disclaimer: I received an ARC of this book, my thoughts are my own.
Thank you netgalley, Nghi Vo and Macmillan-Tor/Forge.

This was good.
That's the overwhelming feeling I was left with after reading this book.
While not a new favorite or something I would personally re-read I really enjoyed the old Hollywood setting and the way the fantasy elements were woven together to "make sense" even as few as they were. It did, however leave me wondering if the fact that I was not in love with it was more due to the era and the very little aspects of fantasy (this reads more as a paranormal fantasy with very little paranormal elements to it).
In idea I really love the years of old Hollywood fame, the music, clothes, etc. though after reading this I was left thinking that I would've preferred this book if it had been more fantastical.

Don't get me wrong I really enjoyed this book, I went into it knowing nothing about it and it may have been an error. While I love historical fiction, the fantasy/monster elements of this book made me crave a novel set in another world or ours (though way further into the past medieval like era in Asia with emperors and such) where they (fantasy elements) would've been more developed. I don't mind historical fiction with fantasy, I even love some of them, but this left me wanting more from it, I kept waiting for more fantasy elements to come and sadly none came.
It may have been influenced by how highly praised her high fantasy has been, but I had expected more out of a full length novel.

In terms of the story there is nothing I hated, but nothing I particularly loved either (omitting the way the monsters were woven in the story though not with enough emphasis the concepts were good).
It did lack action, it is a very character driven book, with a very particular way of telling the story. For much of the book, there is not "much happening" and when something is quote on quote happening, it is short. While character driven, there is nothing particularly special about our main character, we don't really know her motivation for anything and excluding a couple of moments where she "works/goes for her dream" there is never a point where we, as readers, feel empathy for her (trying to achieve her dreams and the difficulties) because she isn't shown "working" or "trying hard" to make it happen.

Overall, in the end it was not for me.
I am excited to pick up her Empress of Salt and Fortune book however as it has been recommended to me many times.
2.75-3/5 stars
Bookarina

Incredibly written, I was truly enthralled from the first page. It was quite a quick read for me, meaning I genuinely couldn’t put it down. A friend of mine said it well “She is the woman Evelyn Hugo wishes she was.”

Siren Queen is the latest book by author Nghi Vo, known for her Hugo Award winning The Empress of Salt and Fortune, as well as last year's The Chosen and the Beautiful - a Queer Fantasy retelling of the Great Gatsby featuring an Asian American Heroine. Like The Chosen and the Beautiful, Siren Queen is historical fantasy featuring a queer Asian-American protagonist, although it's not a direct retelling of a classic novel, but rather a story based on 1930s-1940s era Hollywood....only a Hollywood that is far more magical....and magically monstrous....than the one we know. And there are familiar elements of all of Vo's prior works in this one - the story is a retelling by the protagonist from some point in the future ala The Empress of Salt and Fortune (and its sequel), its the story of an Asian American protagonist in a world that tries to restrict them to certain places and roles in society (or in this case Hollywood), and the mundane parts of the world made magical in dark dark ways - this time with Hollywood being a place ruled by monsters who force others to make literal sacrifices, with stars literally ascending into the heavens (kinda) on their own breakthroughs.

Familiar though its themes may be, Siren Queen is another clear winner, thanks to its strong protagonist, queer Chinese-American girl Luli Wei, as she attempts to work away into stardom without limiting herself to the restrictions imposed on Asian girls before her. The real world monstrousness and exploiting of the studio heads and directors, now made magical and literal, works incredibly well, and the story will keep you entranced and curious how things will turn out until its explosive finale as Luli comes into her own, and tries to keep moving forward, even as she keeps facing challenges, sees friends and others fall and leave her, and has her own past keep coming back to the forefront of her mind. I'm not quite sure the ending fully works given the setting, but I don't really care to be honest, it makes sense and makes everything here satisfying.

