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A review by ros_lanta
Impossible Creatures by Katherine Rundell
4.25
I wasn't expecting Impossible Creatures to make me cry, and yet I found myself sitting in public in a coffee shop holding back tears.
The book starts off feeling like a typical children's fantasy story, with a boy finding a young griffin and getting inadvertently dragged into another world and ending up on a quest. It does in some ways follow the typical, mythology-inspired quest format of a number of different encounters and adventures whilst on a journey, but as the book progresses it takes turns I did not expect.
There's emotional depth to the writing and some strong themes including conservation, friendship, and the extent to which memories and experiences shape who we are.
It's not perfect. Some parts of the plot felt underdeveloped to me and certain characters were underutilised, with one in particular seeming like a major character for much of the book and then almost disappearing. A higher page count might also have allowed for more development of some of the interesting relationships, for example between Christopher and his grandfather, or Christopher and a very tiny dragon.
I'm unsure of whether the author plans to come back to this world or whether it's a standalone, but if there is a sequel I will absolutely be getting my hands on it.
The book starts off feeling like a typical children's fantasy story, with a boy finding a young griffin and getting inadvertently dragged into another world and ending up on a quest. It does in some ways follow the typical, mythology-inspired quest format of a number of different encounters and adventures whilst on a journey, but as the book progresses it takes turns I did not expect.
There's emotional depth to the writing and some strong themes including conservation, friendship, and the extent to which memories and experiences shape who we are.
It's not perfect. Some parts of the plot felt underdeveloped to me and certain characters were underutilised, with one in particular seeming like a major character for much of the book and then almost disappearing. A higher page count might also have allowed for more development of some of the interesting relationships, for example between Christopher and his grandfather, or Christopher and a very tiny dragon.
I'm unsure of whether the author plans to come back to this world or whether it's a standalone, but if there is a sequel I will absolutely be getting my hands on it.