Audiobook Review: Impossible Creatures by Katherine Rundell

Posted in Book Reviews by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Title: Impossible Creatures
Author: Katherine Rundell
Narrator: Samuel West
Publisher: Knopf Books for Young Readers
Publication date: September 10, 2024
Print length: 352 pages
Audio length: 8 hours 55 minutes
Genre: Middle grade fantasy
Source: Library (audiobook); purchased (hardcover)
Rating:

The day Christopher saved a drowning baby griffin from a hidden lake would change his life forever. It’s the day he learned about the Archipelago, a cluster of unmapped islands where magical creatures of every kind have thrived for thousands of years—until now. And it’s the day he met Mal, a girl on the run who desperately needs his help.

Mal and Christopher embark on a wild adventure, racing from island to island, searching for someone who can explain why the magic is fading and why magical creatures are suddenly dying. They consult sphinxes, battle kraken, and negotiate with dragons. But the closer they get to the dark truth of what’s happening, the clearer it becomes: no one else can fix this. If the Archipelago is to be saved, Mal and Christopher will have to do it themselves.

Impossible Creatures generated a ton of buzz when it was released last year… and now that I’ve read it, I can happily confirm that all the praise is justified: This middle grade fantasy adventure is outstanding.

Christopher and Mal are two young heroes from two different worlds. Christopher lives in the world we know, a perfectly ordinary boy (other than his strange ability to attract animals wherever he goes). His life changes dramatically when he goes to spend a school holiday with his grandfather in Scotland. There, he discovers an opening to a secret, magical world, of which his grandfather is the guardian — a role Christopher is meant to inherit someday when he’s older.

Mal is a spunky, adventurous girl with a coat that gives her the gift of flight, outsized bravery, and an insatiable curiosity. When a stranger attacks her for seemingly no reason, she’s set on a path that leads her to Christopher. Christopher is immediately captivated by the magical world she represents, and pledges to help keep her safe, escape the bad buys, and figure out why Mal’s world (the Archipelago) seems to be losing the magic that infuses it.

As Christopher and Mal’s quest begins, they’re joined by her pet griffin, the last of its kind, as well as by a hardened sailor who’s more than what he seems and a scholar who also realizes the threat to their world. Together, they set out to save the magic and to understand Mal’s role and why dark forces seem to be aligned against her.

I’ll pause the story summary here to say that this book is glorious! The characters are wonderful — especially Christopher and Mal, who are everything we’d want in young heroes, but also the cast of humans and other creatures whom they encounter. Some are allies, some are obstacles, some are enemies, but all are created with careful detail and splendid heapings of imagination.

The quest itself follows what may feel like familiar beats, as the core group journeys from destination to destination within the Archipelago, solving riddles, finding missing objects, and carrying out difficult tasks along the route to confronting the ultimate big bad — yet the terrific writing makes it all feel fresh and fun. The quest is deliciously exciting and action-packed, but the action is never at the expense of character development. Mal and Christopher both get plenty of soul-searching and introspection along the way, as well as the opportunity to establish the deepest of friendships and to discover truths about themselves and their worlds.

I listened to the audiobook, narrated by actor Samuel West (currently starring in All Creatures Great and Small as Siegfried Farnon). His voice is wonderfully suited to this tale; he fully embodies a large cast of characters, and is especially delightful as Mal, Christopher, and their protector Nighthand. I occasionally had trouble making out pieces of dialogue for certain non-human characters due to the accent and pitch of the voices used, but that was only for a fraction of the audiobook experience, and didn’t detract from the overall enjoyment at all.

A reading note: While I loved the audiobook experience, I strongly encourage anyone going that route to also follow along with a print edition. The book is filled with beautiful black and white illustrations by artist Ashley Mackenzie that add so much to the story — see below for a few examples!

Impossible Creatures is a terrific, hopeful, emotional book, and I loved every moment. A sequel, The Poisoned King, will be published later in 2025. There’s no cover yet, but I’ll be keeping an eye out for it, and I absolutely plan to read the book as soon as it’s available.

