Impossible Creatures is the first book in a middle grade fantasy adventure by Katherine Rundell. Released 10th Sept 2024 by Penguin Random House on their Children's imprint, it's 368 pages and is available in hardcover, audio, and ebook formats. Paperback format due out in 3rd quarter 2025 from the same publisher. It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links and references throughout.
This is a very well written fantasy adventure for middle grade/tween readers (Lexile HL650L). It's full of classic creatures and two young protagonists whose cross-realms worlds' ("real" world and "fantasy" world) continued existence depend on their cooperation and success. There are scary antagonists and several high stakes conflicts.
Much of this book is darker than the average middle grade lit, and there are some genuinely traumatic scenes including deaths of characters and creatures. The two main protagonists spend a fair amount of the book running from a murderer.
The book hype compares the writing to Pullman, and that's quite apt. It's genuinely dark in places, but always lyrical. It's probably not appropriate for the younger end of the middle grade reader audience, or for more sensitive kids.
The second book in the series, The Poisoned King, is due out in September 2025.
Four stars. It would be a good choice for public or home library.
Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.
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