The highly anticipated third book in the #1 New York Times bestselling Impossible Creatures series. Join Christopher and Anya on their next daring adventures in the magical Archipelago!

*This spectacular book features foil and embossing on the jacket, full-color designed endpapers, stained edges, and gorgeous interior illustrations.*

It’s the Midsummer Feast on the islet of Glimt, and on this magical moonlit evening, the word on everyone’s lips is bandits. Reports of masked men wreaking havoc are spreading throughout the Archipelago.

Christopher and Anya have faced danger before; they think they are prepared for this threat—until they are ambushed and someone very close to them is kidnapped.

Their frantic quest to pay the ransom will take them on a wild journey across Glimouria. Together they must face giants, duel with pirates, and race against deadly karkadanns. 

But just when they think they might succeed, there will come the most Herculean task of all . . .

Story Locale:The Glimourie Archipelago

Series Overview: New books in the Impossible Creatures series will be published simultaneously in the US and the UK. This is the third in a five-book series, with future titles expected to come out each Fall. 

This year we will publish:

THE POISONED KING (IC2) in paperback - 8/4/26
IMPOSSIBLE CREATURES 3 - 9/1/2026
WHY YOU SHOULD READ CHILDREN'S BOOKS, EVEN THOUGH YOU ARE SO OLD AND WISE - 9/1/2026
 
Contributor Bio(s)
 
Katherine Rundell is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Impossible Creatures series. Her other books for children include Rooftoppers, Cartwheeling in Thunderstorms, The Wolf Wilder, The Explorer, and The Good Thieves. For adult readers, Rundell has written Vanishing Treasures: A Bestiary of Extraordinary Endangered Creatures and Super-Infinite: The Transformations of John Donne, which won the Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction. She was the recipient of the British Book Award for Book of the Year and Author of the Year. She grew up in Zimbabwe, Brussels, and London, and is currently a Fellow of St. Catherine’s College, Oxford.

Ashley Mackenzie is a Canadian artist and illustrator with a special affinity for dragons, dryads, and all magical creatures.