Siren Queen

Hollywood if it was run by fae, when queerness had to be kept secret, and it was hard as heck to make it if you were not white. It makes for a great story as we watch Luli Wei go from being a kid who loves movies to a teen who is an extra on set before taking her ambitions to the studio. Along the way she makes some friends, plenty of enemies, and she will start to learn a few things about herself.

There’s a lot to take in here, and the setting is rich for other stories in this world. It would not surprise me if Vo intended for this book and The Chosen and the Beautiful to take place in the same time. There are so many things about this version of Hollywood that get treated as normal but are strange that I would have liked more detail. Machines that are alive, similar fey experiences for writers? I want to see more!

I was happy to see positive queer representation, even if this is at a time when Hollywood and the world views queerness in a negative light. Luli has to be careful with her activities, but she’s never depicted as a monster for it.

I got this from my library but I’ll probably buy a copy because I’ll want to read it again.

Um. I wanted to like this book way more than I did. Luli was insufferable and I get it, she viewed herself as a cold and monstrous thing, but she was really just self-centered at the end of the day. Not unlike any other person starved for fame. The symbolism wasn't lost on me, but the fantasy elements were so weird that I didn't appreciate them in the way the author intended. Her experiences were going to be specific to not just being a woman trying to make it to the silver screen, but a queer Asian actress. If it was stripped down to Luli's climb through old Hollywood and her romantic encounters, I would have liked it more. I just needed it to either tilt into full fantasy or tilt all the way to historical fiction. The magical realism in this instance was not working for me. Henry and Greta were great. Emmaline's negative character arc was great and I was glad that Luli ended up happy with Jane. I liked it, but I didn't love it.

It was fine! Has an old Hollywood setting

This book is a creative twist on The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo and builds a fantasy world that I want to participate to if I had the chance. I love that this book is set during the Golden Era of Hollywood with shape shifting monsters. However, I wish there was more structure in the world building.

This was perfectly fine, I suppose. But nothing really stood out to me. A “meh.”

Brilliant and seductive and very queer. This is a magical realism novel. Not a fantasy. Great example of the genre.

Absolutely brilliant. I loved the way she integrated magic with the small-p politics and overbearing studios of the classic hollywood period.

I love Nghi Vo's novellas (When The Tiger Came Down The Mountain is one of my favourite books) but this book did not work for me. I'm not surprised to find in the author's note that chronologically this is their first novel because it really does feel like a debut. There is not enough story to sustain a full length novel, but somehow the book still feels long. The writing style is also extremely fanficcy (the “all [noun] and [noun]” physical descriptors, the characters making parenthetical interjections throughout for no reason) and the romances are silly and over the top. None of the prominent characters are that interesting, and the book does that annoying thing from historical fiction where the character lays out the hardships of a certain setting and then goes, “but not me though!” as if they're better than all the real people who went through those situations.

I will say though that the world was very interesting (even if we didn't get to see a lot of it) and the way the magic was used to emphasize real world issues was mostly well done.

Beautiful descriptors, gorgeous fantasy elements, and a complex and flawed protagonist. Oh, and it's also queer. I loved this book from start to finish. It is a perfect blend of historical and fantastical, with a lot of timeless issues brought in as well.

Vo is quickly becoming one of my favorite authors. Her writing is so beautiful and dangerous. I loved the world of this old Hollywood tale with all of the mysteries and deals and dark magic. If your is someone who likes to have everything explained - do people actually become stars? do they get their names back? Are the studio heads legit demons?! - then this might not be for you. But if you want a gorgeous atmospheric tale, then pick this up!!

2.5

SIREN QUEEN is a dark work. It starts very familiar, an old tale we've heard many tales before—a young actress wants to make it in the world of Hollywood. I almost forgot I was reading a genre work and figured this would simply be a literary feminist work about a Chinese-American woman trying to make a name for herself in a world that's notoriously not that great towards Chinese people or women.

The fantastical elements enter the story slowly, and remain there until the end, but they never take the forefront or become a major part of the story. It's simply there. You get no explanation, no context, it doesn't even really feel like it has any kind of logic (or perhaps some fairytale-logic). I found myself intrigued by some of the magical laws that were clearly a part of this world yet were never illuminated on. It made for a mysterious read.

It's a delightful reimagining of old time Hollywood. Almost reads like the memoir of a gender-swapped Christopher Lee starting his career at Hammer films, with a bigger focus on anti-racism, anti-misogynism, queer representation and the like.

I wish people wrote more fantasy-infused stories of Hollywood. It's a rather unique setting, a kind of urban fantasy that worked well for me, even though I'm not big on the genre.

DISCLAIMER: I received an ARC of this book in exchange of an honest review.

Luli Wei was overlooked by the masses until she made it impossible to look away. After striking a brutal bargain to achieve her dreams, Wei finds her home on the silver screen. What follows is a mesmerizing (and hair-raising) coming of age tale about Luli's rise into the spotlight.

Nghi Vo's Old Hollywood is painted with a dreamlike brush. There's a phantasmagoric haze over every event and every interaction. It's mesmerizing and disturbing in equal measure. And, as impressed as I was with the tone and prose – I struggled to stay invested in Luli's story as I found it a bit overstuffed and all over the place. Others will surely love this, but it was not quite my cup of tea when all was said and done.

My thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

See this review and others at The Speculative Shelf.