Hey guys! Welcome to my stop on the Lady Macbeth Blog Tour hosted by Xpresso Book Tours. Click here to follow along with the full tour schedule.
Title: Lady Macbeth
Series: Daughter of Ravens #1
Author: Melanie Karsak
Publication date: December 3rd 2014
Genres: Adult, Fantasy
Source: Copy for review
Purchase: Amazon
Something wicked this way comes. . .
Gruoch is born to rule, but long before she becomes Macbeth's queen, ancient forces claim her soul.
Marked from birth by the old gods, Gruoch is initiated into the ancient religion of her ancestors and begins learning the mysteries of the Goddess Cerridwen. But not everything is as it seems. Soon the Battle Goddess Morrigu imposes her will, and Gruoch finds herself at the mercy of the Wyrd Sisters.
With King Malcolm plotting, the Wyrd Sisters schooling her in arcane craft, and haunted by dreams of a raven-haired man she's never met, Gruoch feels her fate is not her own. That is, until she meets a druid named Banquo. Gruoch's heart is swept away when Banquo awakens something in her more powerful than duty magic, or destiny: love.
This retelling of Shakespeare's classic work leads readers through an unforgettable saga of one woman struggling to escape her fate without blood on her hands.
Begin the Lady Macbeth Saga with Lady Macbeth: Daughter of Ravens.
Out of all the characters in Shakespeare's Macbeth, Lady Macbeth has to be the most memorable and intriguing one, perhaps even more so than Macbeth himself. With her "Out, damned spot! out I say!" she's a formidable foe who eventually crumbles under the guilt that gnaws away at her, leading to a tragic end. Remembering my perception of her from long ago, I went into reading Lady Macbeth: Daughter of Ravens wondering if I'd end up changing my mind.
From the synopsis, Gruoch will become Lady Macbeth, yet I already feel for her. The way her uncle, who's also her adopted father, leers at her and violates her sense of safety is appalling. With him around there is no peace and certainly no happiness. Just from these encounters I knew I wasn't going to view her the same way.
Karsak paints a different and comprehensive picture of this character and how she came to be in a position of power. I love the idea of taking a famous figure from literature and reimagining an entirely different life for that figure. I also love how Karsak weaves some of the most famous lines into her story, the best one to me being, "What's fair is foul and foul is fair."
The pacing was slow for me, and I became restless at times while reading. I also had trouble piecing together everything that was happening even though I know reincarnation plays a huge part. With that being said, I'm way too intrigued by Karsak's rendition of Lady Macbeth and will continue reading the series. I have a feeling Karsak is just getting warmed up.
My Rating:
Melanie Karsak is the author of the Amazon best-selling steampunk series The Airship Racing Chronicles (Chasing the Star Garden and Chasing the Green Fairy) and the award-winning horror/dark fantasy Harvesting Series.
She grew up in rural northwestern Pennsylvania and earned a Master's degree in English from Gannon University. A steampunk connoisseur, white elephant collector, and zombie whisperer, the author currently lives in Florida with her husband and two children. She is an Instructor of English at Eastern Florida State College.
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I'm a huge fan of Lady Macbeth as well, Jennifer. (actually just a fan of Shakespeare in general) I was thrilled to see you review Lady Macbeth because I was very curious about it. And needless to say I'll be picking up this one. It sounds fascinating! Great review, girl!
ReplyDeleteI hope things are going well - and you're all ready for Christmas! *ha* I'm sooo not. It doesn't help that it's been sunny and in the 50s here...definitely not Christmas weather. Anywho, enjoy your weekend!
Me, too! I have a special anthology of Shakespeare my friend gave me several years ago, and I'll always keep it. Thanks, Brandee! :)
DeleteHow was your Christmas? When you wrote this comment, we weren't even close to being ready! It's so difficult for us to get Christmas shopping done since Jack and Janie's birthdays are super close together AND close to Christmas. Plus, I'm pretty sure they both have everything any kid could ever want thanks to my in-laws, lol.