Set against the backdrop of a dystopian Birmingham city, Punam’s offering is an intriguing story of gang warfare in a city in the grip of “the kiss”. The kiss is brought about by spirits who drain the life out of victims converting them to more of their own, soulless spirits roaming the land. There are some key characters in the story such as Gorbind Phalla, a father and leader of the main force in Birmingham. Pitted against Felicity Daiton, the leader of the rebellion. The story centres on a convergence of the gangs in a battle for the city.
Whilst “the kiss” is a feature of the story it never really comes to the fore and only serves to be an aspect of the gangland fighting that is something to be careful of. The characters are presented fairly well but I can’t help but feel that as a novella the character development could have been even better served as a longer story.
For the majority of the book the writing is well-paced and well structured and presents a gritty environment. If you know Birmingham then the presentation becomes even more intriguing as the final battle converges on Spaghetti Junction, the more commonly known name for Gravelly Hill Interchange. International readers may struggle with this reference as it isn’t explained in the text nor are other location references. Despite the obvious quality of the writing the author is let down to an extent with some poor editing. This should be a fairly straightforward fix for an improved edition.
Overall, this is a gritty story that has a reasonable amount of intrigue to keep the reader in the book. Broken by some poorly edited sentences and the need for greater character depth, I award this story 3 stars.
Not Available to Buy at The Book Dragon
