Where's Merlin Now? He's Not There!

The Return of Merlin
Deepak Chopra, Harmony Books
March 1996





I normally love Arthurian fantasy and anything relating to the Celts and the Druids. This was sort of boring. Perhaps the reason behind the boredom was that the author was not focusing on storytelling but was rather using his story as a vehicle to transmit spiritual truths. The truths them self are not bad and it is most likely something we should listen to. According to the wizards way there is no reality and what we see is an illusion. Indeed that is correct but the salt shaker in front of me is still there no matter if it is composed of energy or a bunch of microscopic particle vibrating together at a slow rate. To look at reality is to see your reflection as reality is nothing but a mirror of our expectations. Evil is born from us when we stuff our negative emotions into the subconscious, this is how demons are born. To fight the evil you must realize that the source of evil is yourself. Nice truths!

Another draw back is that the characters Author, Lancelot, Mordred and company do not actually make but small appearances and when they do it is not in full glory. Some manage to come back only in spectral form. Merlin never really makes a formal appearance. Kind of a drag. The ending seems to be big deal do we see people living happily ever after? Well not really and only in the case of Tommy and Sis. What happens after that? a little conclusion about what happens please. Happily ever after.

I realize that Deepak Chopra is a specialist in Indian Spirituality and that many Celtic ideas may originate there, yet there is not enough cultural reference to Welsh and Celtic cultural and spiritual ethos. I would have liked to have seen more of that in the book. By the way this is a short coming of a good many books.

The story starts out with the discovery of a body lying by the side of a road in a ditch. The police arrive on the scene trying to figure out who it belongs to. When the body is placed in the ambulance it disappears. This leads to an investigation and the eventual suspension of Aurthur McCallum from the force. Tommy and Sis two orphans happen upon it as well. When they are sent back to school by Arthur one of the boys finds a dragon fly. The dragon fly is Merlin's apprentice who survive Mordered's take over of Camelot. The old man was not Merlin but rather Merlin using the body of Derek Rhees. The boys and Derek go on an adventure in the forest traveling through time, dodging Mordered and altering the past. Melchior is rescued by crows and then comes into Arthur's aunt's home only to go on an adventure with her to the court of miracles. The story telling is not to bad! but I would expect Merlin to at least return and the Aurthur's return to have more an impact.