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I'd encountered Nghi Vo's writing earlier in "The Chosen and the Beautiful" so had some sense of her writing style before reading "Siren Queen", but I can't say this has changed my personal preferences towards her style of writing.

"Siren Queen" is told from the perspective of Luli Wei, a Chinese American girl who enters a version of a rising Hollywood in a world imbued with different forms of magic. The first half of the novel was engrossing for me, as it covers how Luli stumbled into the world of acting, the various agreements that she had to undertake in order to pursue it as her career, and the ramifications of stealing her name from her sister. The second half covers her eventual rise to fame, the various players and actors she meets, and the different relationships she forms and destroys.

I enjoyed Vo's prose and sentence structure, but can't help but voice the same points that I found difficulty with in "The Chosen and the Beautiful". While the interweaving of magic with reality isn't something I dislike, there is very little explanation given to how the rules work and what's actually happening. It's also difficult to understand her main protagonist, the narrator, as she at times comes off simultaneously as very emotional and vulnerable but also flippant and lackadaisical. I do appreciate that her writing highlights the Asian American experience, as well as various LGBT relationships, but unfortunately this book didn't live up to expectations for me.

Thank you Tordotcom for an advance copy of this novel!