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Anghara Kir Hama #2
Changer of Days
The child Anghara Kir Hama was forced to flee the kingdom she rightfully ruled, escaping the murderous wrath of her brother, the usurper, who would see her dead to secure the throne. But her years spent in a strange desert land—honing the miraculous power called Sight—have forever changed the young queen. And now it is time to claim what is hers.
But treachery greets Anghara upon her return to a realm suffering under the cruelty of the bloodthirsty tyrant Sif. In the dungeons of her enemy, she awaits an inevitable death, robbed of the gift that set her apart from all others. Yet those who have sworn to defend her will not rest until their cherished queen is safe, including one whose noble heart belongs to her alone. For young Anghara’s remarkable destiny is greater than crowns and countries—greater even than the fearsome Old Gods who must stand down to make way for the Changer of Days.
But treachery greets Anghara upon her return to a realm suffering under the cruelty of the bloodthirsty tyrant Sif. In the dungeons of her enemy, she awaits an inevitable death, robbed of the gift that set her apart from all others. Yet those who have sworn to defend her will not rest until their cherished queen is safe, including one whose noble heart belongs to her alone. For young Anghara’s remarkable destiny is greater than crowns and countries—greater even than the fearsome Old Gods who must stand down to make way for the Changer of Days.
- GenresFantasyMagicEpic Fantasy
339 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published June 1, 2005
6 people are currently reading
153 people want to read
About the author
Alma Alexander
73 books204 followersAlma Alexander is a scientist by education, duchess by historical accident, and an author who has written more than a score of novels, including 'The Secrets of Jin-shei', published in dozens of editions and languages around the world.
Known as the Duchess of Fantasy, she is also a blogger sharing writing tips, and glimpses of both the mundane and magic of a fantasy author's life.
Her latest novels include 'Val Hall', a series about a retirement home for Superheroes, Third Class; 'Embers of Heaven' a Jin-shei follow-up; 'Empress', a love story; and 'Midnight at Spanish Gardens'.
Coming in July is 'The Second Star', a novel about the big eternal questions – about who, or what, God is; about our own immortal souls and their salvation; what it really means to be human; and whether it is possible to go out to where the monsters dwell and expect to come home again unchanged. It is a story of how humans meet the stars, and find themselves there.
Her YA include the four-book Worldweavers series, and 'The Were Chronicles' trilogy.
Her work has been translated into 14 languages worldwide, including Hebrew,Turkish, and Catalan.
She is currently at work on a new series of alternate history novels with roots in Eastern Europe.
She lives in Bellingham, WA, with her husband, two cats, and assorted visiting wildlife.
Visit her website/blog at www.AlmaAlexander.org or AlmaAlexanderAuthor.com , like her Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/pages/Alma-A...
Known as the Duchess of Fantasy, she is also a blogger sharing writing tips, and glimpses of both the mundane and magic of a fantasy author's life.
Her latest novels include 'Val Hall', a series about a retirement home for Superheroes, Third Class; 'Embers of Heaven' a Jin-shei follow-up; 'Empress', a love story; and 'Midnight at Spanish Gardens'.
Coming in July is 'The Second Star', a novel about the big eternal questions – about who, or what, God is; about our own immortal souls and their salvation; what it really means to be human; and whether it is possible to go out to where the monsters dwell and expect to come home again unchanged. It is a story of how humans meet the stars, and find themselves there.
Her YA include the four-book Worldweavers series, and 'The Were Chronicles' trilogy.
Her work has been translated into 14 languages worldwide, including Hebrew,Turkish, and Catalan.
She is currently at work on a new series of alternate history novels with roots in Eastern Europe.
She lives in Bellingham, WA, with her husband, two cats, and assorted visiting wildlife.
Visit her website/blog at www.AlmaAlexander.org or AlmaAlexanderAuthor.com , like her Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/pages/Alma-A...
