Vo has a certain way of weaving magic and the supernatural into the allegorical depiction of the high price extracted by Hollywood. To be a star is quite expensive and just might require years off your life. Even as you realize how elusive the magic system is in this story, Vo's wit and awareness of the time period in which this noir-esque tale is set is quite clear.

Her heroine is driven and refuses to be used by the studios in any role that would portray her the way in which people from her Asian community are seen. The way in which Vo positions race and racial stratification within the context of setting and time is subtle yet impactful. As Luli works to rise in the ranks of the stars in Hollywood, she fully accepts that her attitude is more suited to the more monstrous of movie characters, and she wholeheartedly steps into her role as 'monster of the silver screen'. The deals she has made to secure her place still stalk her steps but she refuses to be cowed. It is seen in the way she left her family behind to chase her dreams and the way she chooses who to love. The queer energies in this story are vibrant and defiant.

Vo gives just enough hints at what dark magic and beings lurk behind the studios and the men who run them, creating this air of danger and lurking foreboding. Our starlets must give and give for their star to rise and Luli knows just what that toll can be and maneuvers her ambitions with sly ingenuity to maintain control of her destiny.

There is nothing Luli Wei wouldn't do to be a star, even make a pact with some of Old Hollywood's devils. She had a taste of being an actress when young and she will not let it go, no matter what it may or may not cost her. But nothing is never quite this simple, is it?

I struggled rating this book, but at the end of the day, this was just too beautifully crafted to get anything less than 5 stars...
This book was so atmospheric. I truly felt like I was there. The magic system, to me, melded with the story perfectly and it felt like it could have happened like this, it felt true, it felt right.
The main character had so many many flaws, and was so far from perfect which made me love her and root for her the entire time. I wanted her to have everything and more, no matter how she got there.
The relationships were all kinds of messy and that truly made them so captivating to me.
I also saw none of the plot coming, it kept going in different directions and all of them took me by surprise.
The depiction of Old Hollywood completely drew me in and kept me captivated from beginning to end.
The audiobook was also very well narrated and it really made the story flew by.
Basically, I couldn't recommend this more and I cannot wait for more from Nghi Vo.

This one was not for me :( If I wasn't reviewing this for Netgalley, I would have DNFed this book.

Things I like about this book:
- The old Hollywood setting
- The SFF mix with historical fiction
- The conversations on racism, sexism, assimilation
- The sapphic romance
- I think the audiobook narrator did a really good job with the performance

Why it didn't work for me:
- I think this is one of those books that is all about the vibes, and the vibes were just not working for me. I'm not sure if it's because I consumed this via audiobook and I was just not connecting certain dots but I was getting confused a lot and could not follow what was going on.
- Sometimes it was a bit confusing because I didn't know if something was supposed to be a metaphor or if it was a SFF element of the story. As the story progressed, it was a bit more clear so maybe that has to do with me getting used to the writing.

I would give this book a 2.5 because there were a lot of elements that I did really like about the book, but the reading process was not one that I enjoyed

Luli Wei is desperate to be a Hollywood star and will do everything she can to achieve her goal. Little did she know, Hollywood runs on a bargain system of blood, hair, sacrifice, and ancient magic.

What a clever book! I feel this way about all of Vo’s work, but this one might be the most clever and my favorite so far.

Remember all those metaphors we use about fame, such as selling your soul or putting your blood, sweat, and tears into it? Welllllllll, this book operates with those being real bargains made for fame. However, don’t let the mystical aspects of this film fool you, it touches about the harsh realities of Hollywood back then and today for women, people of color, queer folks, and people with all the possible intersections of those identities.

Magical realism, folklore and Hollywood. . . put them in a jar and shake them loose. This wasn't a mix I was missing but after Siren Queen, I want more. I like monsters.

Luli Wei, desperate and determined, she wants to be a star! She walks a balance of staying true to who she is (does she even know?) and who they want her to be. Refusing to play the part of maid, no accents and definitely no fainting. . . what is left is to play is the monster, and well, Luli does that really well.

