The City of the Beasts, Isabel Allende

Alex Cold. A spoilt, picky kid, who lives in California, goes to school, gets tantrums and has things he loves. In all respect, Alex Cold is nearly a split imitation of every one of us. So when he learns his mum has cancer and that he’ll have to stay with a much despised grandmother, his reaction is to be expected: he gets mad, and wreaks everything in his room.

The City of Beasts:

Alex is in New York with his grandmother, Kate. Kate is a writer for a popular magazine, International Geographic. She has an assignment in the Amazon, to look for a mythical beast who has recently been rampaging in the tropical forest, and since she has to look after Alex, he’s dragged their too. There, he meets Nadia, a Brazilian/Canadian girl who has never seen technology, and the other members of the International Geographic team. They head into the jungle, surrounded by invisible Indians.

Alex and Nadia develop a strong friendship, and together, they are lured by the trail of mysteriousness the Indians leave behind. So when they are kidnapped by the Indians, it seems to be more of a blessing than a curse.

This book took me a while to get into: I would begin to read it, but the beginning would put me off and make me put the book down. Don’t let this happen to you; just as it is difficult to really get into a book you’re reading, a writer needs a bit of time before they get into the book as well.

Just one thing: the plot in this book is not very important. It is more the story of Alex and Nadia as they find themselves.

And so, it scores a strong 9 ½ out of 10 star rating