The Poisoned King：Return to the magic of the Archipelago…(The Guardian Best Children's of 2025)

《The Poisoned King》是Katherine Rundell所著《Impossible Creatures》系列的第二集。

本集講述敘述公主安雅·阿金（Princess Anya Argen）因為她的祖父被毒殺，父親被指控並入獄，自己被迫逃亡。她與克里斯多福(Christopher Forrester )聯手展開旅程，兩人的任務緊密相連，探索正義、陰謀和神奇生物的世界。這是一個充滿魔幻和冒險的故事，適合中高年齡層的讀者，文章用詞豐富，挑戰讀者的詞彙量，也不畏懼死亡和復仇的主題，賦予故事真實感和深度.

The dragons call out, and the ratatoskas tell of murder. Come with us now. There is justice to be done.

Return to the magic of the Archipelago... The Poisoned King is the dazzling second book in Katherine Rundell's epic and bestselling Impossible Creatures series.

'There was Tolkien, there is Pullman and now there is Katherine Rundell' – Michael Morpurgo

When Christopher Forrester is unexpectedly woken by a miniature dragon chewing on his face, his heart leaps for joy. For months he's dreamed of returning to the Archipelago – the secret islands where all the creatures of myth still live. But he did not know it would involve a rescue mission on the back of a sphinx, or a plan to enter a dragon's lair. Nor did he imagine it would involve a girl with a flock of birds at her side, a new-hatched chick in her pocket and a ravenous hunger for justice...

The unmissable sequel to Impossible Creatures, WINNER of the Waterstones Book of the Year, British Book Awards Children's Book of the Year, Foyles Children's Book of the Year and the Books Are My Bag Readers Award

'A book stuffed full of fantastical, magical delight' – Cressida Cowell on Impossible Creatures

'Readers will seize this with delight' – Philip Pullman on Impossible Creatures

'A masterpiece to rival Tolkien' – Daily Telegraph on Impossible Creatures

'Every sentence sparkles ... Magnificent' – The Times on Impossible Creatures

Katherine Rundell以兒童文學作品聞名，多次獲得包括Waterstones年度圖書獎、藍彼得圖書獎（Blue Peter Book Awards）與科斯塔圖書獎(Costa Book Awards)等重要獎項。她的成名作包括《Rooftoppers》和《Impossible Creatures》。她同時是牛津大學的學者，並且因政治與文化議題在BBC電台節目中擔任嘉賓。她的作品不僅在兒童讀者中廣受推崇，也受成人讀者喜愛。2022年，她憑藉非小說作品《Super-Infinite: The Transformations of John Donne》獲得Baillie Gifford獎，成為該獎項最年輕的得主。2024年，她被評為英國圖書獎(The British Book Awards)的年度作家。