The 13th Reality
fantasy
Series · fantasy
The Jimmy Fincher Saga
The Jimmy Fincher Saga series by James Dashner has 4 books and is best read in publication order, starting with A Door in the Woods (2003).
- Books
- 4 books
- First published
- 2003
- Status
- completed
- Last checked
Start here: A Door in the Woods (2003) — then read straight through in publication order.
Reading order
The order the books were released — the default way to read the series.
- Book 1:
A Door in the Woods
Alternative text for cover: Cover of A Door in the Woods - Book 2:
A Gift of Ice
Alternative text for cover: Cover of A Gift of Ice - Book 3:
The Tower of Air
Alternative text for cover: Cover of The Tower of Air - Book 4:
War of the Black Curtain
Alternative text for cover: Cover of War of the Black Curtain
About The Jimmy Fincher Saga
Jimmy Fincher is a small-town teenager whose life changes the day he finds a strange wooden door standing alone in the woods near his home. Stepping through it — and the sequels that follow — pulls him into a fantasy world of prophecy, ancient magic, and a rising darkness he turns out to be uniquely positioned to fight, alongside friends who get pulled through with him. Over four books the stakes escalate from a single mysterious door to a full-scale war for the fate of the world Jimmy has stumbled into.
This was James Dashner's debut series, published by the Utah-based Cedar Fort/Sweetwater Books before he wrote The 13th Reality or The Maze Runner, and it reads as an early, more modestly-scaled dry run for the portal-fantasy and chosen-one tropes he'd revisit later in his career. It's grounded in classic quest-fantasy structure — a hidden world, a prophecy, a band of young heroes — rather than the high-concept dystopian premises that made him famous, and it remained a comparatively niche, regional release rather than a bestseller.
How to read this series
Publication order is the only order: A Door in the Woods, A Gift of Ice, The Tower of Air, War of the Black Curtain. It's a single continuous four-book story following Jimmy from his first encounter with the door through to the saga's conclusion, with no companion material to sequence around.
Frequently asked questions
How many books are in the Jimmy Fincher Saga?
Four: A Door in the Woods (2003), A Gift of Ice (2004), The Tower of Air (2004), and War of the Black Curtain (2005).
What order should I read the Jimmy Fincher Saga in?
Publication order, starting with A Door in the Woods. It's one continuous story told across all four books.
Is the Jimmy Fincher Saga connected to The Maze Runner or The 13th Reality?
No. It's an earlier, unrelated portal-fantasy series and was James Dashner's debut, published by Cedar Fort/Sweetwater Books before either of his better-known series.
Is the Jimmy Fincher Saga still in print?
All four books remain listed and available through major retailers and secondhand sellers as of 2026, though it's a much smaller-circulation series than Dashner's later work.
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Reading order last verified .