Siren Queen is one of those books that I have to step away from and come back to. I'm about 40% of the way through the book, and so far I'm enchanted by the lyrical writing and the atmospheric old Hollywood setting, but the plot has not been able to hold my attention. I am okay reading books without a strong plot -- but the characters have to make up for it, and in this case, I haven't yet seen that come to full fruition. This is partly by design -- you're surrounded by men who are monsters and a main character determined to become a star,

Nghi Vo has been on my fantasy list for a long time, and I can see why she has been on the rise. I'm having a difficult reading year and so I think the slower pace and whimsical magic system are things that would capture my attention if I was in a different place. This might be the perfect type of book to listen to on audio (just not late at night...) and I look forward to trying more by this author.

EDIT: One last thing! As I was reading this, I was watching a documentary about Asian representation in film and how it has changed over the years with my partner (Asian Americans on PBS) that really enhanced my understanding and appreciation of this book. You can see the direct influence of Anna May Wong and the way that Asian Americans have been treated throughout the years on screen. I highly recommend it!

After blazing onto the SFF scene in 2020 with The Empress of Salt and Fortune, Nghi Vo has gone from strength to strength. An animating concern of all her work is the question of how to navigate power from its sidelines. The titular empress of Vo’s debut novella rises to her ruling position by making canny use of people and objects considered beneath the notice of the ruling class. In The Chosen and the Beautiful, Jordan Baker runs up against the limits of the belonging, and even the identity, afforded to her by the white, wealthy Daisys and Gatsbys of the world, including the woman she has known as her adoptive mother.

The unnamed(-ish) protagonist of Vo’s latest book, Siren Queen, suffers no illusions about the obstacles that will face a Chinese American girl hoping to break into the movies in the (so-called) Golden Age of Hollywood. In her earliest years of going to the cinema, before she ever has aspirations to stardom, she sees that the only Chinese actress on her screen plays the same role over and over again, perpetually culminating in her death. Still she dreams of becoming part of the Hollywood machine, seeing stardom as an escape from a life where other people’s dismissive looks determine who she is and what she deserves.

I wanted what Clarissa Montgomery had, the ability to take those looks, to bend them and to make them hers, to make the moment hers, to make the whole world hers if she wanted. I wanted that, and that want was the core of everything that came after.

That she hopes to escape from the limiting roles her own world offers her by fitting herself into fictional roles scripted by prejudiced men with profit in mind is a driving tension of the book. Luli Wei, as she comes to be known professionally, prides herself on her practicality and clarity of vision, but her steely ambition cannot be untangled from her bottomless, sincere love of the movies. She determines from the beginning that she’ll steer herself clear of the stereotypical roles available to non-white actresses in the era. She won’t faint, she won’t do comedy accents, and she won’t play maids. In pre-Code Hollywood, this means that the studios don’t quite know what to do with her, and every day she can’t get work heightens the risk that she’ll disappear into the sea of failed starlets the studio heads have sacrificed to maintain their own power and fame.

I use sacrifice here advisedly—and literally. The world of Siren Queen is not the Hollywood of our own world, though Vo’s invented films sound so plausible that I kept scurrying to IMDb to double-check that they were fictional and therefore not available on streaming services for me to watch in real life. (To save you the effort of doing the same: she made them all up.) (I am like 75 percent sure she made them all up.) Luli’s Hollywood is a world of magical circles, changelings, and Wild Hunts. The first time Luli ever goes to the movies, she pays the cost of her admission into the cinema with an inch of her hair.

“An inch of hair is two months of your life,” [the ticket agent] said. “Give or take. An inch … that’s your father coming home, your mother making chicken and sausage stew, skinning your knee running from the rough boys …”

It made sense, or at least I didn’t want her to think that I didn’t understand.

Neither Luli nor the reader ever comes to a full understanding of the dark magical bargains that underlie the glamorous world of the movies. Vo has a knack for sharing exactly enough information to put a chill down our spines, but never enough to let us feel that we have a solid grip on the possibilities of the world. It’s a very deliberate choice that leaves the audience in much the same position as Luli and her colleagues: even as they begin to learn more about the world in which they reside and the risks they run simply by existing within it, there are always a hundred horrifying possibilities that just haven’t occurred to them yet. For every step Luli takes along the path to hoped-for fame, she must pay a price. And at every step, she’s at risk of toppling into the darkness and losing herself altogether, as has been the fate of so many actresses before her.

