Customer Reviews

Messenger: A Sequel to Lost Horizon: A Story of Shangri-La

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Not so much a sequel to the original story as a place to hang some pretty fluffy self-help-ish advice. No mystery in it for me. Characters were utterly overshadowed by Hilton's work. Points for enthusiasm.

Messenger is a special novel that expresses the concept of Shangri-La with insight and suspense. DeMarco's story left me thinking a great deal about the perfection that exists, often unexplored, within each of us, and of our inherent power to bring this significance into our lives. This book is a much needed reminder of the highest and best that exists always at our cores. My gratitude to the author for his wonderfully written message of hope and love.

I sort of stumbled on this a couple weeks ago after having watched Lost Horizon on DVD for like the trillionth time and deciding I had better get the novel and read it. So, obviously I bought this as well. I even bought the "other" sequel which I will be starting after some sleep. I was genuinely impressed by this book. What a great read. Having pondered writing a sequel myself (more for my own enjoyment than anything else) I have to laugh because my story would have been close to what was written here. Mine would have been modern day, however, and Conway would for some reason I hadn't come up with yet have had regrets about staying, but my hero as well was going to be a pilot, albeit he was more of the Conway from the original, world weary, etc. But I digress. I feel this was pretty well thought out and executed storywise. I appreciate the author's feeling of need to put in the "drunk monkey" section, but I do wonder if it is necessary. I don't know. I don't hate that part, but I just wonder a little if it was necessary to include. I'm of two minds on it. I can't say that if I had actually put pen to paper I wouldn't have done the exact same sequence. It is more ethereal (for lack of a better word) than the original and it did leave me wanting more when I finished reading it (about ten minutes ago). I, as well, would like a sequel to this, told by George now that he's several years out of Shangri-La, to see how things are going in his "world".

I enjoyed this book very much. It leaves one with a feeling of hope and optimism as well as some interesting techniques for meditation and personal growth.

I'm hoping there will be a sequel!

Lost Horizon was a very powerful book, a warning to the present with a dream of peace and love for the future. It was a book of its time and the sequel, in pulling Shangri-La from the past into the now, takes away from the dream. The Shangri-La of this book is slowly being cut off from the rest of the world while at the same time the world is eating at it. The light and knowledge of the valley of the Blue Moon seems to be fading, decreasing, as the very strong and powerful characters of Hugh Conway and Henry Barnard seem to be trapped by the very paradise they choose to stay and become part of. There is no sense of richness or wonder, no sense of progress or planning. Shangri-La seems less like a plan for saving mankind and more like a bunch of hermits hiding from reality. In caves, surviving on bread and water.