Paulo Coelho is best known is the world as writer of poetic stories, his best loved story is The Alchemist. It was an omen to finally read this book, after many already had.

A shepherd boy gets a dream about a pyramid and a girl, but awakes before it finishes. To understand the meaning, he goes to ask an old woman known to understand dreams, but does not get more wise. An old man, who is a king, talks to the boy about the boy's dream without the boy had told the man. The day after the boy meets the old man again, who tells him to follow the omens to seek what he search. So the boy travels to Africa and from there his quest starts, chasing after his dream only to find it is not that easy. Bad things and distractions are on the road with him. Will he find what he is searching for or abandon his quest?

Coelho stated that this story is written after what he had learned studying alchemy, being fascinated by the Philosophers stone and the Elixir of life. It is not as much a spiritual story, but more a story of symbolism with a hint to religion. It is told mostly following the boy, but at moments you look over someone else's shoulders. This makes the story more dynamic, giving it a really good flow. Although the characters are not fully worked out, you still get to know how they are.

It is not a thick book, only 180 pages, but got much in it and asked for reading it many times over to fully understand the symbolism. It is not the story itself, but the layer under it what makes this book great. Coelho makes you read between the lines and if you get what is there, you will get what he says. A must read!