If you forget anything else you may have read by Isabelle Allende and approach this as a children's book you won't be surprised by the style and plot, which are very much aimed at young adults. It's a mystical adventure story with goodies, baddies and magic, set in an imaginary Himalayan kingdom, and forms the second part of the trilogy which started with the City of the Beasts. If you enter into the spirit of things, it will keep you turning the pages right up to the end.
