Tengo que decir que los libros de Isabel siempre logran trasladarme a lugares tan de ensueño, tan inrrales y tan reales al mismo tiempo, que lo unico que puedo decir es que el reino del dragón de oro me resulto magia pura, me hubiese gustado un final más elaborado, pero estoy más que satisfecha.

O poveste minunată, plină de frumusețe și seducție, despre compasiune, umilință, bunătate, prietenie.
Călătoria în Regatul Interzis este plină de învățăminte cum ar fi "deschide bratele spre schimbare, dar nu-ti pierde din valorile tale" (Dalai Lama) .
Recenzia completa aici: https://www.delicateseliterare.ro/reg...

Summary

This is a thriller and adventure set in the Himalayas, as a nefarious group attempts to steal the legendary and magical artifact, the golden dragon, from a small, remote, peaceful Buddhist kingdom.

The story opens with Tensing, a wise Buddhist monk, and Dil Bahadur, his pupil, who is also a prince of the aforementioned kingdom, left to the monk's tutelage for 12 years from the age of 6, so that he may be well prepared to lead his people when the time comes. The two of them come across a community of Yetis, who are in crisis.

Elsewhere, Alexander Cold returns to New York after the events of the last book, City of the Beasts, with his grandmother Kate. After several months of being back in their old lives, Alexander, Nadia and Kate are reunited in a trip to India, where they get far more excitement and adventure than they had expected.

General Thoughts

I appreciate that the plot was very well-paced and exciting. I appreciated the details in certain parts, especially at the beginning, when Tensing and Dil Bahadur are traveling and we get a sense that anything and everything that must come from an animal—be it food, clothing, or oil—would come from a yak.

And then in other parts, I cringed at the details. (More on this later.)

I liked many of the characters—Tensing and Dil Bahadur I liked from the start, and my liking of them is what carried me through most of the book. Kate felt like a very strong character whom I felt I should like, but for some reason I was fairly ambivalent.

Alexander and Nadia—I felt nothing for these characters. They felt generic and uninteresting. However, I see this as not a flaw in the writing, but a factor of my not having read City of the Beasts, which is where I assume we were supposed to grow to know and love these characters, and carry over that affection into this book.

On the Cringe-Worthy Details

I read several reviews before I read this book, including this one. In essence, this review pointed out that the depiction of India was insulting, the portrayal of Buddhism was more a conglomerate of many different religions lumped together with a bunch of New Age nonsense slapped on top, and Kali is relegated to some sort of evil pagan deity. As you can see in the comments if you choose to read them, I don't quite agree with this reader's vehemently negative perspective.

However.

While I can see what I think was meant where there are descriptions of "mobs" of beggars and what sounds like a nonstop onslaught of people trying to sell things and monkeys everywhere, these descriptions are also more exaggerated and sensationalist than could possibly be accurate. (For instance, there is a depiction where it sounds like a group of beggars is about to murder a teenager by piling on top of him. This sounds ridiculous.) It is true, I think, that this depiction reflects the culture shock of a person who has no familiarity with India. But after this brief depiction, the story moves elsewhere, to the fictional kingdom of the golden dragon. Therefore, this culture-shock-reflective India is the only face of India depicted. This was a little bit off-putting to me, as I imagine it would be to anyone who has affection for the country.

As for the "Buddhism" that isn't really Buddhism—well, I felt no particular annoyance there. In this book, "Buddhism" seems to be a convenient deus ex machina that gives characters any and all powers including clairvoyance, telepathy, complete control of the body, and so on. My frustration was more with the inconsistencies within this story: for instance, though there are passages reflecting on how as Buddhists, they will not harm a single insect and are strictly vegetarian, they are still depicted wearing yak hides. Why they need these hides at all is a mystery to me, since their complete mastery over the physical world should allow them to regulate their own body temperature.

Of course, their detachment from the physical world is only present where convenient. After all, how could we humanize the king and prince if they couldn't fall in love?

I realize that this being a translation, some of the perceived faults may have been more a factor the translation rather than the book itself. But because I cannot read the Spanish, I am left with this text.

