The League of Princes
#2104.14 adjusted 4.13 for sample size in the official ranking · full ranking
Books 4 books Status Ongoing 2012–present Reading commitment Medium Christopher Healy Last reviewed 2026-11-02
Overview
Christopher Healy's Hero's Guide books, published by Walden Pond Press from 2012, are set in the Thirteen Kingdoms, where the princes known to legend as Prince Charming are not the heroes the stories say. Four of them, Liam, Frederic, Gustav and Duncan, are rejected by the princesses they rescued and join forces against witches, bandits, trolls and warlords. The three-volume Hero's Guide trilogy (2012-2014) tells their story. A standalone spinoff mystery, No One Leaves the Castle (2023), follows a teenage bounty hunter called the Lilac in the same world, and the author has said a second volume is planned.
Fairy-tale retelling, Comic fantasy · For Middle grade
Core Canon: Reading Order (4 works) counts toward ranking
The Hero's Guide Christopher Healy
| Work | Year | Internal chron. | Canon | Rating | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | The Hero's Guide to Saving Your Kingdom | 2012 | 1 | core | 4.07 (12,410 ratings) |
 | The Hero's Guide to Storming the Castle | 2013 | 2 | core | 4.24 (5,206 ratings) |
 | The Hero's Guide to Being an Outlaw | 2014 | 3 | core | 4.32 (3,280 ratings) |
Four exiled Princes Charming team up to stop plots against the Thirteen Kingdoms.
A Thirteen Kingdoms Mystery Christopher Healy
| Work | Year | Internal chron. | Canon | Rating | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | No One Leaves the Castle; A standalone mystery set in the same world as the Hero's Guide trilogy. | 2023 | 1 | core | 3.96 (909 ratings) |
A spinoff mystery series in the Hero's Guide world, so far one standalone novel.
Quick answers
- How many books are in The League of Princes? The League of Princes's Core Canon is 4 books.
- What is the reading order for The League of Princes? Publication order, starting with The Hero's Guide to Saving Your Kingdom. Full list and years in the Core Canon table above.
- Is The League of Princes finished? Ongoing (2012–present).
- How much reading does The League of Princes take? Medium reading commitment (estimated from 4 Core Canon books).
- How is The League of Princes ranked? #210 in this site's official ranking, based on 21,805 reader ratings across 4 Core Canon books. See the full ranking for how this is calculated.
Why is it ranked #210?
Ranked #210 in the official ranking.
- Average reader rating of 4.14 across 4 core books.
- A smaller readership (21,805 ratings), so the score carries less weight of numbers.
- Less than 0.01 behind #209, The Chronicles of Narnia (a finer tie-break level decides the order).
- Below the top-10 average of 4.46.
Why explore this universe?
Highly rated · 4 books · Ongoing · 22k ratings · Ranks #210 overall
Good choice if you want a moderate-length fairy-tale retelling fantasy universe that's still ongoing, with new books still coming.
Reading order
Publication order (4 Core Canon books)
- The Hero's Guide to Saving Your Kingdom (2012)
- The Hero's Guide to Storming the Castle (2013)
- The Hero's Guide to Being an Outlaw (2014)
- No One Leaves the Castle (2023)
Documented internal/story order
- The Hero's Guide to Saving Your Kingdom (2012)
- No One Leaves the Castle (2023)
- The Hero's Guide to Storming the Castle (2013)
- The Hero's Guide to Being an Outlaw (2014)
Awards (verified)
- No awards found for this universe.
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Suggestions computed from what The League of Princes and each of these worlds have in common on record (subgenre, audience, shape, reading commitment and score), not a documented narrative connection.
- The School for Good and Evil Fairy-tale retelling · Complete · Medium commitment · 4.06
- Alcatraz vs. the Evil Librarians Comic fantasy · Complete · Medium commitment · 4.05
- Hamster Princess Fairy-tale retelling / Comic fantasy · Complete · Medium commitment · 4.23
- Hotzenplotz Comic fantasy · Complete · Medium commitment · 4.20
Official resources
Research details
Ranking metrics: weighted average 4.14 across 21,805 ratings on 4 Core Canon books. See Why is it ranked here? above for the full breakdown, or the full ranking.
How do we know this?
Admission: Canon Extension: 31 universes; 3 candidates ruled out; open items closed accepted 2026-11-02
Sources: (see source tier definitions)
- Christopher Healy official site Tier 2
- Wikipedia: Christopher Healy Tier 2
- Kirkus Reviews: No One Leaves the Castle Tier 2
Last reviewed: 2026-11-02
Rule: Core Canon = The Hero's Guide to Saving Your Kingdom (2012) through The Hero's Guide to Being an Outlaw (2014), plus the spinoff No One Leaves the Castle (2023).