Wheel of the Infinite

By: Martha Wells

Narrated by: Lisa Reneé Pitts

Every year in the great Temple City of Duvalpore, the image of the Wheel of the Infinite must be painstakingly remade to ensure another year of peace and harmony for the Celestial Empire. Every hundred years the sacred rite takes on added significance. For it is then that the very fabric of the world must be rewoven. Linked by the mystic energies of the Infinite, the Wheel and world are one. Should the holy image be marred, the world will suffer a similar injury. But a black storm is spreading across the Wheel. Every night the Voices of the Ancestors - the Wheel's constructors and caretakers - brush the darkness away and repair the damage with brightly colored sands and potent magic. Each morning the storm reappears, bigger and darker than before, unraveling the beautiful and orderly patterns. With chaos in the wind, a woman with a shadowy past has returned to Duvalpore.

A murderer and traitor - an exile disgraced, hated, and feared, and haunted by her own guilty conscience - Maskelle has been summoned back to help put the world right. Once she was the most revered of the Voices, until cursed by her own actions. Now, in the company of Rian - a skilled and dangerously alluring swordsman - she must confront dread enemies old and new and a cold, stalking malevolence unlike any she has ever encountered.

©2000 Martha Wells (P)2013 Tantor

Critic reviews

"Superior fantasy work from one of the best in the field." (Kirkus Starred Review)

A lot of fun

This story breaks some of the norms of fantasy. It adopts some tropes from private detective noir. It’s a fun listen, moved quickly. Readers who know Martha Wells murder bot stories might miss the sci fi setting but they will recognize the story teller.

Very vivid world building

The story is great and very involving. The narration took a little getting used to, and at times the story seemed to stall a bit and then recover the thread.

Good Story, poor narration

What did you love best about Wheel of the Infinite?

The world was creative and the characters distinctive

What did you like about the performance? What did you dislike?

I don't usually pay much attention to the narration when it works. This narrator had the accent of the American south. Completely at odds with an exotic location. In addition, she mispronounced words. I cringed a lot listening to her.

Any additional comments?

Martha Wells creates interesting worlds and characters. She needs a different narrator for this one.

Enjoyed the story

I enjoyed the story, it was an original fantasy mystery. Hard to follow at times. Might make a good movie

wonderful

I loved the story and narrator. I noticed some criticism of the narrator, which is nonsense. She does speak more slowly and deliberately than my preference but sped up to 1.10 fixed that without distortion. I highly recommend the book.