Impossible Creatures: 'There was Tolkien, there is Pullman and now there is Katherine Rundell' Michael Morpurgo

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'There was Tolkien, there is Pullman and now there is Katherine Rundell. Wondrous invention, marvellous writing.' Michael Morpurgo

Rundells first foray into fantasy is both a deft, rich homage to the greats of childrens literature and an absorbing, profoundly poignant quest story for those aged 9+ quite possibly her best yet The Guardian

'A book stuffed full of fantastical, magical delight, and a world of richly imagined wonder' Cressida Cowell

* 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

Theres a place where all the wildest stories began From Katherine Rundell, winner of the Costa Childrens Book Award, the Blue Peter Book Award and the Waterstones Childrens Book Prize comes the first novel in a landmark trilogy for 9+ fans of His Dark Materials

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.

'Full of adventures, wonderful side characters, new lands and so many fantastic creatures. I heartily recommend it to readers of all ages' Rick Riordan

'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 couldnt 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

'Fantastically exuberant, wildly imaginative, impossibly brilliant. Rundells best, which is something to be marvelled at' Kiran Millwood Hargrave

An exhilarating, many-hued adventure, heartfelt and sometimes heartbreaking Frances Hardinge

'Between the covers of Impossible Creatures is a world as enchanting, as perilous, as richly imagined as Narnia or Middle Earth' Frank Cottrell-Boyce

Rundell's book packs a punch with imagination and creativity in its purest form. She has created a story with potential to be adored by fantasy lovers for years to come The Independent

'With a delightful cast of characters, breathless adventure, and an abundance of myth and magic, Impossible Creatures offers the very best of fantasy' Aisha Bushby

'A fierce, fantastic, wild-hearted adventure that roars and bristles with imagination. I devoured it like a hungry dragon' Sam Sedgman

'A rare and remarkable feat of glittering imagination from a truly masterful storyteller' Catherine Doyle

'The action is gripping. Every sentence sparkles. You can feel the flutter of griffin feathers and the menace of strange poisonous shrews. Magnificent The Times

Surely the next classic The I

'My Book of the Year' Lauren St. John

Reviews

There was Tolkien, there is Pullman and now there is Katherine Rundell. Wondrous invention, marvellous writing. This book is her best yet, and that's saying something. Just riveting, quite extraordinary. * Michael Morpurgo *
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 *
I love Katherine Rundells writing because its so fresh and vigorous, and always so unexpected. The world of this new book is so intriguing and so well put together that I couldnt 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 book stuffed full of fantastical, magical delight, and a world of richly imagined wonder * Cressida Cowell *
Rundell's book packs a punch with imagination and creativity in its purest form. She has created a story with potential to be adored by fantasy lovers for years to come. * Independent *
Katherine Rundell is a prodigiously gifted storyteller and IMPOSSIBLE CREATURES is wildly good. Spectacularly inventive, it is both a thrilling and page-turning epic and a clarion call to young readers to use the special gifts of childhood- love, courage, imagination and open-heartedness - to fight to save precious creatures of all kinds before they vanish before our eyes. My Book of the Year. * Lauren St. John *
Fantastically exuberant, wildly imaginative, impossibly brilliant. Rundells best, which is something to be marvelled at. It made me want to yell, or laugh, or bite something. * Kiran Millwood Hargrave *
The action is gripping. Every sentence sparkles. You can feel the flutter of griffin feathers and the menace of strange poisonous shrews. Magnificent. * The Times *
Rundells first foray into fantasy is both a deft, rich homage to the greats of childrens literature and an absorbing, profoundly poignant quest story for those aged 9+ quite possibly her best yet * The Guardian *
Rundell is an extraordinary writer and this first in a fantasy trilogy grips, thrills and moves sometimes to tears. This richly-imagined story is packed with memorable characters and an unforgettable griffin. * Daily Mail *
A rare and remarkable feat of glittering imagination from a truly masterful storyteller. * Catherine Doyle *
A fierce, fantastic, wild-hearted adventure that roars and bristles with imagination. I devoured it like a hungry dragon * Sam Sedgman *
With a delightful cast of characters, breathless adventure, and an abundance of myth and magic, Impossible Creatures offers the very best of fantasy * Aisha Bushby *
A menagerie of delights. So packed with magic you'll want to take notes. Impossible Creatures is a world you'll want to move into. * Patrick Ness *
Between the covers of Impossible Creatures is a world as enchanting, as perilous, as richly imagined as Narnia or Middle Earth. * Frank Cottrell-Boyce *
A masterpiece to rival Tolkien and Pullman * The Daily Telegraph *
Flickers with a rare and fierce beauty unputdownable. * Abi Elphinstone *
One of our most talented writers for children * Observer *
It is surely the next classic. * The I *
A captivating story * Sainsbury's Magazine *

Author Bio

Katherine Rundell is a multi-million-bestselling author whose novels for children have won the Waterstones Childrens Book Prize, the Blue Peter Book Award and the Costa Childrens Book Award, among many others. She is a Quondam Fellow of All Souls College and a Fellow of St Catherines College, Oxford, where she works on Renaissance literature. Her books for adults include Super-Infinite, winner of the Baillie Gifford Prize. Very occasionally she goes climbing across the rooftops of Oxford, late at night.