Book Review: The Singing Bowl By Guildford Author David Stokes

Published on: 9 Nov, 2021
Updated on: 11 Nov, 2021

By Hugh Coakley

Dinosaurs that talk, a parallel world called Thera, a love interest and an adventure story, is the background to The Singing Bowl, a new fantasy fiction novel by Guildford author David Stokes.

Two teenagers stranded in London, one a trafficked young girl and the other a refugee from a flooded home country, are the brave heroes in a fight not of their making.

Taken by chance to a parallel world struggling with the effects of a changing climate by a novice monk, the teenagers are assumed to have supernatural powers which can help those on Thera to fight the causes of their warming planet.

Aimed at young adults, the book draws parallels with global warming on our own earth.

David Stokes, Guildford author.

David said: “I wanted to do something to support COP26, hence the themes in the book.

“I am donating all profits to organisations working to reduce carbon emissions. Initially this will be Zero Carbon Guildford, a local charity that is helping the town to become carbon neutral by 2030.

“I’ve had an excellent response so far. One reader described it as ‘a wonderful blend of characters, realms and settings’ and another as ‘a triumph of fact and fantasy that focuses on the most important issue we have ever faced’.

“I wrote the book with a young adult reader in mind but I think it will appeal to wider age groups too.”

David said he self-published the book to keep the costs down. “I want to donate as much as possible which means it needs reviews on Amazon to make it visible. So if you like what you read, please post a review.”

You can buy the book on Amazon and Kindle (where the first five chapters can be downloaded free) and on other platforms if you don’t use Amazon.