Wheel of Time reading order

Short version of the door: Where to start The Wheel of Time. This page is the fourteen, plus the prequel argument.

Robert Jordan wrote books 1–11. After his death in 2007, Harriet McDougal asked Brandon Sanderson to finish the last volume from Jordan’s notes. That last volume became three books: The Gathering Storm, Towers of Midnight, and A Memory of Light. The series is complete.

This page is the fourteen-novel spine plus the one prequel people keep putting first. Companion encyclopedias, art books, and the “River of Souls” deleted sequence are extras, not Wheel of Time #15.

The fourteen novels

Publication order is the first-read path. There is no honest “start at book four because the prologue is long.”

Books 12–14 are still Wheel of Time. They are not a separate Sanderson trilogy you can detach and read first.

New Spring — the contested prequel

New Spring began as a 1998 novella in the Legends anthology and was expanded as a novel in 2004, after Crossroads of Twilight. In story time it sits decades before The Eye of the World. In bookstore time it is a mid-series extra.

This is a contested order. We are not pretending there is one piety.

House rule for a first read: start with The Eye of the World. If you want the prequel at all, put it after Lord of Chaos (book 6), or save it until you have finished book 14. Both of those placements treat New Spring as extra texture about people you already met. Reading it first hands you names, institutions, and outcomes the opening novel is designed to discover.

Jordan’s own later comments treated the prequel as optional, not as a required prologue. Publication-after-book-10 is what the copyright page actually did. Fan charts that stamp it “Book 0” are cataloging chronology, not a first-read syllabus.

The 1998 novella is the same story in shorter form. If you already have the 2004 novel, you do not need both.

What stays off the numbered spine

• The World of Robert Jordan’s The Wheel of Time and later companion volumes — reference, not a novel.
• The Wheel of Time Companion — same problem, later and thicker.
• River of Souls (in Unfettered) — a deleted A Memory of Light sequence. After book 14, if you want it.
• The Amazon television series — a cousin. Season order is not book order, and the show compresses early books.

Common mistakes

• Starting with New Spring because it is “first chronologically.”
• Skipping The Eye of the World because someone said the prologue is a slog. The prologue is a door. The first book is still the first book.
• Treating books 12–14 as optional because the author name on the jacket changed.
• Using the television series as a table of contents.
• Waiting for a “younger, shorter” on-ramp that does not exist. This is a long series on purpose.

What to read next

1. The Stormlight Archive (Brandon Sanderson) — If you want Sanderson’s own long epic, as itself, not as Wheel of Time leftover homework.
2. Mistborn Era 1 (Brandon Sanderson) — If fourteen books was enough epic and you want a finished trilogy with a clear door.
3. The First Law (Joe Abercrombie) — If you want another complete fantasy argument that later books keep arguing with, in a colder register.
4. Book of the Fallen reading order (Steven Erikson) — If you finished Jordan and still want a ten-book campaign, with the warning that Erikson will not hold your hand.
5. Valdemar (Mercedes Lackey) — If you want another long classic fantasy shelf whose chronological chart is the usual wrong start. Start at Arrows of the Queen (1987).

FAQ

Can I start with New Spring?
You can. You will spend book one watching discoveries you already paid for. We do not recommend it.

Do I need the companion books?
No. They are reference. They leak.

Are the last three books required?
Yes, if you want the ending Jordan planned. They are the ending.

Is the TV show a substitute for books 1–3?
No. It is an adaptation with its own cuts.

Which cover of The Eye of the World should I buy?
Whichever printing your shop has. The text is the book.

Sources

• Brandon Sanderson, The Wheel of Time series — books 12–14 and the finish from Jordan’s notes. Opened 2026-09-13.
• Macmillan, The Eye of the World — book one of the main sequence. Opened 2026-09-13.

Publication years in the table are the commonly listed first US editions. New Spring as a novel is 2004; the earlier novella is 1998.