Yes, the author is that Deepak Chopra, guru and best-selling author of lifestyle counselling stuff like Ageless Body, Timeless Mind but no, this book doesn’t contain any advice on diets!

Deepak Chopra has taken the traditional basics of the Arthurian cycle and transplanted them to 20^th century England for another go at wiping rotten Mordred out. He introduces us to the key artefacts and characters in a preface, giving everything and everyone a philosophical significance in addition to their straightforward part in the story. He also tells us the spiritual meaning of certain chapters in the book and then it’s on to the chase!

All the old familiars are here from Merlin to Morgan Le Fay plus a few I haven’t come across before – at least in this context – like Melchior and Ulwin. Most of them now have modern doppelgangers and switch between personas regularly. If you can keep up it’s quite fascinating and the story rattles along at an exciting pace.

You really have to admire the man. This is Chopra’s first foray into fiction and would deserve to do well if it were the first novel of an utter unknown rather than someone this famous. I can’t remember ever having seen it mentioned or reviewed and wonder if this normally publicity friendly man was unsure of the wisdom of going off at a type of tangent?

I’d suggest giving The Return of Merlin a try. It adds convincingly to the huge body of work based on Arthur Pendragon and is well written, albeit not a total blockbuster. Only one complaint – despite having read a British edition, a lot of jarring Americanisms have crept in. Surely they could have afforded a decent editor?

I’m fascinated to see what Chopra does next and will certainly watch for his name in future on the fiction and fantasy shelves as well as the self-improvement section. More power to his already well muscled elbow!