The Change
#9863.73 adjusted 3.81 for sample size in the official ranking · full ranking
Books 10 books Status Complete 2001–2009 Reading commitment High Sean Williams Last reviewed 2026-10-29
Overview
Sean Williams’s fantasy sequence (2001 to 2009) is set in a broken future world shaped like the Australian interior, where Stone Mages rule the red-sand deserts, Sky Wardens rule the coasts, and every child with magical talent is sent to the Haunted City to be trained in the Change, as its magic is called. The Books of the Change follow the boy Sal and his friends Shilly and Skender; the Books of the Cataclysm open with a prequel set in our own world that explains how theirs came to be, then follow the same characters as adults; and the children’s trilogy The Broken Land returns to the same world. The Storm Weaver and the Sand and The Crooked Letter both won the Aurealis Award for best fantasy novel.
Epic fantasy · For YA
Core Canon: Reading Order (10 works) counts toward ranking
Books of the Change Sean Williams
| Work | Year | Internal chron. | Canon | Rating | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | The Stone Mage and the Sea | 2001 | 1 | core | 3.86 (304 ratings) |
 | The Sky Warden and the Sun | 2002 | 2 | core | 3.94 (208 ratings) |
 | The Storm Weaver and the Sand | 2002 | 3 | core | 3.99 (184 ratings) |
Trilogy, HarperCollins Voyager Australia, 2001 to 2002.
Books of the Cataclysm Sean Williams
| Work | Year | Internal chron. | Canon | Rating | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | The Crooked Letter | 2004 | 1 | core | 3.25 (446 ratings) |
 | The Blood Debt | 2005 | 2 | core | 3.78 (197 ratings) |
 | The Hanging Mountains | 2005 | 3 | core | 3.92 (158 ratings) |
 | The Devoured Earth | 2006 | 4 | core | 4.02 (89 ratings) |
Quartet, HarperCollins Voyager Australia, 2004 to 2006; the first volume is a prequel.
The Broken Land Sean Williams
| Work | Year | Internal chron. | Canon | Rating | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | The Changeling | 2008 | 1 | core | 3.72 (40 ratings) |
 | The Dust Devils | 2008 | 2 | core | 3.90 (21 ratings) |
 | The Scarecrow | 2009 | 3 | core | 4.19 (16 ratings) |
Children's trilogy set in the same world, HarperCollins/Angus and Robertson, 2008 to 2009.
Quick answers
- How many books are in The Change? The Change's Core Canon is 10 books.
- What is the reading order for The Change? Publication order, starting with The Stone Mage and the Sea. Full list and years in the Core Canon table above.
- Is The Change finished? Complete (2001–2009).
- How much reading does The Change take? High reading commitment (estimated from 10 Core Canon books).
- How is The Change ranked? #986 in this site's official ranking, based on 1,663 reader ratings across 10 Core Canon books. See the full ranking for how this is calculated.
Why is it ranked #986?
Ranked #986 in the official ranking.
- Average reader rating of 3.73 across 10 core books.
- A smaller readership (1,663 ratings), so the score carries less weight of numbers.
- Uneven reception: its books range from 3.25 to 4.19.
- Less than 0.01 behind #985, The Lighthouse at the Edge of the World (a finer tie-break level decides the order).
- Below the top-10 average of 4.46.
Why explore this universe?
Rated · 10 books · Complete · 2k ratings · Ranks #986 overall
Good choice if you want a long-running epic fantasy universe that's already finished, so there's no wait for the next book.
Reading order
Publication order (10 Core Canon books)
- The Stone Mage and the Sea (2001)
- The Sky Warden and the Sun (2002)
- The Storm Weaver and the Sand (2002)
- The Crooked Letter (2004)
- The Blood Debt (2005)
- The Hanging Mountains (2005)
- The Devoured Earth (2006)
- The Changeling (2008)
- The Dust Devils (2008)
- The Scarecrow (2009)
Documented internal/story order
- The Stone Mage and the Sea (2001)
- The Crooked Letter (2004)
- The Changeling (2008)
- The Sky Warden and the Sun (2002)
- The Blood Debt (2005)
- The Dust Devils (2008)
- The Storm Weaver and the Sand (2002)
- The Hanging Mountains (2005)
- The Scarecrow (2009)
- The Devoured Earth (2006)
Awards (verified)
- Aurealis Award (Best Fantasy Novel), 2001: nominated: The Stone Mage and the Sea
- Aurealis Award (Best Fantasy Novel), 2002: won: The Storm Weaver and the Sand
- Ditmar Award (Best Australian Novel), 2003: nominated: The Sky Warden and the Sun
- Ditmar Award (Best Australian Novel), 2003: nominated: The Storm Weaver and the Sand
- Aurealis Award (Best Fantasy Novel), 2004: won: The Crooked Letter
- Ditmar Award (Best Novel), 2005: won: The Crooked Letter; The first fantasy novel to win both the Aurealis and the Ditmar.
You might also like
Suggestions computed from what The Change and each of these worlds have in common on record (subgenre, audience, shape, reading commitment and score), not a documented narrative connection.
- Record of Lodoss War Epic fantasy / Sword & sorcery · Unfinished · High commitment · 3.65
- Tortall Epic fantasy · Ongoing · High commitment · 4.26
- The Grishaverse Romantasy / Epic fantasy · Ongoing · High commitment · 4.17
- Chronicles of the Emerged World Epic fantasy · Complete · High commitment · 3.99
Official resources
Research details
Ranking metrics: weighted average 3.73 across 1,663 ratings on 10 Core Canon books. See Why is it ranked here? above for the full breakdown, or the full ranking.
How do we know this?
Admission: Canon Extension: The Change (Sean Williams: Books of the Change, Books of the Cataclysm, The Broken Land; 10 books) accepted 2026-10-29
Sources: (see source tier definitions)
- Sean Williams official site: Change is in the Air Tier 2
- SFE: Williams, Sean Tier 2
- ISFDB: Sean Williams summary bibliography Tier 2
- Reactor: Meet Sean Williams Tier 2
Last reviewed: 2026-10-29
Rule: Core Canon = the ten novels set in the world of the Change: the Books of the Change (The Stone Mage and the Sea, The Sky Warden and the Sun, The Storm Weaver and the Sand), the Books of the Cataclysm (The Crooked Letter, The Blood Debt, The Hanging Mountains, The Devoured Earth) and The Broken Land (The Changeling, The Dust Devils, The Scarecrow). Short fiction set in the world is not included.