Nghi Vo was able to beautifully weave literal magic into the figuratively magical world of Hollywood. Luli's story was mesmerizing and kept you hanging on every word. The narrator had the perfect voice for a feminine, manipulative, and ruthless leading lady, while keeping her Golden Girl image. Perfect casting.

I've enjoyed other works by this author so I was really excited for their debut full length novel. The premise of old school Hollywood story featuring a queer Asian actor trying to break into the business sounded great but sadly I struggled to really connect with the character, maintain interest til the end. The narration by Natalie Naudus was stellar though! Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early audio copy in exchange for my honest review!

"Your tricks are beneath me, your court is a lie, and your movies are terrible."

I feel a bit inadequate to even summarize my thoughts on Siren Queen but here goes. I came into this with high expectations, as Nghi Vo’s Singing Hills novellas are favorites of mine, both for their themes and her gorgeous, evocative prose. I don’t tend to read much real world historical fantasy and have never had a particular interest in Golden Age Hollywood, but with this cover and Nghi Vo at the helm, how could I resist.

To say I was not disappointed would be an understatement. Magical, beautiful, haunting, dream-like - all adjectives that come up again and again when people describe this book, and I don’t really have any new to add. Reading it does feel like being pulled through the fog of a dream. Blurred lines and ambiguities abound. You’re left with many questions and uncertainties as to how this world works, magic blending with reality, but for the sake of this story all those specifics are more or less inconsequential.

Speaking of the story, a queer Chinese woman navigates a predatory, white-dominated, demon-riddled Hollywood with the ambition to carve out a space for herself to be remembered. It’s packed with rage, struggle, seduction, and triumph; raw and human, though perhaps that’s a poor word choice when one of the central themes is embracing monstrousness.

I'm not sure how books being sapphic can still catch me by surprise - especially when I've read the author's prior works - but I suppose it's that pesky heteronormativity. Anyways, it was a more than pleasant surprise and I loved the transient nature of relationships that was shown. Different people are good for different parts of your life and in different ways. In real life, at least to a realist like myself, relationships are so often what you need at the moment; they won't be good for both parties forever. Nghi Vo handled this masterfully, and it leaves me wanting more books where love isn't so much the end game as part of the process, and can manifest in so many different ways. I guess what I'm saying is it was messy and perfect.

This is a book I can see myself itching to reread, though not too soon so it doesn’t lose its magic. Natalie Naudus’ narration of the audiobook was also fantastic and very fitting for this compulsive, spellbinding narrative so do consider picking it up that way.

A wonderful critique of old Hollywood using folklore and fantastical symbolism to push the narrative. The writing is dark, vivid and hauntingly beautiful.

This was steamier than I was expecting, but it wasn’t gratuitous. I enjoyed the behind the scenes look at old Hollywood, the emergence of the film industry and the dominance of the early film companies. The fantasy element felt a little forced at times, but I enjoyed the metaphor.

4.25 This book is so beautifully written that I could not put it down. This story follows a young Chinese American actress trying to make it big in Hollywood in the Golden Age. She is willing to do anything to make it big so she strikes a deal to not play maids, any roles with funny talk , or fainting flowers instead she is playing monster characters where she makes it huge as a siren. The story follows this bizarre Hollywood world infused with magical realism, monsters and mystical things as stars and starlets use more than there skill to survive.

This is my first Nghi Vo book but it will not be my last from the first pages I was hooked. This is one of the best examples of magical realism I have come across where the magic is sprinkled through but is told in a way that can make you actually believe this is history. The writing was beautiful, lyrical and immersive. My only issue with the book was there were some characters I would have really liked to have known more about . I did listen to the audiobook and really enjoyed the narration as well. The narrator was easy to understand and engaging . I would like to thank Netgalley and the publishers for a chance to read this book for an honest review.

This book had such a magical dream-like feel to it. I loved every minute of it. From the descriptions of old Hollywood to the monsters and the rituals. I loved the narrator for this novel! Found them to be engaging.

Sadly this was not one of Nghi Vo's books that I enjoyed personally. It delivered on every one of the aspects that the description and the atmosphere of the book, it just wasn't for me.

i adored this, the rep, the feelings, the writing, everything. nghi vo is just a master story crafter and i also really enjoyed this audiobook.

Perfect narrator, the audio book really immersed me into the story. Had trouble putting the book down. Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for granting me access to an e-arc audiobook.

While I enjoyed the narrator in this audiobook, I was left wanting more of the fantasy elements that the synopsis promised me. I believed that I was getting something a little more than what I actually got, especially with the "monsters" of Hollywood. I believe that this would have actually been better if the fantasy element had been removed and we followed Luli's struggle as it would have been at the time. I did enjoy what was given to me, I just had different expectations going in. I'll be giving this one a three star rating as it was straight middle of the road for me and slightly forgettable.

Very good read highly recommended. I totally recommend this book to friends and family it does not disappoint. Hope to read more books by this author in the near future.

I really liked this book! I found it to be a great thriller that kept me guessing the whole time. I never really thought I knew the ending, and I was definitely surprised! You won’t be disappointed!

