Today Caramel reviews Impossible Creatures, a 2024 book by Katherine Rundell. As usual Sprinkles is taking notes and asking questions.
Sprinkles: So Caramel, this is your last review for the year!
Caramel: Yep, and I am very happy about that!
S: Hmm, I thought you liked reading books.
C: I do! And I even like talking about them. But when the year is over, we always take a month-long break, and who doesn’t like breaks?
S: Okay, I totally get that! So let us do our review and wrap up the year then.
C: Actually we won’t be done completely, because on Saturday we will do a joint review with Marshmallow and go over all the books we talked about this year.
S: True. But you will be done with talking about new books. So tell us, what is this book about?
C: It is about this one girl named Mal and an archipelago where mythical creatures are real. The girl finds a baby griffin, and then meets a boy named Christopher and asks him to help her save all of the creatures in the archipelago from a great danger.
S: So is the girl a keeper of these magical creatures?
C: Yes and no, the griffin is her friend, not her pet.
S: Okay, so is this like, there is this magical world of magical animals that us mere mortals do not know about, kind of like in The Menagerie?
C: Yeah, kind of.
S: I see. So I am assuming the impossible creatures in the title of the book are these magical creatures?
C: Yep, definitely. However they are not as kind as the ones in The Menagerie.
S: Oh, are they more like wild animals?
C: No, they are more intelligent creatures, but still kind of angry.
S: I read that somehow the magic is running out?
C: Yep, some evil thing is stealing the magic from the source.
S: Oh, and so Mal and Christopher have to figure out what is going on and save the magic?
C: Yep, and they will have to kill the evil one.
S: That sounds like it could be an exciting read!
C: Yep. It was.
S: And does it all end up nice and tidy? I heard there might be a sequel.
C: Yeah, I would like to read it if there is a sequel. This one ended a little sad.
S: Oh no! I don’t want to ask.
C: Okay, don’t ask then.
S: Alright. I will change the topic. Though we could not call this book a graphic novel or a picture book, there are still quite a lot of images here and there, right?
C: Yep. Maybe sixty or more!
S: They were apparently the work of the artist named Ashley MacKenzie. What did you think of them?
C: I liked them! But I felt like the book could have used even more images. I mean, there were some things that I felt could need some images.
S: That is interesting! You do know quite a few different kinds of magical creatures already, so I am guessing this book had some that you had not heard of before?
C: No, but I want to see them just the same. But you know, the map at the beginning, that was pretty cool! It showed the archipelago where the magical creatures live. And then there is an illustrated Bestiary, which was also neat.
S: Hmm, so I think you liked the illustrations, just wanted a lot more, because they were pretty good!
C: Yep, having more would have been really good.
S: Okay, I think it is clear that you enjoyed this book. So we can wrap this up now. What would you like to tell our readers?
C: Stay tuned for more book bunny reviews!
BookBunnies 