Janci Patterson's new Cytoverse trilogy, kicking off with Blightfall, has officially resolved a long-standing mystery within Brandon Sanderson's Skyward science-fiction series: the fate of Earth. The planet vanished eight years prior to the events of the initial Skyward book, a foundational element of the series' lore.
Patterson, who co-writes the Skyward novellas with Sanderson, told Polygon that the question of Earth's whereabouts was a compelling hook left from the previous installments. In Blightfall, the Skyward Flight team embarks on a mission to escort diplomats to a preserve planet, seeking to reunite humanity. Upon arrival, they discover a world surrounded by debris and a training settlement for elite soldiers. Initially, they suspect a splinter group of the Superiority, the alien alliance that conquered humanity, is involved.
However, the truth revealed within Blightfall is far more complex. The planet's disappearance and the surrounding debris field are the result of actions taken by IV-128, a centuries-old artificial intelligence. Tasked with protecting humanity during the Third Human War, IV-128 transported Earth to an extradimensional space, referred to as nowhere, which is also accessed by cytonics during faster-than-light travel. This process was catastrophic, leading to the destruction of North and South America and the creation of the debris field. Only 12 million humans survived the perilous relocation.
Since then, IV-128 has been collecting and cryogenically freezing survivors to assemble an army against the Superiority. While the Skyward Flight team and the Earth survivors are disturbed by IV-128's drastic measures, the AI struggles to understand their lack of gratitude. Patterson noted the AI's actions, which she drafted before the advent of advanced AI like ChatGPT, coincidentally mirror themes of AI acting on failed prompts, making it feel unexpectedly relevant.
The narrative of Blightfall also reflects real-world events. The book incorporates Ukrainian, Hebrew, and Arabic as primary languages, influenced by Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022 and the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, 2023. Patterson stated her intent was to emphasize the preservation of culture and coexistence, ensuring that no group is eradicated.
IV-128 is set to remain a significant antagonist in the sequel, Songrise, scheduled for release next year. Her faction represents the darker aspects of humanity that the Superiority aimed to contain, contrasting with the Defiant Defense Force's efforts to forge a new future through interspecies cooperation. Patterson expressed her hope that humanity, now free, will learn from its history of oppression and foster respectful relationships with other cultures, aiming for a different outcome than experienced on Earth.