The Eye of the World

The Eye of the World is the first installment in the 14-volume high fantasy series The Wheel of Time by James Oliver Rigney Jr., who wrote under the pen name Robert Jordan (1948-2007). Rigney was born in Charleston, SC. He enlisted in the army after high school and served two tours of duty during the Vietnam War. In 1970, he enrolled in The Citadel, the Military College of South Carolina, earning a BS in physics in 1974. He was subsequently employed by the US Navy as a nuclear engineer.

Rigney’s writing career began in 1977. Prior to The Wheel of Time, he wrote several Conan the Barbarian novels, as well as historical fiction and criticism. The Eye of the World was first published in 1990 by Tor Books, but Rigney began work on the volume in 1984. The Wheel of Time was nominated for the 2014 Hugo Award and volumes eight through 14 have each reached number one on the New York Times bestseller list. Amazon Studios released a TV series based on the first volume in 2021. Other adaptations include a comic series, a collectible card game, a video game, a roleplaying game, and a soundtrack.