This book was good but not great. I've been very much obsessed with everything I've read by Nghi Vo, and I still think of her as a fav author. However, this story ended up being different from what I expected and I just never got invested in the story.

I am actually crushed by this.

Siren Queen was easily on my most anticipated releases of 2022 list. The cover and synopsis were so captivating and I was instantly extremely intrigued by everything about this book. Unfortunately, I just didn't connect with the story the way I was expecting. The writing is stunning and very lyrical. If you've ever read anything by Nghi Vo before then you know how beautiful her writing is. I can't deny that, by any means. But the story itself was, I found, very different than what the synopsis sets it out to be. I guess I thought there would be more of a set magic system with sacrifices and whatnot. If you've seen the show Archive 81 on Netflix, that's kind of what I expected!!!! I just needed a more in-depth magic system and more information on how the fantasy elements were carried out. It felt thrown together in my opinion and it left me feeling overwhelmed and confused. I know some people really like that, so you'll probably love this if that's you! I just couldn't handle it. With my fantasy and sci-fi, I prefer things pretty clear-cut.

I loved the writing itself, the characters, and the whole idea of a WOC deciding she'd rather be a monster than a "yes, ma'am" maid for white folks. I really admire that and I think this book has a great discussion on race in America, especially the very often (still to this day honestly) enforced stereotypes in the American film industry. It was just fantastic in that regard.

I think maybe this one just isn't for me. So many others seem to be enjoying it and I literally could not be happier for them. This is also the second Nghi Vo that I haven't seemed to fully enjoy so maybe our storytelling ways just don't link together! Who knows.

I also found a lot of people trying to compare and contrast this with The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo. I've never read that book, so I know I don't have much say, but I despise when people try to compare books just because they have the smallest element in common. So just because both stories follow movie stars and are queer, they're comparable?? Nooooo!!! They're in completely different genres, set in different times, and follow entirely different issues. So they are literally not comparable at all. It's like comparing the movies Tangled and Taken just because, in both, a daughter is kidnapped. You'd never see a movie review of Tangled be like, "Personally, I think Taken did it better.". Because... THEY'RE NOT EVEN COMPARABLE!

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for an advanced audio ARC. All thoughts and opinions are, as always, my very own.

tw: racism, sexism

We follow Luli, a Chinese American, navigate the magic and monsters of the world as she tries to make it in Old Hollywood.

After seeing @cozyinthenook describe this as a more queer, more Asian, more bad bitch energy in the face of Hollywood version of Evelyn Hugo -- I WAS SOLD!! I will say, it’s not exactly like Evelyn BUT the vibes are there!

Vo does an amazing job at storytelling. There’s elements of magical realism that cast an alluring shadow on everything and made me feel like I was lucid dreaming. Whether it was Luli navigating the in’s and out’s of Hollywood or hearing about her films at large, I couldn’t help but feel like I was watching everything unfold on set.

Luli wasn’t perfect, and I liked that. On one hand, we see this bad ass, indepent, queer Asian icon who stood her ground and didn’t let Hollywood men typecast (stereotype) her or corner her into pleasing them in order to grow her career. On the other hand, we see Luli step back and shed her true identity and wear the skin of some fabricated image of an Asian starlet. It was sad to see this part of her identity being covered up -- and the same can be said for queerness in Hollywood (as seen with some other characters as well).

Despite originally viewing Hollywood through rose tinted glasses, we see how truly villanified it can be (the nitty gritty dark side). During her younger days, Luli gives lockes of hair for fame and it reminded me a lot of how Ariel sacrificed her voice to be human in The Little Mermaid. We also see characters like Greta trying to break free of Hollywood’s grip.

There were some parts which I found confusing and slow but I think for the most part, Vo did a good job at capturing the magic and monsters of Hollywood and the exploration of the journey to stardom. This might not be for everyone but if you want some dark and diverse then give this a try!!

Thanks NetGalley and MacMillian Audio for my arc!

This was, unfortunately, just not my cup of tea. The fantasy elements weren't integrated and explained as well as I would have liked, and while I think that it was a stylistic choice to leave things so vague, it just didn't do it for me.

I loved the narrator and was excited about the premise, but it kind of fell flat for me. I needed a little something more.

A hypnotic, compelling story of a young Asian-American girl who longs to become a star in Hollywood and is willing to make deals with the devil to get there. The fantastical elements of the story (women with tails, for example) creep in so slowly that for a time I didn't realize how central to the story they were. Eventually, I found myself unable to suspend my disbelief through the many odd turns the novel took. The writing was lyrical and lovely and I am sure people who don't mind so much fantasy and magical realism taking over their novels will enjoy this one. I could see that the elements were also all metaphors, as the women with special abilities or features were the ones men in Hollywood were most eager to break and own.

I was provided with this audiobook as an ARC by Netgalley in exchange for my honest review.

I liked this but it left me needing more. I wanted more information about the world and the fact that everyone seems okay with the existence of monsters. I was expecting a fantasy version of Evelyn Hugo and it wasn’t that which left me a little disappointed