4.5/5 stars

The cover to this book drew me in like no other. I'd heard great things about Nghi Vo's work but hadn't had a chance to read any of it yet. When I saw the cover to Siren Queen I felt compelled to shoot it to the top of my TBR.

So happy that I did.

This book is beautifully written. It addresses all the things that are as relevant to today as they were in the 30's - during Hollywood's supposed "golden age". It takes the men of power and turns them into the literal monsters we know them to be. Vo some how manages to address LGBTQ rights, racisms, work inequality between genders, etc all while creating a strange and alluring narrative.

I look forward to reading more of Vo's work after this. Highly recommend!

Thank you Netgalley and Tor for the ARC!

“You’ll be the heroine, of course. And i’ll be the monster. And it’ll be a hit.” This is a story about forbidden romance, the darkness in Hollywood, and what it takes to make it when you don’t fit the mold. This is a dark story of being an actress in Hollywood, it’s a story we’ve seen and heard before, and yet its one we can’t stop looking at. The story follows Luli Wei, a beautiful and talented girl who is desperate to become a famous actress. Coming of age in pre-code Hollywood she knows the dangers that await her, the limited roles she will be given because of her ethnicity, and the things people will want her to give them. But Luli is no fainting damsel, no wilting peony, no, she is a monster and she will bear her teeth to get what she wants. She doesn’t want to be another girl restricted to the roles a Chinese Girl from Hungarian Hill would get, she wants to be more, she wants to leave a lasting impression, she wants to be a monster, not a maid. But with so many monsters lurking in the studios, her path onto the screen will not be easy. They want to dictate her name, her body, her face, who she can love, and in a system built on bargains, blood, magic, and endless sacrifice she will witness those around her pay the price as well. This was an enthralling story, it definitely was Evelyn Hugo meets magical realism and it just captured me. Luli was an interesting protagonist and I felt for her, for her determination, her strength, her love and courage. This is a story about a girl who wants to play the monster and it definitely was a beautiful read.

*Thanks Netgalley and Macmillan-Tor/Forge, Tordotcom for sending me an arc in exchange for an honest review*

What happens if you take the setting of Evelyn Hugo and add some magical realism? This book, precisely. It has a very unique feel to it and the magic makes the dark and grim sides of old Hollywood feel even more dark. We follow Luli Wei, an aspiring actress, on her way to fame and fortune as she deals with life locked under contract.
I loved this book so much! While reading I sometimes forgot I was reading about fictive characters and had to constantly stop myself from googling names or movie titles, that’s how real this book felt to me. The magical aspect is worked into the story so carefully, it hardly felt surreal to me. Lulu is a very complex character, and although I see why some may have a hard time with her I came to really appreciate her character and how unpredictable she was. The prose is so beautiful as well.
Overall very enjoyable read. Review will be up in the week of publication.

SIREN QUEEN is a dark work. It starts very familiar, an old tale we’ve heard many tales before—a young actress wants to make it in the world of Hollywood. I almost forgot I was reading a genre work and figured this would simply be a literary feminist work about a Chinese-American woman trying to make a name for herself in a world that’s notoriously not that great towards Chinese people or women.

The fantastical elements enter the story slowly, and remain there until the end, but they never take the forefront or become a major part of the story. It’s simply there. You get no explanation, no context, it doesn’t even really feel like it has any kind of logic (or perhaps some fairytale-logic). I found myself intrigued by some of the magical laws that were clearly a part of this world yet were never illuminated on. It made for a mysterious read.

It's a delightful reimagining of old time Hollywood. Almost reads like the memoir of a gender-swapped Christopher Lee starting his career at Hammer films, with a bigger focus on anti-racism, anti-misogynism, queer representation and the like.

I wish people wrote more fantasy-infused stories of Hollywood. It’s a rather unique setting, a kind of urban fantasy that worked well for me, even though I’m not big on the genre.

“...but today, I was something they had never seen before. A monster, a miracle. A star.”
-Siren Queen by Nghi Vo

Calling all lovers of The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo and urban fantasy.

This book feels like you are living in a dream. That’s the only way to describe the magic. It’s spontaneous and sometimes there is no reason for it. It pops up and changes the meaning of the entire situation.

Luli Wei is determined to become a star, and while working through the social dilemmas of her time (racism, sexism, etc.) she is not trying to be liked by everyone. Luli has a strong personality, and she is proud. Being on the big screens means much more than having belittling and humiliating roles to her. She stands up for herself, she is curious, and she is ambitious. By working her way to the top on her own terms, Luli discovers how many monsters are real and how far people are willing to go to achieve their Hollywood dreams.

I loved a lot of things about this book, especially how it was written. Siren Queen is written so lyrically that you feel the need to stop and appreciate every single word on the page. No word is wasted, they all add so much to the setting, plot, and characters. This book also covers over ten years of Luli Wei’s life. Not a single moment is dull as Luli makes and loses friends, and works her hardest her entire acting career.

