The Poisoned King is the second book in Katherine Rundell's Impossible Creatures series. Christopher is embroiled in an elaborate rescue mission as he returns to the magical world of the Archipelago.

Return to the magic of the Archipelago... The dragons call out, and the ratatoskas tell of murder. There is justice to be done.

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...