The Archipelago must once again be saved in The Poisoned King, a high-energy and imaginative sequel to Katherine Rundell's beloved Impossible Creatures.
When a tiny dragon summons Christopher Forrester back to the magical world he left a year earlier, it is not for joyous occasions: "The great dragons are dying in their dozens. Nobody knows why." Christopher arrives on the Archipelago's shores and is informed by a sphinx friend that his destiny is linked to that of Anya Argen, reluctant princess of the island of Dousha and friend to the talkative royal gaganas (miracle-working birds from Russian folklore). Anya, however, is fleeing her home--her uncle poisoned her grandfather, pinned the crime on her father, and attempted to murder Anya herself in a bid to steal the throne. The death of the dragons and the murder of Anya's grandfather are connected, but if the children don't figure out the antidote to the poisons used in all the murders, the creatures of the Archipelago may be doomed.
Rundell expertly shapes another magical adventure in The Poisoned King. Though only the first few chapters are through Christopher's point-of-view and not much of the world originally explored in Impossible Creatures appears, many favorite side characters return; the Archipelago is made both familiar and fresh in the eyes of its heroine, a rageful, fearsome girl who chooses kindness over harsh revenge. Fine-lined black-and-white illustrations by Ashley Mackenzie give face to the fantastical creatures and elements in Rundell's imaginative world.
Fans of Impossible Creatures and of stories like Philip Pullman's The Golden Compass will likely be deeply enchanted by this return to the Archipelago. --Nicole Brinkley, bookseller and writer