Friday, May 16, 2008

Deepak Chopra: The Return of Merlin

This was one of the books on my shelf that I had to read to decide whether to keep or give away before we move. This is definitely a keeper.

This novel follows events across centuries and retells the Arthurian legend in a way that all of us can relate to. Sure there are wizards and magic and time-travel, but at the very heart, this book is about the battle between good and evil that has always raged and continues in our world today. It's a book about remembering who we are and honoring the goodness within ourselves to conquer that evil. The characters are engaging and the plot is wonderful. I always love a good time-travel story but this one has a new spin on it because the wizards, who are not considered human, have an advantage others don't. The end is sufficiently satisfying without being too cheesy or too final, which is something you don't always find in a fantasy novel.

I would recommend this to anyone because it is just a good book. I really appreciate that there was limited language and the scenes were clean despite a little violence. Even if you're not a big fantasy reader, I think you will like this because the focus isn't on all the magic and wizardry.

Have you read this or anything else by Deepak Chopra? I'm interested in reading more of his work and I'm looking for suggestions. And let me know what you think when you do read it.

3 comments:

Zen of Writing said...

I liked his Book of Secrets, which is nonfiction.

Did you read The Mists of Avalon?

Unknown said...

I just started reading this book, and I am enjoying it so far.

Are there any other fiction books by Chopra? I'm going to do a search and see.

RZStoryLove said...

I don't know if he has any other fiction books, but I would be interested. I'll probably read some of his non-fiction in the future as well because he's such a great writer.

Zen - I didn't read The Mists of Avalon but I will add it to my TBR list if you recommend it.