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clairew97's review
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-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
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying, Child death, Death, Misogyny, Sexual content, Homophobia, Murder, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Confinement, Sexual assault, Abandonment, Sexism, Ableism, Child abuse, Grief, Miscarriage, Alcohol, Blood, Body horror, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Rape, Religious bigotry, Suicide, Self harm, and Vomit
teresathistle's review
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.5
Hm. I finished this book in about a day and a half, and spent most of this time trying to get a grasp on the characters who seemed to evade any kind of closer inspection or introspection. The first person narrative prevents the reader from getting to know the other characters, as Gruoch herself, even though she's presented as this masterfully observant person, never properly describes characters. The one boon of this POV should be that we at least truly understand the narrator, but Gruoch's motivations - besides wanting to be a queen - are barely touched upon, and her emotions are just never shown.
This book was adapted from a screen play and it shows. Any and every kind of emotion felt by a character is told to the reader forthright. His brow knits in confusion, he sees joy and relief on her face, her sigh betrays her anger and so on and so forth endlessly! Let me FEEL the characters emotions, don't just tell me what they're seeing. It doesn't help that they have no contancy in their feelings either - MacBethad, arguably a fairly important character, makes no sense to me, particularly in the second half. He goes from seemingly hating Gruoch to secretely having loved her all his life. Okay but I don't believe that just because you say so.
Add to that a shocking lack of editing - brows being furrowed twice within ten lines, medieval nobles poking their heads around doors, again twice within three pages, a newborn baby being held at his mum's hips, again, twice within a few pages, someone goes from refusig to sit to continueing to sit without any indication of the change - and you get a book thag could be great but just isn't. I wanted to like it and there's snippets of what I wanted but it's buried underneath a slew of words that needed more work before publishing.
This book was adapted from a screen play and it shows. Any and every kind of emotion felt by a character is told to the reader forthright. His brow knits in confusion, he sees joy and relief on her face, her sigh betrays her anger and so on and so forth endlessly! Let me FEEL the characters emotions, don't just tell me what they're seeing. It doesn't help that they have no contancy in their feelings either - MacBethad, arguably a fairly important character, makes no sense to me, particularly in the second half. He goes from seemingly hating Gruoch to secretely having loved her all his life. Okay but I don't believe that just because you say so.
Add to that a shocking lack of editing - brows being furrowed twice within ten lines, medieval nobles poking their heads around doors, again twice within three pages, a newborn baby being held at his mum's hips, again, twice within a few pages, someone goes from refusig to sit to continueing to sit without any indication of the change - and you get a book thag could be great but just isn't. I wanted to like it and there's snippets of what I wanted but it's buried underneath a slew of words that needed more work before publishing.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Homophobia
Minor: Rape
anapthine's review against another edition
dark
emotional
inspiring
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
Thank you NetGalley and Raven Books for giving me an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
This book was brilliantly and cleverly written. The empathy you formed for Lady Macbethad did affect how you viewed Lady Macbeth in Shakespeare’s “Macbeth” - maybe there was a reason for why she acted the way she did. The plot was addictive, with a perfect medium pace and likeable characters. Additionally, the emotions portrayed felt so genuine and I wish I could’ve read more of the book. This is definitely one of my favourite reads so far this year.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Death of parent, Gore, Grief, Murder, Xenophobia, Sexual violence, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual assault, Pregnancy, Rape, Sexual harassment, and Death
Moderate: Self harm
introverted_reads's review
informative
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
3 stars
“… you have this air of tragedy about you. As though you’re carrying some deep secret that will ruin you or anyone else who is drawn into your sphere.”
When using a name like Lady MacBethad, you instantly set up a series of expectations from readers. I went into this book expecting a novel exploring the infamous Lady Macbeth of Shakespeare’s Macbeth, a tale of tragedy, regicide, and psychological complexity. However, Isabelle Schuler has attempted to harmonise Gruoch (Lady MacBethad), Shakespeare’s muse for Lady Macbeth, and Shakespeare’s Lady Macbeth, and in my opinion, this just hasn’t worked.
