City of the Beasts

City of the Beasts is a 2002 book by Isabel Allende, set in the Amazon rainforest. It is her first children's novel.

Beginning

City Of The Beasts begins with the story of Alexander Cold. Alex is 15 years old, and going through a real crisis. His mother has just started chemotherapy to fight her cancer and his father has decided send to his kids to live with relatives for a while. Alex flies to New York City to live with his weird Grandmother Kate, (or just simply “Kate”), a reporter from International Geographic. Once he arrives in NYC, his backpack is stolen, but he still has some money with him. Alex walks all the way across the city through the snow only to find that their trip to the Amazon is the next day; His Grandmother is investigating reports of an Amazonian “Yeti” for an International Geographic magazine.

Arrival In The Amazon

When Alex and his Grandmother Kate reach the jungle, they meet up with the rest of the expedition group: Timothy Bruce (photographer); and his assistant Joel Gonzalez. Accompanying them is the famous trigger-happy anthropologist, Ludovic Leblanc, Dr. Omayra Torres, who is coming along to vaccinate natives, Mauro Carias, the expedition’s funder, and Cesar Santos, their Brazilian guide. Alex soon befriends Nadia, Senor Santos’ daughter, and Boroba, her monkey, who will both also be traveling with him.

The Shaman's Wisdom

As the expedition continues further into the jungle, Alex and Nadia meet a shaman named Walimai, who tells them of their totemic animals. Alex’s animal is a Jaguar, which he can turn into when necessary, and Nadia’s is an Eagle, which she can also turn into. At first, Jaguar thinks that the idea of transforming into an animal is stupid, and that Eagles’ witch–king friend is insane. He soon discovers, however, the usefulness of his misunderstood abilities and the advantage he has over the rest of the expedition (none of which believe him, anyway).

The People Of The Mist

Eventually, Walimai begins to trust Alex, and takes him to his tribe, “The People Of The Mist,” who are so-called because they are so silent and invisible. Jaguar and Eagle are initiated into the clan, and learn from the natives to be like ghosts. After their training is complete, The Shaman takes them to visit his friends, the Beasts Of The Amazon (the creatures Kate is researching), who live in a city deep within the forest. Jaguar correctly assumes this to be the famous El Dorado, and he embarks on a journey to visit this place and its inhabitants with Walimai; the mystic's spirit wife, who will guide the group; and Nadia. He discovers that the city of El Dorado is not made up of gold at all. Instead, there is some type of natural solid there which is yellowish in colour, but has a plastic-like feel.

The Beasts Of The Amazon

After meeting with the “Beasts,” Alex learns of the real motive behind majority of the expedition’s presence in the forest. The vaccines carried by Dr. Torres contain deadly doses of the measles virus, which has been wiping out the native population to make room for Mauro Carias’ plans to annexe the jungles of the Amazon for his own use. Fortunately, Karawake, one of the Indian guides, is secretly an officer of the Department For The Protection Of Indigenous Peoples, and orders that the vials be seized for analyzation. However, he is promptly shot by Captain Ariosto, who has been providing military assistance to the expedition, and is working for Carias. A gun fight erupts between the crew of International Geographic, the soldiers, and the natives, armed with their arrows and spears.

As an outcome, Carias, Torres, and Ariosto are captured. The bombastic Professor Leblanc proclaims them guilty of genocide and causes them to be punished.

Ending

In the end, Eagle (Nadia) and Jaguar (Alex) must part, and Alex is given some magical water, for curing of his mother's ailment. He insists on writing to Nadia, despite her warning that it may take several months before it reaches her.

Other

Eagle And Jaguar meet again in the sequel to this book, "Kingdom of The Golden Dragon," and a third book in this series, "Forest Of The Pygmies." There may also be an upcoming film, presumably by Disney. The rights have recently been purchased