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A review by paperprivateer
Impossible Creatures by Katherine Rundell
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
When a book starts with a note from the editor about how great and special the book is and how it’s going to be one of those once-in-a-lifetime classics, it puts a whole lot of pressure on the book to deliver. It was compared to Tolkien, Pullman and Lewis in the book promotional materials and reviews. And wow, that’s a lot to expect a book to deliver. I also feel a slight pressure as a reviewer to say if it delivered on that promise.
I wish all that lofty praise had been more restrained because I think it actively harmed my enjoyment of the book. Because while Impossible Creatures is magical and charming, it doesn’t live up to the promise on the first pages and all of the marketing. Is it special? Honestly, maybe, but hoping this would be miraculous and finding just… a nice book makes everything about it seem worse. In other words, I don’t think it’s fair to the greats like Tolkien OR this book to make that comparison. It should stand on its own so people can give it a fair shake based on what it has to offer without hoping for something that, ultimately, it’s not.
That said, I did find this book charming and fun. I would gladly recommend it to readers, and I’ll probably read it again.
In some ways, it felt like old-fashioned fantasy, almost like a spiritual sequel to books like My Father’s Dragon. Readers from the US who aren’t used to books that move a little differently or who don’t read many British children's books might struggle with the pacing and style. For me, it felt very nostalgic and perfect for a fantasy adventure.
The world is lively and interesting, populated by a cast of delightful characters. Although I struggled with the main characters feeling flat and uninteresting to me for the most part, I was enchanted by the side characters. I love books with magical creatures, and I enjoyed the interpretations of existing ones and the joy of new ones.
In spite of how charming I found the book in many ways, I felt like it kept giving me whiplash. I’d notice something that would take my breath away because it was beautiful and then the next moment be struggling with something. Sometimes, it was intricate and deep, and other times, it was shallow. “And then they did this.”
The book tries to be lighthearted and magical (and often succeeds)… and then they get chased by a murderer or something genuinely heartbreaking happens.
It should have a lot of emotion, but I just didn’t get that. When a family member dies, one of the main characters barely blinks an eye. One of the characters goes through needing to make an extreme decision and we *see* her freaking out about the decision, but I never felt it. We’re eventually told that there are deep feelings, but they surprised me because I hadn’t picked up on those until I was told that they were there. Other things, however, were over-described. While some of it painted a vivid picture, I would have preferred to show more character development or intricacies of the admittedly very interesting world instead of a lot of description of what a room might look like.
The writing style also threw me off. I feel like I know when someone just learned how to use semicolons because it’s like, “look mom, I can ride a bike!” And they want to show everyone their semicolons. This book had a LOT of semicolons and dashes. I love some good punctuation, but I feel like it should have been reined in, along with other choices that were so common that it felt less developed instead of a deliberate choice. I wish it had another round of edits to help make the prose shine so that things like semicolons didn’t become so frequent that they got distracting. So I’d be sitting there chewing through too much description and tripping over semicolons, and then the book would hit me with a gorgeously written line that I had to stop and think about.
Overall, I wish it had been longer to give more time to showcase the characters and give the two main characters more personality. But the beautiful world-building, the marvelous side characters, and the occasional show-stopping sentence make this well worth the read. I don’t think I’d categorize it with the greats like so much of the marketing and early reviewing has, but I’d certainly say it’s worth a read for the intended audience.
Thank you to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for the advance copy in exchange for my honest review.
I wish all that lofty praise had been more restrained because I think it actively harmed my enjoyment of the book. Because while Impossible Creatures is magical and charming, it doesn’t live up to the promise on the first pages and all of the marketing. Is it special? Honestly, maybe, but hoping this would be miraculous and finding just… a nice book makes everything about it seem worse. In other words, I don’t think it’s fair to the greats like Tolkien OR this book to make that comparison. It should stand on its own so people can give it a fair shake based on what it has to offer without hoping for something that, ultimately, it’s not.
That said, I did find this book charming and fun. I would gladly recommend it to readers, and I’ll probably read it again.
In some ways, it felt like old-fashioned fantasy, almost like a spiritual sequel to books like My Father’s Dragon. Readers from the US who aren’t used to books that move a little differently or who don’t read many British children's books might struggle with the pacing and style. For me, it felt very nostalgic and perfect for a fantasy adventure.
The world is lively and interesting, populated by a cast of delightful characters. Although I struggled with the main characters feeling flat and uninteresting to me for the most part, I was enchanted by the side characters. I love books with magical creatures, and I enjoyed the interpretations of existing ones and the joy of new ones.
In spite of how charming I found the book in many ways, I felt like it kept giving me whiplash. I’d notice something that would take my breath away because it was beautiful and then the next moment be struggling with something. Sometimes, it was intricate and deep, and other times, it was shallow. “And then they did this.”
The book tries to be lighthearted and magical (and often succeeds)… and then they get chased by a murderer or something genuinely heartbreaking happens.
It should have a lot of emotion, but I just didn’t get that. When a family member dies, one of the main characters barely blinks an eye. One of the characters goes through needing to make an extreme decision and we *see* her freaking out about the decision, but I never felt it. We’re eventually told that there are deep feelings, but they surprised me because I hadn’t picked up on those until I was told that they were there. Other things, however, were over-described. While some of it painted a vivid picture, I would have preferred to show more character development or intricacies of the admittedly very interesting world instead of a lot of description of what a room might look like.
The writing style also threw me off. I feel like I know when someone just learned how to use semicolons because it’s like, “look mom, I can ride a bike!” And they want to show everyone their semicolons. This book had a LOT of semicolons and dashes. I love some good punctuation, but I feel like it should have been reined in, along with other choices that were so common that it felt less developed instead of a deliberate choice. I wish it had another round of edits to help make the prose shine so that things like semicolons didn’t become so frequent that they got distracting. So I’d be sitting there chewing through too much description and tripping over semicolons, and then the book would hit me with a gorgeously written line that I had to stop and think about.
Overall, I wish it had been longer to give more time to showcase the characters and give the two main characters more personality. But the beautiful world-building, the marvelous side characters, and the occasional show-stopping sentence make this well worth the read. I don’t think I’d categorize it with the greats like so much of the marketing and early reviewing has, but I’d certainly say it’s worth a read for the intended audience.
Thank you to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for the advance copy in exchange for my honest review.