Ava Reid

From #1 New York Times bestselling author Ava Reid comes a reimagining of Lady Macbeth, Shakespeare’s most famous villainess, giving her a voice, a past, and a power that transforms the story men have written for her. The Lady knows the stories: how her eyes induce madness in men. The Lady knows she will be wed to the Scottish brute, who does not leave his warrior ways behind when he comes to the marriage bed. The Lady knows his hostile, suspicious court will be a game of survival, requiring all of her wiles and hidden witchcraft to survive. But the Lady does not know her husband has occult secrets of his own. She does not know that prophecy girds him like armor. She does not know that her magic is greater and more dangerous, and that it will threaten the order of the world. She does not know this yet. But she will.

A Novel

Lady Macbeth

Clara Gauthier

So easily, she could slip back into the water, hold her head underneath until she became a part of the clearing, too, her bones lilting to the floor, silver fish darting through the empty cathedral of her rib cage. 

Isabelle

No worldly agony is greater than what our imaginations can conjure. There was no need for this girl to scream. Everyone who looked on could imagine her pain. The pain is the protest. 

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

Her father taught her this: violence is like a coin. If you spend it easily, people will hink you imprudent and reckless. If you save it and spend it only in the most vital moments, people will think you're canny as an ermine. 

For this, Roscille thinks her father the cleverest man in the world. 

Levi-Mae 

‘You are whatever creature I make you.’ 

Emily McMeans

“This is the greatest of men's aspirations, to — whether through love or through violence — draw screams from women's mouths.”

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

This book was such a disappointment and has cemented for me that Ava Reid is not for me. I love Macbeth and retelling, but this honestly felt like it was turning the original play into something dark and ugly, like we never should have thought it was a great play to begin with or something… What’s really disappointing is this is an interesting concept - Macbeth from Lady Macbeth’s POV. But from the start this book was seeped in INTENSE xenophobia and misogyny. Reid reduced the powerful interesting Lady Macbeth into a fearful, bumbling girl, who gets everyone into this situation simply because she’s afraid to have sec with her husband - with ZERO indications that he would be anything other than decent to her, just her own racism. She’s not smart or cunning at all in this book and the magical elements introduced could be cool but aren’t used well. Then she falls in love with a cursed man?! I could go on and on but honestly I’m just incredibly disappointed and now you know why it took me months to read 300 pages. 

Katie Allard

i really enjoyed it but it should NOT be considered a shakespeare/macbeth adaption lol. i enjoyed the prose, the fantastical elements, and the references to marie de france’s lais, but literally none of these characters were true to their shakespearean counterparts. which is fine! because i enjoyed the book still, but honestly i could have given it 5 stars if it was written with literally just different names

ash (smokedshelves)

After reading Ava Reid's 'A Study in Drowning' I was looking forward to reading another original story to get swept into, but I was quite disappointed. 

I was aware that this book was a retelling of Shakespeare's Macbeth, and thus was not really expecting a lot of originality, but while reading the story it felt as if the author was being held back from going all the way in her own ideas. 

There are definitely original points added to the story that could have made this an amazing book, but in my opinion they weren't properly/entirely worked out. 

Definitely not a badly written book, but not really my taste. Should Ava Reid come out with another book I look forward to reading it. 

After reading Ava Reid's 'A Study in Drowning' I was looking forward to reading another original story to get swept into, but I was quite disappointed. 

I was aware that this book was a retelling of Shakespeare's Macbeth, and thus was not really expecting a lot of originality, but while reading the story it felt as if the author was being held back from going all the way in her own ideas. 

There are definitely original points added to the story that could have made this an amazing book, but in my opinion they weren't properly/entirely worked out. 

