Author Christopher Paolini is bringing readers back to the world he first created in the novel Eragon.
Alfred A. Knopf Books for Young Readers will publish Murtagh this fall. The press says the book “is the perfect book to enter the World of Eragon for the first time…or to joyfully return.”
Paolini self-published Eragon as a teenager. Two years later, in 2003, it was republished by Knopf and became a huge hit, staying on the New York Times bestseller list for more than two years. The novel was the first in what Paolini called the Inheritance Cycle; other books in the series included Eldest, Brisingr, and Inheritance.
Eragon was adapted into a critically reviled 2006 film directed by Stefen Fangmeier and starring Ed Speleers and Jeremy Irons. A television adaptation of the novel is currently in the works at Disney+.
Murtagh is set a year after the events of the Inheritance Cycle, and follows a rider and his dragon who have been exiled after the dethroning of a monarch.
“Returning to the world of Eragon has been an absolute blast,” Paolini said in a statement. “Murtagh is the novel I’ve been waiting to write for over 13 years. It’s a deep dive into the life of our titular character and his dragon, Thorn. Here you’ll find mystery, magic, and revelations as Murtagh attempts to answer some of the deepest questions in the land, as well as those of his own life.”
Murtagh is scheduled for publication on Nov. 7.
Michael Schaub, a journalist and regular contributor to NPR, lives near Austin, Texas.
