Christopher Forrester discovered the Archipelago of magic when his grandfather let him find the secret entrance in Scotland. His family keeps the door secure, but sometimes they get called to help the people on the far side. Impossible Creatures is the series title and the first book. A mini dragon called Jacques comes to fetch young Christopher in THE POISONED KING, the second title.

Yes, there is poison. But first, we get to enjoy the pocket-sized dragon. Oh, I want a pocket dragon. Anyway, Christopher reaches the Archipelago and asks a Sphinx for aid, but first, she requires an answer to a riddle. Not only that, but she mentions that somewhere, a girl in need of help could do with company. This sounds like striking a bargain, so Christopher, who doesn’t know how to counteract the poison that is killing off dragons, agrees to visit the unknown girl.

Next, we meet Anya, a princess and granddaughter of the king, living in Argentina Castle. Plots are afoot. To save her life, the young girl will have to make use of her woodcraft and allies. Mostly her allies consist of a flock of crow-like birds called gaganas, because her relatives have insisted on keeping her away from people. So, birds it is.

The book comes with a lengthy end piece which is a bestiary of magical creatures. We might be familiar with some of them, such as unicorns and harpies, but many are strange, such as lavellan, longma, and peryton. I enjoy the diverse wildlife throughout the tale, but it does seem a lot for children to follow at times. We all know what dragons look like, and the dragons are dying. They don’t cause that much damage, these days, so harming them just seems mean. I wonder why someone would do that. Oh, right. That other thing we all know about dragons. The complicated attributes of the wildlife can stop the reader from putting together facts they already have.

Not many characters or places from the original story appear; Nighthand and Irian turn up, two fierce and friendly islanders. I had fun reading THE POISONED KING, but I preferred the first book by Katherine Rundell. Anyone enjoying the story to date will be glad of a second instalment.