I had the pleasure of reading an earlier book by Katherine Rundell — Rooftoppers — last year, and loved it as well. This is an author to watch! I look forward to exploring more of her books, and meanwhile, will be counting the days until The Poisoned King is released.

A selection of illustrations from Impossible Creatures:

4Apr2024

Book Review: The Dark Is Rising (The Dark is Rising, #2) by Susan Cooper

Posted in Book Reviews by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Title: The Dark Is Rising
Series: The Dark Is Rising, #2
Author: Susan Cooper
Publisher: Aladdin
Publication date: 1973
Length: 244 pages
Genre: Middle grade
Source: Library
Rating:

This night will be bad and tomorrow will be beyond imagining.

It’s Midwinter’s Eve, the day before Will’s eleventh birthday. But there is an atmosphere of fear in the familiar countryside around him. This will be a birthday like no other. Will discovers that he has the power of the Old Ones, and that he must embark on a quest to vanquish the terrifyingly evil magic of the Dark.

The second novel in Susan Cooper’s highly acclaimed Dark is Rising sequence.

And another synopsis from a different edition:

On the Midwinter Day that is his eleventh birthday, Will Stanton discovers a special gift — that he is the last of the Old Ones, immortals dedicated to keeping the world from domination by the forces of evil, the Dark. At once, he is plunged into a quest for the six magical Signs that will one day aid the Old Ones in the final battle between the Dark and the Light. And for the twelve days of Christmas, while the Dark is rising, life for Will is full of wonder, terror, and delight.

I finally got around to starting The Dark is Rising sequence this year, after having it on my to-read list for a very long time. Two books in, I’m calling it — I’m done. (At least, for now… although I suspect it’s actually forever).

This may be yet another example of wrong reader, wrong time. Perhaps if I’d read these books with my kids when they were younger, I would have had a completely different experience. But the reality is, reading this 2nd book in the series as an adult was a slog, and I never engaged with the story.

In brief — Will Stanton awakes on his 11th birthday to find out he’s a chosen one. (Hmmm, sound familiar? Keep in mind this book was originally published in 1973, well before a certain other special 11-year-old ever appeared in print). As Will learns, he’s the last of the Old Ones, a group of magically gifted people dedicated to prevent the Dark (forces of evil) from gaining power and taking over. The Old Ones represent the Light, and Will’s role is to gather six signs that together will banish the Dark, at least until it manages to try again.

As an Old One, Will can move through time. Guided by people of his village (including Merriman Lyon, the only character crossing over from the first book) — also secretly Old Ones — he uncovers the signs one by one, encountering nefarious representatives of the Dark along the way. A climactic showdown endangers his entire family and town… and Will is ultimately the one who must save them all.

Why Will? Why can’t any of the other Old Ones find the signs? It’s explained that he’s a seventh son of a seventh son, which is apparently significant, and also that he’s last of the Old Ones (but why is he the last? Don’t know). In any case, Will magically gains all the knowledge he needs to fulfill his role, and the plot centers around his quest to retrieve the signs and defeat the Dark’s attempt to rise.

Honestly? I was bored. I stuck with the book for the sake of seeing how it ended and because I was holding onto the idea of completing the five-book series… but I really had to force myself to finish, so I can’t see continuing.

Maybe it’s just a case of “been there, done that”. Maybe The Dark Is Rising sequence was new and different back when it was published… but at this point, there are plenty of magical quest and chosen one stories available in children’s books, and I didn’t feel that The Dark Is Rising offered me anything particularly unique or engaging.

I’ve heard that the series gets really good in later books, but I don’t think I’m interested enough to see for myself. As I said, this could just be a case of being the wrong reader at the wrong time.

