This had a good premise and got you thinking about what is Good and what is Evil.

"Good and Evil have the same face, it all depends on when they cross the path of each individual human being."


Whilst the idea was great, the book never got much better than that. The story just did not flow and the characters were not believable.

The town, the stranger and Miss Prym were not likeable at all.

The stranger, what was the point really - absoulte waste of time and resources. He ended up being far less interesting than I was hoping, same goes for the old lady Berta. And then the eventual showdown, the way everyone acted and then dissipated? Is there no one who actually thinks for themselves or talks to each other? That would not go down like that in my town - more than five people would convene to talk about it at least.



I don't want to give much away but the ending was a joke, I was left scratching my head thinking 'why' and 'really' and 'is that it?'


In the end it had some good ideas but didn't explore them and became rather repetitive.


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This was very good. I liked it but didn’t love the ending so that’s why I gave it 4 instead of 5 stars. I love Coelho’s writing, simple but philosophical. It makes me become very introspective. ( )

Terzo di una trilogia, questo libro riguarda il potere.
Sinceramente non è il libro di Coelho che preferisco, anche se ci sono spunti sempre interessanti e divertenti, come quando il diavolo è felice per la mancanza di luce al suo fianco, mentre si tratta solamente di un'astuzia del bene ber poter vincere. ( )

Una comunidad dividida por la codicia y el miedo. Un hombre perseguido por el fantasma de un pasado doloroso. Una joven en busca de la felicidad. Siete días, un breve período de tiempo durante el cual el Bien y el Mal librarán una batalla decisiva y cada personaje decidirá a cual de los bandos pertenece.

The premise is sound. A man comes in with a devilish proposition to find out if human nature is good or bad. Maybe it's just because I didn't care all that much for the devil, Miss Prym or Berta. It just didn't hit the target for me.

Because of the Alchemist, I'll keep trying Paul Coelho books. But I'm wondering if that's his best work and everything else is going to be diminishing returns.

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