How long does it take to read The Wheel of Time?
Robert Jordan & Brandon Sanderson · 15 books
At an average reading speed of 250 words a minute, all 15 books of The Wheel of Time take about 291 hours to read. As an audiobook, expect about 470 hours at 1x.
The Wheel of Time is the longest series in this study by a distance, more than twice A Song of Ice and Fire. Robert Jordan wrote eleven books and the prequel New Spring; Brandon Sanderson finished the last three from Jordan's notes after his death in 2007.
Average is about 250 WPM. Measure yours in two minutes and every time on this page recalculates.
Every book, timed
| Book | Words | Read | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Eye of the World | 310,191 | 20h 41m | 33h 21m* |
| The Great Hunt | 260,354 | 17h 21m | 28h* |
| The Dragon Reborn | 243,569 | 16h 14m | 26h 11m* |
| The Shadow Rising | 385,415 | 25h 42m | 41h 27m* |
| The Fires of Heaven | 345,946 | 23h 4m | 37h 12m* |
| Lord of Chaos | 389,823 | 25h 59m | 41h 55m* |
| A Crown of Swords | 287,720 | 19h 11m | 30h 56m* |
| The Path of Daggers | 222,842 | 14h 51m | 23h 58m* |
| Winter's Heart | 238,825 | 15h 55m | 25h 41m* |
| Crossroads of Twilight | 271,632 | 18h 7m | 29h 12m* |
| Knife of Dreams | 315,163 | 21h 1m | 33h 53m* |
| New Spring | 121,852 | 8h 7m | 13h 6m* |
| The Gathering Storm | 296,221 | 19h 45m | 31h 51m* |
| Towers of Midnight | 325,997 | 21h 44m | 35h 3m* |
| A Memory of Light | 353,906 | 23h 36m | 38h 3m* |
* Listening time estimated at a narration pace of 155 words a minute.
How much to read a day
At 250 words a minute, to finish the whole series:
Have a deadline in mind? The pages-per-day calculator works it out for any date.
How we measured it
Method: published word counts. Word counts counted from the text by the Wheel of Time wiki, with four from Popular Novel Word Count: the same figures the reading-order page uses. All 14 novels plus New Spring.
Part of our study of the 100 most popular books, last checked October 2026. Reading times assume steady reading; editions, translations and your own pace all move them.
See how long it really takes you
Log each book in Parch as you read. It tracks your pages, sessions and streak, so you'll know your real pace, and how long the next one will take.
Frequently asked questions
How long does it take to read The Wheel of Time?
About 291 hours at an average reading speed of 250 words a minute: 364 hours at 200 and 243 hours at 300. That covers all 15 books, from The Eye of the World to A Memory of Light.
How many words are in The Wheel of Time?
4.4 million words across 15 books. The longest is Lord of Chaos (389,823); the shortest is New Spring (121,852).
How many pages a day to finish The Wheel of Time in a month?
About 530 pages a day, or 9h 43m of reading a day at an average pace. That assumes about 15,889 pages at 275 words a page; real page counts vary by edition.
Which Wheel of Time book is the longest?
Lord of Chaos, book six, at about 390,000 words. New Spring, the prequel, is the shortest at about 122,000.
Is the slow middle worth pushing through?
Most fans say yes. Books eight to ten are where many readers stall, and the reading-order page covers how people pace the series.