Manu Verma’s detailed review of The Valkyries by Paolo Coelho.
Name of the book: The Valkyries
Author: Paulo Coelho
Category: An autobiography of Paulo from third person’s point of view/his spiritual journey.
Story Line
The story of the book is a portrayal of real life experience of the author. The story starts when Paulo meets his guru/teacher Mr. J after a long time and tells him about the new book “The alchemist”, that he has written. He was in an impression that he will feel very happy about the same but to his surprise he seemed to be just neutral. They talked about many things in this meeting.
Paulo told his feeling to his master and says “One way or the other, I have wound up destroying what I have loved. I have seen my dreams fall apart just when I seemed about to achieve them. I always thought that was just the way life was”. His master Mr. J then tells Paulo that this curse can be broken and gives him a task. The task was to go and speak to his guardian Angel. Paulo has no idea about what he is supposed to go about it, but he just followed his master’s order. He, along with his wife left for this mission of speaking to their angels and lands up in the Magus Desert in The US. In the desert they come across Valkyries, who further helped them in their search for angels.
Characters
Paulo: The main character, the author & the story is about his own life.
Chris: Paulo’s Wife, who is her partner in his journey to spiritualism.
Mr. J: Paulo’s Master, the one who gives him the task of finding his angel.
Gene: A man, who lived in the Magus Desert, whom they met first.
Valkyries: It is a group of women, who are dressed in leather jackets and accessories, riding their motorcycles across the desert spreading the word of angels.
Valhalla: She is the senior most valkyrie, in the group of women. She is old with curly long red hair.
My Review
The book is very different from all the other books in terms of everything i.e. the characters, the story line, the content etc. The story is not a fiction and its author’s own life experience; this makes the book even more interesting. Many people may not relate to the content of this book as it is inclined towards the spiritual side, intuitions, and talks about certain rituals like channeling, practices to connect with the spirits or beings of other dimensions etc.
The book is about the journey in search of Angels, and it’s written very well explaining every aspect in detail. The book involved various instances where Paulo had to reveal about his personal life quite in detail, about his relationships with people, his own thoughts both positive and negative etc, which he did without hesitating.
I liked the book as I was turning pages with curiosity about what will happen next, how will they find their angels, how someone can talk to beings that are beyond our reach and senses etc.
If you have inclination towards meditation, knowing your inner self, intuition, spiritualism, you should definitely look forward to give it a read.
My rating
I rate a book on the following parameters-
| Parameters | Remarks | Rating |
| Language | Easy and understandable | 4 |
| Content | presented with all minute details | 4 |
| Worth a read (will you benefit from reading it or will just end up wasting your time) | If you are spiritually inclined, definitely go for it. | 5 |
| Relatable | Not everyone can relate for sure | 2 |
| Engaging | Very engaging | 5 |
| Overall Rating | 4 | |
Favorite Quotes from the book
Anything that occurs once can never occur again. But, should it happen twice, it will surely happen a third time.
You see the soul of the rivers. Rivers that have just been reborn in the sea. They will rise to the sky, and remain there until, for whatever reason, they once again become rain and fall to earth.
The rivers return to the mountains, but carry with them the wisdom of the sea.
God has the right to destroy me, I do not.
Lines from a poem in the book:
Because people always kill the things they love,
By all let this be heard,
Some do it with a bitter look,
Some with a flattering word,
The coward does it with a kiss,
The brave man with a sword.