Will I love Impossible Creatures?

I love this book firstly because of the way that it draws on mythology and legend and, through a creative breach of a ‘barrier’, brings that world together with our own.

The theme of the pending extinction of creatures of wonder as a result of greed and the corruption of power is contemporary, relevant, and urgent, as is the role of courage and friendship as responses to that greed and corruption. And yet, like the other books on this list, this is a story first, a tale of heroism and discovery that only explores these weightier issues in a way… show more.

This book is magical realism, focused on hope, courage, faith and believing in things you don't have proof of. It's an adventure about saving the plant, which pulls in all the mythological creatures from all the books you've ever heard of - mermaids, centaurs, and more. An Instant classic. I judge a book by how it makes me feel, and this one makes me hang on every word, it's so powerful, it gets right to the heart of things.

Katherine Rundell's writing has always been stunning – pointed, graceful, full of wit and wonder. Here she is at her best. As a writer, it's a privilege to read a master of the craft at work; as a reader, it's a sheer act of joy.

We read for many different reasons: to be entertained, to learn about the world, to walk in another person’s shoes. When I’m having an overwhelmingly stressful time, I want to escape into a book – as if I’d opened the cover and stepped inside. Impossible Creatures was the perfect choice for an escape.

Katherine Rundell’s exquisite writing spans children’s fiction, academia, and non-fiction. In her first book of fantasy, we enter a world both familiar and strange – familiar to us because the titular ‘impossible creatures’ who populate the world are the stuff of myth and legend – and strange… show more.