Impossible Creatures

By Author / Illustrator

Katherine Rundell

Genre

Myths & Legends

Age range(s)

Publisher

Bloomsbury Children's Books

ISBN

9781408897430

Format

Paperback / softback

Published

29-08-2024

Synopsis

There's a place where all the wildest stories began ... From Katherine Rundell, the British Book Awards Author of the Year, comes the paperback release of the first novel in the critically acclaimed, award winning, best-selling Impossible Creatures series. This edition includes The Centaur's Spectacles bonus short story.

Christopher is stunned when he discovers a passage to the Archipelago: a cluster of magical islands where all the creatures of myth still live and breed and thrive in their thousands. There he meets Mal: a girl from the islands, who is in possession of a flying coat and a baby griffin, and who is being pursued by a killer. Together they embark on an urgent quest to discover why the creatures are suddenly perishing, voyaging across the wild splendour of the Archipelago, where sphinxes hold secrets and centaurs do murder, in a bid to save both the islands and the world beyond them from a rising evil - before it's too late.

'There was Tolkien, there is Pullman and now there is Katherine Rundell. Wondrous invention, marvellous writing.' - Michael Morpurgo 'A book stuffed full of fantastical, magical delight, and a world of richly imagined wonder' - Cressida Cowell. 'Rundell's first foray into fantasy is both a deft, rich homage to the greats of children's literature and an absorbing, profoundly poignant quest story for those aged 9+ - quite possibly her best yet' - The Guardian. 'A marvellous, imaginative fantasy told with great style and sparkle - a book to race through in a day and keep for a lifetime' - Jacqueline Wilson. 'The world of this new book is so intriguing and so well put together that I couldn't resist it. Readers who already know her books will seize this with delight, and new readers will love it and demand all her others at once' - Philip Pullman. 'A masterpiece to rival Tolkien and Pullman' - The Daily Telegraph.

Find out what inpired Impossible Creatures in ReadingZone's Q&A with Katherine Rundell

* BRITISH BOOK AWARDS CHILDREN'S FICTION BOOK OF THE YEAR * WATERSTONES BOOK OF THE YEAR WINNER * BOOKS ARE MY BAG READERS' AWARD WINNER * FOYLES CHILDREN'S BOOK OF THE YEAR * SHORTLISTED FOR AMAZON KIDS AND YA BOOK OF THE YEAR * THE TIMES CHILDREN'S BOOK OF THE WEEK * THE INDEPENDENT CHILDREN'S BOOK OF THE WEEK * THE DAILY TELEGRAPH CHILDREN'S BOOK OF THE WEEK * SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER IN SEPTEMBER 2023

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Reviews

Clair

Katherine Rondell's Impossible Creatures is a stunning book! The endpapers are illustrated with a map of The Archipelago, a secret cluster of islands where all the mythological creatures live side by side with humans. This is followed by The Guardian's Bestiary; a wonderful illustrated list of mythical creatures that survive in this magical place.

The adventure begins with Mal, a girl with a flying coat, from The Archipelago. We are launched straight into the action as she is fleeing from a murderer. As she flees, she meets Christopher Forrester who is visiting his reclusive grandfather in Scotland. Christopher seems to attract animals, a bit like a magnet, which can cause quite a stir in the real world, but even he is surprised to find a baby griffin in a hidden lake. The magical lands of Archipelago have been protected and kept hidden for thousands of years. It would seem that now, terrifyingly, the protection has worn thin and the creatures (not all as friendly as the griffin) can break through. Christopher agrees to go back with Mal to help protect her and save Archipelago.

This book was an absolute pleasure to read from start to finish. I really did feel as if I was on the quest with Mal and Christopher. The creatures and characters that they meet along the way were all brought to life for me. It was an imaginative and fresh read. I have to say that I had a particular fondness for Jacques who was a Jaculus, a miniature dragon.

Katherine Rundell is a hugely popular author with our students and I can see why! She has woven a fabulous fantasy adventure which will really sweep you away. I'd recommend this to fans of J K Rowling's Fantastic Beasts and Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials.

368 pages / Reviewed by Clair Bossons, school librarian