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
July 18, 2012
I thoroughly enjoyed this two-part story. I loved Anghara along with the other "good" characters. The villain of the story was painted as a fully dimensional person and was understandable and pitiable if not ever likeable. The plot was solid all the way through, all questions answered, and a satisfyingly (but not saccharine) happy ending. My only criticism would be that what happens at the very end of the book didn't make sense to me, in part. I don't want to say more for fear of spoilers, but these books were a pleasant surprise for a book I just picked up on a whim at the library. I'll miss Anghara, her friends, and her world.
June 11, 2008
The follow-up to The Hidden Queen. A great follow-up, which kept me up waaaay too late trying to finish it (thank heavens for caffeine!) I'm glad that despite the actions of the last book, Sif remains a human, even sympathetic character. He's one of the most interesting villians I've read, because he actually does have a conscience(even if he doesn't always LISTEN to it). The heroine Anghara gets put through the ringer after her capture causes her to lose her Sight. She and Kieran journey to the desert to seek healing (like the increased politics shown, especially with the a'sen'thari).
February 10, 2013
I would give it 3.5 stars. I enjoyed the book. It was well written, however, the ending was incomplete. If the ending had tied together everything a little bit better, I would have given it 4 stars.
July 22, 2007
It was pretty cool, an interesting mix of magic and politics.
September 12, 2022
I thought it was well crfted with a good villain. The author does a lot better with two books than others who might drag it out to four books - or more.
February 2, 2025
This is a great book. You will enjoy it from start to end. Never a stale moment.
October 22, 2022
Review of combined 20th anniversary edition
3.5 stars, Metaphorosis reviews
Summary
King Red Dynan has died on the battlefield, leaving his young daughter Anghara as heir. But a general, fearing the enemy, gives command to the king's older, illegitimate son instead, leaving Anghara at risk and fleeing for her life.
Review
I’ve had a mixed reaction to Alexander’s work in the past, with something of a feeling of missed potential. I was uncertain, therefore, what to expect here, but had somewhat limited expectations – especially for a 20 year old book. I’m happy to say that, for the most part, those expectations were exceeded.
The book has a pretty rocky start, with a prologue full of too many names and not enough context. This makes it hard to follow and be interested in the characters and their world. After an initial dread of the 600 pages to follow, I was pleased to find that the story settled into itself after a few chapter. After that, while a map would have been welcome (especially in the latter half), the whos and wheres were straightforward to follow, especially as, despite a grand scope, the book focuses on a handful of major characters. Those characters were engaging and interesting. While tending to fit familiar archetypes – uncertain hero, loyal supporter, wise mentor – they worked well, and I was almost always intrigued to follow their adventures. That falls apart a bit at the end, as one villain, never quite developed enough, suddenly acts in what seems a very uncharacteristic way.
The cultures and geography draw on some clear influences from our world, but the familiarity meant they worked well and could build on the reader’s knowledge and expectations. And there was enough that was new in the details and presentation that they were interesting and never exactly what one might expect. There’s a little bit of travelogue in the story, and I liked it.
I was less impressed by the magic system. It’s broadly encompassed by the term ‘Sight’ (with regional variation), but that’s a pretty bad misnomer, because – especially at the beginning – it has very little to do with sight. It’s never clear exactly what the power is, and it’s never really used for anything beyond a few minor tricks. Our heroine Anghara spends a good portion of the book learning to harness or rebuild her powers, and that appears to be an end in itself. The most dramatic actual use of the power is quite early on in the book. Beyond that, we’re mostly concerned that she have it. There’s a link to the world’s interesting theology, but I felt it was underdeveloped, and that the magic in general was a missed opportunity. There are other elements, especially at the end (e.g., some big drums) that appear to come from a different magic system altogether, and don’t have much foundation. Altogether, I’d have liked to see more cohesion in the magic. There’s also quite a lot of ritual killing of animals.
The core of the book – the great bulk of it – is strong and interesting, and read quickly. I was always interested to pick up and see what happened next. Unfortunately, as noted, that collapses pretty substantially, when Anghara’s chief adversary – and the central subject of the book’s tension – suddenly drops out of the story for no good reason. It left me sorely disappointed, especially because Alexander had been so clearly leading up to a stronger resolution. The other parts of the ending caused me similar concern – one thread in particular, depending on a foreign presence, never leads to anything at all.
