Thank you Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for an ALC of this book.

"No maids, no funny talking, no fainting flowers." Luli Wei is beautiful, talented, and desperate to be a star. Coming of age in old Hollywood, she knows how dangerous the movie business is and how limited the roles are for a Chinese American girl from Hungarian Hill—but she doesn't care. She’d rather play a monster than a maid.

The worst monsters in Hollywood are not the ones on screen. The studios want to own everything from her face to her name to the women she loves, and they run on a system of bargains made in blood and ancient magic. Luli is willing to do whatever it takes—even if that means becoming the monster herself.

The way Vo tells stories is outrageously unique to her writing style but worked seamlessly here while intertwining fantasy with historical fiction. Luli Wei is a determined main character who is in a world of bargains but still chooses who to do business with. I found Luli to make a lot of decisions based of off her own morals and although she wavered when faced with big decisions, it was refreshing to see her stick to her ideals.

There was an odd character of Vo's who was the only one being described as fat and she happened to be a cow/part cow? That seemed odd and like it really didn't need to be in there or just any other animal. I've never noted any discrimination or ill intent in Vo's books so I am likely looking into too deep but it did seem off.

If you have already read and enjoyed Vo's writing then you will also enjoy this one. If you are somebody who has never read Vo's work or does not normally read fantasy I think you will still like this one but need to consciously push through some of the more confusing parts because they will all come together.

The audio of this book overall was good but it had some moments where the audio was very quiet. I would need to turn it down and then the next minute it would be too loud and then I would have to lower the volume. I found the narrator to be clear and a great actor for the story.

Siren Queen tells the story of Luli Wei, an actress looking back at her early career in a fantastical pre-code Hollywood where she must face studio politics, magical bargains, and stereotypes while fighting hard to control her own identity on and off screen. Part historical drama and part literary fantasy, Nhgi Vo adeptly weaves in the magical elements that seamlessly reinforce and serve as allegory for the all too real vices and underbelly of the era. Natalie Naudus expertly narrates Siren Queen capturing the range of emotion superbly.

Full review and discussion on Narrated episode 153 (24 May 2022).

This was a fabulously enjoyable audiobook that captivated me the entire time. I sped through this in 2 sessions and loved the lush words and magical realism in the novel. I will be recommending this for sure!

Luli Wei knows how dangerous the movie world is But she has a hunger deep in her to become a famous actress. In a world full of magic, madness and wicked trades Luli has to learn what can be traded and what is worth holding onto.
This is a beautiful and haunting story full of the magic I've come to expect from Nghi Vo. The way magic is woven into the world so seamlessly gives me chills. The more I read from Vo the more I am confident I will read just about anything she releases.

Honestly, I was really disappointed by this book. I have been looking forward to it but it takes forever to get anywhere. I was very intrigued by the aspects of Hollywood meeting magic, but this reads like someone's boring memoir. I got very little personality or sense of plot.

A lush and intimate story of sheer ambition and the grit required to truly reach for eternity.

From the outset, Siren Queen engulfs you into its world, a world where monsters helm our institutions and are powered by ritualistic sacrifice and bargains underwritten in blood. The magical realism is inventive, with moments where reality and fantasy, metaphor and literality seamlessly blend and blur until you don’t know what’s real.This book is dark and sensuous, and yet, tender and honest.

Luli Wei is a sharp and clear eyed narrator, who does not shy away from her own nature and ambition. Luli Wei is a sharp and clear eyed narrator, who does not shy away from her own nature and ambition. She’s ferocious and not afraid to show her teeth while still exposing her vulnerable and soft underbelly in her intimate recollection of her life story. What really stood out in this story though, were Luli’s relationships. Luli is an admittedly flawed and often unlikeable character, who is precariously immersed in a dark and dangerous world, but she’s not alone. Her relationships are intimate and filled with honesty, compassion, understanding, and kindness. Luli’s friendships with her roommate and co-star warmed my heart while exploring the ways people navigate powerlessness and retain agency in a world where you don’t own your image or your body. Her romantic relationships, from her all-consuming but secretive relationship with her first love to her more open and mature relationship with a scriptwriter, were kind even if they were messy. The relationships depicted in this book highlight how in a harsh, cutthroat, and monstrous world, we can still find kindness and genuine human connection. And I loved that.