Conclusion

It was an interesting story. Allende's writing style is reasonably engaging. The action, the adventure, and the thriller aspects were on point. I regret that I could not enjoy it more, because far too much of the world seemed fictionalized for the enjoyment of a reader who has little or no knowledge of India or Buddhism, save a certain stereotypical and borderline-mystical depiction of the pair.

It's a strange thing, being put off by the fictionalization of real places, where so much of this world is fictionalized. The languages that can be easily learned to talk to animals, the Yetis, the magic and the telepathy—there's so much that is obviously meant to be fiction. So why does it matter that the "real" parts feel fictionalized as well?

I have to conclude that it's simply because this story seems designed to be depicting the intersection of our world and the mystical, it frustrates me when the parts that are ostensibly meant to be depicting "our world" are not a world I quite recognize. That practically everybody has a love interest is also a little off-putting to me—just one of those pet-peeves of mine.

Tras las cuatro estrellas del primero, otras cuatro para este segundo libro de la "Trilogía del águila y el jaguar" que esta vez nos lleva al Himalaya.

¿Segundas partes nunca fueron buenas? Adiós a los personajes odiosos, y hola a varias maravillosas nuevas incorporaciones. Isabel Allende nos vuelve a la aventura, al riesgo, a la maduración y al juvenil (bueno, no) de más calidad. El reino del dragón de oro es un el merecedor heredero de La ciudad de las bestias.

A

Me ha gustado mucho la verdad. Muy en el estilo de Isabel Allende y no me lo esperaba porque no había leído buenas críticas de la trilogía del Aguila y el Jaguar y La Ciudad de las Bestias no me llegó del todo y por eso me he tardado tanto tiempo en continuar la serie. Pero esta novela tiene mucho del estilo de la autora, en las descripciones de los paisajes y de las costumbres de países extraños.
Me ha encantado la fantasía del Himalaya y como en unos cuantos capítulos se muestra la riqueza filosófica del budismo, sin entrar demasiado ni profundizar. No se trata de q compres la religión, de hecho toda la cuestión de los lamas y su forma de vida ascética es un agregado, pero lo hace de forma tan adecuada q termina gustandote. No para ir a convertirte al budismo pero si para continuar leyendo sobre el tema.
Los personajes igualmente son fascinantes. El suspense se siente y en este hasta un poquitín de romance tenemos.
Me ha resultado muy gracioso como resume Kate Cold toda la historia en el último capítulo, y la verdad resulta increíble lo q pasan una señora mayor (no me animo a llamarla anciana) y dos adolescentes en lo q es básicamente un rincón primitivo del mundo, olvidado de la mano de Dios (o tal vez muy en contacto con él, quien sabe)
La única pega es q me hubiera gustado leer la pataleta del Coleccionista...

que se puede decir de Isabel Allende? que se puede decir de las memorias de Aguila y Jaguar? simplemente épico, super recomendado =)

Заради доброто старо време не мога да се пречупя и да намаля съвсем звездите, но отново имам чувството,че историческите романи, които така майсторски ни отнасяха в колониално Чили, за да ни срещнат с многопластови и симпатични образи, поставени в интересни ситуации, са писани от друг човек .
Ок, нека това е литература за подрастващи, но няма нужда да е толкова предвидима и клиширана.
За втори път разпищолени американци се опитват да осквернят магично място, като в случая целят да откраднат религиозен артефакт.
Допускам,че за децата този роман би имал своя чар.

Es un libro para leer con calma. Ya habiéndolo empezado he descubierto que hay otro que le precede, pero se puede leer sin problemas. Es una historia con toques fantásticos o con su realismo mágico, como se prefiera. Allende es una contadora de historias nata, y esta es una historia perfecta, contada sin gran artificio, directa al grano pero con sus detalles, eso hace que no se haga para nada cansina y se vaya paso a paso directo a la resolución. Es posible que me anime a leer el libro que le precede.

Después de las aventuras en La Ciudad de las Bestias, Jaguar Y Águila recurren de nuevo a sus poderes para ayudar a un pueblo milenario. Más aventura y el giro de tuerca que siempre se agradece.

4,5⭐