The Poisoned King Synopsis
The dragons call out, and the ratatoskas tell of murder. Come with us now. There is justice to be done. Return to the magic of the Archipelago... The Poisoned King is the dazzling second book in Katherine Rundell's epic and bestselling Impossible Creatures series.'There was Tolkien, there is Pullman and now there is Katherine Rundell' - Michael MorpurgoWhen Christopher Forrester is unexpectedly woken by a miniature dragon chewing on his face, his heart leaps for joy. For months he's dreamed of returning to the Archipelago - the secret islands where all the creatures of myth still live. But he did not know it would involve a rescue mission on the back of a sphinx, or a plan to enter a dragon's lair. Nor did he imagine it would involve a girl with a flock of birds at her side, a new-hatched chick in her pocket and a ravenous hunger for justice...The unmissable sequel to Impossible Creatures, WINNER of the Waterstones Book of the Year, British Book Awards Children's Book of the Year, Foyles Children's Book of the Year and the Books Are My Bag Readers Award'A book stuffed full of fantastical, magical delight' - Cressida Cowell on Impossible Creatures'Readers will seize this with delight' - Philip Pullman on Impossible Creatures'A masterpiece to rival Tolkien' - Daily Telegraph on Impossible Creatures'Every sentence sparkles ... Magnificent' - The Times on Impossible Creatures.
About This Edition
| ISBN: |
9781408897454 |
| Publication date: |
11th September 2025 |
| Author: |
Katherine Rundell |
| Publisher: |
Bloomsbury Children's Books an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing (UK) |
| Format: |
Paperback |
| Pagination: |
304 pages |
| Series: |
Impossible Creatures |
| Suitable For: |
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| Other Genres: |
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Katherine Rundell Press Reviews
Praise for Impossible Creatures;
'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
'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. Rundell's best, which is something to be marvelled at. It made me want to yell, or laugh, or bite something.' - Kiran Millwood Hargrave
'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
'One of our most talented writers for children' - Observer
'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
'Flickers with a rare and fierce beauty - unputdownable.' - Abi Elphinstone
About Katherine Rundell
Katherine Rundell is a bestselling author whose novels for children include Rooftoppers, The Wolf Wilder, The Explorer and The Good Thieves. She has won the Costa Children’s Book Award, the Blue Peter Book Award and the Waterstones Children’s Book Prize, amongst many others. She was a 2021 World Book Day author and has also published two picture books for children and three non-fiction books for adults, including Super-Infinite: The Transformations of John Donne, winner of the 2022 Baillie Gifford Prize, and The Golden Mole and Other Living Treasure, shortlisted for the 2022 Waterstones Book of the Year. Her books have sold millions of copies worldwide.
Katherine spent her childhood in Africa and Europe before taking her degree at the University of Oxford and becoming a Fellow of All Souls College. As well as writing, she studies Renaissance literature and occasionally goes climbing on the rooftops late at night.
More About Katherine Rundell
