I received an advanced copy of this book from the publisher through netgalley in exchange for an honest review. This book is well written. The characters are described well. I enjoyed the family relationships of the main character. This is a fast paced fantasy book. It is a enjoyable read. I enjoyed the main character and her sister. I would recommend reading this book to anyone and everyone. This book will be in stores on May 10, 2022 for $26.99 (USD).

This book was throughly enchanting, in every sense of the word.

Glittering stars and starlettes, heart wrenching relationships, and the type of glamour only old Hollywood can provide.
The family dynamics were particularly done well, I thought, as well as the stories and histories of POC immigrants at the time which she delved into with such a deft but powerful touch.

I think Vo has captured such a unique feeling in this book. At once familiar but brand new. So much of it seems as though it could be real, and yet the magic she weaves into the story let’s us know it’s decidedly not.
Her writing style had much charm, though I found myself getting lost at points in the prose. Once you get through a few chapters, though, you can really sink into Vo’s style and enjoy it for what it is.

One of those books that you can describe in a single word: stunning.

I was lured into this novel like a child following a candy trail into the dark woods. Vo imagines a glamorous and monstrous version of 1930s Hollywood, where the aspiring actors make Faustian bargains with smiling devils and casting directors ravage the sky with the WIld Hunt while girls with cow tails and boys with magic fizzing in their blood claw and scrape for the privilege of adding a star to the sky. This novel is luminous and ethereal but also firmly grounded in real-world issues of racism and homophobia in creative industries. Our protagonist, her name stolen and rebranded as Luli Wei, comes from a family of Chinese immigrants and must simultaneously face down racist Hollywood typecasting, predatory directors, and actual beasts lurking in the dark edges of the studio to preserve her identity in a place that wants to suck away her life and replace her with a pretty, palatable lie. As much as this is a dark fairy tale, it is also a love letter to the early Hollywood stars of color who fought down insurmountable odds to become beacons of hope and resilience, and the unfair pressure they faced to represent not only themselves but their communities to the world.

Something I adored about Vo's The Chosen and the Beautiful was her ability to make the supernatural seem commonplace. Of course Luli's father talks to the ghostly dolls her mother has replaced her and her sister with, and of course she can bargain away years of her life in exchange for a chance at glory. Often these details are allegorical, but just as often they are built so deep into the foundation of Siren Queen's reality that I struggled to remember that sorcery isn't the natural way of the cinematic world.

What, this story asks, makes a monster? And, in the end, what is so bad about being monstrous if it is synonymous with cherishing the things about yourself that are built on love and truth? I am reminded of a line from the TV show Black Sails: "Everyone is a monster to someone." In learning to embrace the aspects of her culture, sexuality, and personality that 1930s society deems "monstrous", our protagonist is able to exist and create art that defies convention and plants a kernel of hope in an environment of injustice.

This is my first Nghi Vo novel and honestly, I am hooked! Everything about Siren Queen was truly magical. The character development throughout the novel is fantastic. A reader could want of nothing more. They will be lured in from beginning to end.

Filled with folklore, magic, and passion all mixed in with the underbelly of old Hollywood, this novel is a true gem. I was completely enchanted and am looking forward to reading more from this author.

The reader will embark on such a journey while reading this book and I can’t wait for you all to experience.

All my gratitude goes to NetGalley and Macmillan-Tor/Forge for this wonderful advanced e-reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

Review is posted to GoodReads and will be mentioned on Instagram forthcoming @ivy.haunts

Siren Queen is simply stunning (without beig simple at all). It is absolutely bursting with magic, tons of imaginative fantasy elements coming together, but every bit of speculative fiction is powerfully tied to cruel and beautiful reality. You feel the constricting horror of abuse and pressure in the film industry, and you absolutely feel the liberation and power of queer love amidst it. There are honestly so many themes that are explored, including culture and belonging, immortality and legacy, identity and individuality, that I could talk about it for hours; I will certainly look forward to revisiting it and understanding it better.

This is one of the strongest and most anticipated books of the year! Did I like it? Absolutely, I adored it!

The sarcastic, critical approach to 30’s golden age of Hollywood where the monsters control the entire business by dark rituals, blood magic hooked me up from the first page, intrigued the screenwriter of me( I’m so sure the author also describes today’s Hollywood and entire moguls of this bloody entertainment industry! )

Interestingly you don’t only read a creative, unique, well written fantasy novel approaches so many crucial and important subjects including inequalities at work space, mansplaining, racism, LGBTQ rights bravely, it also reflects today’s biggest issues the hard workers of the industry deal with!

The metaphors, symbolism match perfectly with folklore, magic, fantasy elements of the entire story!

The idea of young actress’ choice to play monsters instead of playing maid is also another stunning metaphor for the hard workers and women of the industry who are pushed too hard to achieve their accomplishments by losing themselves into something else!

This is absolutely smart, well developed, riveting, addictive! I highly recommend this original reading to all the book lovers by giving my five shiny, ruthless, competitive, monstrous Hollywood stars!

Special thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan- Tor/ Forge for sharing this amazing digital reviewer copy with me in exchange my honest opinions.

How is everything Nghi Vo writes so incredible? If her novellas weren't enough to prove it to anyone who thought she relied too much on the existing structure of The Great Gatsby in her debut novel, here is gorgeous and compelling evidence that she can bring the same lyricism and power to a wholly original fantasy tale. I can't wait for this one to be out so I can discuss and recommend it to everyone!

