Children of the Red King
#5093.94 in the official ranking · full ranking
Books 10 books Status Complete 2002–2018 Reading commitment High Jenny Nimmo Last reviewed 2026-10-16
Overview
Charlie Bone, a boy who discovers he can hear voices trapped in old photographs, learns he descends from the immortal Red King and enrolls at Bloor's Academy, a school for magically "endowed" children, where he uncovers family conspiracies and rescues relatives from dark magic across the series.
Portal fantasy, Mythic fantasy · For Middle grade
Core Canon: Reading Order (10 works) counts toward ranking
Children of the Red King Jenny Nimmo
| Work | Year | Internal chron. | Canon | Rating | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | Midnight for Charlie Bone | 2002 | 1 | core | 3.84 (44,825 ratings) |
 | The Time Twister | 2003 | 2 | core | 3.91 (25,274 ratings) |
 | The Blue Boa | 2004 | 3 | core | 3.92 (24,543 ratings) |
 | The Castle of Mirrors | 2005 | 4 | core | 3.93 (24,232 ratings) |
 | Charlie Bone and the Hidden King | 2006 | 5 | core | 4.01 (23,630 ratings) |
 | Charlie Bone and the Wilderness Wolf | 2007 | 6 | core | 3.95 (20,108 ratings) |
 | Charlie Bone and the Shadow of Badlock | 2008 | 7 | core | 4.03 (16,750 ratings) |
 | Charlie Bone and the Red Knight | 2009 | 8 | core | 4.13 (10,068 ratings) |
 | Henry and the Guardians of the Lost | 2016 | 9 | core | 3.74 (124 ratings) |
 | Gabriel and the Phantom Sleepers | 2018 | 10 | core | 3.77 (61 ratings) |
Also marketed as the 'Charlie Bone' series (US title convention). A separate prequel trilogy, Chronicles of the Red King (2011-2013), covers Red King backstory and is not included here.
Quick answers
- How many books are in Children of the Red King? Children of the Red King's Core Canon is 10 books.
- What is the reading order for Children of the Red King? Publication order, starting with Midnight for Charlie Bone. Full list and years in the Core Canon table above.
- Is Children of the Red King finished? Complete (2002–2018).
- How much reading does Children of the Red King take? High reading commitment (estimated from 10 Core Canon books · ~3,344 pages).
- How is Children of the Red King ranked? #509 in this site's official ranking, based on 189,615 reader ratings across 10 Core Canon books. See the full ranking for how this is calculated.
Why is it ranked #509?
Ranked #509 in the official ranking.
- Average reader rating of 3.94 across 10 core books.
- Backed by 190k reader ratings.
- Less than 0.01 behind #508, The River Has Roots (a finer tie-break level decides the order).
- Below the top-10 average of 4.45.
Why explore this universe?
Well rated · 10 books · Complete · 190k ratings · Ranks #509 overall
Good choice if you want a long-running portal fantasy universe that's already finished, so there's no wait for the next book.
Reading order
Publication order (10 Core Canon books)
- Midnight for Charlie Bone (2002)
- The Time Twister (2003)
- The Blue Boa (2004)
- The Castle of Mirrors (2005)
- Charlie Bone and the Hidden King (2006)
- Charlie Bone and the Wilderness Wolf (2007)
- Charlie Bone and the Shadow of Badlock (2008)
- Charlie Bone and the Red Knight (2009)
- Henry and the Guardians of the Lost (2016)
- Gabriel and the Phantom Sleepers (2018)
Documented internal/story chronology is recorded for every Core Canon book here, and matches publication order exactly, with no divergence to show separately.
Awards (verified)
- No awards found for this universe. (Jenny Nimmo's Nestle Smarties Book Prize and Tir na n-Og Award wins are for her unrelated Snow Spider trilogy, not registered in this canon.)
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Official resources
Research details
Ranking metrics: weighted average 3.94 across 189,615 ratings on 10 Core Canon books. See Why is it ranked here? above for the full breakdown, or the full ranking.
How do we know this?
Admission: Children of the Red King (Charlie Bone) admitted accepted 2026-09-21
Sources: (see source tier definitions)
Last reviewed: 2026-09-21
Rule: Core Canon is the ten main-sequence novels, from Midnight for Charlie Bone (2002) to Gabriel and the Phantom Sleepers (2018).