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Book Review: Siren Queen by Nghi Vo

cover art for Siren Queen by Nghi Vo

 

Siren Queen by Nghi Vo

Tor.com, 2022

ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1250788832

Available: Hardcover, paperback, library binding, KIndle edition, audiobook

Buy:    Bookshop.org  | Amazon.com

 

 

This is not so much a horror novel as it is an homage to classic monster movies and a critique of golden-age Hollywood. Readers looking for blood and gore will not find it here. What they will find is a dark, beautifully written warning about the dangers of ambition. Told in first person by the protagonist, the story reads like a memoir.

 

CK is a Chinese-American girl obsessed with acting in the movies, at the beginnings of the talkies. She is working bit parts for children off the books for a director at Wolfe Studios, who wants to present her as his new discovery once she turns 18. CK is impatient and tracks down a retired actress who gives her information that will get her an audience, and a contract, with Oberlin Wolfe, using blackmail photos. Due to this leverage she is able to demand that she not be cast in stereotypical roles for Asian women (an issue faced by real-life Chinese-American actress Anna May Wong in this time period).. She takes the stage name Luli Wei, a name that happens to also be her sister’s.

 

Getting a studio contract is similar to making a bargain with faeries. In exchange for fame and fortune, the studio owner controls your life (this is a fairly accurate description of the Hollywood studio system at the time, even without faeries’ involvement). There’s even a version of Tam Lin that takes place within the story.

 

Directors don’t know how to cast CK since she can’t be cast in stereotypical roles, but finally she is cast as a monster, the Siren Queen, and the movie and its sequels are blockbuster hits. Despite her ability to cause scandal and her defiance, the studio can’t get rid of her. CK has a lesbian romance with rising star Emmaline Sauvignon which the studio ends because it interferes with their narrative of the kind of person Emmaline is supposed to be. Later, she gets involved with a scriptwriter hired to do edits on the script of the last Siren Queen movie.

 

Despite knowing her contract would eventually have negative consequences for her, I couldn’t help loving CK for her ambition and refusal to let studio officials and directors walk on her, and for her own love of playing the role of a vengeful monster and loving it. The classic monster movies are clearly an inspiration to the author, and the critique of racist stereotypes and queer erasure in casting at that time is something I am glad to see brought to the attention of modern readers. Highly recommended.

 

 

Reviewed by Kirsten Kowalewski

Posted on March 7, 2024 by , Reply

Book Review: How to Succeed in Witchcraft by Aislinn Brophy

 

How to Succeed in Witchcraft by Aislinn Brophy

G.P. Putnam’s Sons Books for Young Readees, 2022

ISBN-13: 978-0593354520

Available: Hadcover, paperback, Kindle edition, audiobook

Buy:  Bookshop.org | Amazon.com

Shay is one of the few students of color at T.K. Anderson Prep. In a world where only licensed magic users can get top jobs, she is a striver. She has a higher level of magical strength than anyone else in her class,  and the second highest GPA. Her rival, with a slightly higher GPA and slightly lower magic level, is Ana.

 

At a meeting about the application process for a scholarship the school offers for a student to attend the University of Wilmington, which offers magic licensing, theater teacher Mr. B, who heads the scholarship committee, suggests to Shay that if she wants the scholarship she should participate in the school play, which is intentionally “diverse”. Shay is a terrible actor, but discovers she has been assigned the lead role of Valeria. Ana, also a student of color, is cast as her sister, Gabriela.

 

As the year goes by, Shay stumbles into friendship with Ana, and then into a (closeted) romance. Mr. B. continues to single Shay out for special attention and private rehearsals, violating her physical space (she does not like to be touched: based on this and other behaviors I think she is coded as autistic). She is uncomfortable, but none of the other kids seem to be bothered by Mr. B. When Shay is accidentally outed, he is cold to her, turning his attention to Ana, until Shay convinces him she isn’t a lesbian, so she can keep his attention and win the scholarship.

 

One night Shay’s dad’s car dies while he is on his way to pick her up from school, leaving her on campus alone. While she is walking the school grounds, she sees Mr. B. and student choreographer Brittany kissing. Brittany is sharing her magic with him, which makes him stronger, but leaves her open to manipulation. Shay decides she has to tell, even if it means losing the scholarship, and does so in such a public way that the administration is forced to act.

 

There’s a lot of subtext on privilege, systemic racism and classism, college admissions, the impossibility of the American dream, and the way sexual and emotional abusers take advantage and get away with it. Mr. B is a truly predatory character and Shay’s eventual confrontation with him is terrifying, At the same time, this is a really sweet rivals to lovers sapphic romance with some great world-building. It’s not truly horror, but it is a wonderful, witchy read that should be relatable to teens.

 

 

Posted on November 15, 2023 by , Reply

Book Review: Ruinsong by Julia Ember

Ruinsong by Julia Ember

Ruinsong by Julia Ember

Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 2020

ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0374313357

Available: Hardcover, paperback, Kindle edition ( Bookshop.org  |  Amazon.com) 

 

 

In this YA dark fantasy, Cadence is a corporeal mage whose magic comes through singing. While she comes from poverty, she is now the principal singer for the queen. Queen Elene, also originally a commoner, overthrew the previous monarchy and has forced the nobility to live in fear. Once a year they must all attend a Performing where the principal singer sings a song intended to cause pain and fear in the nobility. This is Cadence’s first year and when she sees the extraordinary pain her song is causing, she stops singing. Cadence’s disobedience leads to Ren, the queen’s torturer, murdering her dog. In return, Cadence has a tantrum that leads to the death of six people, and refuses to cooperate with the queen.

 

 

The scene of Cadence’s Performing is extremely dark and disturbing, and while we get some backstory on Elene that makes her behavior understandable, Ren and Elene’s cruelty was hard to handle.

 

 

Cadence’s mage training and social class separated her from her closest friend, Remi, who is forced to attend the performance. Remi is later arrested for going to the hospital, which is illegal for nobles, and her father is seized for treason. Elene tells Remi that if she can gain Cadence’s cooperation, she and her father can move to better quarters. Cadence is reluctant but doesn’t want Remi hurt. Despite Cadence’s monstrous actions and Remi’s position as prisoner, the two are falling in love. But Elene’s oppressive reign is about to fall to rebels, and Cadence is the one who has to decide how she will use her voice.

 

 

I like magic systems that involve music, but the magic system can’t stand alone. The character of the mage also matters. This year I have also read the YA fantasy Edgewood, which, while very different in its world building and overall plot, also has a main character who discovers she is a song mage, and she claims her agency even in the face of a cruel and capricious ruler. Cadence is passive, complicit, and easily provoked, so even though I felt sympathy for her situation, I couldn’t really cheer her on. This is supposed to be a sapphic romance inspired by Phantom of the Opera, but outside the mask wearing and the singing I didn’t see much of a connection to Phantom, and while Cadence and Remi did develop a romantic relationship, I don’t see how it could have a happy ending.

 

 

Reviewed by Kirsten Kowalewski

Posted on November 2, 2022 by , Reply