John Flanagan

John Flanagan’s Followers (9,203)

member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo

John Flanagan


Born
in Sydney, Australia
May 22, 1944

Website

Genre


Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.

For mysteries by this same author, see John A. Flanagan.

John Flanagan grew up in Sydney, Australia, hoping to be a writer. It wasn't until he wrote a highly uncomplimentary poem about a senior executive at the agency where he worked, however, that his talent was revealed. It turned out one of the company directors agreed with John's assessment of the executive, and happily agreed to train John in copywriting.

After writing advertising copy for the next two decades, John teamed with an old friend to develop a television sitcom, Hey Dad!, which went on to air for eight years.

John began writing Ranger's Apprentice for h
...more

Average rating: 4.32 · 1,216,834 ratings · 47,851 reviews · 111 distinct worksSimilar authors
The Ruins of Gorlan (Ranger...

4.26 avg rating — 174,407 ratings — published 2004 — 147 editions
Rate this book
Clear rating
The Burning Bridge (Ranger'...

4.31 avg rating — 135,798 ratings — published 2005 — 117 editions
Rate this book
Clear rating
The Battle for Skandia (Ran...

4.36 avg rating — 106,609 ratings — published 2006 — 102 editions
Rate this book
Clear rating
The Icebound Land (Ranger's...

4.24 avg rating — 96,345 ratings — published 2005 — 122 editions
Rate this book
Clear rating
The Sorcerer in the North (...

4.28 avg rating — 82,886 ratings — published 2006 — 101 editions
Rate this book
Clear rating
The Siege of Macindaw (Rang...

4.34 avg rating — 76,025 ratings — published 2006 — 84 editions
Rate this book
Clear rating
Erak's Ransom (Ranger's App...

4.33 avg rating — 69,940 ratings — published 2007 — 78 editions
Rate this book
Clear rating
Halt's Peril (Ranger's Appr...

4.39 avg rating — 63,973 ratings — published 2009 — 4 editions
Rate this book
Clear rating
The Kings of Clonmel (Range...

4.30 avg rating — 64,319 ratings — published 2008 — 83 editions
Rate this book
Clear rating
The Emperor of Nihon-Ja (Ra...

4.42 avg rating — 58,910 ratings — published 2011
Rate this book
Clear rating
More books by John Flanagan…
The Ruins of Gorlan The Burning Bridge The Icebound Land The Battle for Skandia The Sorcerer in the North The Siege of Macindaw Erak's Ransom
(18 books)
by
4.31 avg rating — 1,070,461 ratings

The Outcasts The Invaders The Hunters Slaves of Socorro Scorpion Mountain The Ghostfaces The Caldera
(9 books)
by
4.38 avg rating — 134,302 ratings

The Royal Ranger: A New Beg... The Red Fox Clan Escape from Falaise
(7 books)
by
4.21 avg rating — 81,275 ratings

The Tournament at Gorlan The Battle of Hackham Heath
(2 books)
by
4.41 avg rating — 24,103 ratings

Quotes by John Flanagan  (?)
Quotes are added by the Goodreads community and are not verified by Goodreads. (Learn more)

“That taught us how to block a sword with two knives. But what if an ax man's coming at me?"
Gilan looked suspicious. "An ax man? I don't recommend trying to block an ax with two knives."
But Will wouldn't take no for an answer. "But what if he's charging at me?" Horace walked over.
Gilan looked away. "Uh...shoot him."
Horace intervened. "Can't, his bowstring's broken."
Gilan gritted his teeth. "Run and hide."
Will kept on him. "There's a sheer cliff behind me."
Horace caught on. "There's a sheer cliff behind him, and his bowstring's broken. What should he do?"
Gilan thought for a moment. "Jump off the cliff, it'll be less messy that way.”
John Flanagan, The Burning Bridge

“But what if I make a mistake?' Will asked.

Gilan threw back his head and laughed. 'A mistake? One mistake? You should be so lucky. You'll make dozens! I made four or five on my first day alone! Of course you'll make mistakes. Just don't make any of them twice. If you do mess things up, don't try to hide it. Don't try to rationalize it. Recognize it and admit it and learn from it. We never stop learning, none of us.”
John Flanagan, Erak's Ransom

“...at the time, King Herbert felt that to remain safe, the kingdom needed an effective intelligence force."

"An intelligent force?" said Will.

"Not intelligent. Intelligence. Although it does help if your intelligence force was also intelligent.”
John Flanagan, The Ruins of Gorlan

Polls

Help us pick Nothing but Reading Challenges' December Young Adult Book of the Month from among the books our members nominated. Also, please note this is the first month members can use the Power Votes. For more information check out this post: Banking Voting Power Points: The Rules

Poison Princess (The Arcana Chronicles, #1) by Kresley Cole
Poison Princess by Kresley Cole

Book Synopsis:
#1 New York Times bestselling author Kresley Cole introduces The Arcana Chronicles, post-apocalyptic tales filled with riveting action, the dark mysticism of Tarot cards, and breathtaking romance.

She could save the world—or destroy it.

