My granddaughter and I worked our way through Narnia, Harry Potter and the Hobbit during lockdown times and then she swiftly moved onto Katherine Rundell and I felt I ought to follow. I loved ‘The Rooftoppers’ but ‘Impossible Creatures’ is really something else.
I would never say that fantasy is my favourite genre but if something is well written then all preconceptions are swept to one side. Katherine Rundell is a brilliant writer, I am a total fan and would read anything she produced. If you are buying a Christmas gift for a good reader of 10 or above then maybe this is your answer. It is a truly epic adventure that carries the reader to distant worlds where mythical creatures, some familiar and some not, both live and thrive. Christopher and Mal are forced to deal with large and serious problems that will change the destiny of the world.
If Philip Pullman and Michael Morpurgo both celebrate the storytelling that is on offer here and write of the author being the next Tolkien, that surely is recommendation enough. The sequel is called ‘The Poisoned King’ and delightfully there are more books in the pipeline. I read that the film rights have been sold to Disney. My granddaughter cannot wait!