-----------------------------------------------Plot Summary--------------------------------------------------
The girl who would be known to the world as "Luli Wei" knew from the first time she was invited to see a movie that she wanted to be on that screen. And from the time she got herself invited to be an extra in a single scene, she knew she wanted more. But Luli was no fool - she knew there was only one Asian actress of note in Hollywood works, and that Asians tended to be cast into only certain roles. And she knew that the monsters in charge at Hollywood were especially eager to devour the souls of aspiring starlets - often literally, as they made the girls and boys desperate for fame sacrifice even the unimaginable. And so Luli set out to arm herself with as much knowledge as possible as she leaves home and makes a deal with a Devil in charge of a studio - with the only conditions she sets being that her roles will involve "No maids, No Funny Talking, and No Fainting Flowers"

But Luli could never have anticipated what she found behind the gates of Hollywood - where she will find other aspiring actors and actresses making their own devils' bargains, and stars who might invite one to their fires for Love and Touch, and others who might invite one back to their house but not....as one might fear....for a night of pressured passion. And even after Luli seems to find success in a single role, in the role of a monster, she finds herself realizing that the monsters of Hollywood, and the monsters of her past, are not going to go away and will stop at nothing to ground her under their heel....
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Siren Queen is told from the perspective of "Luli Wei", as if she is writing a memoir from the future (with occasional interjections by another woman in conversation with her), sort of ala Vo's The Empire of Salt and Fortune - the story is written as if the reader should know who Luli is from living in their world. It's a style that works really well to give things a matter of fact tone and feeling of inevitability, even as you're never quite sure what exactly is going to happen to get Luli to her eventual mysterious future. Also like The Chosen and the Beautiful, this is a world in which magic's existence is something hardly notable to Luli or - seemingly - to anyone else: so a ticket taker to a movie theater taking locks of hair for magical purposes, or a former actress getting out of Hollywood alive by literally offering her legs from ankle on down to pay the price - and then giving out information at the cost of 20 years of life....all that is just part of how things are and just accepted straight out as ordinary. It's not always clear to Luli how or what the magic being used works - so the fact that the head of the Hollywood studio Luli gets herself into goes on Wild Hunts (ala Fae) is something that Luli understands...but what exactly is being hunted is another question.

And Luli is a hell of a protagonist, as a bright young girl and then young woman who knows that she wants to be a star and to ascend into Immortality on the screen (both literally and metaphorically), is willing to do almost anything to achieve it....and yet at the same time, absolutely insistent upon not lowering herself the way others want her to. She will not lower herself to the stereotypical roles for Asian Actresses; she will not allow men (or women) to take take advantage of her sexually in exchange for positions; nor will she allow men/women to hold on to her coattails and take advantage of her potential rise for their own gain. And in this Hollywood, the system is absolutely setup to exploit and take advantage - from the Directors who offer people years of success if only they'll sacrifice themselves as the subject of a Fae Hunt, or who will demand sacrifices of literal flesh - one's face, one's ankles, etc. in exchange for even the possibility of getting out; and of course, there's the fact that aspiring starlets are thrown into this system without guidance, even where horrible monsters lurk in the shadows and pretend to be victims themselves. Vo makes this world one that should be very familiar to the real one, except here the monsters and exploitation are real.

Then there's the homophobia of this world and Luli's growing realization of her interest in women - and her struggle to assert that part of herself. This is a world where a gay star sort of takes Luli on as a beard, and would rather fake his own death than - like many other starlets - get show married off to a person of the opposite sex. Then there's the female star who encourages Luli's first romantic attraction, who will comfort women on the side and at her Friday Fires, but on the set of a movie must act like the perfect white woman role model for men, despite her inner desires. But for Luli, she grows to realize that she can't do that, and as the story goes on she grows bolder and bolder until the story's epic climax, despite the potential harm it could do to her growing career.

This transformation is all apace with Luli's growing story in general, as Luli begins as exploitative in many ways as the monsters who run Hollywood, willing to take whatever steps, such as blackmail, stealing a name, or more in order to get ahead towards the stardom she craves. But as the story grows on, Luli - and the others around her in similar but very different situations - come to realize that the sacrifices they've made, both literal and metaphorical, may haunt them forever, and may not be something they're willing to live with. Getting fame while tearing out one's heart only leads them each to hurt each other, and to cause more damage to themselves, and this path leads Luli almost to her destruction.....until again a climax I don't want to spoil has Luli and others make an opposite choice instead, changing everything.

