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themclaughs 's review for:
The Murders of Molly Southbourne
by Tade Thompson
Don't bleed.
Overall Thoughts
This novella is the perfect quick Halloween read. Seriously.
It was surprisingly creepy, and good. While a lot of books start off scary but quickly devolve into human debauchery, this book sets the premise from the beginning: Molly herself is scary.
It isn't traditional horror, and it isn't a traditional villainy. Whenever Molly bleeds, a molly is born. And mollys want to kill Molly.
I won't get into the plot much more than to say that it has a few twists I genuinely find impressive. I think some of the open-ended ambiguity of random mollys showing up added to the whole thing. Could you say with certainty every time you've bled? I certainly couldn't. It's evident in this book...neither can Molly.
Pros
1) The concept is brand new for me, and super invigorating. It's just... awesome. Bleeding causes a copy of yourself to spawn, and its set on killing you. What do you do?
2) The violence isn't overly graphic, and neither is the sex. This is something that Tade does a wonderful job of. It's grotesque, it's sexy, but it's not gratuitous in either.
3) I love that there's a sequel. The book is a story from start to finish, but the open-end makes it better. Cannot wait to read a second.
Cons
1) The book is short. Clocking in at around 130 pages, you fly through this like it's nothing. I'm not sure it could work as a longer story, but I WISH it was. Maybe that's a pro.
2) The story details a lot of Molly's younger life. And while that's probably where the most mistakes happen, and where it's most exciting... it makes me wonder if there's much more story to tell. It jumps from kid to college to... adulthood? I wasn't sure how old she was by the end.
3) Some of the information with Leon was scarce, and I was hoping for more.
Closing Thoughts
Overall, this story surprised me. I was expecting a run-of-the-mill "Final Girl" story, and was pleasantly surprised when it wasn't.
Tade caught my attention and kept it for the Rosewater Trilogy, even if I felt it had a weak ending. But this book was strong from start to finish. HIGHLY recommend it.
Overall Thoughts
This novella is the perfect quick Halloween read. Seriously.
It was surprisingly creepy, and good. While a lot of books start off scary but quickly devolve into human debauchery, this book sets the premise from the beginning: Molly herself is scary.
It isn't traditional horror, and it isn't a traditional villainy. Whenever Molly bleeds, a molly is born. And mollys want to kill Molly.
I won't get into the plot much more than to say that it has a few twists I genuinely find impressive. I think some of the open-ended ambiguity of random mollys showing up added to the whole thing. Could you say with certainty every time you've bled? I certainly couldn't. It's evident in this book...neither can Molly.
Pros
1) The concept is brand new for me, and super invigorating. It's just... awesome. Bleeding causes a copy of yourself to spawn, and its set on killing you. What do you do?
2) The violence isn't overly graphic, and neither is the sex. This is something that Tade does a wonderful job of. It's grotesque, it's sexy, but it's not gratuitous in either.
3) I love that there's a sequel. The book is a story from start to finish, but the open-end makes it better. Cannot wait to read a second.
Cons
1) The book is short. Clocking in at around 130 pages, you fly through this like it's nothing. I'm not sure it could work as a longer story, but I WISH it was. Maybe that's a pro.
2) The story details a lot of Molly's younger life. And while that's probably where the most mistakes happen, and where it's most exciting... it makes me wonder if there's much more story to tell. It jumps from kid to college to... adulthood? I wasn't sure how old she was by the end.
3) Some of the information with Leon was scarce, and I was hoping for more.
Closing Thoughts
Overall, this story surprised me. I was expecting a run-of-the-mill "Final Girl" story, and was pleasantly surprised when it wasn't.
Tade caught my attention and kept it for the Rosewater Trilogy, even if I felt it had a weak ending. But this book was strong from start to finish. HIGHLY recommend it.