Quick story time: Lady Macbeth was high up on my most anticipated books of 2024. I went onto NetGalley and requested, as a fairly green user of NetGalley and with a stagnant, abandoned Bookstagram account. When I received approval for this ARC you would have thought I won the lottery. 😂 All this to say, I have been chomping at the bit to read and review this book and even better I can confidently say it exceeded my expectations. 

I absolutely loved this book and consumed it with a ferocity akin to the characters within the book. As the title indicates, this story is a retelling of one of Shakespeare’s darker stories, Macbeth but from the perspective of Lady Macbeth herself. I loved the authenticity Ava Reid brought to the time period and her ability to provide us with an incredibly complex and richly developed Lady Macbeth. Ava Reid’s prose is beautiful and her ability to create these spooky, ethereal and gothic worlds is top notch. 

Lady Macbeth takes the reader on a very wild ride. At one point I told my friend that this book was giving me major Game of Thrones red wedding vibes and honestly that vibe never dissipated; it slowly grew and blossomed into a masterpiece in fury and revenge. Lady Macbeth is beautiful and savage, calculated and ruthless, intelligent and empathetic. I could go on and on forever. 

If you love a good retelling, fantastical or classic, with a beautiful mix of horror please check this out when it hits shelves on August 13th. 

Thank you Randomhouse and Netgalley for the opportunity to review this book; all opinions are my own.