The best books with some serious ass-kicking

The Ruins of Gorlan is the first thrilling book in John Flanagan's Ranger's Apprentice series - over eight million sold worldwide.

They have always scared him in the past - the Rangers, with their dark cloaks and shadowy ways. The villagers believe the Rangers practise magic that makes them invisible to ordinary people. And now 15-year-old Will, always small for his age, has been chosen as a Ranger's apprentice.

What he doesn't yet realize is that the Rangers are the protectors of the kingdom. Highly trained in the skills of battle and surveillance, they fight the battles before the battles… show more.

He's a working stiff looking for a good paycheck. When the Ventura and its crew enter orbit for a scheduled planet survey, the ship activates an automated defense system protecting the planet. Although the Ventura is destroyed in the attack, Barcus alone survives the harrowing fall to the remote planet surface. He struggles to remain alive and sane, and to discover why everyone he knew and loved on the Ventura was deliberately murdered.

Swinging between despair and fury, Barcus discovers that for every answer he obtains, there are more questions raised. Barcus is assisted by the Emergency Module, Em, his… show more.

He Bought a Magic Road

Rocco Fitch had a grand plan for his life…but it went up in smoke the day he was disabled in Afghanistan. Now he’s unemployed, his wife has left him, and the bank is about to take his house. But he can still spare some change when he encounters a fellow vet begging in the street. Except the strange man won’t accept the money unless Rocco agrees he’s buying a road.

The next morning, the beggar is AWOL, there’s a magic highway crossing Rocco’s backyard that nobody else can see, and demonic-looking riders are traveling his… show more.

Eddie Holland is back. The former FBI agent turned private detective in Austin, Texas, returns for another fast paced mystery. Following on the heels of The South Coast and Ballyvaughan, Hangfire keeps you guessing until the very end. Clem Akins has gone missing, but not before sending a cryptic text message to Eddie. With little to go on, Eddie and Gus go looking for him, only to find the trail leads them to uncover a group of former Army soldiers on the run or in hiding, afraid of their treasonous pasts catching up to them.HANGFIRE is the third novel in… show more.

Dani’s met two new friends this summer: bad boy Eli, and a big black bear. She doesn’t know which one is more dangerous….

Dani Moser is a fifteen-year-old girl who dreams of being a blues guitarist and singer like her hero, Janis Joplin. When her dad takes Dani and her annoying little brother to his hometown for the summer—a tiny little town in the Arkansas Ozarks—she thinks she’s in for the most boring summer of her life.

She didn’t expect she would meet a small-town bad boy named Eli, and join his bluegrass band. She didn’t expect she’d get in… show more.