The Poisoned King

The unmissable new story in the No.1 Sunday Times bestselling Impossible Creatures series, for fans of Philip Pullman, Percy Jackson and Skandar. When Christopher Forrester is unexpectedly woken by a miniature dragon chewing on his face, his heart leaps for joy. For months he's dreamed of returning to the Archipelago - the secret islands where all the creatures of myth still live. But he did not know it would involve a rescue mission on the back of a sphinx, or a plan to enter a dragon's lair. Nor did he imagine it would involve a girl with a flock of birds at her side, a new-hatched chick in her pocket and a ravenous hunger for justice... Awards and praise for Impossible Creatures WINNER Waterstones Book of the Year WINNER British Book Awards Children's Book of the Year WINNER Foyles Children's Book of the Year WINNER Books Are My Bag Readers Award 'A book stuffed full of fantastical, magical delight' - Cressida Cowell 'I love Katherine Rundell and everythings she writes. I defy anyone not to lose their heart to her stories' - Maggie O'Farrell 'Readers will seize this with delight' - Philip Pullman 'A masterpiece to rival Tolkien' - Daily Telegraph 'There was Tolkien, there is Pullman and now there is Katherine Rundell' - Michael Morpurgo 'Every sentence sparkles ... Magnificent' - The Times Impossible Creatures Sunday Times bestseller, December 2023

Katherine Rundell is a multi-million-bestselling author whose novels for children have won the Waterstones Children's Book Prize, the Blue Peter Book Award and the Costa Children's Book Award, among many others. Impossible Creatures was Waterstones Book of the Year 2023, and in 2024 Katherine was named the British Book Awards Author of the Year and Impossible Creatures won the Children's Fiction Book of the Year. She is a Quondam Fellow of All Souls College and a Fellow of St Catherine's College, Oxford, where she works on Renaissance literature. Her books for adults include Super-Infinite, winner of the Baillie Gifford Prize. Very occasionally she goes climbing across the rooftops of Oxford, late at night.