City of the Beasts (Spanish: La ciudad de las bestias) is the first young adult novel by Chilean-American writer Isabel Allende.

Despite his desperate pleading, Alex is sent off to New York to stay with his eccentric grandmother Kate Cold, an adventurer and reporter for International Geographic Magazine.

Alex barely begins to settle in when Kate announces that she will be taking him with her to the Amazon rainforest, in search of a mysterious creature simply called “the Beast”.

When Alex and Kate reach the jungle, they join the rest of the expedition group, made up of photographers from International Geographic – including British photographer Timothy Bruce and his assistant Joel Gonzalez –; famous anthropologist Ludovic Leblanc; beautiful Venezuelan physician Dr. Omayra Torres, on a mission to vaccinate natives; Cesar Santos, their Brazilian guide; a mysterious man named Karakawe; co-sponsor and greedy entrepreneur Mauro Carías; and Captain Ariosto, commander of the village military.

During the ceremony, unusual things happen: firstly, Alex transforms into a fierce jaguar, his totem animal; secondly, he receives a vision of his mom on her hospital bed, and he talks briefly with her; and thirdly, Nadia’s totem animal is revealed to be the eagle, which makes her overcome her fear of heights and fly to the highest tepui, where she finds two crystal eggs on a nest.

The shaman Walimai and his spirit wife take them to visit the Beasts, who live in a lair city deep within the forest, and are considered gods by the People of the Mist.

Jaguar, aka Alex, correctly assumes their city to be the famous El Dorado, which is actually made out of fool’s gold, and is located inside an inactive volcano, with the only entrance being a labyrinth of lava tunnels and caves, filled with mystical creatures such as blind white cats and a prehistoric bird-like dragon.

Upon arrival, Alex and Nadia meet up with the Beasts, which look like giant sloths, and function as the living memory of the tribe by remembering long epic poems recited by Walimai and his predecessors.

In exchange for providing the Beasts protection, they ask for gifts: Nadia, the crystal eggs she saw in her vision as an eagle, and which turn out to be giant diamonds; and Alex, the water of life to save his mother.

After the People of the Mist reach an agreement with the remaining members of the expedition (they will protect that area with all the power, influence, and money they can muster), they leave.

Some critics regarded the novel as an engaging read and a good first try at a children's book,[3] while others note its slow start, and tedious, somewhat unconvincing speech in translation.