Book Review | Lady Macbeth

I’ll preface the review by saying that I absolutely adored and devoured The Wolf and the Woodsman and A Study in Drowning, so as soon as I heard that Ava Reid was doing a Macbeth retelling, I was foaming at the bits. This was one of my most highly anticipated reads of the year, which makes me so disappointed to say that it did not deliver.

For me, Lady Macbeth fails utterly as a Macbeth retelling and was unrecognizable to me if it weren’t for the characters’ names.

The original Lady Macbeth is a ruthless woman who spurs her reluctant husband to war. This is the same iconic character who said, “fill me from the crown to the toe, top full/ Of direst cruelty.” Instead this Lady Macbeth is a timid French girl who blushes and swoons and whose internal monologue constantly consists of her complaining about the barbarism of Scottish customs.

This change was baffling to me. How are readers supposed to care about a civil war when its participants are portrayed as brutish and sub-human? There's no emotional gravity regarding the death of kinsmen because it’s told from the point of view from a foreigner who disdains them (aside from Duncan’s eldest son). This sucks so much of the emotional conflict and heart from the story.

As for Macbeth himself, he’s turned into an abusive husband who has zero qualms about killing his family and fellow countrymen. Where is the guilt? Where is the moral grappling with the weight of his decisions? He also has no compelling motivations for becoming king aside from witches telling him so.

Now, I did like the concept of granting Lady Macbeth supernatural powers. She can induce madness in men with her stare and use compulsion use compulsion to order people (similar to a Bene Gesserit). However, I wish this had actually been utilized more and it still wasn’t enough to redeem the rest of the book.

Thank you, NetGalley and Del Rey, for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

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