Abigail McKinnon had been white with slick black hair, my height and my build—we could have shared clothes if anything had remained in her that cared about clothes. The nodder that was left after Abigail got pregnant and refused to give up her baby got more work than I did.

Have you ever seen a movie where a part was simply filled? There’s no life or wit to the person spilling the drink, or running from the riders, or smiling in the crowd scene, but they’re there and you don't notice until much later how stiff they were, how awkwardly they moved. ... Even after what was lit up in [the nodders] had been extinguished, they still took direction, even if they did it clumsily and badly.

Siren Queen is packed full of such Shirley Jackson–esque details, so that neither the reader nor Luli is ever able to forget the very real, very sinister danger that awaits her if she goes too far, if she crosses the wrong person, if she is ever too much her authentic self. Luli is perpetually navigating the fraught question of her own agency. On one hand, she’s walked into this life with her eyes wide open, giving up pieces of herself—and of her family—for the slim hope of becoming a star. But like all the other women in her position, once Luli is in with the studios, she’s relentlessly policed, controlled, and terrorized, not just by predatory contracts and the day-to-day indignities of institutionalized prejudice (misogyny, racism, queerphobia; the list goes on), but by the constant threat of being consumed by the dark powers the studio heads wield.

Within a world that sharply constricts women’s choices, Vo’s characters all make their own compromises with the powers that be. Luli’s first maybe-love, Emmaline Sauvignon, possesses the type of (white) beauty that’s instantly legible to the studio heads. As a queer woman, though, her success in the industry is contingent and precarious. She works hard to conceal her queerness and resents Luli for not making those same compromises. Another love interest, a writer called Tara, can be more open about her sexuality, in part because the industry doesn’t quite see her as a person in the first place. Jewish, a writer rather than an actor, not the right kind of beautiful, Tara goes to gay bars and won’t kowtow to the ideal of femininity that Emmaline represents. Louisa Davis, an actress whose career recalls that of Hattie McDaniel in real life, reminds Luli that she’s not better than actresses who do take the roles Luli’s determined not to take, “but we all know why you have to say you are.” And while Luli gives up twenty years of her life for a chance to break into the film industry, we also see multiple women who offer up their flesh in order to get out. Vo shows us a world—surely nobody living in the now times can relate!—that offers very few good choices, and the characters must choose what parts of themselves they’re willing to give up. Having it all was never an option.

All of this sounds terribly allegorical, and in a sense it is. To the best of my understanding (which has been formed entirely by the Coen brothers’ movie Hail Caesar and a few episodes of You Must Remember This), the Golden Age of Hollywood was a pretty dark time for everyone except straight white men, and it wasn’t much of a picnic for them either. Nghi Vo is far too good a writer, though, to slip into pure allegory. Siren Queen sends a chill down your spine precisely because the monkey’s-paw pacts and dark fae magic of Vo’s imagination map so cleanly onto the extractive and exploitative nightmare that was, and is, Hollywood. The people who made the machine go in those early days powered it with their bodies and their talent, often in the full understanding that they would be thrown aside when they ceased to be hot, alluring, and useful.

As a queer woman of color, Luli Wei is at particular risk of being thrown aside, and it’s no coincidence that her success arrives when she starts to play monsters. In the eyes of so many people in her industry, Luli’s monstrosity is inherent to her identity as an ambitious woman of color and daughter of immigrants. By refusing to accept the thin, confining space offered to people like her, Luli forces that space to broaden, forces her industry to make room for her. Even when she gets her big break as the siren queen, the role of monster offers its own set of perils and pitfalls: when a fire breaks out on set, her costume is so physically heavy that it comes close to preventing her from fleeing the flames. Nor can her own conscience ever be clear, as her career is predicated on a—there’s no other word for it—monstrous theft that she perpetrates against her own sister.

Siren Queen is the clearest illustration you could ask for that Nghi Vo won’t be a one-hit wonder of a novelist. It’s a book packed with memorably spiky characters, keen insight, luxuriant prose, and eerie fantastical detail that lingers in the mind like a vividly unsettling dream.

