Siren Queen

*ARC provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review**

What happens if you take the setting of Evelyn Hugo and add some magical realism to make it much darker? This book, precisely. It has a very unique feel to it and the magic makes the dark and grim sides of old Hollywood feel even more dark. We follow Luli Wei, an aspiring actress, on her way to fame and fortune as she deals with life locked under contract.
I loved this book so much! While reading I sometimes forgot I was reading about fictive characters and had to constantly stop myself from googling names or movie titles, that’s how real this book felt to me. The magical aspect is worked into the story so carefully, it hardly felt surreal to me. Lulu is a very complex character, and although I see why some may have a hard time with her I came to really appreciate her character and how unpredictable she was. The prose is so beautiful as well.
Overall a very enjoyable read.

“In front of us was something dark and burning, the future I wanted more than I wanted to breathe.” From childhood, the Chinese-American girl who calls herself Luli Wei has been fascinated by motion pictures. It’s the 1930s and silent films are giving way to talkies. But this isn’t the Hollywood we know. Magic lurks in strange corners, from the ticket-taker who swaps a bit of Luli’s hair (and a bit of her life) for tickets to the Wild Hunt rampaging through the studio lot in the dead of night—-and even down to Luli herself, who comes from a family in which the women possess a bit of immortality. Beginning with a chance encounter on a set to an offer of a contract, Luli rises through the ranks of girls desperate for stardom where she’s all too aware that the roles for Asians are limited to maids and fainting ladies who talk funny. So when the opportunity to play a monstrous siren queen comes along, she throws herself into the role. Along the way, she acquires friends, makes enemies, has sapphic love affairs, and becomes a pioneer. The story is powerful, gorgeously written, and both dark and luminous. I was surprised by the magical realism aspect, but I think it worked well. I read this for the #diversifyyourreading #virtualbookclub hosted by @shereadytoread . It was the inaugural selection and I was happy to be able to join in on a thoughtful and enlightening discussion. . . . . #sirenqueen #nghivo #tordotcompublishing #tordotcom #botm #bookofthemonth #bookclubs #readersofinstagram #readers #bookswelove #readdiversebooks #diversespines #readmorebooks #read #20booksbyasianwomen #readwomen #readmorewomen #ownvoices #magicalrealism #historicalfiction #shereadsalot

Sometimes, I have to write a review to know how to rate it. siren queen is one of these books. Luli Wei is a Chinese American. She's the daughter of an immigrant and a second generation Chinese American. She loves the magic of movies, and she is determined to become a star. Almost no cost is too high. This book reads like a memoir. Luli is looking back on her life telling stories about her path and career. Like most lives, it meanders. There's no clear beginning, middle, and end. It's vignettes around relationships both romantic, platonic, and business. The language is gorgeous. The blending of magic and metaphor disorienting. It feels dream like. I found myself immersed. I loved Luli, Greta, and the rest of the characters. The studio's slime ballz are monsters and monsterous humans. In the author's note, Vo thanked the editors for helping her make a story out of three novellas in a trenchcoat pretending to be a book. At times this felt true. Overall, I liked the book. I wished the movie magic and themes of immortality carried through book 2 better than they did.