The Return of Merlin: Amazon.ca: Deepak Chopra: Books

Product Description

From Publishers Weekly

The bestselling holistic health guru and popularizer of Indian Ayurvedic medicine plunges into fiction with this oddly engaging, complex tale that grafts Arthurian legend onto a police procedural set in modern England. The story begins in Camelot, as the evil wizard Mordred, King Arthur's banished bastard son, blasts the kingdom to rubble. We then leap into a grimy 20th-century British country town, where police detective Arthur Callum is investigating a case of arson and possible murder. Chopra's conceit, only partly effective, is that Arthurian figures-Arthur, Guinevere, Lancelot, Mordred, arch rival Merlin and others-live on through the centuries, secretly assuming the identities or occupying the souls of ordinary people. In addition to these royals, knights and mystics, the plot is replete with dragons, magic, Tarot cards, sacred stone circles, the Holy Grail, Arthur's sword, Excalibur, dreams and spells. As the forces of good and evil do battle, Chopra, with sparkling wit, spiritual insight and a light touch, weaves an inspirational parable imbued with the hope that trust, love, empathy and awareness will one day supplant fear, hatred and ignorance. This is a bold, occasionally brilliant retelling of Arthurian lore, at once livelier and less pedantic than the comparable The Celestine Prophecy but still inflected with Eastern wisdom and with Chopra's New Age perception of the temporally interconnected universe posited by quantum physics. Major ad/promo; simultaneous Random House Audio; author tour.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

The author of numerous New Age best sellers updates the story of Camelot in his first novel.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Customer Reviews

14 Reviews

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
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Average Customer Review

4.4 out of 5 stars (14 customer reviews)

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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Chopra transcends the legend!, Dec 21 2001

By

Billy J. Hobbs "Bill Hobbs" (Tyler, TX USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)

This review is from: The Return of Merlin (Paperback)

When Deepak Chopra publishes, readers take note. And when he writes about the
Arthurian Tales, what can one say? Intertwining his sense of mysticism, his intellectual scope, and a
fast-paced, very moving, novel in one is a bit much to hope for! But in “The Return of Merlin,”
Chopra has accomplished this feat. Not an “easy read” generally, Chopra’s magical touch with the
printed word maintains his reputation in this tale from Arthur.

In his introduction, Chopra writes that “The Return of Merlin” is about waking up the
wizard that sleeps within all of us, so that we can reclaim the field of pure knowledge and dream
anew world into reality, from the purity of our hearts.”

“Merlin” is another odyssey of life, a story of the traditional good vs. evil and the struggles
therein. It is a story that erases the confines of time. “To be alive now,” he writes, “is to be dead to
the past. To be alive now is to have life-centered, present-moment awareness...(and) you will discover the dance of the divine in every leaf, in every petal...in every rainbow...in every breath of every living being.” A momumental undertaking, to be sure.

Taking the Arthurian characters, from Merlin to Arthur to Mordred with a cast of many
others, and mixing in a complete disregard for any logical historical time frame, Chopra explores
this struggle, this “to be or not to be” of Camelot. Despite its frenzy, its whirlwind of action and
activity, “The Return of Merlin” is at once captivating, suspenseful, mesmerizing, combining
elements of spectacular hope and goodness and the depravitiy--nay, the power-- of penultimate
evil, Chopra shatters the pastoral hillsides of our psyche with this very-readable narrative.
Scholarly--yet quite readable!, the book is a page-turner. Chopra’s magic comes alive in a work
that is satisfactory and fulfilling.

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4.0 out of 5 stars an interesting read, Feb 5 2003

By

Crystal C. Loh (London, ON Canada) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)

This review is from: The Return of Merlin (Paperback)

I picked up this book some years back when I was looking for a good Arthurian saga and was a little surprised at the way Chopra introduced the Arthurian characters. This was a strangely written tale in that it stepped apart from the traditional re-telling of the Arthurian legend. Chopra weaves the present and the past together to present a story that is interesting but at the same time a little bit hard to follow. It is quite obvious that the author intended to draw upon many symbols within his story but being unfamiliar with his works I have to admit that I didn't quite follow amidst all the stop and gos of the story. I didn't find that THE RETURN OF MERLIN flowed quite so nicely, in some places it appeared choppy and uneven.

Chopra seems to place a good deal on the traditional beliefs of reincarnation and the repetition of events throughout time, and his attempts to parallel the modern day events surrounding the young policeman Arthur McCallum and the fabled King Arthur are commendable. I am a bit disappointed simply because the modern day portrayal of Arthur takes away from the mythic essence of the legend and the Age of Chivalry... however Chopra manages to bring across the message that nobility and all that was once revered and honorable back in the day can still be attainable today.

Chopra appears to note that we can never be sure which paths we previously trod will return and help pave the ways we walk in the future. THE RETURN OF MERLIN is an interesting and challenging read, but I would prefer to give it three and a half stars- however since that option isn't available, four stars it is!

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5.0 out of 5 stars One for Fantasy Lovers and Spiritual seekers alike!, Oct 16 2001

By

Tim Britton (California) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Return of Merlin (Paperback)

This is an incredible book. I haven't been much into reading fantasy in years, although I have always been a fan of Merlin, King Arthur, and Camelot, Fantasy books failed to hold my attention for every story has been told and retold in one way or another. I have to be honest, it was Deepak Chopra's name that drew me to this book, and then seeing Merlins name on the same cover, I had to check it out. And I am so glad I did. What a truly wonderful book for fantasy lovers, and spiritual seekers alike. Don't miss out on this great read, books like this come far and few between!! This book and the characters in it will stay with you for a long, long time.

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Most recent customer reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Something New with every Read
I have only shared this information with other people who I know, Love to read so I guess you qualify?This is Chopra's best book as far as I'm concerned it is his only book. Read more

Published on Dec 2 2000 by Tom Jackson

5.0 out of 5 stars A great continuation
I found myself truly enjoying and wrapped up in this continuation and interpretation of the Arthurian legend in modern time--I found myself reading at every available minute of my... Read more

Published on July 24 2000 by Marilyn Cox