Reading the John Flanagan Books in Order

John Flanagan is the Australian author of two popular fantasy series titled Ranger’s Apprentice, Brotherband Chronicles, and a crime mystery series titled Jesse Parker Mystery, which currently includes two books.

Probably the John Flanagan Ranger’s Apprentice is his most popular series and the one that most readers associate with him. The series also has a short spin-off involving The Early Years. A newer companion series is the John Flanagan Brotherband series, which currently includes seven books.

Here are the John Flanagan books in order for his several series.

New John Flanagan Books

Return of the Temujai (Brotherband Chronicles #8), 2019

Ranger’s Apprentice Series

1. The Ruins of Gorlan (Ranger’s Apprentice #1), 2004
2. The Burning Bridge (Ranger’s Apprentice #2), 2005
3. The Icebound Land (Ranger’s Apprentice #3), 2005
4. Oakleaf Bearers/The Battle for Skandia (Ranger’s Apprentice #4), 2006
5. The Sorcerer in the North (Ranger’s Apprentice #5), 2006
6. The Siege of Macindaw (Ranger’s Apprentice #6). 2009
7. Erak’s Ransom (Ranger’s Apprentice #7), 2006
8. The Kings of Clonmel (Ranger’s Apprentice #8), 2008
9. Halt’s Peril (Ranger’s Apprentice #9), 2009
10. The Emperor of Nihon-Ja (Ranger’s Apprentice #10), 2010
11. The Lost Stories (Ranger’s Apprentice #11), 2011
12. Death of a Hero (Ranger’s Apprentice #11.5), 2012

Ranger’s Apprentice: The Royal Ranger

1. The Royal Ranger, 2013
2. The Red Fox Clan, 2018
3. Duel at Araluen, 2019

Ranger’s Apprentice: The Early Years

1. The Tournament at Gorlan (Ranger’s Apprentice: The Early Years, #1), 2015
2. The Battle of Hackham Heath (Ranger’s Apprentice: The Early Years #2), 2016

Brotherband Chronicles

1. The Outcasts/Brotherband (Brotherband #1), 2011
2. The Invaders (Brotherband #2), 2012
3. The Hunters (Brotherband #3), 2012
4. Slaves of Socorro (Brotherband #4), 2014
5. Scorpion Mountain (Brotherband #5), 2014
6. The Ghostfaces (Brotherband #6), 2016
7. The Caldera (Brotherband #7), 2017
8. Return of the Temujai (Brotherband #8), 2019

Jesse Parker Mystery Series

he writes this series under John A. Flanagan

1. Storm Peak (Jesse Parker #1), 2009
2. Avalanche Pass (Jesse Parker #2), 2012

What is The Ranger’s Apprentice Series and Who is Will?

The series, including 11 books and several off-shoot stories, features Will, Horace, Alyss, Jenny, and George as they are about to be apprenticed to a Craft. They are 15 and Wards of Castle Redmont. Each has a particular trait that makes them good candidates for a specialty. Horace is tall, muscular, and well defined. He is definitely going to Battle School and future knighthood. The others have similar careers in mind as chef, diplomat, and lawyer. The only undecided one is Will, who due to his thinner size can not really go to Battle School, much to his disappointment.

However, Will can become a ranger working under Ranger Halt, who is glad to take him. Over the next books, Will’s aptitude for this newly chosen profession will increase and readers can see just how well fitted he is to be a full-fledged ranger who has numerous adventures. Some of the skills he picks up along the way are bowman’s skills, woodcrafting skills, and other traits that will serve him well in battle.

Reading the John Flanagan books in order especially for his series is recommended, as teens will have a seamless transition from one story to the other. Also, they can easily pick up the main themes of the books, including lasting friendships, sacrifice, self-control, teamwork, and loyalty.

John Flanagan Biography

John Flanagan was born in 1944 in Sydney, Australia, where he also grew up. He loved writing stories from as early as fifth grade. he attended the Waverley College, with the hope that he would become an author. In fact, he always wanted to be a writer, however, his dream started to take hold after he wrote a rather insulting poem about a manager at the company he worked at when someone noticed his talent and offered to teach him copywriting.

At the job at the advertising agency he initially started out compiling TV rating research results, however, after 18 months, he became a trainee copywriter.

