Meet the League of Princes
Start with The Hero's Guide to Saving Your Kingdom before the team, running jokes, and continuing plot are established.
Book Series · 3 Books
Hero's Guide Books
In order from The Hero's Guide to Saving Your Kingdom to The Hero's Guide to Being an Outlaw.
Four very different Princes Charming step out of their fairy-tale footnotes and form a comic, accident-prone team across three illustrated adventures.
Reviewed by the Bookroo Editors Updated
Reading order
How to Read the Hero's Guide Books
Read the three Hero's Guide adventures in numbered order. The second book ends with a major cliffhanger, and Being an Outlaw is the final installment of the princes' larger story.
No One Leaves the Castle is a later mystery in the same Thirteen Kingdoms world, not book 4. Save it until after the trilogy if your child wants a new lead character and a self-contained whodunit in the familiar setting.
Sources: Christopher Healy's official book list, Christopher Healy on the spin-off.
For parents
What Parents Should Know
The trilogy uses lots of jokes and cartoonish illustrations, but its quests include sword fights, kidnappings, monsters, dangerous falls, man-eating creatures, apparent murder, and villains who die. Friendship, teamwork, and playful challenges to fairy-tale gender roles anchor the action.
The later spin-off is still funny, but it is a locked-room murder mystery: a dead body is discovered, everyone is trapped inside a castle, and a young bounty hunter must identify the killer.
Where to start
Where Should a New Reader Start?
Return later for a mystery
After the trilogy, try No One Leaves the Castle for a new heroine and a same-world whodunit.
Where the story begins
First Book in the Series
Sale price
$759
Book #1 · Chapter Book · Ages 8–12 · 2012
The Hero's Guide to Saving Your Kingdom
By Christopher Healy, Todd Harris (Illustrator)
Four forgotten princes face an evil plot threatening their kingdoms.
438 pages
$7.99Save 5%
Paperback
Summary: Meet four princes—Liam, Frederic, Duncan, and Gustav—known only as 'Prince Charming.' Rejected by their princesses, they uncover a sinister plot threatening their realms. Can they overcome trolls, dragons, and their own flaws to become true heroes? Discover the untold adventures beyond 'happily ever after' in this witty, action-packed tale.
In reading order
Hero's Guide Series
3 books · Published 2012–2014
#1
Sale price
$759
The Hero's Guide to Saving Your Kingdom
Chapter Book · Ages 8–12 · 2012
Four forgotten princes face an evil plot threatening their kingdoms.
#2
Sale price
$759
The Hero's Guide to Storming the Castle
Chapter Book · Ages 8–12 · 2013
Princes unite to prevent a powerful artifact from falling into the wrong hands.
#3
Sale price
$799
The Hero's Guide to Being an Outlaw
Chapter Book · Ages 8–12 · 2014
Four princes framed for murder must uncover a plot threatening thirteen kingdoms.
Same-world mystery spin-off
A New Hero in the Thirteen Kingdoms
1 book · Published 2023
No One Leaves the Castle follows the Lilac, a young would-be bounty hunter, in a later stand-alone mystery rather than continuing the numbered trilogy.
Sale price
$1899
No One Leaves the Castle
Chapter Book · Ages 8–12 · 2023
A young bounty hunter must solve a murder in a castle full of secrets before time runs out.
Good to know
Common Questions
How many books are in the Hero's Guide series?
There are 3 books in the Hero's Guide series. It began with The Hero's Guide to Saving Your Kingdom in 2012, and the newest book, The Hero's Guide to Being an Outlaw, was published in 2014.
What order should you read the Hero's Guide books in?
Start with The Hero's Guide to Saving Your Kingdom and follow the series order — the books above are numbered #1 through #3.
What ages are the Hero's Guide books best for?
The series is best for ages 8–12, based on the age ranges of the individual books.
The people
The Creatives Behind the Books
The people who bring Hero's Guide to life.
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