As is fairly common in fantasy epics, there’s an unquestioning assumption that royal birth makes you a better person, deserving of respect. And that, if your kingdom is taken away, you get it back – no question about whether you’d actually make a better ruler. That’s s a genre-wide issue, but it stood out to me here because it seemed completely unacknowledged.
The book was originally published in two parts, and Alexander notes that it was always intended to be one big book. It works well this way, and I can see how the two prior parts would each have felt incomplete.
Overall, a good smooth read with a disappointing ending.
3.5 stars, Metaphorosis reviews
Summary
King Red Dynan has died on the battlefield, leaving his young daughter Anghara as heir. But a general, fearing the enemy, gives command to the king's older, illegitimate son instead, leaving Anghara at risk and fleeing for her life.
Review
I’ve had a mixed reaction to Alexander’s work in the past, with something of a feeling of missed potential. I was uncertain, therefore, what to expect here, but had somewhat limited expectations – especially for a 20 year old book. I’m happy to say that, for the most part, those expectations were exceeded.
The book has a pretty rocky start, with a prologue full of too many names and not enough context. This makes it hard to follow and be interested in the characters and their world. After an initial dread of the 600 pages to follow, I was pleased to find that the story settled into itself after a few chapter. After that, while a map would have been welcome (especially in the latter half), the whos and wheres were straightforward to follow, especially as, despite a grand scope, the book focuses on a handful of major characters. Those characters were engaging and interesting. While tending to fit familiar archetypes – uncertain hero, loyal supporter, wise mentor – they worked well, and I was almost always intrigued to follow their adventures. That falls apart a bit at the end, as one villain, never quite developed enough, suddenly acts in what seems a very uncharacteristic way.
The cultures and geography draw on some clear influences from our world, but the familiarity meant they worked well and could build on the reader’s knowledge and expectations. And there was enough that was new in the details and presentation that they were interesting and never exactly what one might expect. There’s a little bit of travelogue in the story, and I liked it.
I was less impressed by the magic system. It’s broadly encompassed by the term ‘Sight’ (with regional variation), but that’s a pretty bad misnomer, because – especially at the beginning – it has very little to do with sight. It’s never clear exactly what the power is, and it’s never really used for anything beyond a few minor tricks. Our heroine Anghara spends a good portion of the book learning to harness or rebuild her powers, and that appears to be an end in itself. The most dramatic actual use of the power is quite early on in the book. Beyond that, we’re mostly concerned that she have it. There’s a link to the world’s interesting theology, but I felt it was underdeveloped, and that the magic in general was a missed opportunity. There are other elements, especially at the end (e.g., some big drums) that appear to come from a different magic system altogether, and don’t have much foundation. Altogether, I’d have liked to see more cohesion in the magic. There’s also quite a lot of ritual killing of animals.
The core of the book – the great bulk of it – is strong and interesting, and read quickly. I was always interested to pick up and see what happened next. Unfortunately, as noted, that collapses pretty substantially, when Anghara’s chief adversary – and the central subject of the book’s tension – suddenly drops out of the story for no good reason. It left me sorely disappointed, especially because Alexander had been so clearly leading up to a stronger resolution. The other parts of the ending caused me similar concern – one thread in particular, depending on a foreign presence, never leads to anything at all.
As is fairly common in fantasy epics, there’s an unquestioning assumption that royal birth makes you a better person, deserving of respect. And that, if your kingdom is taken away, you get it back – no question about whether you’d actually make a better ruler. That’s s a genre-wide issue, but it stood out to me here because it seemed completely unacknowledged.
The book was originally published in two parts, and Alexander notes that it was always intended to be one big book. It works well this way, and I can see how the two prior parts would each have felt incomplete.
Overall, a good smooth read with a disappointing ending.
November 3, 2016
If you're in the habit of reviewing the books you read, and if you're friends with a bunch of authors, you'll eventually find yourself in the position of reviewing a book by someone you know and like -- and whose writing you greatly admire -- that simply doesn't do it for you. For me, alas, The Hidden Queen/Changer of Days by Alma Alexander was one of those books. (Sorry Alma.)
