The Poisoned King [Impossible Creatures]
by Katherine Rundell; illus. by Ashley Mackenzie
Middle School    Knopf    304 pp.
9/25    9780593809907    $19.99

When Christopher Forrester returns to the Glimouria Archipelago, conditions could not be more dire: the ancient, wise dragons are dying, and the dragon Sarkany, on whose back Christopher flew in Impossible Creatures (rev. 9/24), has sent for his help. For Anya, Princess of the Island of Dousha, the tragedy is more immediate: her grandfather the king has been poisoned, her dear father has been accused of the murder, and her uncle Claude’s soldiers have been ordered to kill her and make her death look natural. Christopher rescues her, and although their quests turn out to be connected, their troubles seem nearly insurmountable. Into a story rife with mythical beings—including sphinxes, unicorns, manticores, and crow-like gaganas that are Anya’s devoted companions; all rendered in the illustrations with Art Nouveau-esque flair—Rundell drops passages of almost crystalline beauty. Her strengths in relating her characters’ inner lives engage reader sympathies in an iron clasp. Star-crossed lovers the Berserker Nighthand and nereid scientist Irian return, making an unexpected but apt contribution at the wrenchingly emotional climax. Rundell’s ability to render the nobility and pathos of the human experience will take readers on a profoundly affecting journey that they will remember long after the book is closed.

From the November/December 2025 issue of The Horn Book Magazine.