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Impossible creatures

£8.99

There’s a place where all the wildest stories began … From Katherine Rundell, the British Book Awards Author of the Year, comes the first novel in the award winning and globally bestselling Impossible Creatures series.

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ISBN: 9781408897430 Category: Children's - Older Readers Tags: "Children's / Teenage general interest: Monsters, dragons & mythological creatures", Children's / Teenage fiction: Action & adventure stories, Children's / Teenage fiction: Fantasy & magical realism, Children's / Teenage personal & social issues: Friends & friendship issues
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Description

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

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.

Read the stunning sequel to Impossible Creatures: book 2, The Poisoned King, is OUT NOW!

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.

*Please note the book cover you receive may be different from the one that is shown

* 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

* 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

‘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
‘I love Katherine Rundell and everything she writes. Her books are treasure troves of glittering wisdom and breath-taking plots; her characters leap off the page, singular, passionate, and satisfyingly complex. I defy anyone to not lose their heart to her stories.‘ – Maggie O'Farrell, author of Hamnet
‘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

Additional information

Weight 0.307 kg
Dimensions 19.4 × 12.8 × 2.2 cm
Author

Rundell, Katherine

Publisher

Bloomsbury Children's Books

Imprint

Bloomsbury Children's Books

Cover

Paperback

Pages

384

Language

English

Edition

1st paperback ed

Dewey

823.92 (edition:23)

Readership

Children – juvenile / Code: J

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The one and only Oliver Jeffers will be siging copies of 'A Day off School' and 'Theres a Ghost in this House' at House of Books and Friends at 11am on Tuesay the 27th October.

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Tickets are in our bio 🎟️

Join us in a candle-lit bookshop for an evening of reading, relaxing, and supporting those in need. Get in the festive spirit with our offerings of mulled wine and minced pies. Enjoy performances from local poets, learn about the incredible work of Once Upon a Smile, and settle down for an hour of reading together; no screens, no chatter, no pressure from the outside world. Closing the night, enjoy some festive songs from a local musician, and letting the warm glow of the night carry you home.

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Though completely different to ‘Lessons in Chemistry’, this novel is a worthy successor and is as brilliantly life-affirming and enjoyable!
Batter Grey is a fantastically flawed and witty protagonist with a passion for all things poetry, which leads him to apply for a role at the prestigious and illusive Peck and Peck poetry journal in New York City.


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