This book had a lot of strengths, but ultimately it wasn't for me. It was quite heavy and slow, however it would appeal to patrons who like denser historical fictions like A Gentleman in Moscow or #ownvoices books by Asian authors such as Amy Tan, Yangsze Choo or Lisa See.

What a great combination of race and class in old Hollywood with dark sacrifices and magic realism. I adored this!

Everything Nghi Vo writes is gold. Such evocative descriptions and beautifully fleshed out characters, and such an engrossing story. I'm in love!

Siren Queen was good, just not totally up my street. I enjoyed how it was both glamorous and sinister at once, and really loved the wealth of diverse female characters, but other than that I think it fell a little flat. As someone who naturally doesn’t enjoy fantasy, I found the fantasy elements really unrealistic and honestly quite hard to grasp and imagine. The pace of the book was a little bit fast for me, without a great deal of ever happening - Luli just hopped through films and through relationships but that was kind of it. The lack of real names did interest me, and added to the general sinister feeling of the lifestyle of Wolfe studios, and I think definitely helped attest to the inner struggles of the characters, but it could’ve been explored in much more interesting depth. I found myself wondering throughout who this ‘Jane’ was, that got a few mentions, and was a little disappointed at how she only came to life in the very brief epilogue - it seemed such a sincere and loving relationship, i’d have loved to see more of that so that Luli’s time as an actress felt more whole and finalised. Overall, I think Siren Queen just wasn’t the book for me, if you enjoy fantasy mixed with drama and hollywood glamour, this definitely would tick your boxes!

I really tried to get into the story, but after reading 15% I still have zero feelings about this novel and I've lost all interest.
I was looking forward to a sapphic, non-white historical fiction, however the writing style doesn't keep my interest at all and it's too slow for me.

I really tried to continue reading this but had to give up as I felt the story wasn't going anywhere. I'm really sorry. All the best for the book.

This is my first Nghi Vo novel so I'm not sure if I just didn't like this book or if I don't like their writing style. I still really want to read The Chosen and the Beautiful, so maybe after that book I'll know if this book was just a dud or if Nghi Vo isn't for me. I had high expectations with the boo because the premise seemed so cool?? but it was so hard to finish the book, I was so close to dnfing it because I was defo not vibing with it.

This was no Evelyn Hugo, don't get charmed by the Hollywood vibes.

I got to be the monster, and I earned it by being a monster: foreign, foreboding, and poisonous.


ARC provided by the publisher Tordotcom through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Siren Queen is Nghi Vo's disorienting new book weaving the fae court into old Hollywood and the movie industry that missed the mark.

Nghi Vo became one of my most favorite authors since I read The Singing Hills Cycle series last year. Vo's writing is beautiful and poetic that sways readers into a dream like trance into the world she created that is vivid, enticing, and other worldly. Yet when I read Siren Queen I didn't feel the same way. The world of the Siren Queen is immersive but clouded in a constant smoky haze that is disorienting, leaving you grasping to understand what is happening. It felt like this throughout reading the book and I am torn about it.

The story of Siren Queen follows a Chinese-American girl, Luli Wei, that has big dreams to become an actress. After she made a bargain with a retired actress, Luli finds a way to get herself a meeting with the boss of one of the biggest studios in Hollywood. She strikes a bargain and is immediately thrusted into the dangerous movie industry. Luli took on small roles which snowballed into more bigger roles when she made a name for herself in the movie Siren Queen. But the industry is merciless and cruel, Luli is cornered and she needs to make the choice whether to be a prey or a monster.

It was everything I was and everything I could be—was meant to be—if only I dared. It twisted inside me, hungry and vicious and clever.


Luli Wei as a character is sheep that tries to be a fox, she succeeds in doing so but somehow she sometimes slips her mask. Through Luli, Nghi Vo weaves themes of racism, sexism, prejudice and orientalism that is relevant of the time in Hollywood. There is a scene that showed Luli's strength to stand her ground relating to the studio trying to replace her with a white actress that is the strongest moment in the book showing Vo's writing prowess in weaving relevant themes about POC actors in the movie industry. Yet this is just one scene I liked in a 200+ page book, the rest of the story I didn't favor so much.

