The Wheel of Time is a series of high fantasy novels written by American author James Oliver Rigney Jr., under the pen name Robert Jordan. Originally planned as a six-book series, The Wheel of Time spanned fourteen volumes, in addition to a prequel novel and a companion book. Jordan began writing the first volume, The Eye of the World, in 1984. It was published in January 1990.The author died in 2007 while working on what was planned to be the twelfth and final volume in the series.