The only irk I had with this book was the magic. While I loved the feeling it gave the setting, I couldn’t help but feel like sometimes the magic didn’t make sense. It would just pop up with no explanation and then disappear.

“‘You want too many things, Miss Ambitious,’ she said. ‘You want the fame, and you want to be safe. You can’t have both. You never can.’”
-Siren Queen by Nghi Vo

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Siren Queen is a dark historical fantasy that gives us

- 1930's Hollywood setting
- Chinese-American MC
- dark fairytale-esque bargains
- lesbian MC

Now this book was truly stunning. Quite a quick read, it will definitely leave you wanting more. Now this was on my radar since I heard it described as The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo but fantasy. This description is definitely apt and I couldn't put the book down.

Siren Queen is about a Chinese-American girl - later to be named Lulu Wei - in the 1930's who one day stumbles onto a movie set. Feeling like becoming a movie star is her calling, she will do about anything to reach her goal - and deals with devils to get it.

There was so much about this book that I loved - first and foremost the setting. Nghi Vo introduced us to this world in a very clever way, seemlessly weaving together the known thirties Hollywood and the strange and dangerous Faerieland. Luli strikes bargains with casting directors and Fae of the Wild Hunt alike while she climbs the social ladder in the film studios. The way the fantastical elements were given to us as simply existing without being explained was also interesting and made the setting both more tangible and fantastical. Girls with cowtails, monsters wearing human flesh and immortal ticket-sellers roam this story and I found myself utterly enraptured.

Luli herself was a fascinating character to read about. She wasn't exactly likeable and came off as cold and distant most of the time, but underneath, she really was a good person. As a Chinese-American lesbian in the thirties she experiences all sorts of discrimination and themes of racism, sexism were well-explored without making the book overly tragic. The fact that casting directors did not know what to do with her without resorting to gross, stereotypical typecasting (“No maids, no funny talking, no fainting flowers") was a facet that I'm sure actors still experience today. Despite that, Luli never once backed down, being cast as a monster over and over and embracing it, was really inspirational.

I found myself also adoring some of the side characters like Greta and Harry, while loathing others like Emmeline and Jacko. My only complaint is that I would have liked some side characters to be there longer and for Luli to have deeper connections. That leads my to my main "complaint" about the book - I wanted more of it. While this book spans about 10-15 years of Luli's life, I could have easily read about 50.

With that being said, I thoroughly enjoyed this book and will be picking up Vo's other works. I recommend this to fans of Evelyn Hugo.

– Thanks to NetGalley and Tordotcom for the ARC –

I absolutely love love LOVED this book. 🤩 It’s the story of Luli Wei, a queer Chinese American woman who gains fame and power in 1930s Hollywood paving her own way within the studio system, where studio heads are actual real life monsters. The story slowly reveals magical elements and queer characters that just EXIST in this world. It is so refreshing to read. Vo’s writing is gorgeous and I thought the storytelling was very creative and poignant.

I read a lot of Fantasy and thought the lack of magical world exposition was really clever. Maybe because I am so familiar with Old Hollywood stories, both good and not good, it was easy to figure out how the magical elements worked as metaphor. Studio heads are monsters. Contracted players are changelings. Actors sell their souls for beauty and immortality. The Studio is literally called Wolfe Studios. I also loved the women characters and friendships so much – Greta "DGAF" Carlson being the best – I think that camaraderie is my favorite part. How all the women were shrugging at the patriarchy throughout the book, maybe as their way of accepting or dismissing the way things were. But in the end each one gained and held their own power in different ways.

The Friday Fires are these cliquey "holding court" status symbols – the use of Fire and flames as metaphor was so interesting. I thought she really captured the dark moody feeling of them. Since I live in LA I know all about the Santa Ana winds (they create a dry, sultry heat wave feeling) and how they can cause fires, and I loved how Harry uses it to gain his freedom (so good!) All the LA things she incorporates to create the environment, not just the Hollywood studio system, but the nature of the desert really hit home.

I highly recommend this book if you like Old Hollywood, The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue or any historical fiction with magical elements set in a real world.

I’ve quickly become a fan of Nghi Vo’s writing and was extremely keen to read Siren Queen, which is a creepy, strange telling of glamour and stardom in Hollywood during the golden era. Framed in acts, with bracketed notes where our nameless narrator speaks with her wife Jane, in the future, this tells her story of wanting to be a star so badly, and the bargains she makes to become one.

Hollywood and the studio system is portrayed as a magical, evil place, run by monsters and created by bargains with devils. It is cold and cruel, and still, our narrator wants to be a star. She becomes known as Luli Wei, taking the name of her sister without permission, she sells the last twenty years of her life, and she is deeply unlikeable, but her desperation to make it and her cold method of doing so are compelling.