It's a battle, a constant shift between the powers and magic and the absolute chaos of it. Trading hair for years of your life seems to be the norm in this wild ride. (Listing anything else might give it away). The life that Luli fights for comes at a cost, it's a barter, if you want something you have to be willing to give something up in return.

Explosive in the sensual experience, allowing two very different women to come into Luli's life at different points raising the risks of being who she is. She follows her heart each time relishing in the connections. Daring it to be wrong in all the right ways. Taking on monster in many forms.

The writing was beautiful, I read along while listening. Audiobooks are sort of new to me. I tend to get distracted easily. However, I've been reading along at times and others so focused there was no way to be distracted. Wonderful narrating job on this one!

Thank you so much to @tordotcom and @macmillan.audio and Nghi Vo for the advanced gifted copies for review!

𝓢𝓲𝓻𝓮𝓷 𝓠𝓾𝓮𝓮𝓷 𝓡𝓮𝓿𝓲𝓮𝔀 💙

ℙ𝕦𝕓 𝔻𝕒𝕥𝕖: Today - Happy Birthday 🎉

🎧 𝒯𝒽𝑜𝓊𝑔𝒽𝓉𝓈:
The sarcastic approach to the Golden Age of Hollywood was very well written. HOLLYWOOD is a place for dreamers — but the monsters 🧟‍♀️ control the entire entertainment business here by dark rituals and blood magic 🪄

Luli Wei, a young Chinese American is desperately seeking stardom, the dark truth to the movie industry is insignificant to Wei. She is more than willing to offer up her soul for the chance to shine ✨ , even if that means becoming someone else entirely. 🔮

If you LOVE 🤎 old Hollywood I highly recommend this unique take on stardom and the 1930s “Golden Age”!

4/5⭐️

🔮

Thank you @netgalley & @macmillan.audio for letting me listen to this audio in return for my honest review. #Netgalley #MacMillanAudio #SirenQueen

Siren Queen is the first book that I have read by Nghi Vo, but the second I reached the end of this delightfully creative book I started searching for all other books written by this author.

Vo could have just written a story about a Chinese-American in 1930s Hollywood, but this book goes one step further. The mix of history with monsters and magic made this one of my favorite reads this year.

So many topics and themes are explored in this beautiful tale, but none of them overshadow the gorgeous prose and the flow of this story. Vo's carefully chosen words make magic on the page.

I absolutely loved this one and the narrator brought the characters to life.

Chinese American MC with Old Hollywood glamour, Evelyn Hugo vibes, queer love stories, and vicious brazen perfection. Add a dash of dark magic, and make the monsters real.

Luli Wei dreams of becoming a star. In 1930s pre-code Hollywood, bargains for fame and fortune are struck in blood, dark magic, and sacrifice. Meanwhile, monstrous studio heads lurk around every corner. When striking a deal, Luli refuses to play a maid or bit character with a funny accent, so they cast her as a monster.

This is a character driven historical fiction with subtle magical realism. Vo adeptly handles the tough topics of sexism, racism, sexual assault, and homophobia. I loved all of the strong women in this story who were not afraid to stand up to the men in power. Siren Queen gave me all the glorious feminist and sapphic vibes.

Vo’s spellbinding prose combined with Natalie Naudus’s phenomenal narration left me with goosebumps.

Thank you to Macmillan Audio and Netgalley for this digital audiobook ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Siren Queen - Nghi Vo
5/5⭐️ (but can I add a 6th ⭐️?)
Pub Day: 5/10/22

I received an advance review copy of this audiobook for free from MacMillian Audio and NetGalley, and I am leaving this review voluntarily as a courtesy.

Siren Queen is a dark, magical, and beautifully sapphic tale of Luli Wei, a young queer Chinese American woman who comes of age in the backdrop of film studios in fantastical pre-Code Hollywood. Luli is going to act but she refuses to compromise by playing a victim and instead becomes a monster in a world full of other monsters. Will she have to give up too much of her life to get what she wants and become the Siren Queen she desires to be? Is happiness to be found for Luli Wei?