Definitely not a badly written book, but not really my taste. Should Ava Reid come out with another book I look forward to reading it. 

i couldn't say i enjoyed this without lying through my teeth.

i thought some certain aspects of this were very well done—ava reid's writing style is distinct and the atmosphere of it was very gloomy and worked well, but the characters and the plot just didn't do it for me whatsoever. on its own, i believe the story could have been fairly interesting, but as a retelling of macbeth is just made no sense whatsoever. roscille was just simply not lady macbeth.

the tale was interesting and her plights were frustrating and i did feel sympathetic to her, but she was not lady macbeth. and not to mention, the altering of the plot of the original macbeth just soured the whole experience for me. i went into this book expecting motivation, analysis, and expansion on lady macbeth as a villainess (as she is in the original play) but ended up disappointed. again, would have genuinely been a good story if it was unattached to macbeth. this just didn't work for me.

i couldn't say i enjoyed this without lying through my teeth.

i thought some certain aspects of this were very well done—ava reid's writing style is distinct and the atmosphere of it was very gloomy and worked well, but the characters and the plot just didn't do it for me whatsoever. on its own, i believe the story could have been fairly interesting, but as a retelling of macbeth is just made no sense whatsoever. roscille was just simply not lady macbeth.

the tale was interesting and her plights were frustrating and i did feel sympathetic to her, but she was not lady macbeth. and not to mention, the altering of the plot of the original macbeth just soured the whole experience for me. i went into this book expecting motivation, analysis, and expansion on lady macbeth as a villainess (as she is in the original play) but ended up disappointed. again, would have genuinely been a good story if it was unattached to macbeth. this just didn't work for me.




4 stars seems too little, but then again, 4.5 seems like too much. 4.25 stars? 

Lady Macbeth is a reimagining of this infamous titular character. I personally love when retellings tell their own story instead of relying too much on the source material; if I wanted the original, I'd stick with the original! So I loved the twisting and turning path this book took me on. And I loved how unique and different it was, yet still inspired by and paying homage to the original source material from the Shakespeare play. 

The first half of this book was my favorite and what I felt was its strongest point. We meet Roscille, a bastard daughter of a French duke, who is on her way to her new homeland to meet her soon-to-be husband. I reveled in the historical details and appreciated the historical fiction. I felt very grounded in the time and setting. 

Then, the whole book becomes mostly fantasy, or at least historical fantasy, with dragons and more. The witches are one thing--more "real life" than a dragon--so I was thrown off guard. But just for a bit. I readjusted my standards to enjoy this piece of historical fantasy. 

Roscille is a strong and cunning character, even if her scheming mostly goes awry. I found this endeared me to her more. I loved reading how her mind worked. In the past, I've been a big fan of first person POVs, but lately I've realized that when done right and well, I can enjoy third person POVs maybe even more. Here is a case in point. 

The writing and descriptions were beautiful and chilling. But yet at other times, some of the writing seemed weak. I was a little taken aback by the uses of "a beat." What is this, a screenplay? I've never read that in a book before and didn't think it was entirely necessary, at least to use more than just a couple of times. 

This book is a worthy retelling that tows the line between historical fiction and fantasy. I enjoyed the characters; each had an incredible depth, and the author spun some truly tantalizing threads. It was very layered. This is a novel to savor, to think about for days after you finish reading. 

Despite the tone shift about halfway through, I thought it was well done. It probably should have been a true fantasy throughout; in my experience, historical fiction can be allowed some magical realism without taking away from its historic elements. This wasn't really the case. 

It's also more atmospheric and character driven than plot heavy. Maybe a little slow at times, I still enjoyed it. Also, I have to give props to the cover and overall book design. This is one of the most beautiful books in my collection, or that I've ever seen. The cover design looks exactly like how I picture Roscille; it's truly stunning.

Amanda

4 stars seems too little, but then again, 4.5 seems like too much. 4.25 stars? 

Lady Macbeth is a reimagining of this infamous titular character. I personally love when retellings tell their own story instead of relying too much on the source material; if I wanted the original, I'd stick with the original! So I loved the twisting and turning path this book took me on. And I loved how unique and different it was, yet still inspired by and paying homage to the original source material from the Shakespeare play. 

The first half of this book was my favorite and what I felt was its strongest point. We meet Roscille, a bastard daughter of a French duke, who is on her way to her new homeland to meet her soon-to-be husband. I reveled in the historical details and appreciated the historical fiction. I felt very grounded in the time and setting. 

Then, the whole book becomes mostly fantasy, or at least historical fantasy, with dragons and more. The witches are one thing--more "real life" than a dragon--so I was thrown off guard. But just for a bit. I readjusted my standards to enjoy this piece of historical fantasy. 

