Literature / Impossible Creatures (2023)

There's a place where all the wildest stories began...

And then [Mal] spoke the most powerful and exhausting, the bravest, most exasperating and galvanic sentence in the human language.
Some sentences have the power to change everything. There are the usual suspects: I love you, I hate you, I'm pregnant, I'm dying, I regret to tell you that this country is at war. But the words with the greatest power to create both havoc and marvels are these:
'I need your help.'

Impossible Creatures is a children's fantasy novel by Katherine Rundell. It was originally released in the United Kingdom on the 14th of September 2023.

In the sea between Canada and Denmark lies the Archipelago, a place magically hidden from the rest of the world where mythical creatures live alongside humans. Christopher is a boy from England who learns he's from a long line of guardians of the Waybetween, a lake that connects the Archipelago and the outside world. After the portal unexpectedly opens, he meets Mal, a girl who's running from a murderer, and Gelifen, who may be the last griffin in the world. Together, they set off on an adventure across the Archipelago to find out why magical creatures are dying.

Not to be confused with the 2003 PC game of the same name.

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This book contains examples of:

• Absurdly Sharp Blade: The Glamry Blade is a dagger which can cut through anything in the Archipelago. Its tip is so sharp that it's hard to see.
• Apparently Human Merfolk: Nereids are humanoids who live in the sea and hardly ever venture onto land despite having legs.
• Asian Fox Spirit: Kanko are glowing, mouse-sized, two-tailed foxes from Japan who make nests in unusual places.
• Background Magic Field: Magic, called the Glimourie, entered the world when the first tree grew. It flows through the ground and water, and is at its strongest in the Archipelago. If the tree suffers, then magical creatures will start to die.
• Big Damn Heroes: While the heroes are sailing past the Island of Manticores, Christopher is threatened by a manticore who gives him a speech about how humans are driven by fear. Before it can eat him, Jaques the jaculus shows up to burn it; turns out he'd been following Christopher because the latter promised to be his biographer.
• Classical Chimera: Chimeras are mentioned in the Guardian's Bestiary. They want to wreak havoc, but their three heads rarely agree on anything.
• Clothes Make the Superman: Shortly after she was born, a travelling seer gifted Mal with a magic coat that allows her to fly when she unfolds the flaps.
• Dragon Variety Pack: There are 37 species of dragons in the Archipelago, who range in size from a cathedral to a human's thumb joint. Some can fly, while others spend their entire lives in the ocean.
• Faeries Don't Believe in Humans, Either: Most people from the magical Archipelago believe that some things from the outside world, such as panthers and King Henry VIII, are just myths.
• Fantastic Nature Reserve: The Archipelago is the last place on Earth where magical creatures live, because it's where the Background Magic Field is at its strongest. A long time ago, it was hidden away from the outside world to protect them from human civilisation.
• Fantasy Kitchen Sink: Mythical creatures from all over the world live in the Archipelago. While most of the prominent ones are from Europe (especially Greece), there are also middle-eastern al-mirajes, Chinese longmas, and Japanese kankos.
• Head-in-the-Sand Management: When Irian tells the travelling senate that the glimourie is fading and creatures are dying, they tell her they'll wait for sixth months because they don't want to cause a panic. Then, she presents evidence, so they try to arrest her for contempt of justice.
• Heroic Sacrifice: Mal carries Sforza into the Somnulum in order to restore the Glimourie, killing both of them in the process.
• A Kind of One: In Norse Mythology, Ratatoskr is a squirrel who delivers messages up and down the World Tree. Here, they're an entire species of horned squirrels who love to gossip.
• Last-Name Basis: Fidens Nighthand tells Christopher and Mal that he only responds to his surname.
• Last of His Kind: Griffins have become rare over the past 5 years, and Gelifen is considered to be the last one. That is, until Adam kills him.
• Meaningful Funeral: At the end, Christopher is invited to Mal's funeral procession. He's the only human present — which he doesn't realise is a great honour — and all sorts of magical creatures pay their respects in different ways. It's such an important occasion that the nereids venture onto land, which they almost never do.
• Meaningful Name: Mal is short for Malum. She says it means "mischeif", which fits her personality, but Christopher swears it means something else. It also means "apple" — as in the apple of the Glimourie Tree — a hint that Mal is the Immortal.
• Mi'raj: Al-mirajes are hares with golden, unicorn-like horns who can make grass sprout wherever they walk. They're usually timid, but they're said to seek out good people and guide them.
• Monster Compendium: The book begins with the Guardian's Bestiary, which lists most of the magical creatures who live in the Archipelago. In-Universe, Frank Aureate wrote it, and he gives it to Christopher when it's time to tell him their family are guardians of the Waybetween.