Though this book is a gorgeous and intimate character study, I wanted more. I wish that the relationship between Luli and her sister was explored in greater depth, especially since they take different life paths despite sharing their names. The interplay between Luli’s rejection of stereotypical Chinese roles in her work and her sister’s decision to immerse herself into the artistic community in San Francisco’s Chinatown would have added another layer to the story that I would have loved. In addition, there were some magical world building elements and plot points that felt like Chekhov's guns that were never fired. I was expecting for the curtain to be pulled back on the world of Wolfe Studios, which never happened and left me feeling misled and dissatisfied.

If you enjoyed Madeline Miller’s Circe, I think you’d like this one too. It has a similar narrative structure and explores similar themes of womanhood, isolation, loneliness and the sacrifices required for strength, power, and ambition. However, I’d argue that Siren Queen is more expansive thematically, delving into queerness and the Chinese-Mmerican identity, as well as the predatory nature of Hollywood and the representation of ‘foreign’ faces in American media. Although this novel can be reality-bending and disorienting at times, it is deeply immersive and definitely worth the read.

P.S. I listened to Siren Queen as an audiobook narrated by Natalie Naudus and would highly recommend it. The narrator really brings Luli to life with all her ferocity and vulnerability and elevates this deeply atmospheric novel to another level.

Thank you to Macmillan Audio, Nghi Vo, and Netgalley for this audio ARC!

Natalie Naudus has become such an insta-listen narrator for me it's unreal. She performed her usual excellent work in this fairy tale Old Hollywood novel. I definitely need to pick up more books by this author!

Siren Queen by Nghi Vo

Siren Queen is a dark fantastical story set in the pre-code Hollywood era. A Chinese American girl realizes that she wants to be a famous actress no matter what it takes. But she doesn’t want to play a maid or any other stereotypical roles. That’s why, despite being very beautiful, she ends up playing a monster, specifically a monstrous siren. But fame comes with a price and in a world with real-life monsters she must sacrifice everything she has to follow her dreams.

The story was very interesting and I find this time period fascinating. I really enjoyed how Vo explores the film industry in the 30s and how she uses very clever fantastical metaphors and symbolisms to portray these racist, misogynistic, xenophobic and homophobic Hollywood executives as devil creatures.

The story is completely character-driven and even though I admired the main character’s ambition and determination, I felt like the plot lacked complexity and that some parts of the story were very slow.

Overall I really enjoyed the author's writing style. The prose is beautiful!
I listened to the audiobook and the narration is amazing! Natalie Naudus’ voice is beautiful and enticing. She did a great job, as always! Thank you @macmillan.audio and @netgalley for the advanced audio copy of this book.

The narration on the Audio is very good and well paced, but the fantasy elements of this novel were not my cup of tea.

Thank you to NetGalley and MacMillan Audio for advanced access to the audiobook of Siren Queen by Nghi Vo in exchange for an honest review.

CW: racism, racial slurs, classism, cultural appropriation, unhealthy relationships, gaslighting, emotional abuse, child abuse, sexism, sexual violence, sexual content, alcohol, fire, injury, blood, self harm, homophobia, dysphoria, fat phobia, body shaming, abortion, pregnancy

Looking for your next old Hollywood fix after reading The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo? Look no further than Siren Queen. The ethereal atmosphere of this book is the star of the show. Vo creates a wonderfully nostalgic and haunting picture of the old Hollywood scene with insidious fantastical elements that will keep you enthralled. I found myself asking so many times throughout this book, "What is real and what is metaphor?", but then quickly dismissing the question. The relevance of what is and is not reality in this book is inconsequential, as the vagaries only serve to reinforce how beautifully written and true it is.

This book holds a fantastic balance of plot plus vibes, though it may lean slightly heavier on the side of vibes. I devoured this book in just a few short hours because I was just reveling in being fully present in this story.

Siren Queen
Nghi Vo
This is the tale of Luli Wei a Chinese American girl from Hungarian Hill, determined to be a star in Hollywood during the 1930s. She faced racism and sexism. Hollywood was filled with evil monsters that wanted to own her to succeed she had to join them.
I have never read anything by Nghi Vo so I had no idea what to expect. This book left me disappointed. I never connected with Luli. I barely made it through this book, it seemed to go on forever. The characters lacked dimension. I thought the author could have done much more with the magical part of the story. She told us it was there but it never really went anywhere.

I think this was a beautiful story. There are themes of identity, sacrifices, and self discovery that personalizes the experience of the MC to readers. I haven’t read many books that focus on the entertainment industry, and I loved the fantasy elements that are present throughout.

Vo’s writing style is also lovely. I would love to check out her other titles.

