3 out of 4 stars
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Think Paulo Coelho with even a little more mysticism and ancient history. This story focuses less on reality than (some) Coelho works do, but it is a similar spiritual experience. I am pleased to admit that though this work is reminiscent of Paulo Coelho, it is not copycat at all. It is, however, a story that alludes to the belief that there is more to human beings than bodies with complex systems of neurons.
The Shaman Cycle by George Moore is the tale of Sakhal-tun, who is member of an ancient Siberian tribe, and his soul mate, Kawtehek-lun. Kawtehek-lun, or Kawt, is a shaman as well as an upay, or a ghost in a body. Sakhal-tun spends many lifetimes journeying through physical and spiritual realms trying to help Kawt and her family to escape a kind of limbo for trapped souls and resume what is known as the shaman cycle. However, there is one who hunts Sakhal-tun. Philippe Milieu wants answers for Sakhal-tun's secret to immortality. Believing that Sakhal-tun has found a drug that can promote physical regeneration, Milieu is unwittingly repeating past events with his continued pursuit of Sakhal-tun. I cannot go into anymore details here because it would be much too easy to spoil the story.
This book, while captivating, is rather hard to follow. I think that is because there are theories that I do not completely understand, and it is kind of written in a way that assumes the reader already understands the ideas. This was a drawback because it left me feeling uninvolved — like listening to a conversation between friends and feeling left out but longing to understand. There are, however, some lines that are stunning in their beauty such as this: “For the soul, time is not the same as what we perceive while in the body. Time is simply the sequence of events that we experience. We are nothing more than events ourselves, in the final analysis.” One of the book’s greatest weaknesses — the theories — is also its greatest strength.
There were not an overwhelming amount of errors, but there were enough, especially regarding punctuation, to give me the impression that this book has not been professionally edited. I do not think it would take much work to clean up the mistakes. Given the content of the story, there could have been more about the lives of Kawt and her family and more about the role of a shaman. This book explained what the shaman cycle is, but there was not too much explanation of what a shaman actually does, and I would have liked to seen this because it is what initially drew me to the book. The aforementioned negatives are why I rate this book 3 out of 4 stars.
Cons aside, The Shaman Cycle has the potential to be a literary masterpiece. Given the mysticism and spirituality that is present in this book, those who like to deal more in concrete worlds than abstract worlds might want to pass on this story. There are a couple slightly intimate scenes, and for that reason this book is not suitable for younger readers, but I think it would be appropriate for the intellect and maturity of readers from sixteen years and up. Readers will probably find themselves wanting to read more from this author.
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The Shaman Cycle
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