It shall be referred to hereinafter as "the book" (singular) because, as I understand it, by intent it's a single book that happened to be split into two physical pieces for marketing purposes. Since I read the two volumes in a single pass, I don't think this affected my reading.
On the positive side, the world-building is intricate and evocative, the several cultures -- although still bearing traces of the serial numbers of their real-world inspirations -- are nicely varied and fractally detailed. What left me hungry at the end of the book was the relentless passivity of the protagonist.
At the beginning of the story, this is hardly surprising. The title character (both titles), Anghara, is hurriedly crowned a child-queen at her father's death in the midst of a war. When her older half-brother Sif seizes the kingdom, she is bustled off to a series of refuges, each of which is devastated in various ways by the usurper's pursuit of her. Complicating the matter, Anghara (my fingers keep automatically completing the name to Angharad -- must do a global search before posting) has inherited an ability known as Sight which combines features of prescience, telepathy, and a close relationship with the gods, among other things. One of the issues standing between Sif and a legitimate claim on the throne is his mother's lack of Sight, which leads him to initiate a pogrom against all those with the ability, for which Anghara assumes personal guilt. It's a continuing theme that just as Anghara's cause and adventures are advanced largely without her deliberate action, her burden of guilts also comes from events that are largely beyond her control.
The need to evade Sif's clutches while she grows to adulthood and learns to better control and use the Sight drives her into the company of a mystic from the desert lands who becomes a spiritual mentor. Years pass, as well as several rites of passage and encounters with gods. When the time comes for Anghara to return home and reclaim her crown, she falls immediately into Sif's clutches, loses her powers of Sight, is rescued, returns to the desert, encounters more gods, is the catalyst in a cosmic paradigm shift, regains her Sight, returns home, and succeeds in reclaiming her throne.
But throughout all this, when it comes down to it, Anghara herself doesn't really do very much. Initially, the political winds buffet her willy-nilly as one might expect for a child in an adult world. Her experience of Sight is initially more of an affliction than a skill. Later she becomes something of a conduit through which various divine forces work, but there's never any clear sense that she is in charge or has any ability to further or prevent the events she precipitates. In some of the most memorable action sequences, she is physically and/or psychically incapacitated. I kept longing for the focus of the story to shift to one of the minor characters -- any of them -- just someone who would take charge of their own destiny.
I think I had a key insight to why Anghara's experiences don't work for me when I realized that the model of sovereignty that she operates within is that of divine right. Sif's crime in usurping the throne is not one of theft but of blasphemy. Anghara retains the superior claim not through personal ability (at the time of their father's battlefield death, Sif was demonstrably the more able leader for the army and nation) or superior statesmanship (it's hard to tell whether Anghara's successes in that field are from ability or the fortunate chance of the right word or action at the right time ... or driven by the subconscious urgings of Sight) but simply because the right to rule is inherent in her. And she succeeds in reclaiming that rule because she's surrounded by extremely able people who believe in that right. Oh, and because the gods are on her side. (Well, it's a trifle more complicated than that, but I'll leave some surprises.)
I may well be overstating the case for her passivity, but it's the overwhelming impression I was left with. If she wants my sympathy, a character has to convince me that she has a hand in creating her own destiny.
It shall be referred to hereinafter as "the book" (singular) because, as I understand it, by intent it's a single book that happened to be split into two physical pieces for marketing purposes. Since I read the two volumes in a single pass, I don't think this affected my reading.
On the positive side, the world-building is intricate and evocative, the several cultures -- although still bearing traces of the serial numbers of their real-world inspirations -- are nicely varied and fractally detailed. What left me hungry at the end of the book was the relentless passivity of the protagonist.
