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)

Amazing!

This is where the books really pick up again now that Brandon Sanderson has picked up the pen to finish the series for Jordan. This book flies at an amazing pace and is incredible.

Escalation

The pace of the story quickens, partly because of the fervent narrator-hopping, but this is the crescendo the series deserves. Sanderson picks up Jordan's banner admirably. The only bit that bothers me is Michael Kramer's exaggerated posh Briton accent when narrating Andoran nobility. There's quite a bit of it this time and I can't stand it, but that's my cross to bear.

Outstanding WoT entry by author Brandon Sanderson

I have been reading (and listening) to the Wheel of Time books since Robert Jordan first published them in the early 1990s. After suffering through the infamous "slog" of the middle-numbered books, I got frustrated while in grad school and discontinued reading them.

Thanks to Audible, though, I got back into the series this year by subscribing to audio versions of the last several books, starting with WoT 11 and now WoT 12's Gathering Storm. It is clear that replacement author Brandon Sanderson respected Robert Jordan's wishes and intentions by producing an outstanding entry in what was originally meant to be a massive last volume, since split into three volumes (11-13) by the books' publisher, Tor Fantasy.

Finally, the plot moves along, and you feel the characters' senses of urgency and destiny as Tarmon Gai'don (the Last Battle) approaches. I enjoyed the talents of the male and female narrators--Michael Kramer and Kate Reading, respectively. However, I do wish that male narrator Mr. Kramer was utilized for speaking only the male characters' lines, and the same for female narrator Ms. Reading, rather than having each narrator take turns with each chapter speaking for both genders. There were many occasions where Mr. Kramer attempted to impersonate a woman's voice with a falsetto, and Ms. Reading did similarly with a man's voice. Hearing Ms. Kramer attempts to speak as Rand al Thor, for example, was a turn off, and they distracted from the story lines.

Notwithstanding the minor criticism regarding the Audible narration decision, the book itself is outstanding and far better than many volumes earlier in the series, where it was a chore to get through a 1000-plus page book. For this one, I wanted to hear it in my car, on sleep timer mode, and even while at work in between patient appointments!

I have already obtained my Audible credit for the next book (#13) in WoT, Towers of Midnight, and I can't wait! Brandon Sanderson is a true super fan and a gifted fantasy writer who took on the mantle from Jordan and even improved upon his writing style. If only the Amazon television series could live up to the hype...

Best book yet

Sandersen did amazing picking up where Robert Jordan left off. He does honor to the series.m, the characters, and the fans. Definitely going to check out his series after this, probably starting with the Stormlight Archives.

Amazing story! One of the best books.

Really amazing story. Love the flow of it. Brandon Sanderson did an amazing job. Great subplots throughout.

Incredible

It appears Robert Jordan’s Wheel wove Brandon Sanderson into its pattern, and I can’t imagine a better person to fill Robert Jordan’s massive shoes. Robert Jordan will be missed dearly, but as always; the Wheel weaves as the Wheel wills.

as always these books keeps you wanting to continue reading

this is the second time I have read through these books it just continues to keep your interest

Sanderson's marvel

Where Jordan often utterly failed at times Sanderson manages to not only succeed but exceed expectations. Jordan often wrote pages, even whole chapters that had no substance to moving the story forward, particularly evident "Crossroads of Twilight". Sanderson however, gives us Jordan's riveting story and extraordinary detail, with much less skimable dreck.

This book covers Egwene's storyline to a remarkable apex, Rand's madness, and who Verin really is. Perrin, Elayne, and Mat's storylines are barely touched. We are left with wanting much in the next two books, but this book leaves us with a feeling of accomplishment and no cliffhanger.

This is Kate's best reading of this series. She pours herself into Egwene's storyline and it really comes alive.

Upon my word!

While I respect Robert Jordan for his epic work a great deal, Brandon Sanderson's writing is so much more dynamic and balanced. So much more reasonably paced and exciting. Even Michael Kramer and Kate Reading are sounding more excited despite their usual abysmal performance (they are still horrific). I only wish Jordan and Sanderson had collaborated through the whole series so that I wouldn't have had to slog through so many ten minute redescriptions of well known characters personalities for the thirtieth time (dang it all but that was uber redundancy!) or listen to so many long-winded over descriptions of the background settings in which characters were staged (dang it all but I don't care to read about the individual grains of grit in every crack in the sidewalk!) In short, Brandon Sanderson's collaborations / interpretations of Jordan's work is even better than Jordan's singular works (yes, I did just write that). In my opinion, Brandon Sanderson brought Robert Jordan's world alive in a way that Jordan himself never could. I believe that this is because Jordan tried so very hard. Still, I appreciate them both and look forward eagerly to the last book. Thank you Brandon Sanderson for finishing this epic story in a greater than epic way! The story deserved no less.

Worthy

Brandon Sanderson does an awesome job. Robert Jordans notes must have been extremely copious and Brandons understanding of the series is obviously very good.
I was of course worried that another author couldn't match the style of Jordan but Sanderson comes close enough.
More importantly, his interpretation of the characters is completely spot on. This was probably the most important.

The ending was somewhat disappointing. Not because it was bad. It was just unfulfilling. I immediately wanted to go on to the next book but alas, I'll have to wait.

Bottom line: If you liked the previous books, you will like this one.
Kate Reading and Michael Kramer continues to read the book superbly.