Impossible Creatures cover art

Impossible Creatures

'There was Tolkien, there is Pullman and now there is Katherine Rundell' – Michael Morpurgo

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Impossible Creatures

By: Katherine Rundell
Narrated by: Samuel West
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Bloomsbury presents Impossible Creatures by Katherine Rundell, read by Samuel West.

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

* 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

There’s a place where all the wildest stories began … The first novel in the award winning and globally best-selling Impossible Creatures series is the story of two children's epic adventure to transform the world. This edition includes The Centaur’s Spectacles bonus short story.

Christopher is stunned when he discovers a Way-Between from our world 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.

* 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

‘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 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

‘Fantastically exuberant, wildly imaginative, impossibly brilliant. Rundell’s best, which is something to be marvelled at’ – Kiran Millwood Hargrave

‘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 Fantasy Fiction Growing Up Growing Up & Facts of Life Science Fiction & Fantasy Mythology Friendship Heartfelt Suspenseful Magic
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Continue the series
The Poisoned King cover art
The Poisoned King By: Katherine Rundell

Critic 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.
A marvellous imaginative fantasy told with great style and sparkle - a book to race through in a day and keep for a lifetime.
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.
Fantastically exuberant, wildly imaginative, impossibly brilliant. Rundell’s best, which is something to be marvelled at. It made me want to yell, or laugh, or bite something.
A rare and remarkable feat of glittering imagination from a truly masterful storyteller.
A fierce, fantastic, wild-hearted adventure that roars and bristles with imagination. I devoured it like a hungry dragon
One of our most talented writers for children
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.
Between the covers of Impossible Creatures is a world as enchanting, as perilous, as richly imagined as Narnia or Middle Earth.
Flickers with a rare and fierce beauty – unputdownable.
Katherine Rundell's books are an automatic purchase in my house. She is a magician, one of the great storytellers of our time.
One of our imaginers-in-chief. I am a Rundell super-fan
All stars
Most relevant
The narrator is certainly expressive and good at accents but why can’t pronounce the s when something is plural? He also seems to be shy of pronouncing the last of a word.

Enjoyable book and story but I’m afraid the narrator needs a talking to.

Narrator is a Shame

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I absolutely love this book I can not wait for the next one. Such an amazing story, that took me to a different world, a much needed distraction.

amazing

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Fantastic adventure for all ages. I listened with my daughter (age10) and both were captured by the characters and story.

Loved it!!

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So much depth of storytelling, so many insightful aphorisms, so much relevance. Brilliantly narrated by Samuel West who brings all of the unique characters to life sensitively. Highly recommended for all ages!

Awesome, epic, beautifully written and superbly narrated

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What a beautiful story of our two worlds, older children and young and old adults will enjoy.

beautifully written and read

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