Molly Southbourne #2
Synopsis:
Who was Molly Southbourne? What did she leave behind?
A burnt-out basement. A name stained in blood. Bodies that remember murder, one of them left alive. A set of rules that no longer apply.
Molly Southbourne is alive. If she wants to survive, she’ll need to run, hide, and be ready to fight. There are people who remember her, who know what she is and what she’s done. Some want her alive, some want her dead, and all hold a piece to the puzzles in her head. Can Molly escape them, or will she confront the bloody history that made her?
Edition:
Paperback
NOTE: IF YOU HAVEN’T READ THE FIRST BOOK, BEWARE – THAR BE SPOILERS HERE.
My Thoughts:
I bought this book immediately after finishing The Murders of Molly Southbourne and then I waited so, so patiently to get to it “naturally” (whatever I mean by that). So, when I pulled the title out of my TBR jar a few weeks ago I was pretty stoked. This book did not disappoint.
“Molly Southbourne was a freak whose blood grew genetically identical duplicates of her. One drop of blood, and a new molly popped up, but it wasn’t cute. It wanted to kill her.”
This book picks up exactly where Murders left off. Molly is dead, and her chosen molly has taken her place. While the first book focused on the horrors of Molly’s reality, this one focuses a bit more on the story itself. Although how she came to be is revealed in the end of book one, book two becomes a bit of a journey of self-discovery. And general discovery. Because given her origin story, it would have been weird if Molly had been all alone out there. So, we get some additional back story, and a new character who has suffered a similar fate to Molly’s only there’s one major difference – her clones don’t try to kill her, and new Molly wants to understand why.
When I left book one, I felt like that ending was pretty satisfactory, so I didn’t necessarily need a follow-up, but the story was good enough that I was more than willing to trust the author and go in for round two. I’m glad I did. Although I still think it wrapped up rather nicely (if a tad ambiguously) in book one, this one definitely justified its existence by delving deeper into the established mythos.
About the Author:
According to MacMillan’s website:
TADE THOMPSON lives and works in the south of England. He is the author of the Rosewater trilogy (winner of the Nommo Award and John W. Campbell finalist) , The Murders of Molly Southbourne (nominated for the Shirley Jackson Award, the British Science Fiction Award, and the Nommo Award), and Making Wolf (winner of the Golden Tentacle Award). His interests include jazz, visual arts and MMA. He is addicted to reading.
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Rating:
It may not have quite the same visceral impact of the first story, but there’s still plenty to be entertained by in this follow-up.
The Survival of Molly Southbourne By Tade Thompson Tor.com ISBN: 1250217261 Published: July 9, 2019 Paperback, E-book 128 Pages
Wonderful review! I totally agree, after reading the first, I didn’t think it needed a follow-up, but I was pumped to dive in!