The Poisoned King (Impossible Creatures)

THE POISONED KING By Katherine Applegate ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ This was a very exciting new release for our family! Our boys (15, 12, and 8) loved book 1 in this series. Here is our family's (belated) review with input from our 12 and 9 year old boys. 🚨 May contain some spoilers for book 1 - discussion about book 2 is not spoilery! 🚨 As we learned in Immortal Creatures, Christopher's grandfather is the gatekeeper of the waybetween so his job is to protect the space between the Archipelago and the Outer Lands (the regular world). Christopher is the future Gatekeeper so he is naturally tasked with coming back on Jacques request to help figure out why the dragons are being poisoned. Upon his return to the Archipelago, the Sphinx tells Christopher that his quest will intersect with a girl on a similar path. The girl's - Anya's - grandfather has also been poisoned. Anya discovers that her uncle has framed her dad for it, marking her as an obstacle to also eliminate on his quest for the throne. Once the stories converge, Christopher and Anya unite to try to find the origin of the poison & see if they can resolve both of their dilemmas. This was a fabulous return to the world and we cannot wait to see what happens when book 3 is released next year. The boys were very curious about the Immortal and how that will continue to play out in the series. We thought this book felt a bit short - like the action was just getting going. But that makes some sense when you know it is set to be a 5 book series. My kids were excited to hear that Disney picked up the film rights for the series. 🤞🏻 In our house, the book is always better. But we LOVE a good adaptation. This is a wonderful series for fans of fantasy such as Percy Jackson/Rick Riordan and Harry Potter.

Great story

One of the beautiful things that these books offer is lyrical, beautiful language. You could almost flip to any page, point to a random spot, and end up with a quote worthy of your wall. Sometimes I wonder if that emphasis on the prose made me a little too distanced from the characters and plot, however. I felt like the characters still suffered from an unfortunate flatness, particularly Christopher. Some of the newer characters were much more interesting and dynamic than the ones from the first book, which I appreciated. Christopher still reads as absolute nothing cardboard to me, but Anya is much more interesting if cliched. I like it when middle grade books don’t shy away from adding some social commentary or talking about tougher topics, especially in a fantasy setting. This one does it lightly in a way that fits well with the world we’re in. This book doesn’t have as much of an intense emotional impact because of the plot, but it still offers things to think about and doesn’t shy away from violence or hard things. Overall, I still don’t feel the connection to it that so many others have, which disappoints me as middle grade fantasy is usually my favorite thing to read. I think it’s a lot of fun and can feel like reading fantasy classics, but it doesn’t have the depth of characters I want in a book. That said, I still think it’s a good book and a lot of people will be clamoring for another story set in this world.

Great book - loved the first one too!

Good book for preteen in fantasy fiction

Loved this book!

This was a Christmas gift, grandson was happy with book

I thought following up her first novel would be impossible. I was thrilled to be wrong! Her second book was maybe even better than the first, and the first was phenomenal!

A capa é bonita e boa, mas as páginas são de material de baixa qualidade.