In this prequel, Ezylryb the Screech owl recounts the story of his life in the Northern Kingdoms--his rise through the ranks of the Killian Army, his brother's betrayal, and his friendship with Octavia the snake, to finally become a Guardian of Ga'Hoole.

Wishing to fight off evil that exists among the owls of the Great Ga'Hoole Tree, Soren, Gylfie, Twilight, and Digger must endure harsh training from the elders to become Ga'Hoolian owls, and carry out their good deeds.

In order to protect him, Grank raises the royal chick named Hoole deep in the forest, but when an evil warlord attempts to lure Hoole away to kill him, Grank brings Hoole to Beyond the Beyond, a strange land of fiery volcanoes in a barren, icy landscape.

"Soren's sister, Eglantine, si falling under the spell of a strange nightly dream. Then, just as Soren notices her trancelike state, Eglantine disappears, and the dreams become a deadly waking nightmare that puts the Great Tree of Ga'Hoole in terrible danger."--Page 4 of cover.

Soren and his band fly to the Northern Kingdoms to study the art of war and find allies as St. Aggie's is falling to the Pure Ones.

Soren has been reunited with this sister, Eglantine, but now he must deal with the mysterious disappearance of his mentor, Ezylryb, and in his attempt to save his teacher must fight a formidable foe.

When the Striga, a mysterious owl from the Middle Kingdom, takes over young King Coryn's mind and institutes a tyrannical new regime, the Band, exiled for their loyalty to Coryn, seek to free him and the kingdom from this threat.

Having fled the Pure Ones, Nyroc longs to fly to the Great Ga'Hoole Tree, but before he claims his new destiny, he must travel alone through the barren and desolate landscape of outcasts called The Beyond the Beyond.

Little Hoot wants to go to bed early, like all of his friends do, and he is hopping mad when Mama and Papa Owl insist that he stay up late and play.

Because protecting spotted owls has cost Borden's father his job as a logger in the old growth forest of northern California, Borden intends to kill any spotted owl he sees, until he and his father find themselves taking care of a young owlet.