against another edition

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dark tense fast-paced

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

4.75

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bookishmillennial's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

disclaimer: I don’t really give starred reviews. I hope my reviews provide enough information to let you know if a book is for you or not. Find me here: https://linktr.ee/bookishmillennial

I think this was Ava Reid's best written novel (see the quotations below - they are a master of their craft!......says the non-author, lmao who am I??? no one!), but still wasn't particularly my cup of tea. I'M SORRY! Please remember that I am but a peasant, and my review shouldn't impact your reading experience if you loved the book. Kthxbye.

I am not a Shakespeare or "classics" elitist by any means & I am not here to argue against departures from original texts. I deeply adore and eat up retellings and reimaginings; they are my catnip!!! However, this one felt lacking in the feminine rage and general badassery that I was expecting?

I'm quite confused about the dragon element lol. I may need to re-read but I felt taken aback by how out of place that entire thing felt. The romance itself was lackluster and left me wanting, which is sad.

Overall, the gothic atmospheric vibes were immaculate, but I guess I just expected more from this historical fantasy. I still love Ava Reid and will continue to read her future work; this one just wasn't my favorite.

Quotations that stood out to me:

“And there is nothing more dangerous than a creature who pretends to be one thing and is in truth another.”

“If she were a man, he would not ask her this. For men there is no debt of blood which goes unpaid. If the world tips in another's favor, it must be made to tip back again. But the world is never in a woman's favor. She cannot tip the scale. The only choice is: live the same mute, unjust life you have always lived, or tear apart the world itself.”

"You have been made to fit a shape that confines you. That does not serve you,”

“Madness, of all things, is the most unforgivable in a woman.”

“You may succeed in convincing others of this, others who luxuriate in the idea that women have no power except that which men grant them.”

“But it only takes a crack in the foundation of the world to bring careful architecture, strong with centuries, crumbling down. A small blade cuts the water and ripples outward like an echo. And then the world beneath shows itself, first as green shoots in the dirt. And then comes a woman, a witch, tearing her way through the green with her teeth.”

“This is power. With a single word, a single look, she had arranged the world to her liking.”

“Has she been transformed? Or merely revealed? All she knows is that she is not Roscille of Breizh, not Rosele, Rosalie, not even Roscilla. She is now only Lady Macbeth.”

“This is a man's first, last, and greatest fear: a world that exists empty of him.”

“Roscille will never stop marveling at the stupidness of men when the order of their world is disrupted.”

Content Warnings

m_a_j's review against another edition

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dark medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

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regent_ace's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional medium-paced

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

4.75

Content Warnings

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)

Content Warnings

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.

Content Warnings

devynreadsnovels's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark mysterious sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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