Siren Queen is a brilliant novel. I was swept up by the gorgeous prose and masterful storytelling, and I was completely sucked in from the moment I started listening up to the very last word. The subtle elements of fantasy and magic are woven throughout so beautifully that you question what is real, and what is a myth. The story is rich in symbolism and a metaphor, drawing on folklore and mythology. Nghi Vo explores social issues of the times so expertly through a Chinese American perspective of the up close and personal racism, misogyny, and homophobia Luli Wei, and others like her, experienced in Hollywood. Magnificent, marvelous, superb, exceptional... take your pick, they all apply!

The narration was fabulous! Natalie Naudus does NOT disappoint! Her voice was as dark and magical as the story, with a sultry seductive quality that just made the words come alive. I am in awe at her skillful use of multiple quirky character voices!!! Naudus has fast become a new favorite narrator of mine and I will be checking out more of her work in the near future!

Reps of note: AAPI (Chinese American), LGBTQI, women

In the end, all I can say is that I adored this book. LOVED IT! I recommend anyone should give it a go -- especially the audiobook!

The Vibes: old Hollywood, weird magic, sapphic

Siren Queen follows Luli Wei's path to stardom. Since she was a young girl, Luli was drawn to the magic of Hollywood. As a Chinese American, she has many hardships to overcome in order to make it big but she is determined. This book displays the twisted aspects of Hollywood with literal monsters that need real magic to defeat. Luli might have to become a monster herself to take the spotlight.

I loved the way this book sheds light on the mistreatment of women and minorities in the industry. The aspects of this setting that are usually fantasized about were all there, while still calling out all the darker bits. The Sapphic relationships and body positivity were *chefs kiss*. I adored all of Luli's relationships, especially her friendship with her roommate and the way that they supported each other through the madness.

Thank you to Macmillan Audio and Netgalley for sending me an early copy of this audiobook! All opinions are my own!

Dark Hollywood glam where monsters of all kinds lurk? Yes please! I absolutely loved the dark vibes of this book and how it really contrasted classic Hollywood glam. There were times where you began to wonder if the monsters were real, what was real, and how it all tied together. I loved the mystery and intrigue, and all the dark vibes really tied the whole story together.

It had so many themes from that era, and I appreciated how well they were written. The racism, sexism, and issues with sexual assault in the movie industry were very well done and I think it was so important to talk about them and not hide them behind the glam.

And it was sapphic! The relationships were riddled with darkness just like the rest of Hollywood, but I appreciated the sapphic spin and the way the girls all found their freedom in their own ways. The book felt very feminist in that there were so many strong women who were taking back their autonomy and freedom from the movie industry and reclaiming themselves.

If you love the dark early Hollywood era, this is the book for you!

Grab your champagne cocktail and brush up on your foxtrot. Are you ready to experience Nghi Vo’s world of mystical realism?

In the glamorous golden age of Hollywood studios, actress Luli Wei is hungry for fame. As a queer Chinese American woman from Hungarian Hill, she knows she has a fraught path to stardom. The biggest dangers lie off-screen, where ancient magic with a thirst for blood requires sacrifices of eager young starlets like Luli Wei. The studios want to own her. After playing a siren, she begins to take on the roles of monsters. Ironically, living her dreams may turn the ambitious Luli into a monster herself.

“Siren Queen” themes include racism, privilege, Chinese labor, erasure and LGBTQ+ discrimination in 1920s Hollywood.

Vo’s vivid descriptions and captivating prose kept me spellbound from start to finish. She is a star among “the crème de la crème” of speculative fiction authors.

A huge thank you to @Netgalley and @Macmillan.Audio for the advanced audiobook.

Siren Queen is the third book I have read by Nghi Vo, and it did not disappoint. I listened to the audiobook narrated by Natalie Naudus. Her voice and skills matched perfectly with the novel. Nghi Vo is quickly becoming one of my favorite authors. I love her style of writing, which I can only describe as beautiful, even when talking about monsters.

Some things I enjoyed:
The world and “set”. I could imagine myself on the side of the stage watching the scenes take place.
The protagonist. She had flaws and wasn't perfect, which I tend to prefer.
The writing style and narration.

