City of the Beasts

City of the Beasts (La ciudad de las bestias, 2002) is a novel by Isabel Allende, set in the Amazon rainforest. It is her first children's novel. It was translated by Margaret Sayers Peden from Spanish to English. Walden Media is said to be producing a movie.

Plot Summary

===Beginning=== chapter 1 City Of The Beasts begins with the story of Alexander Cold. Alex is 15 years old, and going through a crisis. His mother has just started chemotherapy to fight her cancer and his father has decided to send his kids to live with relatives for a while. Alex flies to New York City to live with his eccentric Grandmother Kate, (or simply “Kate”), a reporter from International Geographic.

Chapter 2 Once he arrives in NYC, his backpack is stolen by a runaway girl named Morgana; however, he still has some money and his passport with him. Alex walks all the way across the city through the snow to find her grandmother's home.

Chapter 3 Alex finds out their trip to the Amazon is the next day; his Grandmother is investigating reports of an Amazonian “Yeti” for an International Geographic magazine. Kate, hearing about Alex's loss of his backpack (which contained a prized flute of his) gives him, somewhat reluctantly, the flute that belonged to his grandfather, who is revealed to have been a world-famous musician.

===Arrival In The Amazon and members of the expedition=== Chapter 4 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 itch trigger finger-happy anthropologist, Ludovic Leblanc, the beautiful Venezuelan physician Dr. Omayra Torres, who is coming along to vaccinate natives, Mauro Carías, the expedition’s funder, and Cesar Santos, their Brazilian guide. Alex soon befriends Nadia ,who is very smart, Senor Santos’ daughter, and Boroba, her monkey, who will both also be traveling with him.

===The Shaman's Wisdom=== Chapter 5 As the expedition continues further into the jungle, Alex and Nadia meet a native shaman named Walimai, who tells them a important fact that some of the people in the expedition group will die while they will live because they have been assigned to the findind of the beast

Chapter 6 Alex woke up in the middle of the night with Nadia and finds two men discuss about a plot the men were captain Aristo and Mauro Carias. They were planning to use the expedition team to write stories about the beast and they are searching for gold in the jungle and they want to get rid of all the Indians living there so they could searching for gold.

Chapter 7 Alex found his totemic animal which is a Jaguar, which he can turn into when necessary, and Nadia’s is an Eaglewhich she finds out later from Walimai's drink, which she can also turn into. At first, Jaguar thinks that the idea of transforming into an animal is ridiculous, 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 Expedition chapter 8 And they set out for the trip(which they met stupid ass angela who is jealous of everyone better than her). Alex kept on feeling that someone is watching him and they set for camp.

People of the mist chapter 9

Alex and Nadia came into contact with the indians. The beast showed itself and killed one of the soldier while leaving thick oder behind.They decided to split up one group would go call for help while the other one will stay behind to catch the beast.

Kidnapped chapter 10

Alex and Nadia gets kidnapped by the indians and spends a night with them out in the jungle.

Why is angela changing? she is getting more jealous everyday hope she will change back oneday but that probably won't happen. Can't wait to be seperated from her in high school or else i will get icy look from her everyday don't know what's wrong with her family hope her parents don't argue too much or else she will never change back.

The People Of The Mist

Eventually, Walimai begins to trust Alex, and takes him to his tribe, “The People Of The Mist,” named after the misty waterfall that marks the entrance to their village. Jaguar and Eagle are initiated into the clan, and learn from the natives to be like ghosts, silent and invisible, a talent of the People that has kept them undetected by outsiders until now. Part of Alex's training involves a rite of passage into manhood; during this ordeal of his, he receives a vision, seeing his mom in her hospital bed and talking briefly with her. They are not having quite a conversation, but are enjoying each others company. After their training is complete, The Shaman takes them to visit the Beasts Of The Amazon (the creatures Kate is researching), who live in a city deep within the forest. These Beasts are considered gods by the People of the Mist. Jaguar correctly assumes their 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

Upon arrival, Alex and Nadia meet with the “Beasts”. Fearing the capture of these ancient creatures by western scientists, they warn them to be careful of foreigners (such as the expedition group they both belonged to). They also learn 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 annex 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 analysis. 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. During the fighting, Carias is dealt a blow to his head and collapses. He, Torres, and Ariosto are captured, the former facing death or retardation from the injury to his brain, Torres facing life in prison and Ariosto died of being slashed by a Beast. The bombastic Professor Leblanc proclaims them guilty of genocide and proclaims his intent to punish them.

Ending

In the end, Eagle (Nadia) and Jaguar (Alex) must part, and Alex is given some magical water and a pouch of herbs for curing of his mother's ailment. Eagle (Nadia) also gives Jaguar (Alex) diamonds found in the tepuis, where the Beasts stayed in. Those diamonds were planned to help against the negotiations with the nahab, non-Indians, in order to preserve the safety of the Indians. He also 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.