The Crooked Letter
core novel 2004 The Change
Record
| First published | 2004 |
|---|---|
| Original language |  EN |
| Work type | novel |
| Canon status | core |
| Reader rating | 3.25 (446 ratings, collected 2026-10-29) |
| First-edition ISBN | 9780732279257 |
| Internal chronology | 1 |
Synopsis
Hadrian and his mirror twin Seth are on holiday in Europe when Seth is stabbed to death in front of him, and the woman both brothers loved seemingly vanishes. In the aftermath the brothers discover that Earth is only one of many realms, and Hadrian finds himself caught between ancient, forgotten magic and an uncertain future, with only himself left to trust. The first of the Books of the Cataclysm is a prequel to the Books of the Change: it introduces new characters and explains how the world of Sal, Shilly and Skender came to be, before the rest of the quartet jumps forward to a few years after the earlier trilogy.
Where it sits
- Universe: The Change
- Series: Books of the Cataclysm core; position 1 of 4 in the series' recorded order
- Author: Sean Williams
Awards (verified)
- Aurealis Award (Best Fantasy Novel), 2004: won
- Ditmar Award (Best Novel), 2005: won; The first fantasy novel to win both the Aurealis and the Ditmar.
Notes
- From the series record (Books of the Cataclysm): Quartet, HarperCollins Voyager Australia, 2004 to 2006; the first volume is a prequel.
Neighbouring works
Publication order and internal chronology are tracked as two separate orderings and are never conflated: a book's place in one says nothing about its place in the other.
- Publication order, within the series Books of the Cataclysm: position 1 of 4: next The Blood Debt (2005)
- Internal chronology, within The Change: position 2 of 10: previous The Stone Mage and the Sea (2001) · next The Changeling (2008)
Sources
- SFE: Williams, Sean
- ISFDB: Sean Williams summary bibliography
- Wikipedia: The Crooked Letter
- Sean Williams official site: books (The Crooked Letter)
- Sean Williams official site: Change is in the Air
- Aurealis Award for Best Fantasy Novel - Wikipedia
- sfadb: Sean Williams
- sfadb: Sean Williams titles
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