The Gathering Storm: Book Twelve of the Wheel of Time

Robert Jordan · Brandon Sanderson

Oct 2009 · Wheel of Time Book 12 · Sold by Tor Books

About this eBook

The Wheel of Time is now an original series on Prime Video, starring Rosamund Pike as Moiraine!

With Robert Jordan’s untimely passing in 2007, Brandon Sanderson, the New York Times bestselling author of the Mistborn novels and the Stormlight Archive, was chosen by Jordan’s editor—his wife, Harriet McDougal—to complete the final volume in The Wheel of Time®, later expanded to three books.

The Gathering Storm, the twelfth novel in Jordan’s #1 New York Times bestselling epic fantasy series, begins the story’s dramatic conclusion as Rand al'Thor, the Dragon Reborn, struggles to unite a fractured network of kingdoms and alliances in preparation for the Last Battle.

War is coming. The Dark One’s forces are brutal and unrelenting. Rand must forge a united front, but the Seanchan remain an immediate threat, as do the Forsaken. With so many shadows swirling around him, Rand is consumed by his responsibilities, turning heartless in the eyes of his allies, and even more merciless to his enemies.

Meanwhile the Seanchan march on the White Tower, where Egwene al'Vere works to rally the disparate factions of the Aes Sedai together, even as their tyrannical leader schemes against her. Providing leadership in the face of increasing uncertainty and despair, Egwene’s fight will prove the mettle of the Aes Sedai, and her conflict will decide the future of the White Tower—and possibly the world itself.

Since its debut in 1990, The Wheel of Time® by Robert Jordan has captivated millions of readers around the globe with its scope, originality, and compelling characters. The last six books in series were all instant #1 New York Times bestsellers, and The Eye of the World was named one of America's best-loved novels by PBS's The Great American Read.

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 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

At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

Ratings and reviews

Such a monumental task, yet Sanderson performed masterfully. Jordan's world-building over the past 11 books was phenomenal, but what made him great is what also caused many of his readers to grow weary. His style, intricate and detailed to the last, taught me at a young age the subtle art of skimming high-fantasy; recognizing a paragraph that I'd read before even when the words were different, and letting my eyes skip over them like stones. In part, due to the fact that the series was written over such a long time, I believe it was necessary for Jordan to repeat himself to remind his readers of relevant details, but like I said, it can be tiresome to those of us that remember. I've personally read all of Sanderson's works (current as of September 2021) and I can appreciate immensely the skill with which he continued Jordan's legacy, keeping to the intricacies and details of Jordan's style, but also recognizing the fact that the story needed to be told. Wonderful, to say the least.

I began reading the series at the behest of a coworker who compared Jordan to Tolkien. While Jordan had sporadic moments of beautiful writing, he was often wordy and tedious. The only reason I continued to read was to find out how the story ends, because it is an interesting one, although he has such a multitude of characters that it does become difficult to keep all of them and their details in my head. While it is difficult to continue someone else's work, Sanderson not only maintained character and story integrity, he managed to simplify it to a more manageable degree. He writes consistently well, and I found myself relieved that he was completing the series. I actually like it better now that Sanderson is involved.

Knowing it would happen didn't lesson the blow when news hit that Robert Jordan had passed on. What hit equally hard was that The Wheel of Time had not been finished. Friends had later caught the news that someone had been chosen to take Jordan's notes and finish it. A name was attached to this brave soul, Brandon Sanderson. I quickly got my hands on some of his books to find out what the last books to this series would be like. I have a new favorite author. Yes, he writes differently. No, it doesn't destroy Jordan's work. It magnifies it. I had lost interest in the series. It had become an ever-growing vine, chocking the tree it grows on to death. I stopped caring about plots or characters. That changed with Brandon. Things are coming together instead of spreading apart. Like a defibrillator, this book has given life where it was being snuffed out.

About the author

ROBERT JORDAN (1948-2007) is best known for his internationally bestselling epic fantasy series The Wheel of Time®, which has sold over 40 million copies in North America and is currently being adapted for the screen. A native of Charleston, Jordan graduated from The Citadel, the Military College of South Carolina, with a degree in physics. He served two tours in Vietnam with the U.S. Army and received multiple decorations for his service.

BRANDON SANDERSON grew up in Lincoln, Nebraska. He lives in Utah with his wife and children and teaches creative writing at Brigham Young University. He is the author of such bestsellers as the Mistborn® trilogy and its sequels, The Alloy of Law, Shadows of Self, and The Bands of Mourning; the Stormlight Archive novels The Way of Kings, Words of Radiance, and Oathbringer; and other novels, including The Rithmatist and Steelheart. In 2013, he won a Hugo Award for Best Novella for The Emperor's Soul, set in the world of his acclaimed first novel, Elantris. Additionally, he was chosen to complete Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time® sequence.