All year, I have been excited for this novel. As someone who studied Macbeth for several years in school and who thoroughly enjoys Shakespeare, this book was right up my alley. But, ultimately, it disappointed me.

Don’t get me wrong, Ava Reid writes incredibly. Their descriptions of place and character are almost unmatched. With every novel of hers that I read, she constructs an intricate world with interesting characters. If this novel was its own story, and was not an adaptation, it would have been fantastic. However, as a Macbeth retelling that supposedly gives Lady Macbeth “a voice, a past and a power that transforms the story men have written for her”, it did not deliver.

It all began in the first chapter when Roscille narrates FOUR TIMES that her eyes are capable of driving men to madness. Okay, I get it!!!!! It’s also never explained how and why she has this “power”, she just does.

Furthermore, while the romance subplot was written really well in this novel, it felt unnecessary and out of place.

Throughout the first three quarters of the novel, Roscille relentlessly puts herself down and cements herself as beneath the men around her. With quotes like, “I am nothing but the dagger in my husband’s hand”, I wasn’t seeing her get the voice and power she was promised.

I was also upset by Banquho’s (why the spelling was changed, I am not sure???) portrayal in this story. In the play, he is brave, honorable, and if I remember correctly, kind. In this novel, he is an awful monster. Similarly, Macbeth’s character was deeply villainised in this retelling. No longer was he an emasculated man corrupted by power and under the control of his powerful, convincing wife, but rather he was a brutish barbarian who resorted to rape and domestic violence to get what he wanted.

I did really enjoy the way that Ava incorporated the witches into this story. It was unique and interesting, and really made sense for the progression of the novel.

While having a dragon in the novel felt strange, I enjoyed the commentary it allowed for on how true monstrosity can come in human form, rather than in the form of supernatural creatures.

In the final fifteen pages of the story, and I’m serious about it being the last fifteen pages, Roscille finally gains access to her dangerous magic, finds her voice, and vanquishes her husband. But why did it take 270 pages for her to find the voice that I assumed she would have throughout the text?

And also, the xenophobia???????

This was my third Ava Reid novel and is, so far, my least favourite. This book has incredible writing, but the story did fall short for me.