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anger566's review against another edition
dark
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
Really interesting concept.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Child death, Murder, and Violence
Moderate: Death of parent, Terminal illness, and Self harm
jindjarin's review
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
this story developed in my mind into a goddamn movie. the details makes you imagine everything from the main characters view rather than 3rd person. the stoic and numb style of speech and detailing is perfect and makes sense once you become used to her personality and life experiences.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Child death, Death of parent, Death, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Murder, Violence, Torture, and Sexual content
sucreslibrary's review against another edition
dark
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Gore, Kidnapping, Murder, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Torture, and Violence
ianders's review
dark
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
This was a ride. What a delightfully bizarre concept this novella revolves around: every time the main character bleeds, a clone of herself is formed and it wants to murder her. And it works: I was thoroughly engrossed in the story throughout. There were some slower parts as Molly tries to navigate her life trying to bleed as less as possible, but her "condition" always catches up to her, leading to a lot of dread as we anticipate it, and bloody action once it happens.
I thought Molly herself was pretty interesting. She was raised in a sort of survivalist environment because she had no choice, and she grew up very isolated, lonely and on the fringe of society, barely able to interact with it until her teens. She changes a lot as she ages, going through various phases of anger or acceptance, which in turns changes the way clones act towards her (although the murderous intents remain). She remains detached from others, sometimes by choice but mostly not. Her life visibly exhausts her because it is barely her own at times.
This story felt like a rough coming of age story with the theme of how one's change through their life, and how they might have conflicted feelings towards those changes. We often oppose resistance to change, or we enter different stages of denial, clinging to the comfort of what we know and the illusion of being in control all the time. We are also under the pretense that we know ourselves well at any time. Then, there's also the influence other people have on us, especially as children. Molly's parents are the one teaching her to combat her clones because they don't want them to replace their daughter; they want her to remain the same. Now I don't know if that was the author's intent, but I think it works well as a metaphor. I think there's definitely something interesting in the very concept of choosing to kill yourself repeatedly.
The ending was a tad ambiguous: choices are made and something major happens, but we are left in the dark as to where all of it will lead. There's a sequel though, and I've yet to read it, but I hope it takes us even further down this weird, thrilling path.
I thought Molly herself was pretty interesting. She was raised in a sort of survivalist environment because she had no choice, and she grew up very isolated, lonely and on the fringe of society, barely able to interact with it until her teens. She changes a lot as she ages, going through various phases of anger or acceptance, which in turns changes the way clones act towards her (although the murderous intents remain). She remains detached from others, sometimes by choice but mostly not. Her life visibly exhausts her because it is barely her own at times.
This story felt like a rough coming of age story with the theme of how one's change through their life, and how they might have conflicted feelings towards those changes. We often oppose resistance to change, or we enter different stages of denial, clinging to the comfort of what we know and the illusion of being in control all the time. We are also under the pretense that we know ourselves well at any time. Then, there's also the influence other people have on us, especially as children. Molly's parents are the one teaching her to combat her clones because they don't want them to replace their daughter; they want her to remain the same. Now I don't know if that was the author's intent, but I think it works well as a metaphor. I think there's definitely something interesting in the very concept of choosing to kill yourself repeatedly.
The ending was a tad ambiguous: choices are made and something major happens, but we are left in the dark as to where all of it will lead. There's a sequel though, and I've yet to read it, but I hope it takes us even further down this weird, thrilling path.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Murder, and Suicide
Moderate: Body horror
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