I'm really badly explaining this, because this is a not long novel that I don't want to spoil, but it's a hell of a one in how it uses the fantasy elements to accentuate what is only metaphorical in our real life, of a Queer Asian American woman learning to assert those aspects of her in a world that refuses to let her do that, and of others around her doing the same, leading to a surprisingly happy finale. And Vo does it in a way that is really strong and very well done, such that even the side characters feel like they have lives outside of Luli's, which is a great sign of a great work - hell one character hinted at throughout the book actually never appears in person on page, which is a shock and yet actually works in the end. Like if I had a complaint, I might say that's that the climax relies upon a magical impact that doesn't quite fit the way homophobia is rampant in the setting....and yet I don't really care because that impact is so....well, magical.

Runs like the most beautiful folklore and The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo created the most unique, beautiful baby. The undefined magical system lost me several places throughout the book, but I cannot fault anything but my own imagination for that. I adore much of what Vo has written and am enormously proud of this incredible novel she's written. Her writing style never fails to strike.

Siren Queen by Nghi Vo was a miss for me. I love stories about old Hollywood but I couldn’t seem to connect with this book. It might be the fantasy elements because I either love or hate fantasy books. I felt the fantastical elements weren’t well developed or just didn’t have a point. The story itself was enjoyable but I had to force myself to pick up the book to read.

I received a copy of this book from Netgalley for the purpose of this review. All thoughts and opinions are entirely my own, and I am writing a voluntary review.

I will forever keep anything Nghi Vo writes at the top of my TBR because every story is unlike anything I have read before. She has captured my attention once again with her most recent release, Siren Queen. This time, Vo pulls back the curtain on the glitz, glamour, and dark side of Hollywood as a woman prepares to risk it all to become a star.

From her Chinese heritage to her humble beginnings at her family’s laundromat, Luli Wei knows she has to work harder than any of the blonde, blue-eyed starlets gracing movie sets in Hollywood. Dangerous enchantments and even deadlier deals are made to make the magic happen behind the scenes. Luli is desperate to play the game, and she cunningly scraps her way to Oberlin Wolfe’s office and lands a contract on her terms—“no maids, no funny talking, no fainting flowers.” Luli wants to be a movie star, and she will become as monstrous as the studio that controls her fate.

Vo pulls me down deep into her stories until I’m gasping for air. When I am finally able to resurface it is a shock to interact in a world that is so plain and dull in comparison. Something I love about her worldbuilding in both Siren Queen and The Chosen and the Beautiful is how the story is dripping in magic but it’s always just out of reach. It’s elusive and tantalizing, giving you a taste of its power and potential before slipping through your hands. The magic is wild and all-encompassing. There are cow-tailed women, studio changelings filling minor roles, blood-soaked contracts seeped in tea, and something nasty in the Santa Anas that the studio heads made a deal with. Vo never explains it enough to let it sink its teeth into you, which is probably for the best because most of it sounds terrifying as hell.

Luli is a fabulous protagonist. Often said to be as “cold as the Atlantic,” she will earn your respect fast. Luli is not vicious per se but can be best described as unyielding as the coast while waves crash upon her. Vo has a knack for writing unapologetic women that blaze through the world. Yet Luli is not all-powerful; she is very real and flawed. Luli is not afraid to reveal her insecurities, but she remains unbreakable. Being a queer, Chinese American woman in 1920s Hollywood, her dream is constantly met with resistance. It is refreshing to see a character like Luli remain steadfast in achieving her goal without wanting to burn the world down around her. It is fascinating to see how she navigates the cruelty of Hollywood without losing who she is and what she wants to achieve.

