Full spoilers for the entire book below. Proceed with caution.
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Title: The Return of Merlin
Author: Deepak Chopra
Publication Date: 2008 (novel), 2008 (audio)
Publisher: Random House Audio
Narrated By: Simon Jones
Recording time: 3 hrs, 4 minutes
Abridged Audiobook
THE PLOT
The story opens with Camelot under siege. Arthur has been out of touch with Merlin for years, due to an agreement he had on that issue with the Church, when he has a premonition of doom. He reaches out to Merlin, but the wizard rebuffs his request for aid. Soon after, Mordred attacks.
Melchior, Merlin’s apprentice, is sent to Arthur by the elder wizard with instructions. Soon after, many Knights of the Round Table and Guinevere are gathered together with Arthur and Merlin. The wizard tells them that this attack exists only in their minds. The group fixes their eyes on the Holy Grail and as the evil magician attacks, they choose to resist.
The story them jumps forward into the present. The participants in the battle at Camelot have been cast through time, each adopting a new life in the present. They must find each other and particularly they must find Merlin, and then untangle the clues laid out by Merlin, to defeat Mordred before he finds them and resumes the battle. The group comes together and ultimately realizes that the key to defeating Mordred is to realize that they are all Merlin.
The novel opens on the fall of Camelot to Modred, Arthur’s evil son. Merlin has been banished from Arthur’s side by an agreement the King made with the Church. In his kingdom’s moment of need, though, Arthur reaches out to the old magician for help. Merlin leaps the characters forward into the present. Arthur is now Detective Arthur Callum investigating the apparently murder of a bearded old man (Merlin), whose body subsequently disappears. Detetctive Arthur’spartner is Detective Katy Kilbride, who appears to be Guinevere. Katy becomes engaged to Arthur but marries Ambersides (Modred), then is next seduced by the succubus Jasper, who sees her as Morgan le Fay.
Other characters present at the fall of Camelot are also present, many of whom are seeking each other out. The actions in the present alter both the present and the past, and vice versa, while the group collectively learns the lesson Merlin is attempting to teach them. Merlin will not fight Mordred because he knows Mordred is himself. The face of evil is but just one facet of an infinite self, existing beyond light and darkness, life and death. Reality is a dream… Merlin’s dream. They collectively battle Mordred by realizing they are each of them, Merlin. Arthur and his companions, The Court of Miracles, arrives at Mordred’s location.
Collectively they tell him they are Merlin. Mordred calls out to Morgan le Fay for help. She appears and helps him to escape. The effort exerted by Morgan is so much that it causes her to collapse. She lifts a hand and a stream of acid shoots from her fingers at Mordred. Morgan is revealed to be a dwarf, King of the Elementals. He chides Mordred, “magic for magic, a spell for a spell… but you never paid me.”
One of the characters is then revealed to be Merlin in disguise, who is now ready to reveal himself because Mordred lost the game. Mordred then collapses into a lump. Mordred is not gone forever, but his sleep will be long. A couple of police officers in the present glimpse a castle, and a forked beard, as the characters from Camelot leave together.
My Review:
On the whole, I enjoyed The Return of Merlin. Tonally, it successfully works as a sequel to the Arthurian stories told by T.H. White. Chopra borrows from the existing Merlin mythology, regarding living backwards, and then develops that concept further by including many of the other Camelot characters in a future setting as well. The story is appropriately confusing for a time-travel plot, with the group needing to solve a mystery and learn a Merlin-ish metaphysical lesson in the process.
Chopra’s story is unique to these characters inasmuch as his Merlin’s wisdom is more overtly Buddhist, though that characterization does not feel as out of place as you might expect for a story so heavily rooted in Christian mythology and European paganism.
This audio recording was an abridged version of the story, and I suspect very much that a lot of important storytelling was left behind in the abridging process. The most likely primary victim – I am guessing – is world-building and characterization-related. Everything felt a little bit rushed (the plot moved from point to point too quickly and realizations were gained with similar haste), the character arcs were flat, and it occasionally took me longer than it should have to get my bearings with the plot. It’s not that these things detracted a lot from my enjoyment of the story, but I could definitely see room for improvement. My other critique was that a lot of the dialogue felt a bit like philosophical information-dumping. This is extremely common in fantasy fiction, so it did not distract me, but it is something Chopra could (and perhaps already did) improve upon in future work.
For a first novel, though, and keeping in mind that this audio recording was abridged, I thought The Return of Merlin was excellent. Simon Jones gives a good performance as the narrator. I never got bored while listening.
Have you read The Return of Merlin? If so, what did you think?
