Siren Queen by Nghi Vo
Nghi Vo, the author of The Chosen and The Beautiful and The Empress of Salt and Fortune, returns to the literary scene with Siren Queen.
Luli Wei is a Chinese American girl trying to make it in Old Hollywood. Will Luli achieve her dreams? In a world of magic and monsters, what exactly will she have to sacrifice to achieve her dreams? How much control will Luli have over her own life? Is stardom worth the price?
After reading and loving Nghi Vo’s other books, I had really high expectations for Siren Queen. This book was longer than her other novels, and it felt longer. Siren Queen is character-driven, and I must say that I tend not to be a fan of this style. While reading this book, I kept wondering, “Where is this going?” This book lacks a clear direction.
Luli is also very detached, and I really do not connect with detached characters. She wants to make it big in Hollywood. Why? Does she want to be famous? Does she want to be rich? As a reader, we don’t see her doing much on a daily basis to achieve her goals. Aside from a couple of grand gestures, I did not feel Luli’s drive.
Siren Queen kept mentioning studio changeling; changeling appears 13 times. As this word isn’t in my everyday vernacular, I discovered that it means, “a child believed to have been secretly substituted by fairies for the parents’ real child in infancy.” In other words, it is someone who believes that they are really special but they aren’t. However, I struggle to understand what makes Luli so special.
Old Hollywood is a very competitive genre, especially given the success of The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid. Siren Queen certainly is not as good as The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo. What sets Siren Queen apart is that it contains some fantasy elements. Personally, I love realistic fantasy, but the fantasy in Siren Queen is underwhelming.
Overall, Nghi Vo should trim Siren Queen down in length. It is a decent read, but it doesn’t sparkle or shimmer. Although based on her prior works, I’m not ready to give up on the author yet.
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*Thanks, NetGalley, for a free copy of this book in exchange for my fair and unbiased opinion.
Read this review on GoodReads here.