The only tenderness Luli allows herself are her two love stories which form a chunk of her rise to stardom; first, with Emmaline Sauvignon, a beautiful blonde fellow star, and then Tara Lubowski, an aspiring scriptwriter. This is a ruthless, dark story, but magnetic as hell - mirroring the reality of stardom in our world.

I wasn’t as keen on this as I have been with previous Vo books, but it is truly unique and unsettling.

I'm not usually one for fantasy, but this dark historical reimagining of a golden age screen queen coming into her own was truly beautiful.
The writing is so evocative and I loved the unlikable female protagonist Luli and her take-no-shit attitude.
Think Stardust by Neil Gaiman mixed with The Night Circus.

Gave me Karen Russell vibes, but this was an own voices novel.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publishing house for a chance to read an ARC of this book! I am breathless after finishing Siren Queen. Nghi Vo has created a masterpiece of exquisite prose, awe-inspiring world building, and unforgettable characters. This will go down as one of my favorite reads of all time.

Gods I love Nghi Vo's books, and they just keep getting better. This one keeps the same vibe as the Chosen & the Beautiful but lays the magic and raw ambition on much thicker. I absolutely could not look away from the Siren Queen as she clawed her way to stardom on the silver screen, finding her limits and her people along the way.

The whole idea of the movie industry as a place steeped in magic, where stars literally rise into the sky and a kind of immortality can be wrested by those who want it enough, where the cameras steal a piece of you even as they capture you on film, is brilliant. More than that, it's written in a way that makes it believable and real and true in a way that Hollywood and show business often isn't.

There is a hunger to these characters that echoes and leaves you empty. Pain that leaves you with a phantom ache. The way the queer characters have to hide but still find each other, the way the studios can scrape you raw and remake you and sacrifice you if you displease them is desperate and true.

The writing is gorgeous and to die for. I read it in over a little more than 24 hours and fell absolutely, madly in love with it. It is absolutely going in my top 10, probably top 5 books of the year.

*Thanks to NetGalley, MacMillan-Tor/Forge, and Bookishfirst for providing an arc for review.

Siren Queen tells the story of a Hollywood star known as Luli Wei. Starting with her childhood as an Asian American girl living near movie studios she is captivated by Hollywood and starts working in bit parts in films. She becomes obsessed with becoming a star in Hollywood and sells years of her life to achieve this goal. This book is mesmerizing.

The world-making is fantastic and the magical elements are so beautifully intertwined with "real" Hollywood that I found them even more horrifying. This world is so close to our own to be completely recognizable with real monsters in the positions of studio executives creating stars through coercion, abuse, and deals that are made in blood and magic.

Luli shapes her Hollywood career by refusing roles that reinforce racist stereotypes. She chooses to be the monster over the maid and charts her own course. Luli is a lesbian and finds romance throughout her story. She connects with other members of the LGBTQ community that work in Hollywood. The book does an excellent job exploring the complexities of otherness. Through Luli we meet other stars and wannabe stars changing their name, their physical appearance, or hiding their sexuality, all in the quest to achieve the immorality of a Hollywood idol. These characters are written with complexity and not token representations.

The book races a bit to the end but there were some satisfying moments of closure for Luli's story. An amazing read.

Thank you to MacMillan-Tor/Forge and NetGalley for this ARC.

I received a copy of this book from NetGalley and the Publishers in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Siren Queen tells the story of how Luli Wei became a movie star on her own terms in pre-Code Hollywood.

I absolutely loved this book. It was a perfect blend of historical fiction and magical realism for me. The publicity blub makes the book seem more horror fantasy, but those elements are side elements of Luli's coming of age/character study main plot.
I loved her characterization and how she made her decisions. She's definitely a flawed character, a little overambitious and prideful. Everything is done because she wants to, not because the studio demands it. That mentality leads to a lot of the conflict within the book as she butts up against the studio heads and various star markers on her journey to the top. There's also a strong LGBTQ subplot/element to this story that was treated wonderfully and added to the character study.

The fantasy elements also felt real and not overbearing. Its just enough to make you feel like Luli may have made a Faustian deal for stardom and add to the overall feeling of 1930s Hollywood glamour. I'd say if you have any knowledge of that period and the studio system, you'll enjoy this book even more because you'll be able to latch on to the little details.

I cannot recommend this book enough and will be looking forward to investigating Nghi Vo's other books in the future.

This take on 1930s Hollywood was very unique, the industry itself being full of monsters and a lot more bizarre phenomenon. It acted morel like symbolisms or metaphors to what goes on behind the scenes and in the lives of Hollywood stars, especially when it comes with their superiors. Many events may be strange as it interweaves folklore with Vo’s own fantasy elements. The story and the characters were engrossing. None of the characters were inherently good, all of them had the capability of a monster. Luli Wei, a Chinese-American with big ambitions, was a great protagonist. I admired her grit, and her character development didn’t feel forced or rushed. The side characters also had their own nuances and distinct personality, they were all believable. The book had this dark vibe that never wavered all throughout; there was always that feeling at the back of my mind that something bad was going to happen.