And the QUEERNESS OF IT ALL. Love love love. The narrators are great - very soothing and well casted. It’s a pretty fast story and digestible.

Highly recommend!

Thank you to MacMillan Audio for approving me for this title! I found this to be a fascinating and Majestic title. It reminded me somewhat of Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo - it was set in a real world with magical/fantastical elements. I felt like it was a little slow at times, but overall an interesting read. I look forward to more from this author!

“What else are we doing here but looking for our little bit of forever? Otherwise, what’s the point?”

SIREN QUEEN is a luminous, deliciously monstrous book about a young, queer Chinese-American woman seeking stardom in a pre-code 1930s Hollywood laced with magic. And it’s as utterly amazing as it sounds! Think the hidden queer Hollywood aspect of THE SEVEN HUSBANDS OF EVELYN HUGO, the exploration of Chinese-American identity and queer history in LAST NIGHT AT THE TELEGRAPH CLUB, and the raw ambition and delicate fantasy elements of SHE WHO BECAME THE SUN, all written with Vo’s signature, captivating style.

I absolutely love the world Vo has created here: it’s rooted in historical reality, with period-typical film styles, infamous personalities, and rampant prejudices, while also enriched with magic throughout. Names are imbued with power, young girls can be turned into changlings, contracts hold more than just legal force, cameras can leech pigment from human skin, women can have tails, and once you become famous, your actual star can rise into the sky. The world-building is both subtle and dramatic, dropped throughout the story in ways consequential and not, creating incredible vibes without getting held up in explanations. Paired with Vo’s beautiful, engrossing language and certain tropes that lend a fairytale-like quality, it’s the kind of story that’s a delight to give yourself over to.

What really sold me on this book, though, is the main character. Luli Wei has a fierce, burning drive to achieve stardom, to break out of the place assigned to her in life at her parents’ laundry in Hungarian Hill and not just act, but play the kinds of roles she wants to play - in her own words, “No maids, no funny talking, no fainting flowers.” She’s brash and smart, figuring out how to navigate Hollywood with her wits, talent, and beauty, the relationships she builds and the men she manipulates, and sheer determination. Her story illuminates what it’s like for a queer Asian American woman in an industry that is dominated by straight white men.

Vo also shows us how secrets were passed between those on the fringes of Hollywood, everything from which men to avoid and where to get an illegal abortion, to how to trade years of your life for fame and save your love from a sacrificial hunt. This story has a nuanced portrayal of how oppressive structures create and exacerbate tensions between marginalized people operating within those spaces, with discrimination and tokenism leading to manufactured competition and fear fostering policing of expression. The queer representation is fantastic - Luli is a lesbian (though she doesn’t use that word) and has multiple relationships with other queer women and friendships with queer men. I really enjoyed the romance subplots (it’s actually quite steamy in parts!) and this window into the hidden queer culture of the era. And I loved, loved the reclaiming of what is seen as monstrous.

Vo is one of my favorite authors and this book is a definite standout for me. Thanks to Tordotcom and Macmillan Audio for the review copies! The audiobook narrator is Natalie Naudus and she, as usual, does a fantastic job. SIREN QUEEN is out 5/10.

Content warnings: sexual harassment, racism/xenophobia, homophobia, violence, animal attack, suicidal ideation, fires

I am already a Nghi Vo fan, especially after the Chosen and the Beautiful last year and I felt like I knew what to expect from Siren Queen but this was such an interesting novel.. I think it is something I will want to reread a few times so that I can appreciate every facet. Dare I say this felt like a gritty fantasy spin on the well beloved Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo??? The storylines are quite different but the vibe check certainly holds. 1930s Hollywood where witches, demons (which can be defined in many ways), and those who may have sold their souls to demons set the price for admission into the elite ranks of stardom? With the added racial and feminist commentary and I was hooked. Vo continues to delight and impress within such a short page count that I am always ready to know what is next!
- a note for the audiobook: Narrator Natalie Naudus is a gem and I have been loving the large variety of audiobooks from her in the last year! Another killer performance!

With dreams of being a star on the silver screen, Luli Wei sets herself on a course to make that happen, and she is willing to do just about anything to make her dreams of stardom come true. Along the way she makes some friends, makes some enemies, and maybe even falls in love, or at least in lust, but she never loses that desire to have her name in lights. 

The Siren Queen has so many things that make it enjoyable. It has elements of fantasy and magic, along with an LGBT vibe. I really liked Luli’s story and her determination to obtain what she wants in her life. Luli, along with the other characters, are well developed and, magical elements aside, they are honest in their actions and motivations. The narrative is fast moving and kept me hooked; I wanted to know what was in store for the characters as the story went on. It is a unique tale that I took great pleasure in reading. 

