Impossible Creatures by Katherine Randell

We love Katherine Rundell's books here at Ottie and the Bea. 

Having been fortunate enough to receive a proof copy I can tell you that this is the start of an amazing fantasy adventure. Katherine's writing is a total joy and the world she has created is so wonderfully escapist- I had to ration myself to a chapter each night as I didn't want to leave the Archipelago... and now I will have to patiently wait for book 2

Impossible Creatures tells the story of a boy called Christopher who is visiting his reclusive grandfather when he witnesses an avalanche of mythic creatures come tearing down the hill. This is how Christopher learns that his grandfather is the guardian of one of the ways between the non-magical world and a place called the Archipelago: a cluster of magical islands, where all the creatures we tell of in myth live and breed and thrive alongside humans. They have been protected for thousands of years from being discovered; now, terrifyingly, the protection has worn thin, and creatures are breaking through. 

Then a girl, Mal, appears in Christopher’s world. She is in possession of a flying coat, is being pursued by a killer, and is herself in pursuit of a baby griffin. Mal, Christopher and the griffin embark on an urgent quest across the wild splendour of the Archipelago, where sphinxes hold secrets and centaurs do murder, to find the truth – with unimaginable consequences for both their worlds. Together the two must face the problem of power, and of knowledge, and of what love demands of us.