Roscille is a strong and cunning character, even if her scheming mostly goes awry. I found this endeared me to her more. I loved reading how her mind worked. In the past, I've been a big fan of first person POVs, but lately I've realized that when done right and well, I can enjoy third person POVs maybe even more. Here is a case in point. 

The writing and descriptions were beautiful and chilling. But yet at other times, some of the writing seemed weak. I was a little taken aback by the uses of "a beat." What is this, a screenplay? I've never read that in a book before and didn't think it was entirely necessary, at least to use more than just a couple of times. 

This book is a worthy retelling that tows the line between historical fiction and fantasy. I enjoyed the characters; each had an incredible depth, and the author spun some truly tantalizing threads. It was very layered. This is a novel to savor, to think about for days after you finish reading. 

Despite the tone shift about halfway through, I thought it was well done. It probably should have been a true fantasy throughout; in my experience, historical fiction can be allowed some magical realism without taking away from its historic elements. This wasn't really the case. 

It's also more atmospheric and character driven than plot heavy. Maybe a little slow at times, I still enjoyed it. Also, I have to give props to the cover and overall book design. This is one of the most beautiful books in my collection, or that I've ever seen. The cover design looks exactly like how I picture Roscille; it's truly stunning.

This is not a retelling of Macbeth. As a standalone story, this is excellent, but it completely changes the plot. 

Jenny Ramsay

Absolutely incredible!! I was so right to be pre-obsessed with this book.

Caroline Boone

I can see many criticisms of Ava Reids books however I do like her writing style, there is something about the way she writes that just, tickles my brain right. So unpopular opinon i do not like Macbeth however I thought this sounded interesting. loved how this book gave Lady Macbeth a name, a voice and a story, but I had to force myself to read it and wasnt till like 100 pages in when i really got into it, I’m gonna try Macbeth again but i do not think Macbeth is for me.

The ending felt abrupt and slightly confusing. I love her writing and the characters however the story, world and romance fell flat for me.

Chloé

I can see many criticisms of Ava Reids books however I do like her writing style, there is something about the way she writes that just, tickles my brain right. So unpopular opinon i do not like Macbeth however I thought this sounded interesting. loved how this book gave Lady Macbeth a name, a voice and a story, but I had to force myself to read it and wasnt till like 100 pages in when i really got into it, I’m gonna try Macbeth again but i do not think Macbeth is for me.

The ending felt abrupt and slightly confusing. I love her writing and the characters however the story, world and romance fell flat for me.

very atmospheric and dark, and i enjoyed the writing.. but i do wish roscille had more agency. and i did not enjoy the 'romance' arc

claire

Prefacing this by saying that A) I have a deep personal and emotional investment in Shakespeare, adaptations (specifically of the young adult variety) and adaptation theory, and Lady Macbeth (all of which I wrote my undergraduate honors thesis on) and B) I was very excited to read this book until about 2 days ago. That being said: I do not recommend reading this if you are in alignment with anything I said in point A.

This book takes everything that Shakespeare does well with Lady Macbeth and somehow takes it all away from her until about the last 15 pages. Our “fiend-like queen” is nowhere to be seen in the book aside from being associated with being a witch, and even then, she comes nowhere close to the infamous manipulative and power/blood-hungry queen we know and love. Roscille, our Lady Macbeth character, is a seventeen-year-old girl who is apparently the only beautiful woman in the world according to the descriptions of the few other female characters Reid introduces. She also is very small and lithe, as compared to Macbeth, who is described several times as being huge, monstrous, and colossal. I get that the point there was to make the power dynamic between Macbeth and Roscille physically noticeable, but it didn’t really do much for me.