The supporting characters in this story are so purposeful, and each one inspires Luli in a unique way. Each person that is introduced not only helps Luli progress but their presence drives the story forward as they incite Luli to evolve, take action, or make a choice. Every character shows us a different side of our star. With her family, Luli is cold and uninterested, seeing them as a means to an end until she can sign with a studio. With her first lover, she is spontaneous and enamored but remains rooted in the reality of their situation. When it comes to the studio and its minions, she’s direct and stays bullish in their attempts to mold her. With her first friendship, Luli displays loyalty and fierce protectiveness. And when she encounters a fading actor, we see her find comfort in a safe place that had never made itself known before.

Siren Queen by Nghi Vo is delectable. Each little morsel of magic is like chocolate placed on my tongue, melting away before I can fully savor it. Vo leaves me wanting more of this world, but I am utterly enchanted. Luli guides the reader with a gloved hand, striking a purposeful step forward in a polished high heel to show you a wicked, brilliant side of Hollywood.

Rating: Siren Queen - 9.5/10

Delightfully dark with a touch of magic and nostalgia, Siren Queen is a solidly fine work. A little bit hard to follow the magic system within, but a beautiful story told.

Nghi Vo, the author of The Chosen and The Beautiful and The Empress of Salt and Fortune, returns to the literary scene with Siren Queen.

Luli Wei is a Chinese American girl trying to make it in Old Hollywood. Will Luli achieve her dreams? In a world of magic and monsters, what exactly will she have to sacrifice to achieve her dreams? How much control will Luli have over her own life? Is stardom worth the price?

After reading and loving Nghi Vo’s other books, I had really high expectations for Siren Queen. This book was longer than her other novels, and it felt longer. Siren Queen is character-driven, and I must say that I tend not to be a fan of this style. While reading this book, I kept wondering, “Where is this going?” This book lacks a clear direction.

Luli is also very detached, and I really do not connect with detached characters. She wants to make it big in Hollywood. Why? Does she want to be famous? Does she want to be rich? As a reader, we don’t see her doing much on a daily basis to achieve her goals. Aside from a couple of grand gestures, I did not feel Luli’s drive.

Siren Queen kept mentioning studio changeling; changeling appears 13 times. As this word isn’t in my everyday vernacular, I discovered that it means, “a child believed to have been secretly substituted by fairies for the parents’ real child in infancy.” In other words, it is someone who believes that they are really special but they aren’t. However, I struggle to understand what makes Luli so special.

Old Hollywood is a very competitive genre, especially given the success of The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid. Siren Queen certainly is not as good as The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo. What sets Siren Queen apart is that it contains some fantasy elements. Personally, I love realistic fantasy, but the fantasy in Siren Queen is underwhelming.

Overall, Nghi Vo should trim Siren Queen down in length. It is a decent read, but it doesn’t sparkle or shimmer. Although based on her prior works, I’m not ready to give up on the author yet.

*Thanks, NetGalley, for a free copy of this book in exchange for my fair and unbiased opinion.

Although I hadn't read anything by Nghi Vo before, Siren Queen was one of my most anticipated books of 2022. I adored the premise: a lesbian Chinese-American actress trying to make it in a version of Old Hollywood that runs on ancient magic. And Vo certainly makes this work. She embeds us into a world where the characters already instinctively understand how these things function and have no need to explain how the magic works when they bargain with inches of their hair or years of their life. I particularly admired how elegantly she makes the metaphorical real: starlets are literally silenced, erased or become hollowed-out shells of themselves. Luli Wei, our heroine, is shamelessly ambitious, and I loved her for it: she rejects the stereotypical roles that Chinese women usually played in movies of the time, although she ends up occupying a niche as another kind of folk devil.