Luli's character development seems on the fence for me. Its more stagnant than growth. Luli's career did grow and she made a name for herself. But her characterization and overall growth is what I consider meh. Maybe it is because I didn't find her interesting enough so I didn't notice any changes. The way I see it Luli's journey is a fever dream that I can't wait to wake up from.

All eyes were on me. Emmaline was a monster they knew, and in a way, so was I, but today, I was something they had never seen before. A monster, a miracle. A star.


As a whole the book is weak and hazy from start to end. The transitions weren't clear enough, there are many moments when I had to step back and reread certain passages because I didn't notice the character went somewhere or the day has changed. In many works of fantasy the fae realm is a disorienting space that doesn't have a clear sense of time and place, kinda like a limitless place that is beautiful but hides cruel and ugly things. If Vo did this intentionally to immerse readers into the world by making the transitions disorienting then Vo is a genius. But when discussing the author's intent it is something that only leads so assumptions and inaccuracies. So, I will just view it subjectively as a me problem thing.

The one factor that made me finish the book is the sapphic romance. The relationships depicted in Siren Queen is so luscious and drunk on love. It is an injection of longing, yearning, and pain of rejection. Nghi Vo writes really good love scenes between really hot characters with lyrical writing that drowns you in sweet nothings and kisses.

“You’ll be the heroine, of course. And I’ll be the monster. And it’ll be a hit.”


Final thoughts, Siren Queen is a book with an amazing concept, beautiful lyrical writing, representation, relevant themes, but an okay execution. I am sad that I was happier finishing the book than actually reading it. The fae court aspects is too abstract and isn't delivered clear enough throughout the book. I would be cautious when picking up this book because it is a mix bag, you can either like it a lot or not, even for a fan of Nghi Vo. But if you like vibes with amazing writing and intense sapphic love, this book is for you.


The quotes in this review were taken from an ARC and are subject to change upon publication.

I got to be the monster, and I earned it by being a monster: foreign, foreboding, and poisonous.


ARC provided by the publisher Tordotcom through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Siren Queen is Nghi Vo's disorienting new book weaving the fae court into old Hollywood and the movie industry that missed the mark.

Nghi Vo became one of my most favorite authors since I read The Singing Hills Cycle series last year. Vo's writing is beautiful and poetic that sways readers into a dream like trance into the world she created that is vivid, enticing, and other worldly. Yet when I read Siren Queen I didn't feel the same way. The world of the Siren Queen is immersive but clouded in a constant smoky haze that is disorienting, leaving you grasping to understand what is happening. It felt like this throughout reading the book and I am torn about it.

The story of Siren Queen follows a Chinese-American girl, Luli Wei, that has big dreams to become an actress. After she made a bargain with a retired actress, Luli finds a way to get herself a meeting with the boss of one of the biggest studios in Hollywood. She strikes a bargain and is immediately thrusted into the dangerous movie industry. Luli took on small roles which snowballed into more bigger roles when she made a name for herself in the movie Siren Queen. But the industry is merciless and cruel, Luli is cornered and she needs to make the choice whether to be a prey or a monster.

It was everything I was and everything I could be—was meant to be—if only I dared. It twisted inside me, hungry and vicious and clever.


Luli Wei as a character is sheep that tries to be a fox, she succeeds in doing so but somehow she sometimes slips her mask. Through Luli, Nghi Vo weaves themes of racism, sexism, prejudice and orientalism that is relevant of the time in Hollywood. There is a scene that showed Luli's strength to stand her ground relating to the studio trying to replace her with a white actress that is the strongest moment in the book showing Vo's writing prowess in weaving relevant themes about POC actors in the movie industry. Yet this is just one scene I liked in a 200+ page book, the rest of the story I didn't favor so much.

Luli's character development seems on the fence for me. Its more stagnant than growth. Luli's career did grow and she made a name for herself. But her characterization and overall growth is what I consider meh. Maybe it is because I didn't find her interesting enough so I didn't notice any changes. The way I see it Luli's journey is a fever dream that I can't wait to wake up from.

All eyes were on me. Emmaline was a monster they knew, and in a way, so was I, but today, I was something they had never seen before. A monster, a miracle. A star.


