The Gathering Storm

Book Twelve of the Wheel of Time

By: Robert Jordan, Brandon Sanderson

Narrated by: Michael Kramer, Kate Reading

Length: 32 hrs and 58 mins

Publisher's summary

Now an original series starring Rosamund Pike as Moiraine!

Since its debut in 1990, The Wheel of Time® by Robert Jordan has captivated millions of readers and listeners around the globe with its scope, originality, and compelling characters.

The Wheel of Time turns and Ages come and go, leaving memories that become legend. Legend fades to myth, and even myth is long forgotten when the Age that gave it birth returns again. In the Third Age, an Age of Prophecy, the World and Time themselves hang in the balance. What was, what will be, and what is, may yet fall under the Shadow.

The seals of Shayol Ghul are weak now, and the Dark One reaches out. The Shadow is rising to cover humankind.

In Tar Valon, Min sees portents of hideous doom. Will the White Tower itself be broken?

In the Two Rivers, the Whitecloaks ride in pursuit of a man with golden eyes, and in pursuit of the Dragon Reborn.

In Cantorin, among the Sea Folk, High Lady Suroth plans the return of the Seanchan armies to the mainland.

In the Stone of Tear, the Lord Dragon considers his next move. It will be something no one expects, not the Black Ajah, not Tairen nobles, not Aes Sedai, not Egwene or Elayne or Nynaeve.

Against the Shadow rising stands the Dragon Reborn....

The Wheel of Time®
New Spring: The Novel
#1 The Eye of the World
#2 The Great Hunt
#3 The Dragon Reborn
#4 The Shadow Rising
#5 The Fires of Heaven
#6 Lord of Chaos
#7 A Crown of Swords
#8 The Path of Daggers
#9 Winter's Heart
#10 Crossroads of Twilight
#11 Knife of Dreams

By Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson
#12 The Gathering Storm
#13 Towers of Midnight
#14 A Memory of Light

By Robert Jordan
Warrior of the Altaii

By Robert Jordan and Teresa Patterson
The World of Robert Jordan's The Wheel of Time

By Robert Jordan, Harriet McDougal, Alan Romanczuk, and Maria Simons
The Wheel of Time Companion

By Robert Jordan and Amy Romanczuk
Patterns of the Wheel: Coloring Art Based on Robert Jordan's The Wheel of Time

Listen to more books in The Wheel of Time series.

©2009 The Bandersnatch Group, Inc. (P)2009 Macmillan Audio

Critic reviews

"The Wheel of Time...is a fantasy tale seldom equaled and still less often surpassed in English." ( Chicago Sun-Times)
"Jordan has a powerful vision of good and evil - but what strikes me as most pleasurable...is all the fascinating people moving through a rich and interesting world." (Orson Scott Card on The Wheel of Time)

The best of the series so far!

Wow, this book was constantly dripping with plot. Fantastic imagery. Sanderson does Jordan and WoT proud! Kramer nailed the chapter 47 performance in such a beautiful, amazing, and haunting way... it was a rollercoaster ride of emotions in a single chapter to such a degree that I'm not sure I've gotten that feeling from a book before.

Wow

Im so glad I got through the slog. This book was fantastic. Sanderson did such an amazing job.

it's the wheel of time

Brandon, you did a great job. This is as good as anything Robert Jordan wrote.

Finally

Brandon Sanderson saved this series, so happy he took over and was the one to finish it. Robert Jordan had a great idea, but he beat the story into the ground with filler. Glad a real story teller took over.

Best book since Lord of Chaos

Sanderson does a great job taking up Jordan’s mantle and carrying on the story for us. A very exciting read. I read it in 4 days and this is my second reread of the series. It simply doesn’t get old. The longer the better.

As epic as I hoped that it would be.

Brandon Sanderson did a great job fourth time reading this particular book in the series. He truly did the story justice and honored the great Robert Jordan in the way he wrote this book. Great job at a pivotal moment in the series. Every thing g comes together in the exciting build up working to the epic ending. Fantastic read. Narrators did great work as always. I recommend thks to anyone who enjoys reading at all.

A change of opinion

Like many other fans of the series I used to reread every book whenever a new one was released. Once the series passed 4 or 5 books, however, I found it difficult to find that much time. Again, like many other fans as the length of the series increased so too did my aggravation at the apparent lack resolution. The characters had followed their disparate paths and sometimes their relationships with each other were tenuous at best. About a month before the release of The Gathering Storm I started to read (and sometimes listen to) the story again, from the beginning. With the gigantic scope and the story arcs of each character being distinct it was hard to see how they all drove towards the same goal. The time between the books was probably a factor in how I perceived the story. The reread gives me a new appreciation of the series.

The Gathering Storm begins to weave all of the loose threads into a pattern that's beginning to make sense again. I once again enjoyed reading the sections with Egwene and I really haven't in quite some time. Some of the reviews that I've read have complained about how accurately Matt is portrayed. Personally, I thought he was pretty accurate. I'm also pleased with the shift in Rand's story. Typically I prefer my protagonists to be more likeable, unless they're being written as anti-heroes, and Rand is no Elric or Covenant, so the change was a welcome one.

I recently read (or heard, I don't remember) Brandon Sanderson describing CoT as the perfect pitch; he just basically needed to square off and swing well. The ball has come away from the bat and it's headed for the fences. Now we just need to see where it lands.

Loving the Series Again

This is a fantastic book, it made me fall in love with the series again.

Getting back together with old friends!

Audio reread of my favorite series continues to shine! Michael and Kate absolutely slay! Bravo!

Amazing

The saddest part of this book is knowing that there is no way the TV series can do it justice.