• Nephewism: Mal was raised by her great aunt after her parents died.
• Our Centaurs Are Different: The Archipelago's centaurs are skilled artisans who need to eat constantly to fuel their high metabolic costs.
• Our Griffons Are Different: Griffins have the classic half-lion, half-eagle design and are considered some of the most magical creatures. They can't speak, but they're highly intelligent and can quickly learn to understand human languages. They also radiate heat.
• Our Hippocamps Are Different: Hippocamps are fish/horse hybrids who come in a wide variety of colours. Boats in the Archipelago are legally required to not pollute the ocean so they can grow into their full beauty, and nereids sometimes ride them.
• Our Manticores Are Spinier: Manticores are some of the few creatures in the Archipelago who hunt for sport. They smell of decay and, according to The Guardian's Bestiary, have "the personality of a self-righteous politician." Some subspecies have a spiked ball at the end of their tails.
• Our Mermaids Are Different: Merfolk live in the northern waters of the Archipelago. Their tails contain thousands of muscles and can be up to 30 feet long. Many of them are musicians, and their songs are thought to have inspired Vivaldi.
• Our Nymphs Are Different: The Archipelago is home to nereids, who are Apparently Human Merfolk with silvery hair; and dryads, who are very protective of the trees they live in and are implied to be all female. Naiads are also mentioned (and seem to be distinct from nereids), but they don't appear.
• Outliving One's Offspring: Frank's daughter Charlotte was supposed to become the next guardian of the waybetween, but she died young, so her son Christopher inherits the position instead.
• Pegasus: Pegasi don't appear, but they are mentioned. Their feathers are used to make the finest fabric in the world, but it's very rare because people only use ones that have shed naturally.
• Perception Filter: The Archipelago is undetectable from the outside because the glimourie gently pushes vehicles away without anyone realising.
• The Phoenix: Phoenixes are common birds in the Archipelago, but play a minor role. They're describe as having fiery-red feathers and being the size of eagles, with foot-long tails.
• Planimal: Borometzes are green lambs who grow on stalks.
• Reincarnation: The Immortal is the reincarnation of the Glimourie Tree's first apple. The soul has passed through many species, and remembers all of its past lives. That was, until 100 years ago. Its current incarnation, a man named Marik, became overwhelmed by his duty and all the memories, so he drank a powerful potion to forget he was the Immortal. It was so potent that his reincarnations don't have the memories, either, so nobody's been able to track them.
• Riddling Sphinx: Belhib tells the heroes that sphinxes ask riddles for three reasons: so their island isn't swamped by visitors looking for the answers to trivial questions, to encourage people to think for themselves, and so they can eat people who give the wrong answers. Naturally, his mother Naravirala makes each of the humans answer a riddle (including the classic Riddle of the Sphinx) before they can ask her why the Glimourie — the magic that keeps magical creatures alive — is fading.
• Sacrificial Lion: Gelifen, Mal's last companion and the whole reason Christopher learned about the Archipelago, dies because Mal tries to give up and go home, runs into Adam, and learns why he was trying to kill her. In the scuffle, Adam mortally wounds Gelifen. This motivates Mal to finally stop denying that she's the Immortal.
• Short Screentime for Reality: Most of the book takes place in the magical Archipelago. The mundane world is only seen at the very beginning and end.
• Talking the Monster to Death: Christopher's standard tactic when someone is trying to kill him is to distract them by asking questions. It works, once. He convinces the jaculus guarding the tree of living gold to not kill him by giving him a name.
• Translator Microbes: If a human holds a sphinx's tooth in their mouth, they can understand any language.
• Uneven Hybrid: Irian reveals that she has a distant nereid ancestor after she dives into the water to ask them for help while they're on a boat far away from any land. She keeps this a secret so she doesn't garner unwanted attention.
• Unicorn: Unicorns in the Archipelago can live for over 300 years and have all sorts of healing powers. However, they have an aggressive streak, since they'll trample most people who try to ride them. Their horns can ward off karkadans, which are viscious, carnivorous, unicorn-like creatures who kill for sport and have toxins dripping from their horns.
• The Watson: Christopher is a newcomer to the Archipelago, which allows its inhabitants to explain pieces of common knowledge to him, such as who the Immortal is and how the government works.
• Weird Sun: The Glimourie Tree grows underneath a miniature sun called the Somnulum. According to Mal, it was the same sun that Icarus flew into.
• World Tree: The Glimourie Tree was the first tree in the world and is the source of all magic. It's responsible for keeping magical creatures alive.

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