As it is with Nghi Vo, the writing was atmospheric as always, but I had trouble keeping track of what was happening at first until I got a grasp of the world and the magic, which also took me awhile. The title started making sense late into the story, and I enjoyed the second half more than the first. For a book that's not very long, it could drag at times.

Nevertheless, I enjoyed this dark tale that also managed to surprise me in good ways.

As ever, Nghi Vo’s prose is absolutely captivating without ever being too saccharine or self-important. The prose in Vo’s works is what hooks me every time, and carries me so fluidly through their narratives.

I noticed that the way magical elements and Fairyland in the Siren Queen were conveyed were similar to The Chosen and the Beautiful. The magic is at once integral and vague, portrayed as entirely too vast and complex to be totally known. It has a folklore quality that’s captivating, and a refreshing alternative to many fantasy novels that explain magic in almost scientific detail.

The world building of The Siren Queen is absolutely lush, transposing the dark and bloody Fairyland onto 1930s Hollywood. The overlaps of these evocative settings only feed each other rather than clash.

Vo’s character work in The Siren Queen is also stronger than ever. The vibrant setting is a labyrinth for our protagonist to meander, the plot following a winding, almost real-life-like structure against the magical backdrop that doesn’t have high octane action but has high stakes nonetheless. Vo has given us a character that is complex, compelling, and at times surprising in Luli Wei. While I felt like The Chosen and the Beautiful needed more time to tie up loose threads, I felt that we saw Luli’s growth, survival, and ascension in a flourishing and satisfying arc.

Vo took an interesting approach to perspective that added an extra layer to the quality of storytelling in The Siren Queen. The narrative was evidently told from the perspective of Luli from the future, where it was rather assumed that she found some success at one point or another, which is interesting for a reader to know at the beginning of a success narrative - but I suppose it’s more about the journey. But the interjections of Luli’s past self in the narrative were more curious than disruptive. I appreciated the reminder of their presence, and their presence as a whole, in the narrative. It gave the folkloric narrative a grounding, memoir-like quality.

All in all, it’s not surprise I wholeheartedly recommend another Nghi Vo book!

Thank you to NetGalley and Tor for providing an e-arc of The Siren Queen by Nghi Vo in exchange for an honest review.

I will read every single word Nghi Vo puts to page, so this review is probably quite biased, but you've even warned.

In a world where actors and actresses literally sign parts of themselves away for fame and fortune in the Golden Age of Hollywood, Luli challenges the system that's been in place for generations.

A+ concept. A+ prose.' What can I say? Another stellar book from Vo.

4/5 Stars - or, a great read. -- REVIEW STC on GR; I'm going back through a second time.

Nghi Vo is a new author to me this year and this dark, at times sinister, historical novel has captivated every part of me. I love the concept of the story being told by a Hollywood starlet too.

I’ve never read a book like this one before I was instantly drawn to the cover and the promise of an old Hollywood tale. Luli was strong in substance. Having the story told from a queer Chinese woman allowed the story to explore so many avenues. I would definitely recommend this one to anyone who loves old hollywood and, like me, has not read many fantasy novels. Sometimes I had no idea what was going on but I didn’t even care, the description of the world that the characters exist in overtakes anything else.

4 stars

Nghi Vo creates another captivating world that readers are guided through by a character whose interior life is even more riveting than her desire to rise to stardom.

Luli Wei, the layered m.c. of this memorable novel, grows up with the immediate knowledge that she'll sell off literal chunks of herself to get what she wants, and that motif only escalates as she evolves from a scrappy kid in Hungarian Hill to an aspiring starlet in old Hollywood. But this isn't the Hollywood readers know, at least not literally, because instead of being populated by folks whose behavior is monstrous, these gems are literal monsters. The bargaining, world building, and including of at times shocking details all collide as not only Luli but really every character in the work gets at least a hint of their darkness revealed.

Though I enjoyed most aspects of this novel quite a bit, the discussions of and reflections of queerness create the combined standout element. Having read now multiple works by Vo, I'm noticing and appreciating this as a running theme in their work.

This is a dark, sinister novel that technically incorporates fantasy but does so in such a successful way that readers are forced to face the realistic parallels. I couldn't wait to read this, was not disappointed, and will continue to look forward to whatever Vo writes.

To be honest, I thought going into this book that it would be much like “The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo” but with a Chinese-American main character. However, it was totally different in a refreshing way. I loved how Nghi Vo was able to integrate so many interesting metaphors and express Luli’s character development this way. Luli was able to stand up for herself throughout this entire book, which I also appreciated.