Siren Queen
Books | Fiction / Fantasy / Historical
3.6
(173)
Nghi Vo
"Lyrical, mesmerizing, and otherworldly. . . stunning proof that Nghi Vo is one of the most original writers we have today. A beautiful, brutal, monstrous Hollywood fantasy.”—Taylor Jenkins Reid, New York Times bestselling author of The Seven Husbands of Evelyn HugoImmortality is just a casting call away.World Fantasy Award FinalistLocus Award FinalistIgnyte Award FinalistAn Amazon Best Book of 2022One of NPR’s Best Books of 2022Vulture’s #1 Fantasy Novel of 2022Indie Next List Reading Group Book of 2023Best of Year Selections at Apple Books | B&N Booksellers | LibraryReads | TIME Magazine | Oprah Daily | The Philadelphia Inquirer | Publishers Weekly | Buzzfeed | Chicago Review of Books | LitHub | Book Riot | Paste Magazine | Geek Girl Authority | Bookish | The Mary Sue | New York Public Library | Vulture | Locus Recommended Reading List | Kobo | The Quill to Live | Goodreads | L. A. Public Library | Audible | Amazon | NPRAn Indie Next and LibraryReads PickA Brooklyn Library Prize FinalistIt was magic. In every world, it was a kind of magic.“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.Siren Queen offers up an enthralling exploration of an outsider achieving stardom on her own terms, in a fantastical Hollywood where the monsters are real and the magic of the silver screen illuminates every page.At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.
Fantasy
Historical Fiction
Magic
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More Details:
Author
Nghi Vo
Pages
320
Publisher
Tor Publishing Group
Published Date
2022-05-10
ISBN
1250788854 9781250788856
Community ReviewsSee all
"I really wanted to like this. A period piece featuring a queer main character with fantasy elements... it just felt so off. The author just seems to think that the reader will take everything fantastical at face value, regardless of how little it makes sense. I also hated the occasional future commentary that'd be made from character years down the line randomly sprinkled into the story. It'd be the middle of an event and then there'd be dialog from the future inserted in parentheses. The flow of everything was just so clunky and forced. "
"Very atmospheric. So different in the best way. Loved it."
K T
Kristin Townsend
"I don’t usually read magical realism, but Siren Queen by Nghi Vo has absolutely changed my mind! <br/>.<br/>.<br/>The story of a Chinese American girl determined to be a movie star, following the deals she makes to become famous, and her journey to stardom and facing monsters, captivated me and I finished this book in about a day. It is also a sapphic love story, discusses the issues of race in early hollywood, and tackles the issues of sexualization and exploitation of women through fame. <br/>.<br/>.<br/>I really liked this book, and it broke me out of a reading slump. I would love to read more of this author!"
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Charlotte Dibb
"Stunningly beautiful and so enchanting the way magic weaves through the story. I felt so lost in the best ways while experiencing the story go by. "
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Reed Novak
"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.<br/><br/>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."
a
awesome_user_984860
"G I M M E"
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Allykay Willims
"A lush story set in pre-code Hollywood where stardom is the key to immortality "
X
Xander
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