John remained in the advertising business for two decades working in advertising, as a corporate copywriter, and writing TV ads, after which he teamed up with a friend to write a script for a TV series titled Hey Dad! The sitcom aired for 8 years. He wrote 293 episodes for this TV sitcom.

In addition, he also wrote scripts for two additional TV comedy sitcoms Hampton Court and My Two Wives.

When John Flanagan started writing his first young adult series, The Ranger’s Apprentice, he wrote it for his son, Michael, to encourage him to read since Michael didn’t like to read books, however, soon, the series became popular all over the world, so now he is still working on the series, while he also started two additional ones, one in the fantasy genre and one in the crime mystery genre.

Before writing his bestselling novels, his first attempts, when he was 19, were thriller novels, manuscripts that he eventually threw out.

He initially started to work on his Ranger’s Apprentice series back in the 1990s when he first wrote 20 short stories. His son, Michael, was at the time 12. He wanted to interest his son in reading, and as Mike’s hobbies catered towards archery and the middle ages, the stories became focused on these topics. Eventually, John included those initial short tales in the series’ first book, The Ruins of Gorlan, a book which published in 2004, when John was 60.

As the series became popular all over the world, it was gradually sold over 8.5 million copies in 27 countries so far. John Flanagan received the Australian Publishers Association’s Book of the Year for “Older Children and the International Success Award” for his book Erak’s Ransom, the seventh in the Ranger’s Apprentice series.

The Ranger’s Apprentice world is set in a fictive 12th Century Medieval England, and it focuses on a young man called Will. John Flanagan based Will on Michael and he would make him do things that Michael would do as well, so he would feel a kinship with Will. The attempt was a success, as Michael started reading the short stories.

The stories have been optioned for the big screen and it’s currently in development. The film is being backed by a Chinese company called Film Carnival, who finances it for at least $500 million. The film is a go, and is expected to begin production in July 2020 by Dick Cook Studios. The independent production company has been created by the former Walt Disney chairman in 2015.

The Ranger’s Apprentice has come to a conclusion, but currently, John Flanagan is working on his next series, the Brotherband Chronicles. The latest book in the series is called The Caldera, published in 2017. The book also includes a bonus short story featuring the two main favorite characters, Will and Maddie, from the Ranger’s Apprentice series.

For any gaming lovers, there is a new app on the author’s website for Ranger’s Apprentice archery training which is based on his main series.

The new series is a spin-off from The Ranger’s Apprentice, but it can stand well on it own and the previous series doesn’t need to be read in order to understand this new one. When he realized that his first big series was coming to an end, he started working through ideas for his second one. Sailing and ships were something that he was interested in, so they became an integral part of this new series.

It features Stieg, a half-Skandian, half-Araluan boy who designs a radically new type of ship. The series takes often place in treacherous waters where Stieg, Hal and the crew of Herons battle pirates and save people.

In The Caldera, the Herons, Hal and Stieg are back to battle pirates on stormy seas to rescue the kidnapped son of an empress who was kidnapped by the pirate Myrgos.

The Ranger’s Apprentice main series and it’s spinoffs have so far sold over 5 million copies around the world, based on information from Penguin Random House, the author’s publisher.

As John A. Flanagan, he also writes a crime mystery series titled Jesse Parker. It focuses on Jesse, an ex-Denver police detective, who returned home to Steamboat Springs, Colorado, who ends up helping the town sheriff with his cases involving brutal murders. While the other John Flanagan books are young-adult fantasies, this new series is an adult, contemporary series.

Currently, John Flanagan lives with his wife, Leonie, in Manly, New South Wales, a beach suburb of Sydney with his son, two daughters, and four grandchildren. He is working on his next book.

Praise for the John Flanagan Books

will’s vivid world will entice fantasy readers who are drawn by the line of high adventure. (Booklist)

Fans of the series will eagerly devour this one and wait impatiently for the next…A sure bet for fantasy fans. (School Library Journal)

Flanagan expertly juggles the overall plot line…with a logically constructed campaign that culminates in a hard, suspenseful battle. (Kirkus Reviews)

References

• John Flanagan official author website
• The author’s publisher page
• Author’s publisher page in Australia

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