Some things I wanted to see more of:
The fantasy elements were very subtle.
I would have liked more of the backstory of Tara and Harry, as well as of Luli’s family, especially her sister in later years.

Overall, I enjoyed Siren Queen and will continue to read more of Nghi Vo’s works.

Thank you to Netgalley and Macmillan for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I've always loved old Hollywood in the pre-code era. It always reads like some kind of fairy tale, some otherworldly place that is so removed from modern movie making and everything attached to it. A time when you could stumble into a movie set and become a star. In Siren Queen- that's literal.
Covering the rise to stardom, above the rank of mere recognizable actor, Siren Queen details the major events of Lulli Wei's from her first taste of film to the moment she rose to a star. Literally.
Like other writing by Nghi Vo, there's an otherworldly fairy tale nature to Siren Queen. Sometimes confusing, always beautiful. A number of times I found myself rewinding in order to listen to a description or reference again because it didn't make sense, mostly because I had been so enraptured by Vo's word choices that I was lulled into a kind of dream. People or conventions would often be mentioned with such a casual nature that it would realize only after a few more lines that I had no idea what they were talking about.
It was like I'd stepped into an entire other world that was now the reality of Old Hollywood. That these were movies stars I know I'd heard of before. As Lulli states in the beginning while describing her first stirrings of obsession with film : "It was magic. In every world, it was a kind of magic." Never forget- this is fully intended to be another world, adjacent to our own, and so very close you could possibly slip into it. I almost wish I could.

Loved it so much I immediately jumped out of my seat to tell my best friend and mom about it before rereading! Representation, fantasy, and great storytelling!

This book was so good! I was not expecting to love this book as much as I did. I found Vo's last book to just be okay so I thought this one would be much the same. Thankfully, I was wrong.
This book had such a great noir vibe. The atmosphere just felt like a classic smoke filled magical land vibe. As magical realism goes this book did it perfectly. Using the magic of the movies as the grounds for the monsters and magic of this book was a strike of genuine.
The characters were amazing as well. While the main character was fantastic the side characters are who really shone for me. The way they not only interacted with the main characters but also how the magic effed them. I was just as invested in their stories and how they kept things moving.
This was just such a good book. I really hope more people will read this and appreciate just how amazing and beautiful this book was. I can't wait to do my part by recommending this book to all of my friends and customers.

The narrator is brilliant, weaving Vo's sentences as if they were her own. The audio nature of it and the narrator's unflinching way of speaking makes it easier to accept the undefined magical system. I would recommend the audiobook over the book itself, but I implore everyone to read this beautiful story.

Oh what a wonderful sci-fi, fantasy tale Vo weaves! This is the story of Luli. Chinese American. Dreams of stardom but at what cost? A tale as old as '30s Hollywood - where racism, misogyny, queerphobia, work place inequality - MONSTERS!

I thoroughly enjoyed the fantasy and sci-fi portions creating this story that touches on some very important topics while also giving us this character driven novel of a woman going against the grain and not backing down. Coming into her own in a variety of ways all the while dealing with the atrocities that come with the entertainment field.

While this is very character driven, I didn't feel that oomph from Luli that I would expect. I enjoyed her attitude. I loved that she went to play monsters over the glorified typical beauties most women are put into. Preening her scales deliciously. And the narrator was fantastic, which I think helped with the story. I felt like that last portion kinda had me scratching my head a little but I was along for the ride. And the sex scenes - me-owwwwwwwwww.

Somebody make me a Siren Queen. 😉

I really enjoyed listening to this book! It was a little out of my genre wheelhouse, but I’m so glad I gave it a chance because I really enjoyed it!

Luli Wei is desperate to be a star. She's beautiful and talented and camera-ready. But pre-Code Hollywood isn't ready for Luli. She doesn't want to play maids or talk funny. Roles are limited for Chinese American girls, but Luli doesn't care. Unfortunately, monsters don't just live on-screen in Hollywood. Luli is willing to do whatever it takes to achieve her dreams of stardom and love. Even become the monster.

*Special thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for this audio arc.*