At the beginning of the story, this is hardly surprising. The title character (both titles), Anghara, is hurriedly crowned a child-queen at her father's death in the midst of a war. When her older half-brother Sif seizes the kingdom, she is bustled off to a series of refuges, each of which is devastated in various ways by the usurper's pursuit of her. Complicating the matter, Anghara (my fingers keep automatically completing the name to Angharad -- must do a global search before posting) has inherited an ability known as Sight which combines features of prescience, telepathy, and a close relationship with the gods, among other things. One of the issues standing between Sif and a legitimate claim on the throne is his mother's lack of Sight, which leads him to initiate a pogrom against all those with the ability, for which Anghara assumes personal guilt. It's a continuing theme that just as Anghara's cause and adventures are advanced largely without her deliberate action, her burden of guilts also comes from events that are largely beyond her control.
The need to evade Sif's clutches while she grows to adulthood and learns to better control and use the Sight drives her into the company of a mystic from the desert lands who becomes a spiritual mentor. Years pass, as well as several rites of passage and encounters with gods. When the time comes for Anghara to return home and reclaim her crown, she falls immediately into Sif's clutches, loses her powers of Sight, is rescued, returns to the desert, encounters more gods, is the catalyst in a cosmic paradigm shift, regains her Sight, returns home, and succeeds in reclaiming her throne.
But throughout all this, when it comes down to it, Anghara herself doesn't really do very much. Initially, the political winds buffet her willy-nilly as one might expect for a child in an adult world. Her experience of Sight is initially more of an affliction than a skill. Later she becomes something of a conduit through which various divine forces work, but there's never any clear sense that she is in charge or has any ability to further or prevent the events she precipitates. In some of the most memorable action sequences, she is physically and/or psychically incapacitated. I kept longing for the focus of the story to shift to one of the minor characters -- any of them -- just someone who would take charge of their own destiny.
I think I had a key insight to why Anghara's experiences don't work for me when I realized that the model of sovereignty that she operates within is that of divine right. Sif's crime in usurping the throne is not one of theft but of blasphemy. Anghara retains the superior claim not through personal ability (at the time of their father's battlefield death, Sif was demonstrably the more able leader for the army and nation) or superior statesmanship (it's hard to tell whether Anghara's successes in that field are from ability or the fortunate chance of the right word or action at the right time ... or driven by the subconscious urgings of Sight) but simply because the right to rule is inherent in her. And she succeeds in reclaiming that rule because she's surrounded by extremely able people who believe in that right. Oh, and because the gods are on her side. (Well, it's a trifle more complicated than that, but I'll leave some surprises.)
I may well be overstating the case for her passivity, but it's the overwhelming impression I was left with. If she wants my sympathy, a character has to convince me that she has a hand in creating her own destiny.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
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October 7, 2013Kieran and his soldiers ride the horses hard - trying to catch up with the men who abducted their queen: Anghora. Anghora, drugged, dragged, and placed in a cell, will never rule again - not if her brother Sif has anything to say about - not after he stole the country from her - not after he wrested the throne from the grasp of a little girl who held it.
Kieran knows he MUST catch the group that has abducted his Queen - he doesn't know that they have drugged her so she can't use her Sight. In fact, the drug rattles her brain so much she almost doesn't care, but Kieran does - faithful to the core - and to the true Queen of the land.
Fate, destiny, drugs and tyrant brothers - all come together in a land soon to meet the Changer of Days.
Kieran knows he MUST catch the group that has abducted his Queen - he doesn't know that they have drugged her so she can't use her Sight. In fact, the drug rattles her brain so much she almost doesn't care, but Kieran does - faithful to the core - and to the true Queen of the land.
Fate, destiny, drugs and tyrant brothers - all come together in a land soon to meet the Changer of Days.
February 11, 2010
The conclusion of a straight-forward fantasy that is, in many respects, a throwback to an earlier style...or, perhaps, a reflection of the fact that Changer of Days was published in New Zealand and is the product of a smaller fiction market. The story is well written. Hrmoic has a good cinemagraphic eye for getting the most from the scenes she illuminates...in different hands, this story could have gone on for four volumes. But it's more a comfortable variation on the "gifted, endangered royal heir regains a destined throne" meme than a story that takes the reader someplace new
June 10, 2011
:) Lovely indeed.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews