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The Gathering Storm  By  cover art

The Gathering Storm

By: Robert Jordan, Brandon Sanderson
Narrated by: Michael Kramer, Kate Reading
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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)

Featured Article: The Best Brandon Sanderson Audiobooks


Brandon Sanderson is one of the best-known and most popular fantasy authors working today. If you're entering his wonderfully magical worlds for the first time, it can be daunting. Never fear! This guide will walk you through the best Brandon Sanderson audiobooks, from his most well-known series to his lesser-known (but equally excellent) standalone novels. So buckle up and get ready for days (yes, literally, days!) of amazing listening.

What listeners say about The Gathering Storm

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

I normally wouldn't, but...

Usually I wouldn't write a review before I had finished a book, but I just can't help myself... I'm sure that you hard core WoT fans out there won't need any further encouragement to purchase this one, but for anyone who does... Get it, now! :-) Seriously, it's good. Perhaps I'm just not as perceptive as I ought to be, but I've not yet noticed much difference from the quality that I'd expect of a book in this amazing series. So far, I think that Brandon Sanderson has stayed true to the characters that RJ created, and I think his style just works for this series. Needless to say, I am thoroughly enjoying this audiobook so far. I've already noticed quite a few plot lines moving forward and am learning answers to questions that I've really been waiting to find out about. I'd like to thank Mr. Sanderson for his wonderful work in continuing this series, Robert Jordan for caring enough about his fans to leave behind enough content for Brandon to work with, and of course, his wife Harriet for making a great choice of whom to continue his work. Very respectfully, Dominique.

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56 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

A Successful Transition

Many people were worried about the continuation of this epic series after the tragic loss of Robert Jordan in September of 2007.

Fans:
Fear no more!

All of our beloved characters are still there and RJ's vision is clearly still the driving force behind these books. Brandon Sanderson does an outstanding job taking our characters and adapting his style to give us a compelling read.

You can sense Brandon's voice more in some characters than others but that is not a criticism. He actually brings more depth to them while maintaining exactly who they are and who we love.

Michael Kramer & Kate Reading again deliver in this book and I'm pleased to know that they'll also be completing the series with:
Book 13 - Towers of Midnight
and
Book 14 - A Memory of Light.

You will love this book! Enjoy!

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51 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Welcome back Wheel of Time!!!

If you would have told me this was written by a different author other then Robert Jordan, I would have called you a liar. This is how the Jordan of old used to write. It's only later on in the series is when he really started go get wrapped up in meaningless crap, and made it a chore to finish a book. The only difference I could really tell were things that I thought were improvements. Gone are the annoying storyline builds ups, only to have the reader jump to a different character at the crescendo. It was so refreshing to not have to wait another 300 pages to find out how a storyline progressed. This ain't 1960's television anymore, we don't need cheesy cliffhangers to make sure we keep reading.

At no point did I ever feel like I wanted to place a gun into my mouth to end my misery from slogging through a couple of chapters on etiquette or local customs.

Sanderson touched on all the favorites, Rand, Egwene and company, Matt, Perrin, all the major Aes Sedai and Aiel. Perrin was probably the least written about it in this story, but it really didn't bother me, as he had bigger parts in the last few books. Matt is always a blast and gets into some crazy situations in this book that just made me laugh. Sanderson does such a good job putting Matt's perspective on situations that it's always just so comical, "Why does this always happen to me!"

Rand is probably the biggest triumph of this story. The writing gets more complicated as his delves deeper and deeper into what it means to be the Dragon Reborn and all the emotions that come with that.

Kate and Michael are the only voices I can ever picture reading Jordan, as they do a perfect job. At times I forget that Kate is reading the male parts because she does such a great job capturing the character's essence.

I released a huge sigh of release after I read this book. The glory that is WoT is back, and is on track for it's continued greatness. The ending of this finished perfectly.

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37 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars

Start at the beginning of the series

The book is well written, but there is a lot to learn to "catch up" to the story. I would recommend not starting with this book and I wish someone told me so I didn't waste a selection.

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21 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Best book since Book 1

Quite possibly the best book in the series since the opening book. Not that the other books were bad, but Jordan seemed to just drone on at times and the story seemed to stagnate at times. Sanderson does a masterful job of writing this book. It "sounds" just like Jordan wrote it, but there were very few places in this book where I felt like I was "nodding off" (as I had done several times before in previous books). Great start to the finale of this wonderful series.

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19 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Bloody Excellent

Thank you Brandon a most excellent job.

The Wheel of Time has been brought back to life. The life that was in the first few books.(1-4)

I really enjoyed reading this book. (Well listening to it.) Could not put it down.

Each character got some air time and it was not too long winded coverage that I felt was in the later books.

Plenty of action happening in this.

It is also great to see that same narrators
used in the story. Very well read it brings much life to the story.

Again Brandon, A Big Thank You.
I look forward to the next book soon.

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14 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Broavo!!!!

Great job. Sanderson did good keeping the spirit of the previous books. Loved the humor!

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13 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Expectations Thoroughly Exceeded!

I came to the Wheel Of Time series very late in the game, only to witness the heartbreaking loss of Robert Jordan. I must admit I was very skeptical of Mr Sanderson coming in to finish the job (visions of the Dune series haunting me) but he far exceeded my expectations.

Maybe it's blasphemous to say this -- but I think Sanderson's style is, in some places, superior to Jordan. It is very obvious (even without listening to the short interview included herein) that he adores the series and put all his creative passion into doing it justice.

Ignore the previous review about the ending. Utter foolishness. It's been known for a long time that it would be at least two books as the outline was far too long. Even Jordan quipped that he would finish even if the book was 1200 pages, which is simply not realistic from a publishing point of view.

I eagerly look forward to the next installment of Sanderson's vision.

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9 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

A very pleasant surprise

After learning that Brandon Sanderson was going to be finishing the WoT series, I downloaded two of his books, and didn't enjoy them at all. The ideas were great, and the magic was great, but I really disliked his "voice", the way his characters acted and interacted; to me, it sounded like very forced comedic scenes interspersed with long, convoluted planning sessions.

That said, I am a HUGE Robert Jordan fan, and really need this series to end, so I went ahead and downloaded TGS about five minutes after it came available on the 27th, and started listening immediately.

I'm exceptionally pleased to report that I really enjoyed this book. Everyone important is in it, if only for a chapter or two, and for the most part, Brandon Sanderson has adapted his style to fit into Robert Jordan's world a little better.

That said, you can absolutely hear his voice, particularly in the sections of the book which feature Matt Cauthon. I found those sections a tiny bit offputting, but I think maybe that comes from personal bias rather than any actual fault in Brandon's treatment of those sections.

I felt that some of story arcs were actually improved in this book; RJ used to hop around a lot more, splitting a plotline in halves or thirds and then shuffling other things into it, creating mini-cliffhangers. In this book, it seems that we stay with some of the main arcs for much longer, often to their ultimate conclusion, and I found that to be very, very satisfying.

I'm looking forward to the next two installments.

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9 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars

given up

I have not read any of the previous books in this series and sadly discovered this to be a major impediment to following this book. After many tries, I have given up listening (a first for me)- to many characters - disjointed action- no discernible theme.

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7 people found this helpful