carrotstheredpanda 's review for:

Lady Macbeth by Ava Reid

1.0

slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: N/A

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

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Truly, what the fuck. It’s not that I was expecting it to be 100% faithfully to the play, but for a book marketed as a feminist retelling it bizarrely reduces Lady Macbeth’s iconic character to a pathetic teenager. The author really hates Scottish people, as every time they are mentioned it’s only in relation to how violent they are. Lady Macbeth is inexplicably the only woman in the castle, except for the witches in the basement, for 90% of the novel. It may have been better standing on its own without the association to Macbeth, but I’m not convinced. And, oh yeah, Lady Macbeth has to constantly wear a veil otherwise her eyes will kill any men she looks at. She only used this twice (to get the guards to kill Duncan and themselves and to kill Macbeth at the end). She has had a traumatic past with the father and Macbeth. Why the hell do we have to give women a reason to act badly rather than them just being evil? (Although this doesn’t truly convey my feelings on the original Lady Macbeth). If this wasn’t enough, the love interest is a dragon by night. I’m sorry, what? Why? As I was reading it, I was quite proud of myself for realising it was a reference to the Laos of Marie de France (confirmed in the authors note) but what I don’t understand is why the fuck she felt the need to combine these two things. The writings itself is just ok, and suffers from a lot of repetition. I did genuinely enjoy the first fifth but then it just became a hot mess. I also enjoyed her other book, the Wolf and the Woodsman, so I was extremely disappointed to find out that this book is truly awful.