Brandon Sanderson’s next sci-fi novel brings back two Skyward favorites — read the excerpt

Blightfall kicks off a new trilogy with Janci Patterson Brandon Sanderson is working on a pilot for a TV show based on Skyward, the first book in his Cytoverse YA science fiction series about teen pilots fighting aliens. The show from Tomorrow Studios, who handled Netflix’s live-action version of One Piece, is in early development, so you’ve got plenty of time to catch up. But if you need another excuse to dive in, a new Cytoverse books trilogy is kicking off in September and Polygon has an exclusive first look. Co-written by Sanderson and Janci Patterson, Blightfall is set decades after the events of the original series. Sanderson and Patterson previously teamed up on Skyward Flight, a novella trilogy set between the events of Sanderson’s 2019 novel Starsight and 2021’s Cytonic. Blightfall puts the spotlight on a pair of Cytoverse’s side characters: Arturo has been part of the series since Skyward while Sadie joined Skyward Flight in Starsight. Arturo is now leader of the Defiant Defense Force, escorting diplomats on a first-contact mission to a planet with a long-isolated human settlement. But when his team is attacked, they wind up trapped on a mysterious and inhospitable world