Given all this, I'm struggling to understand why I just liked Siren Queen rather than absolutely loved it. Firstly, I think, the pacing is off: there's a long digression in the middle involving one of Luli's lovers and the Wild Hunt (which itself didn't seem to belong in this particular magical world; but I hate fairy mythology so I'm biased). Then the Epilogue gives us a glimpse of what seems like the fascinating second half of Luli's life and career, summarised in just a few pages. While I really enjoyed the way that Luli's eventual wife, Jane, interjected comments on the story from the very start, this made me want more of her character, and we never really 'meet' her on screen. I can see why Vo felt that the climax of her story sat where it did, but I'd have preferred her to race through much of the first half of Luli's life and focus on the second. We have a lot of books about young women who want to become stars but fewer on what happens after they've achieved it.

Ultimately, what I personally wanted from this book didn't quite fit with the novel Vo wanted to write, which isn't the book's fault; and the worldbuilding was spectacular. I hope Vo writes another book set in this creepy space.

I was very excited for this book and I think it delivers on some fronts - the beautiful writing for example. But I wanted more from it, I thought that we'd get more of the story and see a bigger chunk of the protagonist's life. Instead it felt like we mostly hang out at the fires and waited around for roles. I feel like I have no clue who the main character is, the prose made me feel so removed from her. Overall, maybe my high expectations meant I was bound to be disappointed.

4.5-4.75*

Thank you to Netgalley and Tordotcom for providing me an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

CW: Body horror, racism, sexism, mentions of rape and torture, suggestion of murder and mental abuse, domestic abuse.

I'd already read and loved both of Nghi Vo's novellas in the Singing Hills Cycle going into this, but Siren Queen is my first full-length novel of hers. Now I'm eager to give The Chosen and the Beautiful also a shot, because this was magnificent.

I do quite enjoy reading fictonal biographies about strong female or non-binary personalites with a magical twist to them. While this one goes perfectly with the likes of The Inheritance of Orquídea Divina and She Who Became the Sun, it also stands on its own.
I think, it's the tone that makes this book stand out so much, being both glamorous and haunting, blending historical fistion seemlessly with dark fantasy. It feels so real, even though it obviously isn't, as it seems often so logical that things should be the way Nghi Vo descriped them.
This book sucked me in for two days and left me wanting to do nothing but read all day. Even when terrible things happened, I was unably to lookk away.

Our protagonist isn't exactly what you would a call a likeable character but she's relatable, a young queer asian woman, who wouldn't settle for the invisibilty of an ordinary life in the laundry business of her parents. She yearns for the immortalitly of fame, the eternal life of a star and she would do anything to achieve her dream. I love characters like her who are deeply flawed and selfish, but stand to it and are unapoligetically themselves.
And much as she's strong and fierce and "cold as the Atlantic", she's also vulnerable and lonely.

We get an insight into the LGBTQIA scene at the time as well, as this book is fabulously queer. I loved in particular the inclusion of "Lavender Marriages", arranged marriages of queer Holliwood stars in the early 20th century to have them appear as straight to the public.
The book features three romantic and sexual relationships between the protagonist (who, by the way, we never learn her birth name but only a given name that's somewhat spoilery), one of which is only lightly touched on as starting after the end of the actual time frame of the book.
I adored all of it, the longing, the pining, the interactions, the sexual content. It's achingly beautiful and very well fleshed out.
There's also an achillean couple that our protagonist becomes friends with and several scenes in a queer night club.

Thematically, this book talks primarily about the price of fame and success but also of freedom, often using magical or horror elements as methaphors and making them all the more memorable. It's a story about a woman doing everything to not be forgotten and fighting constantly against belittlement, sexism, racism, her own fears and societal expectations.
And if all this, in the end, makes her a monster, she's also one of the most humane characters I've seen in recent time.

Everything about this book intrigued me when I first heard about it. Blending historical fiction with fantasy, it tells the story of a young Chinese American woman who comes of age against the backdrop of film sets during the Golden Age of Hollywood. Nghi Vo writes these beautiful and beguiling passages, but as much as the tone and rhythm of this book's prose made me want to know more, I found myself a little disoriented and confused as I approached the halfway point. The magic element in this story is confusing and never really explained, and in many parts it's unclear what's actually happening. I suspect that I may get more out of it in a reread.

