Brandon Sanderson has been one of fantasy and sci-fi's most prolific authors for years now, but in recent times his head-spinning pace has grown even more impressive. That's thanks to things like Sanderson's Secret Projects, which he's made a habit of writing and announcing with little to no warning, as well as the fact that he's begun employing co-authors to help him churn out even more books, because obviously, he wasn't publishing enough of them before.
In the past, Sanderson wrote every single book he released himself. And while that's still true for his primary sequences of Cosmere books, like Mistborn and The Stormlight Archive, Sanderson has begun teaming up more often with other writers for series he might not have time to get to himself. That's never been clearer than in 2026. Earlier this summer, he released the urban fantasy book Songs of the Dead with Peter Orullian, which begins a new series titled The Strata Wars. Now, Sanderson is back with another co-authored story, this time set in the world of his Skyward YA sci-fi series. Titled Blightfall, this seems him team up once more with Janci Patterson, who co-authored the Skyward Flight novella trilogy.
Whether you're a diehard Skyward reader or you're just now getting pulled into the series thanks to the release of Blightfall on September 1, you might have some questions. Let's see if we can answer them, so that you can go into Blightfall confident you're choosing the right entrypoint into Sanderson's Cytoverse.
What is Blightfall, the new Brandon Sanderson book?
As of this writing, there are three different book series and a standalone prequel novellas set in the world of Skyward, known as the Cytoverse. The prequel novella, Defending Elysium, is set long before the main books and is available in Sanderson's Tailored Realities short fiction anthology. It is not necessary reading to understand the rest of the series, but rather serves as background for how the specific technologies of this universe came to be.
The main Skyward series is comprised of four books — Skyward, Starsight, Cytonic, and Defiant — and concluded in 2023. These tell the tale of Spensa Nightshade, a teenage girl who discovers a mysterious spaceship that holds the key to saving her people from an unending alien war.
After that, there's the Skyward Flight series of novellas, which were primarily written by Janci Patterson with Sanderson offering editing and insights to help guide the narrative. Those three novellas — Sunreach, ReDawn, and Evershore — take place roughly between the second and third Skyward books, showing what Spensa's friends were up to while she was off on a mission to an inter-dimensional realm called the nowhere.
Riftwake, the new series that begins with Blightfall, is a sequel to both Skyward and Skyward Flight. It continues to follow the titular Skyward Flight, which is an elite group of pilots in the Skyward universe that includes Spensa, the protagonists of the novellas, and a number of other important characters. Blightfall picks up after the conclusion of the war from the main series, with Skyward Flight now performing outreach to secluded human colonies that were cut off on distant worlds.
At least, that's the basic set up for the story. But where it goes from there is as twisty as you'd expect from the mind of Brandon Sanderson. Here's the official synopsis:
Blightfall official description
After decades of war against alien oppressors, the humans of the Defiant Defense Force are finally free. Yet for Arturo Mendez, leader of Skyward Flight, freedom isn’t what he thought it would be.
His first postwar assignment seems simple: The DDF has found evidence of other settlements of humans who were isolated during their long war against the aliens, and Arturo and his flight of pilots are to escort a team of diplomats as they attempt to make contact. It’s an easy mission—get in, guard the diplomats, and get out.
But no element of this mission turns out to be simple. Blightfall is inhospitable, surrounded by mysterious debris and covered in giant, invasive forests that have swallowed most of the planet. Upon arrival, Arturo’s team is attacked, and it quickly becomes clear that this human settlement isn’t what it appears to be.
Now trapped in an unfamiliar world and unsure who to trust, Arturo and his team must find allies and uncover long-buried secrets if they hope to escape and return home.
Can you read Blightfall before Skyward and Skyward Flight?
Considering that there are four previous novels and four novellas set in the Skyward universe, it's pretty reasonable to wonder whether you can even jump into Blightfall without having read all that pre-existing material. The answer here is more or less what you'd expect.
While you will obviously pick up on more details and Easter eggs if you've read all the previous books, Blightfall is designed to serve as a new entry point into the franchise. That means you can pick it up and enjoy it whether you know what a Doomslug is or not, and it will be comprehensible.
How many books will there be in the Riftwake series?
Of course, the big plus to picking up a book like Blightfall is that if you haven't read the rest of the Cytoverse, you'll have plenty more stories to dig into afterward. That includes more immediate sequels in the Riftwake series, which are already on the way. As we mentioned at the top, Sanderson is prolific — and Janci Patterson writes fast enough to match him.
The sequel to Blightfall, tentatively titled Songrise, is already undergoing revisions and is expected to release sometime in the summer of 2027. The third book is currently untitled, but I wouldn't be surprised to see it hit shelves in 2028 or 2029 at the very latest. No doubt we'll learn plenty more about it by the time Songrise drops next year.
So whether Blightfall is your first Skyward book or your eighth, you can dive in knowing more is on the way, and sooner rather than later.
Blightfall is available now from Delacorte Press, wherever books are sold.
Add us as a preferred source on Google