The jacket blurb boasts that the novel is “teeming with magical realism” leaving aside the question of whether magical realism can actually teem, this story, Allende’s ( Portrait in Sepia, 2001, etc.) first for children, does anything but. Alex and Nadia are rechristened for their totem animals (Jaguar and Eagle) and go on perilous spirit quests. The Beasts, it turns out, are gigantic sloths-leftovers from some prehistoric era that have by dint of their exceptionally slow metabolism and consequently long lives developed some intelligence and even rudimentary language. There they encounter the People of the Mist, a-surprise, surprise-pristine indigenous civilization, who have evolved a symbiotic relationship with their gods, the Beasts. After the requisite agonizing trip up the longest river in the world, Alex and Nadia are finally ushered by an ancient shaman into the Eye of the World. Predictably enough, the expedition team consists of a variety of types, including a beautiful doctor, a dashing guide and his mystical daughter Nadia, an egotistical anthropologist, a sinister Indian aide, and a number of expendable supernumeraries. Alex’s mother’s struggle with cancer has forced him into the care of his grandmother, a writer for International Geographic magazine, which has mounted an expedition into the heart of the rainforest to observe the strange monsters known only as the Beasts. Drawing on the strength of the jaguar, the totemic animal Alexander finds within himself, and the eagle, Nadia's spirit guide, both young people are led by the invisible People of the Mist on a thrilling and unforgettable journey to the ultimate discovery.A moody American teen finds himself up the Amazon without a paddle in this aimlessly meandering and cliché-ridden fantasy. Under the dense canopy of the jungle, Alexander is amazed to discover much more than he could have imagined about the hidden worlds of the rain forest. Their mission, along with the others on their team-including a celebrated anthropologist, a local guide and his young daughter Nadia, and a doctor-is to document the legendary Yeti of the Amazon known as the Beast.

Parting from his family and ill mother, Alexander joins his fearless grandmother, a magazine reporter for International Geographic, on an expedition to the dangerous, remote world of the Amazon.

A search for the Beast, a Yeti-like creature within the heart of the Amazon, becomes a quest for self-discovery in this young adult coming-of-age story filled with international adventure, rich mythology, and magical realism from globally celebrated novelist Isabel Allende.įifteen-year-old Alexander Cold has the chance to take the trip of a lifetime.

City of the beasts by isabel allende