A story that takes place in Old Hollywood with a twist - magic is real. Luli grew up wanting to become part of the cinema world, and was willing to sacrifice some of her life to get this. As her star grows in this world, she must contend with the cost of success for those in this world.

I was expecting this to be more fantastical than it was, but it was still an interesting concept. It is more about Luli's life with a touch of magic than an outright magical tale.

I received my copy from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you so much for allowing me to read and review this title.
As much as I love the writing style, and the subject matter, unfortunately I found this book just wasn’t for me.
I thank you again for allowing me to review it, and I hope to read more of your titles in the future.

The stars burn bright and the monsters are real!
Nghi Vo’s writing style is absolutely amazing! The story starts in the early days of film and wraps the magical realism around the idea of the star power of the old school film star and the monsters of the Hollywood studios and producers. I couldn't put it down.

I absolutely love the world this book is set in, I love the different types of magic and the casual way it is all handled. I love the various ways in which filmmaking blends with reality and the way everything has a price.

Nghi Vo writes in a way where she seems to reach into your chest and carve out a space for the story that she is telling, I cannot get enough of it. The format works brilliantly for the story.

The characters seem incredibly real and are so, so easy to like or take interest in. Luli grows while the story is taking place and every step of the way is consistent with what came before for her. It is refreshingly exhilarating to see someone so ruthlessly ambitious.

The romantic elements here made me ache -- Vo beautifully captures head spinning infatuation, the glow and the heartbreak of a relationship, as well as the sacrifice that comes with it.

Overall, this book is most definitely worth reading and I would recommend it to most everyone, but especially fans of The Seven Husbands Of Evelyn Hugo who want to be re-immersed in the film world in a new way.

Nghi Vo has a really beautiful, evocative writing style that I got to experience for the first time in this book, and I really loved the way she weaves her tale. I found the exploration of early Hollywood to be fascinating, and I was so intrigued by every character and I wish I could see every film that was made! I think what let it down for me in the end, though, was that the magic made the story unnecessarily confusing. In my opinion the story would've captured me more if the magical elements hadn't been included, as they brought me out of the immersion into the tale because there were many moments where I was like, wait what? what just happened? And I felt the need very often to go back and reread because I had gotten lost.

An intriguing alternate history fantasy world look at Old Hollywood. Hollywood in this novel is filled with monsters- real monsters who have made deals with the dark side to get where they are. Luli, who we meet as a child, is determined not to play a maid on screen but rather a monster. This is her journey. as a queer Chinese American woman who wants to be a star. The world building to be honest, isn't strong but this isn't about Hollywood it's about Luli and she is a dynamic character. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. For fans of magical realism.

I'm a girl who needs clear-cut fantasy world building. I like rules. I like for things to be explained and make sense. So for a story to have magical elements that simply exist with no rhyme or reason or purpose doesn't work for me personally. My brain just can't get on board with the vagueness of it all.

And this is actually what prevented me from loving NV's previous book, except that it played a part in a plot twist that I thought was unique. This book, however, is different. You could remove every fantasy element from this story and still be left with the same narrative about a determine young woman wanting to rise through Hollywood while fighting sexism and racism in the 1930s. Such a shame an interesting story got lost in all the unnecessary fuss surrounding it. Especially because I actually really do love NV's writing style!

So a miss for me personally, but I think readers who do better with more abstract magic should have no problem with this one!

Nghi Vo has taken her magical realism and historical fiction prowess to pre-Code Hollywood, where literal monsters exist and studios and stars make deals with blood magick and rituals. SIREN QUEEN is metaphorical and magical, and the symbolism of studios propping up and then burning through their talent may seem a bit on the nose at first glance. But Vo's style is so evocative and lyrical, and her protagonist Luli so interesting and compelling, that the potential for heavy handedness is easily overlooked. I liked the setting and time period and the various social issues that were addressed within the context of the setting, and I liked that we didn't really get all the answers about the magical systems, as it ultimately didn't matter. The story stood well enough without all the answers.

SIREN QUEEN is unique and fascinating and Nghi Vo continues to show off her magical realism skills.