This book had some really good reviews on social media that I knew I needed to read it.
I love MG books and will read most of them but my all time favourite books contain magic, dragons, a visit to a magical world, and that kind of thing, so everything I read about this book sounded like just my cup of tea, So I dived in for the adventure of a lifetime.
It was a very fine day, until something tried to eat him.
A boy called Christopher is visiting his reclusive grandfather when he witnesses an avalanche of mythical 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 from being discovered for thousands of years; 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.
Oh what an adventure this was.
Katherine Rundell is an extremely talented writer, and has the ability to describe worlds she creates and the characters that inhabit them. And at the same time making you believe that you are that person having the adventure , and facing the danger.
And this book is no different.
It had absolutely everything you could ever want in an MG book.
The first thing you will notice when you open the book is a creature description/glossary and pictures. I loved that as I like to picture the characters as the author does. There is also a fabulous map.
Katherine Rundell’s novel, the first of a trilogy (yay), takes us to the Archipelago, a part of the Atlantic Ocean forever hidden from humans in the Otherlands (where we live). Like the islands depicted on mediaeval cartographers’ charts they appear illusory except for those who live in and around them, some humans but also impossible creatures like nereids and dryads, krakens and sphinxes, centaurs and manticores, unicorns and dragons, along with less familiar beings like ratatoskas, karkadanns and kankos.
Throughout this book there are important environmental issues and new discoveries. The main protagonists are endearing, and I wanted them to succeed while the islands of the Archipelago and the creatures who lived there were both familiar and amazing while being easy to imagine and believe in. But my favourite character has to be Nighthand who owns the boat that Christopher and Mal escape to, I really hope he will be making an appearance in the future books.
There are a couple of scenes that not all parents will want their children to read such as the death of Mal’s great aunt. It’s not very detailed but some parents might not be comfortable reading that part, but most parents will understand that children need to read about these sorts of experiences.
I will definitely be putting a copy into the library and I am really looking forward to the next one.
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