Jimmy Fincher Books In Order

Publication Order of Jimmy Fincher Saga Books

Jimmy Fincher is the lead protagonist of the Jimmy Fincher series of novels by James Smith Dashner. The first novel of the series was his author debut, “A Door in the Woods” that was first published in 2003. While Dashner for the most part writes speculative fiction he is also an author of young adult science fiction, fantasy, and children’s literature. He is best known for the “Maze Runner” series of novels that have been made into a blockbuster movie by the same title. James was born in Austell, Georgia in 1972 being one of six children born to Mormon parents. Dashner loved reading from a very young age and by the time he was ten he was already typing out stories on his parents’ old typewriter. He would graduate from Duluth High School before he went to Brigham Young University in Provo, where he got his accounting masters. He currently lives in Utah with his wife Lynette Anderson that he met while he was in college and his four children.

Most of James works including his Jimmy Fincher series are novels about survival and adventure in a fantasy setting. Given his love for writing and his lifelong dream to be an author, he thought that he would start by writing 1000 page manuscripts in the fantasy genre while in college. It was not long before he realized he was bad at writing that type of novel, and almost gave up on his career. But then he remembered that the best moments that he ever had was when he read and wrote books in his teenage years. He decided to go back to that magical time and write novels for readers in their teens. Since then he wrote his debut series the Jimmy Fincher series and all subsequent series for the same type of audience. “The Maze Runner” his runaway bestseller that made it 100 weeks on the New York Times bestselling list is one of his best works ever. The novel was later made into a motion picture by the same name in 2014.

The lead character of the “Jimmy Fincher” series of novels is James Fincher, he of Duluth Georgia. Jimmy had been born a normal child with no inkling that fate had declared that he would one day be the savior of his civilization. He had been first on the scene when the Union of Knights led by a mysterious being known as Shadow Ka attempted to force a Door in the Woods. He got the first gift and ultimately all four of them that made it possible to save his world and later the entire Galaxy from the Stompers. The Jimmy Fincher thrillers are written in a fun voice of a fourteen year old that is wiser than his years. Most of the time he portrays as an innocent and fairly sweet teenage boy who is very close to his family and friends. The attachment to his family is a refreshing aspect of the series, particularly when compared to similar books that typically show protagonists at that age that live in fractious and dysfunctional relationships with their families. Fincher belongs to a strong family composed of mother and father that are still happily married and siblings that respect and love each other, despite having the typical teasing expected of children. Just like many children Jimmy half expects his father to swoop in and right everything though he does not, preferring him to grow through finding solutions to challenges in his life. However, Jimmy always retains faith in his family and parents even when he becomes a hero to them and they need him more than he needs them.

“A Door in the Woods” the first novel of the Jimmy Fincher series is a novel about fourteen year old James that discovers a secret that may change everything in his world. While out on an adventure, he stumbles upon unlikely friends, enigmatic benefactors, villains, and family secrets. He is kidnapped by supernatural powers who need to find a way to open a magical door for the power behind it. Once he has been kidnapped, Jimmy is tasked with finding the key if his family is to survive the onslaught of the Stompers. It is an intense novel that puts very hard questions before the teenage protagonist including whether he should give the key to the evil forces for his family’s sake or just use the power to fight the Stompers instead. It is a fantastic and intense narrative that takes the reader inside the mind of the lead protagonist Jimmy as he wrestles with ethical and moral questions. HIs thought processes often ask Is this real? And if it is what can I do to change it? Through getting into his thought process, one can keep grounded in the intermingling of fantasy and reality, which makes for quite gripping reading.

“A Gift of Ice”, the second novel of the series is a sequel that continues the story started in the first, “A Door in the Woods.” The novel is an exhilarating read as Jimmy finds himself having to make even tougher decisions than he did in the first narrative. In the first novel, he had searched and finally managed to acquire the first gift out of four. He had been offered the gift by desperate yet mysterious persons who asserted that all they wanted was the world to be saved from one of the biggest threats to safety and tranquility caused by a ruthless enemy. The enemy continues to be as mysterious as they are cruel in never revealing what their true intentions are. All that Jimmy and his associates know is that the Stompers as their enemies are known are coming for them. One important thing that Jimmy had managed to do was seal the “Black Curtain” entrance, a strange opening to the outside world that the Stompers had earmarked for their inevitable entry. In the meantime, Jimmy takes his family to Japan while he goes on a quest to find the second gift with scarcely any information on how to acquire it. He is not a genius, mutant, or wizard but has to face up to unimaginable perils and resolve the deepest of mysteries. The weight of the survival of the world rests on the shoulders of a fourteen year old who cannot afford to fail.