I love books that explore turbulent political periods of history, and Lady MacBethad does do that. Much of the narrative aligns with what is known of medieval Scottish politics and the real life of Gruoch ingen Boite, Queen of Alba. Yet throughout Schuler’s novel, allusions to Shakespeare’s text are rife, whether quotations or simply linguistic details too akin to the tragedy of Macbeth to be coincidental. The problem here, for me, is that these two figures are very different, and this resulted in a discord in her characterisation. Gruoch is portrayed as a highly maternal figure yet Lady Macbeth swears she would “dashed the brains [of her hypothetical child] out” rather than break her vow to Macbeth. It is extremely difficult to unify these two dichotomous ideas - how am I to believe this same figure who dotes upon her son, would be willing to violently extinguish his life to fulfil her role in Macbeth’s ascent to the throne? The discord in Gruoch’s characterisation makes it really difficult to understand what this book intends to be; is it historical fiction or is it a work inspired by a text of the literary canon?
“Your power resides in men; your husband, your sons. If you rule them, you rule the land. If you cannot rule them, you are useless and may as well die young.”
The opening chapters of Lady MacBethad establish this as a novel focused on political schemes, power, and expediency. There is a strong commentary on the rise of early Christianity, and it’s forceful expulsion of paganism and British folklore, and a cutting criticism on Christianity’s growth dependent on force rather than faith. Schuler also establishes a strong feminist tone, commenting on the role of women in medieval society, and the acquisition of power from a defiance of gender conventions. As the novel progresses, however, I feel this gets lost among a romance-fuelled subplot. The destructive, indiscriminate power of Lady Macbeth as a figure of radical gender nonconformity (“… unsex me here, And fill me from the crown to the toe top-full Of direst cruelty…”) gives way to a character more focused on her emotional relationships, and her role within the sphere of marriage.
“Destruction is loud, vengeful, buildings falling, stone crashing, but to ruin someone… Ruination works from the inside out, pulling someone completely apart, bit by bit, piece by piece.”
I think I went into Lady MacBethad with the wrong expectations, which probably factors into why I feel this book fell flat. Isabelle Schuler is undoubtedly a promising writer, and their artistry with words is unmistakable. However, I think that the main issue is this book was marketed wrong. It sets itself up to be a novel focused on political turmoil, female rage, power, and complex psychology, but these themes just aren’t explored. Perhaps that is down to the length of the book; just under 300 pages is no where near enough to explore what are essentially major concepts with satisfactory depth, whilst also weaving a fictitious plot. Had it been marketed differently, perhaps as fiction simply set in medieval Scotland, without the added complexity of a major work of English Literature, it might have been a more appealing book to me. But as it is, for someone who adores both Shakespeare’s tragic work, and the character of Lady Macbeth, I just felt that unfortunately it fell flat for me. It’s a strong premise undertaken by a talented writer, but Lady MacBethad just didn’t appeal to me.
Quotes taken from e-ARC provided through NetGalley and may change in final published work
Representation in Lady MacBethad
As a book set in medieval Scotland, representation of ethnic diversity and the queer community is not prevalent; it is a largely white heteronormative cast of characters as is deemed historically appropriate. Unfortunately I feel that the only explicitly gay character was poorly written and somewhat insensitive, relying on very stereotypical ideas on gay men. The one gay character was feminised and depicted as weak, and was emasculated because of his sexuality. I am aware that this is historically appropriate attitudes towards homosexuality, but it was still quite unfortunate that it was not just others perceptions of this character, but his entire characterisation.
Representation in Lady MacBethad
As a book set in medieval Scotland, representation of ethnic diversity and the queer community is not prevalent; it is a largely white heteronormative cast of characters as is deemed historically appropriate. Unfortunately I feel that the only explicitly gay character was poorly written and somewhat insensitive, relying on very stereotypical ideas on gay men. The one gay character was feminised and depicted as weak, and was emasculated because of his sexuality. I am aware that this is historically appropriate attitudes towards homosexuality, but it was still quite unfortunate that it was not just others perceptions of this character, but his entire characterisation.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Death of parent, Suicide, and Sexual content
Moderate: Homophobia, Rape, Fire/Fire injury, Pregnancy, and Mental illness
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