Jack Blank Adventure Books in Order

The Jack Blank Adventure trilogy begins with a boy who has spent most of his life feeling invisible. Jack Blank lives at St. Barnaby's Home for the Hopeless, Abandoned, Forgotten, and Lost, a grim orphanage in New Jersey. Comic books are his escape hatch, so it is a shock when a robot from those kinds of stories comes looking for him.

That attack leads Jack to the Imagine Nation, a hidden country connected to the source of Earth's most fantastic ideas. Superheroes, robots, strange technology, and larger-than-life villains all have a place there. Jack soon learns that he belongs in this world, but the truth about his past brings danger as well as answers.

At the heart of the series is Jack's fear that he may not be the hero he wants to be. He has an unusual power, a dangerous link to the enemy Revile, and a future that seems capable of turning in two very different directions. The question of who he can trust matters as much as any battle.

The later books widen the story. Jack trains at the School of Thought, works alongside young friends including Skerren and Allegra, and investigates a threat involving the Rüstov, a hostile force with dangerous technology. Secrets about Jack's family, the infection affecting the Mechas, and the fate of the Imagine Nation keep the pressure on.

The stakes get big quickly.

Even so, the books stay close to Jack's point of view. He is funny, uncertain, stubborn, and still learning how to be part of a team. The action has the bounce of a superhero adventure, with chases, gadgets, and strange creatures, but the emotional thread is about finding a home and choosing what to do with the power you have.

Read The Accidental Hero first, then continue with The Secret War and The End of Infinity. It is a complete three-book arc, best enjoyed in order, especially because each installment builds on Jack's growing understanding of the Imagine Nation and his own role in it.