Lady Macbeth is a character that has been reimagined in so many media pieces, and with each one (at least those which aren’t trying to adhere closely to the source material, as the case is with A24’s The Tragedy of Macbeth (2021) and the 2015 film), what seems to be the goal is to give her some more agency and power in her life. From the synopsis, I gathered that this would be the case with this book: “But the Lady does not know her husband has occult secrets of his own. She does not know that prophecy girds him like armor. She does not know that her magic is greater and more dangerous, and that it will threaten the order of the world.” Nowhere in the book do I feel that Roscille rises to this. She is weak and fragile in comparison to her source material and to literally every other character. She stands up for herself maybe twice excluding the final scene, and even then, she is not unwavering in the way that I expected her to be. In fact, every good Lady Macbeth moment that I was hoping to see make an appearance in this book was either given to Macbeth (a slight that had me rolling my eyes and aggravated), or simply not there. Gone is Lady Macbeth, who mocks her husband for his weakness and his fears. Roscille is not nearly at the level of ruthlessness as the Lady Macbeth who says “My hands are of your color, but I shame / To wear a heart so white.” She does not encourage and feed the ambition of her husband. Instead, she sits idly by while he does everything. This is not a Lady Macbeth who is taking charge of her life and her power, it is one who is further suffocated than her death in Shakespeare’s play leaves her.

The treatment of the witches in this book literally made me put it down and take a deep breath. The witches are characters that are so intriguing and highly underused in the source material and I love to see them played with in adaptations with their appearances and in how they interact with the narrative. Reid’s Macbeth keeps them chained in his basement. Considering how Roscille is treated for being cursed by a witch or seen as a witch, this doesn’t shock me, but the premise of this being Macbeth keeping them there to seek counsel from (one of the witches he even has a personal connection to) is so absurd to me. It seems that Ava Reid’s female characters when not her FMC tend to fall into this trap of sorts, where they are similarly imprisoned by (as with Angharad in ASID) or killed (as in this book) and the only one that can save them or empathize with them are the FMC. I hate to say this, but it feels like lazy writing to continue to rehash the same things across different narratives.

This is my second Ava Reid book, the first being A Study in Drowning, and it’s easy to see the further similarities between the two. In both, she features weird racial-prejudice plot lines (in this book, Roscille describes the Scots as brutish and violent, especially in reference to Macbeth where in ASID, it was with the Argantians) and doesn’t really do the work of getting into why her main characters feel this way and it’s never actually resolved. The only character that Roscille seems to be okay with that is Scottish (and isn’t even fully Scottish) is Lisander, who also happens to be the Only Good Man of the book (he still really isn’t a good man but that’s just my opinion). This was done as well in ASID where Preston was the Only Good Man to Effy. It’s clear to me that Reid likes to play around with the power dynamics between men and women and the ways that manifests in different fantasy and historical settings, however returning to these same tropes/character archetypes/character beliefs etc. gets old and repetitive, and honestly has turned me off of trying her other books. 

This book should not have been tied to Macbeth at all, in my opinion. Invoking Shakespeare, whether it be him as a person, his name, or any of his works, carries weight in literary circles, even if you do not intend it to. Clearly it was intended here, but I view it as a major mistake and disservice to the narrative that has been crafted. If Reid wanted to write a historical fantasy, there were so many better ways to do so than embarking on a character assassination quest of Lady Macbeth. This book could have stood on its own, without any of the Macbeth ties, and at points, it even felt like it could have been something completely different if not for the names and specific setting used (also: what was the deal with the dragon?????). Reid’s prose is pretty and at times a little cliché, but it just does not allow for the book to redeem itself from everything I’ve mentioned above.

TL;DR: If you’re looking for a Macbeth adaptation that allows Lady Macbeth to claim the power and agency that she deserves, this is not the book for you. (I saw someone recommend Queen Hereafter as a better alternative. I will absolutely be checking that one out.) If you’re not familiar with Macbeth and/or don’t have a connection to the source material, maybe you’ll enjoy this.

Prefacing this by saying that A) I have a deep personal and emotional investment in Shakespeare, adaptations (specifically of the young adult variety) and adaptation theory, and Lady Macbeth (all of which I wrote my undergraduate honors thesis on) and B) I was very excited to read this book until about 2 days ago. That being said: I do not recommend reading this if you are in alignment with anything I said in point A.

This book takes everything that Shakespeare does well with Lady Macbeth and somehow takes it all away from her until about the last 15 pages. Our “fiend-like queen” is nowhere to be seen in the book aside from being associated with being a witch, and even then, she comes nowhere close to the infamous manipulative and power/blood-hungry queen we know and love. Roscille, our Lady Macbeth character, is a seventeen-year-old girl who is apparently the only beautiful woman in the world according to the descriptions of the few other female characters Reid introduces. She also is very small and lithe, as compared to Macbeth, who is described several times as being huge, monstrous, and colossal. I get that the point there was to make the power dynamic between Macbeth and Roscille physically noticeable, but it didn’t really do much for me.

