Kim Lakin-Smith > Writing > Tourniquet > Tourniquet Reviews
"Imagine if you will...
The greatest rock band in history decides to remake a city in its own image, a place where the freaks of the world won't be seen as outcasts, but celebrated as the norm, a place where a leather garbed, mohawk-sporting, pierced-laden outsider can call home. Welcome to The Renegade City... utopia for the unwanted.
But as with most utopias, things aren't always as Rosy as they seem.
In Kim Lakin-Smith's debut novel, in the near-future, the city of Nottingham has been transformed into The Renegade City . The city has divided itself into several sub-classes, with classifications such as Castclan, Skinwalkers, Fae, Trawlers, DarkLed, Grallators, and Drathcor. The city is governed by the Management, overseen by Origin, a rock band of Epic proportions.
Right off the bat, however, things begin on a sour note. The lead singer of Origin, a Messiah of sorts named Roses, has died in a fire. Questions and suspicions are raised at the highest levels. Was Roses intentionally killed? By whom? By which sub-class? The investigation is on to find the answer to these questions, which in turn lead to new questions.
The concept is great in and of itself, but what really makes this book shine is Lakin-Smith's incredible writing; this novel is really a 237 page poem, with enough dazzling imagery and allusions to make your imagination perk up its ears and wag its tail. The language is brilliant, reminding me over and over again of the work of Arthur Machen. That, combined with an imagination expansive and deep enough to rival that of Clive Barker, makes it clear that Kim Lakin-Smith is a brand new breed of writer; one with the chops to describe the darkest side of the human experience in language so beautiful that you'll enjoy reading it.
I eagerly await the next Tale from the Renegade City, as I'm certain that the new Queen of the Futuristic Industrial Goth Movement won't disappoint.
This novel is highly, highly recommended."
Scott F Falkner
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"Kim Lakin-Smith's Tourniquet is the first in a planned series of 'Tales from the Renegade City', said city being, apparently, Nottingham, a nightmare place riven by factions, forever on the cusp of self-annihilation. The novel follows Druid, drummer for überband Origin, in a reluctant quest to discover his brother's killer. Along the way he meets any number of amicables and attackers, but what lifts this above your average quest fantasy is the fierce sense of location, of this twisted Nottingham, a place that Druid - in helping to shape - must now rediscover, map its secrets for himself in order to reach an epiphany and cope with his loss.
Renegade has the feel of poetry about it, but it is edgy, dangerous stuff. To read it out loud would be less a lyrical waxing than an invocation of something smoky and menacing, adorned with horn and hoof. It is a cloacal, treacly mix of gothic thriller, urban paranoid examination and scarred, black magic treatise.
Lakin-Smith acknowledges the dark seduction of bands such as Nine Inch Nails that inspired and flavoured her narrative - you can almost imagine Trent Reznor supplying the soundtrack to this richly textured, muscular novel. Blacker than kohl, Renegade is a sexy, sassy treat. And Kim Lakin-Smith is a writer to keep your eye on."
Conrad Williams
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"Perhaps it is futile to try to categorise a book that is treading such new ground. The only thing that is certain is that its combination of Goth and gadgetry, music and mysticism will have a new generation of mosh pit prophets drinking up every word."
SFCrowsnest.com
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"Lakin-Smith writes from a position of respect and love. She patently lies the city and overlays it with the realities of various subcultures. Each provides a different mix of the same locale, coming together like the beats on an industrial track."
Yatterings
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"The Lady of the Manners has placed Tourniquet: Tales from the Renegade City on her “Books to Re-Read” shelf, which is as high of praise as the Lady of the Manners can give."
Gothic Charm School
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"Lakin-Smith’s prose is stylistically distinct and a pleasure to read. There are some truly lovely turns of phrase, and there’s a sensual lilt to her voice which is perfectly appropriate to both the decadence of Renegade City and the aesthetic of the subcultures that spawned it...an impressively ambitious book and its central conceit – exploring a city-state founded around a musical subculture – is quite unique. I like it a lot for this. It will certainly be interesting to see more of Renegade City"
Nostalgia For Infinity