Big news: Christopher has finished the first draft of his sci-fi novel!

By Mike Macauley January 12, 2016 Inheritance Cycle, Scifi Project 26 Comments

Big news in the world of Paolini: Christopher has officially finished the first draft of his science fiction novel!

The new book has been a work-in-progress since 2012/2013, beginning with nearly ten months of planning and research. While working on the manuscript, Christopher regularly shared progress updates, including photos, as he completed new chapters.

Christopher took to Facebook to deliver the exciting news in the form of a brief statement accompanied by two photos of the finished manuscript:

sci-fi-book-finished

Christopher hasn’t shared much information on the book, other than to confirm that it’s a sci-fi novel that takes place in the same universe as ours, and is “full of aliens, spaceships, lasers, strange new planets, and explosions”!

It’s important to note that finishing the first draft of a manuscript is just the first step to publishing a novel. We won’t see the book in the next few months, but it’s possible that we could see the book toward the end of 2016 or early 2017! (This is purely speculation.)

Curiously, Christopher mentioned that artwork still needs to be completed for the book. As we all know, much of the author’s artwork adorns the inside of the Cycle books, including his map of Alagaësia, various dragon eyes, swords, and more. Will this new novel feature maps and other art drawn by Christopher? Time will tell!

Now we ask: Are you excited to get your hands on the new book? What do you hope to see included?

  • Samantha Green

    Remember when we thought this book was going to be out by early 2017. Oh, how stupid we were. As of May 2017 he has just finished the second draft. (This isn’t at all a criticism. Just thought it was funny how we thought this book would be out by now 🙂 ).

  • Erin

    i think angela is the last surviving greyfolk (but most of her power is gone)

    • Michael

      Maybe the Greyfolk were timelords from Dr. Who?? She has a companion (Solembum), she is always exactly where and when interesting stuff happens, she is much older than she looks, she is very powerful and clever/ intelligent, and i specificaly remember Solembum saying something about seeing rooms that are bigger on the inside than the outside. All the evidence points towards Angela being a timelord. Also, the timelords were all killed off, if i remember correctly, and all the Greyfolk seem to be gone.

    • james

      Angela is human. Several times in the series this is confirmed, the most telling of these confirmations is in encounter in Nasuada’s tent
      Arya: Even the oldest of humans are but children to our kind
      Angela: Except me!
      I don’t remember it word for word but that is the essence of what was said. Angela is undoubtably human since she confirmed her humanity in that statement by including herself as an extremely old human.

  • alex

    THEORY: ANGELA THE HERBALIST IS SILVARI THE ENCHANTRESS? (The one that created a body for CUAROC’s Eldunari to inhabit)……….sorry all other threads related to this subject are closed. Just wanted to get that out there.

    • Evan Arcadi

      I think she is the soothsayer from the chamber Nasuada was tortured in.

      • Hannah Prakash

        I agree with this guy

        • Jake

          same whenever Galbatorix told her the history of the room i immediately thought of Angela

    • NotAQueen_AKhaleesi

      I LOVE this idea. I feel like Angela could have her own book series where her history overlaps those of the Riders.

  • Jaedon Granger

    I guess we won’t be seeing book 5 of the IC anytime soon.

    • Metto Ara

      Give it 6-8 years. :-B

      • Jesus Perez

        6-8 years sounds reasonable actually. Good thing is he is WAY younger than George R Martin and faster writer too. GRRM takes forever, I want winds of winter NOW :'( lol

  • Lobeon

    Space dragons?

    • David Dinsman

      It’s been done already, ever read Anne McCaffrey? Dragonriders of Pern ring any bells?

    • Sadly he confirmed there won’t be any space dragons in the books. ;(

  • Declan Knobberton Reeves

    I’d love it to become successful and create a universe that I could get lost in without the inevitable movie made from it being awful. :L

    • There’s a new trend of book to movie adaptations being relatively good, so here’s to hoping that if one ever does happen, it won’t be another Eragon movie.

      • Declan Knobberton Reeves

        Aye, there have been some good ones. Honestly i think it’d be better off going the game of thrones way – I’m pretty sure I heard Phillip Pullman’s Dark Materials is getting redone as a series, and the inheritance cycle could do with the extra screen time to help with lore and side characters. Everyone wants an Eragon reboot, I’d love to see it as a series personally.

        • I ran a series of articles about potential Eragon reboot ideas, including TV shows, a while back. I’m thinking about running some more focused specifically on TV shows with this new revolution of book-to-TV (like Shannara, GoT, His Dark Materials, etc.).

          • Byron Frank

            Let the Legend of the Seeker be an eternal reminder that a TV series can do far worse to a book than a movie. As a stand alone the show is ok but its an utter butchery of the Wizards First Rule. The Shannara chronicles may join in too.

          • Jaedon Granger

            That’s only if you want a show to be exactly like the book it’s based on. Hell, even the new seasons of Game of Thrones are starting to deviate a lot from the books. That’s okay. I don’t mind that one bit. If you want exactly what’s in the book, just read the book. As for an Eragon TV show, I’d love to see it, but I think it would be too expensive because Saphira has to be in every episode.

          • Declan Knobberton Reeves

            If you ever started that discussion, I’d be interested to see what people thought. I just think there are too many characters to focus on for a film, especially if it made it to eldest and the story of Roran ran alongside Eragon’s own.

            As for the new novel, to get back on topic, i’ll not speculate. Only trust in Christopher to give us a good’n 😛

          • David Dinsman

            A Netflix Original Inheritance Cycle series would be awesome, what do you think, one season per book, or would that not be enough?

      • Richard Helton

        I believe that if the production of a movie wouldn’t be rushed liked eragon movie was that I would turn out mush better plus stick to the story the butched the time line and story maybe if the production was done my stevin Spielberg and gourge Lucas

  • Evarinbitr

    EXPLODE STUFF YAAAAAAAAAAAAY

    • Future Scorpion

      trueeeeeeee