Sixteen year old Evangeline “Evie” Greene leads a charmed life, until she begins experiencing horrifying hallucinations. When an apocalyptic event decimates her Louisiana hometown, Evie realizes her hallucinations were actually visions of the future—and they’re still happening. Fighting for her life and desperate for answers, she must turn to her wrong-side-of-the-bayou classmate: Jack Deveaux.

But she can’t do either alone.

With his mile-long rap sheet, wicked grin, and bad attitude, Jack is like no boy Evie has ever known. Even though he once scorned her and everything she represented, he agrees to protect Evie on her quest. She knows she can’t totally depend on Jack. If he ever cast that wicked grin her way, could she possibly resist him?

Who can Evie trust?

As Jack and Evie race to find the source of her visions, they meet others who have gotten the same call. An ancient prophesy is being played out, and Evie is not the only one with special powers. A group of twenty-two teens has been chosen to reenact the ultimate battle between good and evil. But it’s not always clear who is on which side….
 
  15 votes 16.3%

Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys
Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys

Book synopsis:
Lina is just like any other fifteen-year-old Lithuanian girl in 1941. She paints, she draws, she gets crushes on boys. Until one night when Soviet officers barge into her home, tearing her family from the comfortable life they've known. Separated from her father, forced onto a crowded and dirty train car, Lina, her mother, and her young brother slowly make their way north, crossing the Arctic Circle, to a work camp in the coldest reaches of Siberia. Here they are forced, under Stalin's orders, to dig for beets and fight for their lives under the cruelest of conditions.

Lina finds solace in her art, meticulously--and at great risk--documenting events by drawing, hoping these messages will make their way to her father's prison camp to let him know they are still alive. It is a long and harrowing journey, spanning years and covering 6,500 miles, but it is through incredible strength, love, and hope that Lina ultimately survives. Between Shades of Gray is a novel that will steal your breath and capture your heart.
 
  15 votes 16.3%

The Diviners (The Diviners, #1) by Libba Bray
The Diviners by Libba Bray

Book synopsis:
Evie O'Neill has been exiled from her boring old hometown and shipped off to the bustling streets of New York City--and she is pos-i-tute-ly thrilled. New York is the city of speakeasies, shopping, and movie palaces! Soon enough, Evie is running with glamorous Ziegfield girls and rakish pickpockets. The only catch is Evie has to live with her Uncle Will, curator of The Museum of American Folklore, Superstition, and the Occult--also known as "The Museum of the Creepy Crawlies."

When a rash of occult-based murders comes to light, Evie and her uncle are right in the thick of the investigation. And through it all, Evie has a secret: a mysterious power that could help catch the killer--if he doesn't catch her first.
 
  14 votes 15.2%

Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher
Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher

Book synopsis:
Clay Jensen returns home from school to find a mysterious box with his name on it lying on his porch. Inside he discovers thirteen cassette tapes recorded by Hannah Baker, his classmate and crush who committed suicide two weeks earlier.
On tape, Hannah explains that there are thirteen reasons why she decided to end her life. Clay is one of them. If he listens, he'll find out how he made the list.

Through Hannah and Clay's dual narratives, debut author Jay Asher weaves an intricate and heartrending story of confusion and desperation that will deeply affect teen readers.
 
  12 votes 13.0%

Throne of Glass (Throne of Glass, #1) by Sarah J. Maas
Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas

Book synopsis:
After serving out a year of hard labor in the salt mines of Endovier for her crimes, 18-year-old assassin Celaena Sardothien is dragged before the Crown Prince. Prince Dorian offers her her freedom on one condition: she must act as his champion in a competition to find a new royal assassin. Her opponents are men-thieves and assassins and warriors from across the empire, each sponsored by a member of the king's council. If she beats her opponents in a series of eliminations, she'll serve the kingdom for three years and then be granted her freedom. Celaena finds her training sessions with the captain of the guard, Westfall, challenging and exhilarating. But she's bored stiff by court life. Things get a little more interesting when the prince starts to show interest in her... but it's the gruff Captain Westfall who seems to understand her best. Then one of the other contestants turns up dead... quickly followed by another. Can Celaena figure out who the killer is before she becomes a victim? As the young assassin investigates, her search leads her to discover a greater destiny than she could possibly have imagined.
 
  9 votes 9.8%

Velveteen (Velveteen, #1) by Daniel Marks
Velveteen by Daniel Marks

Book synopsis:
Velveteen Monroe is dead. At 16, she was kidnapped and murdered by a madman named Bonesaw. But that’s not the problem.

The problem is she landed in purgatory. And while it’s not a fiery inferno, it’s certainly no heaven. It’s gray, ashen, and crumbling more and more by the day, and everyone has a job to do. Which doesn’t leave Velveteen much time to do anything about what’s really on her mind.

Bonesaw.

Velveteen aches to deliver the bloody punishment her killer deserves. And she’s figured out just how to do it. She’ll haunt him for the rest of his days.

It’ll be brutal... and awesome.

But crossing the divide between the living and the dead has devastating consequences. Velveteen’s obsessive haunting cracks the foundations of purgatory and jeopardizes her very soul. A risk she’s willing to take—except fate has just given her reason to stick around: an unreasonably hot and completely off-limits coworker.

