Review by Booklist Review
Gr. 9-12. Acclaimed author Allende's first YA novel, part thrilling survival adventure, part coming-of-age journey, blends magical realism with grim history and contemporary politics in a way that shakes up all the usual definitions of savagery and civilization. Alex, 15, has been wrenched from the safe boundaries of his California home to accompany his journalist grandmother, Kate, on an International Geographic Expedition deep into the heart of the Amazon jungle. They are searching for a legendary beast, a gigantic, possibly humanoid creature that has been glimpsed in the area. The setting is more than background here: it's the heart of the story. The Indian People of the Mist, who have lived in the region since the Stone Age, are now threatened by adventurers and entrepreneurs who want the land and its riches. There's some plot contrivance as Alex and a local girl each go on a vision quest to save the Indians; and some expedition members seem like caricatures--the buffoon anthropologist, the idealistic physician, the hard grandma. But the characters are also funny, angry, and needy, and they surprise even themselves. Caught by the young characters and their wild adventures, readers will race through this for the story, then stop and think about the issues of wildness, survival, and the nature of beasts and humans. Hazel Rochman.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
PW called this story of a 15-year-old who is reluctant to accompany his grandmother on a writing assignment in South America "laced with surprises and ironic twists." Once their expedition in search of a legendary nine-foot-tall "Beast" begins, however, his doubts are pushed out of his mind by more immediate concerns. All ages. (June) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by School Library Journal Review
Gr 7-10-In her first novel for younger readers (HarperCollins, 2002), Isabel Allende creates an authentic South American world, this time in the Amazon rain forest, and combines it with mythical realms of the imagination. California teen Alexander Cold embarks with his rather stern and prickly grandmother Kate, a writer, on a trek to locate a legendary Yeti-like Beast of the Amazon. An egotistical anthropologist, two photographers, and a guide with a teenage daughter fill out the official party. They are joined by a rich Amazon adventurer with villainous intentions and a doctor whose job supposedly is to carry protective vaccines to any native population. The story develops jungle and expedition details as well as cultural and economic conflicts with a mysterious People of the Mist very well. But the travels of the young people alone into the territory of the People as well as that of the giant Beasts are full of mysticism and fantastic happenings. Just when one twist of the plot seems to be reaching a resolution, two or three more arise, creating layer upon layer of incredible events. Narrator Blair Brown creates subtle voices and distinguishing accents for all the characters. Her rendering of unfamiliar native words is excellent, and this feature will be helpful to listeners who might come to a frustrated full stop at seeing the words in print. Her convincing reading is a real asset. A short appropriate musical passage plays at the beginning and ending of each side of the tape. The lengthy, complex plot may limit the audiobook's appeal. The story is noteworthy for its portrayal of the region and its problems, but unusual in its reliance on the supernatural and mystical. It will appeal to teens with an interest in the rain forest and a taste for the fantastic.-Jane P. Fenn, Corning-Painted Post West High School, Painted Post NY (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Horn Book Review
(Middle School, High School) Isabel Allende probably didn't intend her first-ever novel for young readers to come across like a B-movie script. But it's hard to shake that impression of this leadenly earnest mystical saga, which is basically a search for Big Foot transferred to the Amazonian rainforest. When fifteen-year-old Alexander's mother must go from California to Texas for a last-hope cancer treatment, his father implausibly sends Alexander away to a place guaranteed not to ease a dying parent's mind. He is to accompany his caustic, daredevil grandmother, a writer for International Geographic, on an expedition deep into the rainforest to track down the mysterious, giant, foul-smelling beast rumored to have killed numerous people. Allende pulls out every available clichi about greedy opportunists who want to exploit nature for their own gain versus enlightened primitives who ""see with [their] heart[s]."" She attempts to satirize anthropologists, but the character she employs for this purpose is such a caricatured pompous buffoon that her criticisms carry little weight. Predictably, though there are a few well-intentioned adults on the trip, only the children, namely Alexander and the daughter of the expedition's Brazilian guide, can penetrate the jungle's secrets and discover the true nature of the long-sought city of El Dorado. Alexander's ponderously depicted coming-of-age only seems to take forever; in the novel's time span, it takes mere weeks for him to go from greenhorn to one of several chiefs of the Amazon's most elusive tribe. And when he finally reunites with the expedition for a chaotic finale in which all villains are exposed, he tells his grandmother to call him ""Jaguar."" One wants to tell him-not to mention Allende-to lighten up. (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
A moody American teen finds himself up the Amazon without a paddle in this aimlessly meandering and cliche-ridden fantasy. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. Alex and Nadia are rechristened for their totem animals (Jaguar and Eagle) and go on perilous spirit quests. 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. There are some fantastic touches, but most of what passes for magical realism seems introduced only for narrative convenience (such as Alex's sudden ability to transcend linguistic barriers by "listening with his heart"). Other potentially fantastic elements are drearily reduced by pseudo-scientific explanation to the realm of the mundane (such as the true nature of the Beasts). The narrative as a whole suffers from extraordinarily labored language: " 'Remember whom you're speaking to, you little twerp,' the writer calmly interrupted, seizing him firmly by the shirt and paralyzing him with the glare of her fearsome blue eyes." Whether this is the fault of the original writing or the translation from the Spanish is immaterial; this flaw, combined with the general pointlessness of the plot, makes this offering-all 416 pages of it-an excruciating experience. (Fiction. 10+)
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.