“It’s a beautiful edition, it’s a big book and it’s heavy.
There’s over 50 full-color paintings and illustrations throughout.
But because I started so young, I’m not 70 when this is happening.
Christopher Paolini returns to the world of ‘Eragon’ for the new novel ‘Murtagh’.Lo Hunter; Alfred A. Knopf Books for Young Readers
Which is cool, and that means I get to write a lot more stories for the readers.”
Paolini last visited Alagaesia in the 2019 short-story collectionThe Fork, the Witch, and the Worm.
“It’s very hard for me to write something that’s 100 percent self-contained.
The cover of ‘Eragon: The Illustrated Edition’.Alfred A. Knopf Books for Young Readers
I’m always thinking about, where does it go?
What’s the implications?
So I started going, okay, what story would follow this little short story?
Brom tells a story in ‘Eragon: The Illustrated Edition’.Sidharth Chaturvedi/Penguin Random House
And that’s how I ended up with the plot for an entire 700-page book.”
Like so many fantasy series,Eragonand its sequels were a coming-of-age story.Murtaghis different.
It’s a universal experience," Paolini says.
Eragon faces off against Durza in ‘Eragon: The Illustrated Edition’.Sidharth Chaturvedi/Penguin Random House
“With the case of Murtagh, he is already grown up.
Do they want to rejoin society, or do they want to stand apart from society?
I think that’s something that everyone has to decide to a certain degree.”
The sights of Alagaësia in ‘Eragon: The Illustrated Edition’.Sidharth Chaturvedi/Penguin Random House
“I also havemy science-fiction universe, the Fractalverse.