Nghi Vo is an absolute powerhouse in fantasy. I read her previous book, The Chosen and the Beautiful, and I loved it. This book is very similar since it take place in old Hollywood where mythical creatures are everywhere. Luli Wei wants to be an actress. She starts by playing characters as a child in movies that are filmed near her home. Soon she becomes a part of a studio, but she has a lot to contend with. She meets a variety of magic creatures in her journey to become an actress.
Vo does a fantastic job sprinkling in magic elements into a historical book. I read this whole book in one sitting because I couldn't put it down. The writing is fantastic and Luli is an amazing character.

There’s just the right amount of magic here to suffuse the world. It’s creeping around the edges and I loved the combination of the early days of film with this atmospheric magic. It’s weird and unsettling and perfect. The characters are dark and complicated and queer and ruthless, and I was enthralled by Luli. It’s Evelyn Hugo but with a dark magical edge, and I can’t wait to recommend it.

"For a nickel see Romeo and Juliet if you're ordinary-but you girls aren't, are you? said the ticket seller at the Comique. Up until that very moment, I would have given absolutely anything to be ordinary...to have curly blond or brown hair...I started to wonder. If I couldn't be ordinary, maybe I could be something better instead...I ran back to the Comique...when my mother gave me a nickel for lunch, I would go hungry, feeding myself on dreams in black and silver...then...miraculously and magnificently in color."

Los Angeles. The family laundry on Hungarian Hill. "...pushing a blazing-hot iron...over an endless line of white shirts...". Walking two miles to the Chinese school. One day, a film crew set up nearby. The ten year old, eventually to be named Luli Wei, was captivated. When the child actor for an upcoming scene was not sent over by the studio, Luli would do! "I heard the sharp, dry clack of the clapboard...Action!" "When my parents looked at me, they saw another mouth to feed, another pair of hands around the laundry. When people on the street saw me, they saw a foreigner...the studio assistant called me CK, the Chinese Kid."

The pre-code Hollywood of the 1930's was a challenging time for potential actors and actresses. An agent would "make sure you don't belong to the studio...not until he can get a good fee for bringing you in...if he's not dragging you up, he's dragging you down." Meeting with a resident of Haverton's Home for Former Artistes, a plan was hatched. Luli would meet Oberlin Wolfe of Wolfe Studios on her own terms. "Hopeful girls came to see Oberlin every day...some...rose as stars, and far more stumbled back...".

"Siren Queen" by Nghi Vo paints a dark tale of the underbelly of movie making in the 1930's. The studio was in control of every aspect of an actor's life. Dare to question, one was likely to be dismissed! Luli Wei, tried to buck a system that objectified women during an era of movie industry singlemindedness. Actors needed to beware, to walk the straight and narrow when in view of movie executives. Happiness could only be created in the shadows, on one's own time. The well fleshed out protagonists, many deeply flawed, were truly believable making for a beautifully written novel this reader highly recommends.

Thank you Macmillan-Tor Forge and Net Galley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

MY ABSOLUTE BOOK OF THE YEAR EVEN THOUGH IT’S NOT SUPPOSED TO BE OUT UNTILL 2022 BUT I DON’T CARE! I have already been throwing this title about in every piece of social media that I have. The latest thing going around every platform discussing books is a Twelve Books Recommended by Twelve Friends, and this is my pick for every single person. It’s a stunningly gorgeous magical realist Golden Age Hollywood/ Fairyland. With all of the glitz, glamour, magic, and despair of movie making, plus the strange creatures, sacrifices and deals, the danger, and the cold iron of fairy tales. Inspired by real life movie star Anna May Wong, Luli Wei is a young Chinese girl who, from the first moment that she discovers the magic of cinema, is willing to manipulate, fight, and sacrifice to become part of it. Yet her strength and power, and willingness to fight put her at odds with the machinery of the Hollywood system. She won’t marry a man who promises to make her a star, she won’t let herself become a victim. As she puts it herself “No maids, no funny talking, no fainting flowers”. She will instead be the monster. She will also be true to herself and love who she loves. Even though her queerness could see her exiled and lost. A truly extraordinary book, in which every little moment, and every single eddy in the narrative is filled with so much. I loved Nghi Vo’s The Singing Hill’s series, but with Siren Queen I feel as if she has truly grown into her own power. Bright and sharp and breathlessly beautiful. I devoured it in a single afternoon. 6/5.

'Siren Queen' is a dark fantasy take on the golden age of Hollywood with bits of science fiction and folklore thrown in. The story centres around Luli Wei, a young Chinese American growing up in pre-code Hollywood in the 1930s who dreams of being a star. Studios and directors are revealed to be monsters hiding in plain sight whose dark rituals involving blood magic secure starlets and pictures for their malevolent movie making industry.

This book was a page turner- I could not put it down. The motivations and malevolence of the characters were beguiling and suspenseful. The monstrous and otherworldly aspects of the story were used as allegories for the dark underbelly of golden age Hollywood, where nearly every aspect of the actors’ lives were in the hands of the studio executives. I have never read a dark fantasy book about Hollywood, so I applaud the author for her unique story. Topics and issues such as autonomy, LGBTQ, women’s rights, and racism were examined throughout the story. My only criticism is that the third part of the story wasn’t as interesting as the first two acts, it slowed down and was less thrilling.

The price of fame is steep in Nghi Vo’s 'Siren Queen' and questions about what being an immortal star in Hollywood is arcanely explored.

Thank you to the publisher for providing me with a free ARC in exchange for an honest review.