Velveteen can’t help herself when it comes to breaking rules... or getting revenge. And she just might be angry enough to take everyone down with her.
 
  7 votes 7.6%

Mystic City (Mystic City, #1) by Theo Lawrence
Mystic City by Theo Lawrence

Book synopsis:
For fans of Matched, The Hunger Games, X-Men, and Blade Runner comes a tale of a magical city divided, a political rebellion ignited, and a love that was meant to last forever. Book One of the Mystic City Novels.

Aria Rose, youngest scion of one of Mystic City's two ruling rival families, finds herself betrothed to Thomas Foster, the son of her parents' sworn enemies. The union of the two will end the generations-long political feud—and unite all those living in the Aeries, the privileged upper reaches of the city, against the banished mystics who dwell below in the Depths. But Aria doesn't remember falling in love with Thomas; in fact, she wakes one day with huge gaps in her memory. And she can't conceive why her parents would have agreed to unite with the Fosters in the first place. Only when Aria meets Hunter, a gorgeous rebel mystic from the Depths, does she start to have glimmers of recollection—and to understand that he holds the key to unlocking her past. The choices she makes can save or doom the city—including herself.
 
  7 votes 7.6%

The Near Witch (The Near Witch, #1) by Victoria Schwab
The Near Witch by Victoria Schwab

Book synopsis:
"The Near Witch is only an old story told to frighten children. "
" "
"If the wind calls at night, you must not listen. The wind is lonely, and always looking for company. "
" "
"And there are no strangers in the town of Near."
These are the truths that Lexi has heard all her life.
But when an actual stranger--a boy who seems to fade like smoke--appears outside her home on the moor at night, she knows that at least one of these sayings is no longer true.
The next night, the children of Near start disappearing from their beds, and the mysterious boy falls under suspicion. Still, he insists on helping Lexi search for them. Something tells her she can trust him.
As the hunt for the children intensifies, so does Lexi's need to know--about the witch that just might be more than a bedtime story, about the wind that seems to speak through the walls at night, and about the history of this nameless boy.
Part fairy tale, part love story, Victoria Schwab's debut novel is entirely original yet achingly familiar: a song you heard long ago, a whisper carried by the wind, and a dream you won't soon forget.
 
  5 votes 5.4%

The Ruins of Gorlan (Ranger's Apprentice, #1) by John Flanagan
The Ruins of Gorlan by John Flanagan

Book synopsis:

They have always scared him in the past — the Rangers, with their dark cloaksand shadowy ways. The villagers believe the Rangers practice magic that makes them invisible to ordinary people. And now 15-year-old Will, always small for his age, has been chosen as a Ranger's apprentice. What he doesn't yet realize is that the Rangers are the protectors of the kingdom. Highly trained in the skills of battle and surveillance, they fight the battles before the battles reach the people. And as Will is about to learn, there is a large battle brewing. The exiled Morgarath, Lord of the Mountains of Rain and Night, is gathering his forces for an attack on the kingdom. This time, he will not be denied...
 
  4 votes 4.3%

Born Wicked (The Cahill Witch Chronicles, #1) by Jessica Spotswood
Born Wicked by Jessica Spotswood

Book synopsis:
Everybody knows Cate Cahill and her sisters are eccentric. Too pretty, too reclusive, and far too educated for their own good. But the truth is even worse: they’re witches. And if their secret is discovered by the priests of the Brotherhood, it would mean an asylum, a prison ship—or an early grave.

Before her mother died, Cate promised to protect her sisters. But with only six months left to choose between marriage and the Sisterhood, she might not be able to keep her word... especially after she finds her mother’s diary, uncovering a secret that could spell her family’s destruction. Desperate to find alternatives to their fate, Cate starts scouring banned books and questioning rebellious new friends, all while juggling tea parties, shocking marriage proposals, and a forbidden romance with the completely unsuitable Finn Belastra.

If what her mother wrote is true, the Cahill girls aren’t safe. Not from the Brotherhood, the Sisterhood—not even from each other.
 
  4 votes 4.3%

92 total votes
More...

Topics Mentioning This Author

topics posts views last activity  
Study Buddies: Inspiration for Characters 100 181 Feb 16, 2009 07:04AM  
Pick-a-Shelf: 2009-01 - Young Adult - Post January's Reviews Here 59 287 Feb 24, 2009 12:51PM  
The Next Best Boo...: OFFICIAL SPRING CHALLENGE - 2009 6381 9040 Jun 14, 2009 02:57PM  
Book Haven: PG Paranormal or Romance suggestions 17 126 Aug 21, 2009 08:32AM  
Beyond Reality: What else are you reading? (August) 106 177 Aug 29, 2009 08:23AM  
The Next Best Boo...: recommendations for my 13 y/o brother 29 334 Oct 24, 2009 02:33PM  
The Book Challenge: Luann's 2009 Challenge - Author and Title A-Z - COMPLETED! 55 294 Dec 20, 2009 11:18PM  


Is this you? Let us know. If not, help out and invite John to Goodreads.