In my review of the first book, Over Sea, Under Stone, I said that I really enjoyed the book and was happy to have read it, but that I’d probably leave it as a stand-alone read and not continue. Having now read the 2nd book, I should have stayed with my first instinct. I do think this series could be very entertaining for kids who enjoy fantasy quests, but as an adult reader, I’m out.

8Mar2024

Book Review: Over Sea, Under Stone (The Dark is Rising, #1) by Susan Cooper

Posted in Book Reviews by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Title: Over Sea, Under Stone
Series: The Dark is Rising, #1
Author: Susan Cooper
Publisher: Aladdin
Publication date: 1965
Length: 196 pages
Genre: Middle grade
Source: Library
Rating:

“I DID NOT KNOW THAT YOU CHILDREN WOULD BE THE ONES TO FIND IT. OR WHAT DANGER YOU WOULD BE PUTTING YOURSELVES IN.”

Throughout time, the forces of good and evil have battled continuously, maintaining the balance . Whenever evil forces grow too powerful, a champion of good is called to drive them back. Now, with evil’s power rising and a champion yet to be found, three siblings find themselves at the center of a mystical war.

Jane, Simon, and Barney Drew have discovered an ancient text that reads of a legendary grail lost centuries ago. The grail is an object of great power, buried with a vital secret. As the Drews race against the forces of evil, they must piece together the text’s clues to find the grail — and keep its secret safe until a new champion rises.

And another synopsis from a different edition:

On holiday in Cornwall, the three Drew children discover an ancient map in the attic of the house that they are staying in. They know immediately that it is special. It is even more than that — the key to finding a grail, a source of power to fight the forces of evil known as the Dark. And in searching for it themselves, the Drews put their very lives in peril. This is the first volume of Susan Cooper’s brilliant and absorbing fantasy sequence known as The Dark Is Rising.

The Dark is Rising sequence has been on my to-read list for quite a while now — and I could have sworn that I’d already read the first book, Over Sea, Under Stone. But here’s what actually happened: I started this book over ten years ago with my (then) young son, soon after we finished reading Harry Potter together. We were looking for another adventure/fantasy series to dig into… but apparently, Over Sea, Under Stone didn’t quite catch his attention as a read-aloud. So, while I thought we’d read the whole book, I realized this time around that we actually only read the first few chapters.

In any case…

I’ve been curious about this five-book series, which is considered a modern classic in the middle grade/children’s fantasy genre, dealing with Arthurian legends and other elements of Celtic mythology.

Finally, I decided to commit to the first book, and I’m glad I did.

Over Sea, Under Stone is the story of a trio of siblings — Simon, Jane, and Barney Drew — and the quest they find themselves pulled into while on a family holiday in Cornwall. There, staying in a curious old house with their Great-Uncle Merry (who’s not biologically an uncle at all, but has been considered part of the family for as long as anyone can remember), the children find a crumbling old manuscript and map, and decide it has the makings of an exciting adventure.

But as the children seek clues, darker forces seem determined to interfere. A variety of creepy and menacing people take interest in the children’s explorations, and soon begin to actively try to capture the map for themselves.

With Merry’s guidance, the children come to realize that the map likely dates back to the time of King Arthur, and if only they can decipher its clues, they may find a relic of incomparable value and power.

Over Sea, Under Stone is a rollicking good adventure, with moments of danger and menace, great bravery, and funny moments too. Of course, the children and the time period might seem terribly old-fashioned to today’s children, but putting that aside, the book is a fast-paced quest story with high stakes and suspenseful action sequences.

This book was originally envisioned as a stand-alone and works perfectly well as such, with a satisfying ending — but it also leaves the door wide open for more to come.

For me personally, I’m not in a phase where I’m feeling particularly drawn to children’s fiction, so while I enjoyed Over Sea, Under Stone and can wholeheartedly recommend it, I’m not inclined to continue the series at the moment. I think the first book is a great reading experience, and I’m guessing the rest of the series is as well! Maybe I’ll eventually pick up the next book, but for now, I’m happy with having read Over Sea, Under Stone, and will leave it at that.