Lady Macbeth is a character that has been reimagined in so many media pieces, and with each one (at least those which aren’t trying to adhere closely to the source material, as the case is with A24’s The Tragedy of Macbeth (2021) and the 2015 film), what seems to be the goal is to give her some more agency and power in her life. From the synopsis, I gathered that this would be the case with this book: “But the Lady does not know her husband has occult secrets of his own. She does not know that prophecy girds him like armor. She does not know that her magic is greater and more dangerous, and that it will threaten the order of the world.” Nowhere in the book do I feel that Roscille rises to this. She is weak and fragile in comparison to her source material and to literally every other character. She stands up for herself maybe twice excluding the final scene, and even then, she is not unwavering in the way that I expected her to be. In fact, every good Lady Macbeth moment that I was hoping to see make an appearance in this book was either given to Macbeth (a slight that had me rolling my eyes and aggravated), or simply not there. Gone is Lady Macbeth, who mocks her husband for his weakness and his fears. Roscille is not nearly at the level of ruthlessness as the Lady Macbeth who says “My hands are of your color, but I shame / To wear a heart so white.” She does not encourage and feed the ambition of her husband. Instead, she sits idly by while he does everything. This is not a Lady Macbeth who is taking charge of her life and her power, it is one who is further suffocated than her death in Shakespeare’s play leaves her.

The treatment of the witches in this book literally made me put it down and take a deep breath. The witches are characters that are so intriguing and highly underused in the source material and I love to see them played with in adaptations with their appearances and in how they interact with the narrative. Reid’s Macbeth keeps them chained in his basement. Considering how Roscille is treated for being cursed by a witch or seen as a witch, this doesn’t shock me, but the premise of this being Macbeth keeping them there to seek counsel from (one of the witches he even has a personal connection to) is so absurd to me. It seems that Ava Reid’s female characters when not her FMC tend to fall into this trap of sorts, where they are similarly imprisoned by (as with Angharad in ASID) or killed (as in this book) and the only one that can save them or empathize with them are the FMC. I hate to say this, but it feels like lazy writing to continue to rehash the same things across different narratives.

This is my second Ava Reid book, the first being A Study in Drowning, and it’s easy to see the further similarities between the two. In both, she features weird racial-prejudice plot lines (in this book, Roscille describes the Scots as brutish and violent, especially in reference to Macbeth where in ASID, it was with the Argantians) and doesn’t really do the work of getting into why her main characters feel this way and it’s never actually resolved. The only character that Roscille seems to be okay with that is Scottish (and isn’t even fully Scottish) is Lisander, who also happens to be the Only Good Man of the book (he still really isn’t a good man but that’s just my opinion). This was done as well in ASID where Preston was the Only Good Man to Effy. It’s clear to me that Reid likes to play around with the power dynamics between men and women and the ways that manifests in different fantasy and historical settings, however returning to these same tropes/character archetypes/character beliefs etc. gets old and repetitive, and honestly has turned me off of trying her other books. 

This book should not have been tied to Macbeth at all, in my opinion. Invoking Shakespeare, whether it be him as a person, his name, or any of his works, carries weight in literary circles, even if you do not intend it to. Clearly it was intended here, but I view it as a major mistake and disservice to the narrative that has been crafted. If Reid wanted to write a historical fantasy, there were so many better ways to do so than embarking on a character assassination quest of Lady Macbeth. This book could have stood on its own, without any of the Macbeth ties, and at points, it even felt like it could have been something completely different if not for the names and specific setting used (also: what was the deal with the dragon?????). Reid’s prose is pretty and at times a little cliché, but it just does not allow for the book to redeem itself from everything I’ve mentioned above.

TL;DR: If you’re looking for a Macbeth adaptation that allows Lady Macbeth to claim the power and agency that she deserves, this is not the book for you. (I saw someone recommend Queen Hereafter as a better alternative. I will absolutely be checking that one out.) If you’re not familiar with Macbeth and/or don’t have a connection to the source material, maybe you’ll enjoy this.

Lady Macbeth A Novel

Reviews

Highlights