The audiobook was a good listen. Naudus narrates the story in such a way that you are almost transported into the story. I liked the voices she used for the various characters, specifically the female ones. It flowed well and, for the most part, it added to my enjoyment of The Siren Queen. 

I highly recommend The Siren Queen; it is an enjoyable book that I feel may will enjoy. Thank you to NetGalley, Macmillan Audio and Tor Books for gifting to me an electronic and an audiobook version of The Siren Queen, given in exchange for an honest review; all opinions are my own.

Another amazing addition to the 2022 bookshelf. Nghi Vo takes readers back to the golden age of Hollywood but with a twist. I’d consider this book light-fantasy as she simply puts a lens on society and turns metaphors into magic, so this book is a great way to dip your toes into the fantasy genre. There were times when I was reading the book that I forgot there was magic at all. Hollywood really did change people’s names and give them fictitious backgrounds. Stars really were sacrificed at the peak of their careers by a system that did not acknowledge them as humans and instead treated them like objects for manipulation.
The story is told in first person narrative by the siren queen, Luli Wei, as she reflects on her life. Her desire to be a star of the silver screen led her down the dark and lonesome path with the determination that she would make it out alive. She jumps headfirst into the nightmare that is a Hollywood run by literal monsters in human form, in town where people sell the best parts of themselves for a few years of fame, and a place where immortality is earned by the amount of people who worship at your fire. In this dark world Luli etches out a place for herself without too much compromise. In her journey she finds out who she really is and what she stands for all while the studio is telling the world what they think she should be.
This book beautifully tackles what it was like being a lesbian at a time when it was illegal. The hardships and fears that permeated love, which is supposed to be pure and happy. It reminds the reader what it was like for races that were not fully recognized and accepted by society. How they too had dreams and hopes despite what people saw by looking at their skin. How they had to sacrifice what made them, and their culture, unique just to fit into a world that had no place for them. It shows you that no matter how hard a woman tried she was always seen for her looks or not seen at all. In the end it reminds you of the importance of representation to the people who feel unrecognized in the world.
Special thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan- Tor/ Forge for sharing this amazing digital reviewer copy with me and making me cry a little at the end. Looking forward to more contributions from Nghi Vo to the literary world.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with this ARC and ARC audiobook.


Description from NetGalley:
"No maids, no funny talking, no fainting flowers." Luli Wei is beautiful, talented, and desperate to be a star. Coming of age in pre-Code Hollywood, she knows how dangerous the movie business is and how limited the roles are for a Chinese American girl from Hungarian Hill—but she doesn't care. She’d rather play a monster than a maid.

But in Luli's world, the worst monsters in Hollywood are not the ones on screen. The studios want to own everything from her face to her name to the women she loves, and they run on a system of bargains made in blood and ancient magic, powered by the endless sacrifice of unlucky starlets like her. For those who do survive to earn their fame, success comes with a steep price. Luli is willing to do whatever it takes—even if that means becoming the monster herself.

Let’s start off by saying that the magic system is not thoroughly explained, but I also don’t think that it is very complex. This is a magic light version of old Hollywood with some noir elements in my mind. Luli is very charming, and I found myself rooting for her, both in her personal life but also in her career. The plot is well developed, but I found myself wanting more, especially when there were jumps in time.

Overall: 4/5

This one is for the girlies who want to read The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo but they’d rather read fantasy.

Old Hollywood meets monsters in this fantastic novel from Nghi Vo.

Luli Wei wants to make it as an actress during a time when a Chinese American girl has limited roles available to her.

“No maids, no funny talking, no fainting flowers.”

Monsters, however. Monsters will do just fine.

So she makes her career in a series of films about the legendary Siren Queen, it follows her struggles and triumphs in working for egotistical monsters and producers, her love life, and her personal journey of learning how to be a monster and how to be herself.

The audiobook was perfectly narrated and I loved every minute.

I love how Natalie Naudus narrates books. I’ve listened to a few others she’s done and they are always a pleasure to listen to. She does an amazing job distinguishing between characters and flowing through the narration effortlessly.

This was a fascinating story of Luli Wei coming of age and her rise to stardom. I loved this fantasy twist on the golden age of Hollywood where monsters of the industry are actually real.

It took me a little bit to get into the story but once I got over the first few chapters, I was hooked.