Reviews

Siren Queen by Nghi Vo

skylarko's review against another edition

emotional inspiring tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

elmarie_bassage's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

Nghi Vo's writing is just exquisitely beautiful. The story was so well written and compulsively readable. I loved every second.

nakaawang's review against another edition

4.0

i'm not entirely sure about my feelings about this book. it's, of course, undeniably good. as a filmmaker, the way nghi vo spelled out the magic of cinema in every page was absolutely amazing, if you like peeks into the golden age of hollywood in a book this is definitely for you.

i would've rated this five stars if i actually understood a single thing about the lore. every scene from part two to three i felt like i was stumbling around blindly. i never understood that the studio-owners and producers were faeries until i saw olivie blake's tweet about the unseelie

feliciasrose's review against another edition

medium-paced

• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

A mix of reading and audio. Mostly read physically on my kindle. I think some of the themes of this story were so goddamn good. I think Luli really did just want ownership and independence on her own life and fought tooth and nail to get it, but she also came across so cold and unfeeling about most people who were truly close around her. The middle felt very long and maybe not totally necessary and then the ending felt quick. We quickly graze over her life the last 30 years and I was left feeling weird about the ending. The scene with Greta was phenomenal. I was on the edge of my seat for this one. But otherwise, act two felt like a snooze for me. I don't think that act did much to establish the "magic" in fact the magic of the story felt underdeveloped. Relationships were overemphasized and we spent a lot of time on Emmaline who ends up feeling like a throwaway character despite her coming back around in act three.

mfrank's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

catbag's review against another edition

4.0

“What else are we doing here but looking for our little bit of forever?”

Siren Queen is a novel woven through with magic and ambition. Both the prose and narrative are layered with it, and it created a constant sense of atmosphere and otherwordliness in every scene. It tells the story of Luli Wei’s life, told from a version of her in the present. I think it’s important to know going into it that Siren Queen is more about the journey than the destination. It’s not so much what happened at the end, but what happened along the way and how meaning can be found in every chapter of Luli’s story.

“We’re all in this together… You, me, all the ones who came before us and will come after.”

Vo writes of the different types of immortality, humanity, and desire. There are different versions of each, yet alongside these differing ambitions and ideas was a community, especially between women and queer people. Vo crafted a cruel, evil world, but she also showed that there would always be those who were willing to help each other. It grounded the magic and the hurt with humanity, which I adored.

“I liked being cold as the Atlantic, somehow monstrous and untouchable.”

I also loved reading from the perspective of Luli Wei. She was unapologetically ambitious yet not overly cruel, fearful but not cowardly. Throughout the novel, she was described many times as cold, and she used that monstrous part of herself to achieve her goals. In the pursuit of them, she didn’t ever want to be anyone else, either; her goal was success, in her own way, on her own terms. She was willing to make enemies where she needed to, but she still cared deeply for those closest to her.

Overall, this was a quick, atmospheric read with a strong protagonist in a complex world and I really enjoyed it!

bootetas's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional funny inspiring mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

holdawayjen's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective

3.25

kendal14's review against another edition

4.0

Beautifully written, but too long. I think this story was more suited for a novella or short story, as the middle really dragged. The beginning and ending were super strong though!

mpham's review against another edition

mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0