As a whole the book is weak and hazy from start to end. The transitions weren't clear enough, there are many moments when I had to step back and reread certain passages because I didn't notice the character went somewhere or the day has changed. In many works of fantasy the fae realm is a disorienting space that doesn't have a clear sense of time and place, kinda like a limitless place that is beautiful but hides cruel and ugly things. If Vo did this intentionally to immerse readers into the world by making the transitions disorienting then Vo is a genius. But when discussing the author's intent it is something that only leads so assumptions and inaccuracies. So, I will just view it subjectively as a me problem thing.

The one factor that made me finish the book is the sapphic romance. The relationships depicted in Siren Queen is so luscious and drunk on love. It is an injection of longing, yearning, and pain of rejection. Nghi Vo writes really good love scenes between really hot characters with lyrical writing that drowns you in sweet nothings and kisses.

“You’ll be the heroine, of course. And I’ll be the monster. And it’ll be a hit.”


Final thoughts, Siren Queen is a book with an amazing concept, beautiful lyrical writing, representation, relevant themes, but an okay execution. I am sad that I was happier finishing the book than actually reading it. The fae court aspects is too abstract and isn't delivered clear enough throughout the book. I would be cautious when picking up this book because it is a mix bag, you can either like it a lot or not, even for a fan of Nghi Vo. But if you like vibes with amazing writing and intense sapphic love, this book is for you.


The quotes in this review were taken from an ARC and are subject to change upon publication.

Siren Queen is a beautiful, glimmering, dark story that has all the glamour of Hollywood but lacks a bit of substance. At times it reminded me of Evelyn Hugo but didn't quite hit the same notes, and while I would have loved for this to be a great companion to that novel, I did not expect it to. I wanted to love this in the same way I loved Nghi Vo's enchanting short stories, but I did not. As a full length novel this just did not work for me - it lacks a bit of substance and I can't help thinking it would have been a perfect short story. I'm still a Nghi Vo's fan, but maybe I'll stick to her short stories instead.

Over the last couple of months, I've heard nothing but good things about Siren Queen. Naturally, this meant that I just had to take some time to read it! It helps that I already adore Nghi Vo's writing, of course.

We all have dreams. For Luli Wei, her dream was to become a star, making her way to success on the silver screen. She doesn't care what it'll cost her or about the danger she's jumping headfirst into.

The problem is, Hollywood isn't content to only own her career – they want everything. Luli knew this was going in, but it is one thing to know something and quite another to experience its depth.

“I would never be adorable and bubbling over with praise for myself and others. Instead, I was still and cold, and had to hope that was enough.”

If you love Nghi Vo, you have to make time to read Siren Queen. It is everything I could have possibly hoped for and then some! Luli's character is complex and determined, giving her everything she needs to navigate a dark and dangerous career path.

I'll admit, adding the little bits of fantasy elements was an excellent choice. Being a huge fantasy lover, I wouldn't have said no more to this side. That being said, I did enjoy the balance Nghi Vo struck. There is something so magical about movie-making; as we all know, not all magic is good.

There are times when Siren Queen is truly harrowing or eerie. I think these moments hit very close to home, making them relatable and, therefore, horrifying. In other words, the characters feel so real at times that it almost feels like they're in the room with us.

I enjoyed Siren Queen and am actively looking forward to the next release from Nghi Vo (Into the Riverlands! The third novella in The Singing Hills Cycle series. I can't wait).

I was super ready to start this book and immerse myself in the whole journey of Luli's world but I felt lost from the very beginning of the story.

This is the story of Luli, a Chinese-American girl dreaming to become a famous movie star and make movies in Holywood but during her trying to succeed in her dreams, we get to meet many monsters and situations that make Luli's dreams almost impossible and it kind of makes us wonder if she ever will have the luck or the great opportunity to be able to finally make her acting dream come true.

one of the things that I didn't understand about Luli's aspiration to be in Hollywood was the lack of conviction or hard work to achieve this? her actions were always the opposite like she wanted to have a role but she really never show hard work and determination to achieve this.

I really was looking to get immersed in the old Hollywood scenarios, with all the old artists and actors with the glamour of that era but I felt like I never got that, the story was too focused on Luli's problems and the drama made me feel like it took a lot of the magic of this book.

Overall the idea was good and the potential of the book was good but I feel like it felt short compared to what we were expecting.

Thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan-Tor/Forge, Tordotcom for an advanced reader copy of Siren Queen in exchange for an honest review.

This book was amazing. I coudn't put it down. It was magical. Higly recommended! The characters, the plots, the writting: wonderful and perfect.

I’ve seen a lot of reviews compare Siren Queen by Nghi Vo to The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid, but I can’t confirm that because I haven’t read the latter yet (I know, I KNOW!). I can, however, confirm that Siren Queen follows the story of a young, rising actress in Old Hollywood, who is willing to make deals with the Devil and barter with what little she has in order to achieve her dream of becoming a star.

We first meet Luli Wei when she is a child, trading locks of hair and years off her life to get into cinemas to watch silent films. She’s immediately enamored, and knows she’ll do whatever it takes to get herself up on the big screen. However, in a world full of magic and cunning executives who care more about appearances and money than actual people, she’ll have to learn how to play their games.

But she does more than that. Luli refuses to be a tame, quiet woman on set. She refuses to be type-cast, and instead embodies the roles and characters she plays in order to garner respect and harness her own power. She’s not exactly loveable, but that’s fine; she’s fierce and in control of herself, which many despise her for, but it made me love her even more.

This story is beautifully written, in Vo’s signature prose, and captures the harsh reality of Hollywood while painting it as a dreamy, magical setting that one can’t help to admire. While I was a little bothered by the lack of context surrounding the magic in this world, overall, I absolutely loved this story.

Luli’s character was stunning – I admired her strength, how she remained true to herself, and how she didn’t let people walk all over her.

Thank you Tor Dot Com Publishing for sending me a digital copy of Siren Queen by Nghi Vo to review via NetGalley. I loved it so much I bought it once it came out!

Thanks to NetGalley and Tordotcom/ Macmillan Audio for the digital galley and ALC of this book.

Luli Wei is desperate to be a star. She’s talented and she knows what she wants, “No maids, no funny talking, no fainting flowers.” She’d rather be a monster than a maid. Hollywood is magic, but there are monsters lurking at every corner, and Luli must be cunning and sacrifice to make her own way on her own terms. It eats people up every day, leaving them husks that no one remembers, but Luli is determined. Along the way, she makes friends and enemies and lives in the magical and terrifying world of the silver screen.

This was one of the most hyped releases of the year (at least in my book social circles), so I’m not sure it could have ever lived up fully to the anticipation. I enjoyed it. I really did, but I don’t think I loved it as much as I wanted to. That’s no fault of the book, but rather all of the promotion and book talk online about it. I did really enjoy Luli as a character, and I absolutely loved her roommate and friend. That and her relationship with an older costar were my favorites in the novel.

I’m always here for queer ladies, especially under represented and historical queer ladies. Winwin! I also just took this world at face value. I believed it, and I saw so much of our own world in it. Perhaps if Hollywood men really did turn into monsters, it’d be a more accurate representation of what they are on the inside.

Despite my slight hype disappointment, I do recommend this one. I tore through it, and I had a really good time reading it. Maybe just don’t read all the stuff about it before you open its pages.

This was really interesting and different. I loved how she took issues of Old Hollywood( and let's face it current Hollywood) and adding in magic.

At it's heart it is a feminist story about a woman who is willing to do anything to make it in Hollywood expect play the tired role of a maid given to People of Color. Even if that means becoming a monster. And that's where magic and evil dealings come in.

I thought it was a good story and it kept me entertained. I'll definitely be reading more from this author and I hope to see more fantasy!

I did not connect with this book at all and I had to DNF it 24% into it.. The writing style was not flowing, too much going on with so many characters very early on in the book that it quickly became overwhelming, there were hints of fantasy which I found odd,.. sorry but this is not a book for me.

(DNF - 48%) I really wanted to like this book. I was so intrigued by the premise, the setting and the characters seemed so interesting at first. But maybe I just didn’t find it at the right time. I felt lost in the story, it didn’t seem to have a logical progression of events, which usually doesn’t bother me, but maybe the writing style was what prevented me from feeling more engaged with the story. I usually don’t DNF books, but I really felt like it was a chore to keep reading. I think it will find its audience and many people will love it, it has a lot going for it. If the writing style is enjoyable to the reader, I believe everything else will be fascinating.