Synopsis:
In a future where one phrase can heal any pain, there exists a meditation unlike any other: Solosis. It’s a practice that forms an empathetic bond between two souls, unlocking unparalleled healing power. But its secrets are fiercely guarded by Sasha Sumzer, a mysterious meditation teacher with a darker agenda.
Sasha is determined to bring down Axiom, the social media giant that has reshaped society with its revolutionary Glow Domes—devices that have replaced smartphones and altered daily life forever. While Glow Domes captivate the masses, Sasha believes the human mind is the final frontier for true liberation.
As an unsuspecting group of individuals stumbles upon Sasha’s teachings, they become entangled in a dangerous game that forces them to question whether Solosis is a tool for healing or a weapon for control. To discover the truth, they must confront their deepest fears and decide what they’re willing to sacrifice to save the nation’s collective consciousness.
In this gripping thriller, the battle for the mind has begun—and the line between healing and manipulation is dangerously thin.
Review:
This book’s synopsis hooked me hard. As someone who both likes to meditate and believes that the modern incarnations of social media are a net negative, a story about a meditation teacher attempting to take down a social media empire was promising to press all the right buttons.
The most dystopian antagonist in Bell Tower is the nearly ubiquitous Glow Domes, which are retinal implants that can both play and record media. They’ve replaced smartphones and become a dominant economic driver within the world. Sasha, a meditation teacher, has hated the Glow Domes since he was young, and has personal reasons for wanting to bring down Axiom, the company that controls the Glow Domes. To do so, he enlists the aid of a group of like-minded individuals, hoping to destroy Axiom before Glow Domes destroy all that he loves about humanity.
Bell Tower is a fast-paced story that I ended up reading really quickly. There’s almost no time to catch your breath, and there are multiple POV and time jumps throughout the story. The powers of meditation definitely break away from any sci-fi underpinnings, though, and walk straight into the realm of magical realism.
I’ll confess that I struggled with the depictions of the meditations described in the book. While the mental aspects of the meditations are well-imagined, I found that the straightforwardness of the process for Sasha’s initiates stretched my willingness to suspend disbelief. Several characters also go through what amounts to minor variations of the same meditation, and some of the scenes come close to being repetitive.
I personally found the story most compelling when describing the dystopian, Glow Dome wearing society of the near future. It’s all the current negative trends of social media dialed up to eleven, and the picture painted is a grim one, in which recording failures and shame is a more sure path to virality than creating something worthwhile. Those were the moments I felt most viscerally.
If a fast-paced, sci-fi thriller with a healthy dose of magical realism sounds like your cup of tea, Bell Tower might be a good read for you.
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