Tade Thompson returns to his “bloody exploration of of identity and self in a changed world” (Publishers Weekly) in The Survival of Molly Southbourne. 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, … 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?
At the Publisher’s request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.
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I liked it more than the 1st one. Molly finally got happy ending so it was satisfying.
The Survival of Molly Southbourne by Tade Thompson is the amazing follow up to one of my all time favorite novellas, The Murders of Molly Southbourne. It’s another tale that is filled with life, death, and lots of blood, but this time, we finally learn more about Molly’s condition.
Opening line: I am holding a telephone while watching a house burn.
What a great line to kick things off! I was so pumped to see that we’re just minutes after where we left off in the first book.
In the first chapter, the author did a wonderful job recapping what happened in the first book. But I’d definitely still recommend reading that one first before diving in to this novella.
In this story, we follow our main character as she learns more about navigating life with the ghosts of her past haunting her.
Within this tale, there were also quick bits and pieces of video log transcription shown from the viewpoint of poor Professor Down as he tracks what happens to his body. He seems to be doing okay when we first see him, but over time, as he fights to survive after the bombshell we learned in the first book, we start seeing his hope evaporate…
While reading, I was so nervous to see what would happen next for both of the characters that we focused on. All I wanted to see was a happy ending! But boy did this one keep throwing curve-balls!
Needless to say, I was totally captivated by this one!
I did not realize this was the second book in the Molly Southbourne series until I went to Amazon to find out when The Survival of Molly Southbourne came out. I was completely shocked. Thinking back, I could see a few areas that gave information about the first book, The Murders of Molly Southbourne. But Tade Thompson transitioned from the first book to the second so flawlessly that I didn’t even realize it was book two.
I found the premise behind the story a unique one. When Molly bleeds her blood becomes clones of her. She was taught to destroy all of her blood droplets and to kill all of her clones. She has been doing this for years, and is exhausted. She devises a plan to put an end to it all. But if you have clones can you ever really end it?
The book begins with a fire and continues a violent course throughout the rest of the book. It is a short book so the action feels pretty non-stop. When not running for her life or fighting clones, a Molly, meets Tamara whose blood has the same abilities. But Tamara has learned to embrace her clones and live in harmony with them.
This is completely unusual to Molly, and try as she can to come to terms with it, life is never that easy. Molly goes back and forth whether the tamaras are trying to help her live a better life or use her to an unknown end.
And then there is James, Molly’s old lover, who is trying to keep Molly alive in his own way, but the results are horrific, and one more thing that Molly has to deal with. This woman can not catch a break.
A very enjoyable story that left me with some questions, and I hope Thompson writes some more books in this series. I would also like a story on James, describing what he went through in this book in more detail. And my biggest question is what about menstrual blood? Just think about that for a moment. You can flush it down the toilet, but that’s not destroying it. And you can burn the tampon, but what about the blood that is coming out of Molly’s body. You can continually burn it….??? Like I said, questions.