Christopher James Paolini (born November 17, 1983) is an American and Italian author. He is best known for ''

The Inheritance Cycle ''The Inheritance Cycle'' is a tetralogy of young adult high fantasy novels written by American author Christopher Paolini. Set in the fictional world of Alagaësia (), the novels focus on the adventures of a teenage boy named Eragon and ...

'', which consists of the books ''

Eragon ''Eragon'' is the first book in ''The Inheritance Cycle'' by American fantasy writer Christopher Paolini. Paolini, born in 1983, began writing the novel after graduating from home school at the age of fifteen. After writing the first draft for ...

'' (2002), '' Eldest'' (2005), ''

Brisingr ''Brisingr'' (or ''The Seven Promises of Eragon Shadeslayer and Saphira Bjartskular'') is the third novel in ''The Inheritance Cycle'' by Christopher Paolini. It was released on September 20, 2008. Originally, Paolini intended to conclude the t ...

'' (2008), ''

Inheritance Inheritance is the practice of receiving private property, titles, debts, entitlements, privileges, rights, and obligations upon the death of an individual. The rules of inheritance differ among societies and have changed over time. Offi ...

'' (2011), the follow-up short story collection '' The Fork, the Witch, and the Worm'' (2018), and ''Murtagh'' (2023), the first in a follow-up duology. His first

science fiction Science fiction (often shortened to sci-fi or abbreviated SF) is a genre of speculative fiction that deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts. These concepts may include information technology and robotics, biological manipulations, space ...

novel, '' To Sleep in a Sea of Stars'', was published on September 15, 2020. He lives in Paradise Valley, Montana, where he wrote his first book.

Early life

Paolini was born in

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

, and raised in the area of Paradise Valley, Montana. His family members include his parents, Kenneth Paolini and Talita Hodgkinson, and his younger sister, Angela Paolini. He is of Italian descent; his paternal grandfather was born in

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

and Paolini still has relatives there. Home schooled for the duration of his education, Paolini graduated from high school at the age of 15 through a set of accredited correspondence courses from the American School of Correspondence in Lansing, Illinois. He has Italian citizenship.

Career

He started his work on his first novel, ''

'', at the age of 15. This novel would become the first of a four-book

series Series may refer to: People with the name * Caroline Series (born 1951), English mathematician, daughter of George Series * George Series (1920–1995), English physicist Arts, entertainment, and media Music * Series, the ordered sets used i ...

(six, including the spinoffs) set in the mythical land of Alagaësia. In 2002, ''Eragon'' was published for the first time by Paolini International LLC, his parents' publishing company. To promote the book, Paolini toured over 135 schools and libraries, discussing reading and writing, all the while dressed in "a medieval costume of red shirt, billowy black pants, lace-up boots, and a jaunty black cap." He drew the cover art for the first edition of ''Eragon'', which featured Saphira's eye, along with the maps on the inside covers of his books. In mid-2002, the stepson of author

Carl Hiaasen Carl Hiaasen (; born March 12, 1953) is an American journalist and novelist. He began his career as a newspaper reporter and by the late 1970s had begun writing novels in his spare time, both for adults and for middle grade readers. Two of his ...

found ''Eragon'' in a bookstore and loved it; this led to Hiaasen bringing it to the attention of his publisher, Alfred A. Knopf. Knopf subsequently made an offer to publish ''Eragon'' and the rest of ''

''. The second edition of ''Eragon'' was published by Knopf in August 2003. At the age of 19, Paolini became a ''New York Times''-bestselling author. In December 2006, Fox 2000 released the

film adaptation A film adaptation transfers the details or story of an existing source text, such as a novel, into a feature film. This transfer can involve adapting most details of the source text closely, including characters or plot points, or the original sou ...

of ''Eragon'' in theaters around the world. It received mostly negative reviews from critics, and made a combined domestic and international gross of $249,488,115

USD The United States dollar (symbol: $; currency code: USD) is the official currency of the United States and several other countries. The Coinage Act of 1792 introduced the U.S. dollar at par with the Spanish silver dollar, divided it int ...

against a production budget of $100,000,000. '' Eldest'', the sequel to ''Eragon'', was released August 23, 2005. The third book in the cycle, ''

'', was released on September 20, 2008. Although ''The Inheritance Cycle'' was originally planned as a trilogy, a fourth book, ''

'', was released on November 8, 2011, in the US, Australia, New Zealand, the EU, and India, and was subsequently translated and published in 53 countries. ''The Inheritance Cycle'' has sold more than 41 million copies. On December 31, 2018, '' The Fork, the Witch, and the Worm'', the first book in a series called ''Tales of Alagaësia'', was published and released to the public. Paolini's new science fiction novel, '' To Sleep in a Sea of Stars'', was released on September 15, 2020, by

Tor Books Tor Books is the primary imprint of Tor Publishing Group (previously Tom Doherty Associates), a publishing company based in New York City. It primarily publishes science fiction and fantasy titles. History Tor was founded by Tom Doherty, ...

. In October 2021, Christopher released '' Unity'', an interactive Fractalverse story on his science fiction website Fractalverse.net. On July 25, 2022, '' Variety'' reported that Paolini was co-writing a live action television series adaptation of ''Eragon'' for

Disney+ The Walt Disney Company, commonly referred to as simply Disney, is an American multinational mass media and entertainment industry, entertainment conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios (Burbank), Walt Di ...

, with Bert Salke executive producing. On October 3, 2022, Paolini announced '' Fractal Noise'', the second installment in the Fractalverse and a prequel to '' To Sleep in a Sea of Stars''. It was published on May 16, 2023. On October 8, 2022, it was announced that ''To Sleep in a Sea of Stars'' has been optioned by Made Up Stories and Snoot Entertainment. On November 7, 2023, '' Murtagh'' was released as the latest installment in Paolini's world of Alagaësia.

Influences

Paolini's literary inspirations include the works of

J. R. R. Tolkien John Ronald Reuel Tolkien (, 3 January 1892 – 2 September 1973) was an English writer and philologist. He was the author of the high fantasy works ''The Hobbit'' and ''The Lord of the Rings''. From 1925 to 1945, Tolkien was the Rawlinson ...

and E. R. Eddison, as well as the

epic poem In poetry, an epic is a lengthy narrative poem typically about the extraordinary deeds of extraordinary characters who, in dealings with gods or other superhuman forces, gave shape to the mortal universe for their descendants. With regard to ...

Beowulf ''Beowulf'' (; ) is an Old English poetry, Old English poem, an Epic poetry, epic in the tradition of Germanic heroic legend consisting of 3,182 Alliterative verse, alliterative lines. It is one of the most important and List of translat ...

''. Paolini has said that ''Eragon'' was "specifically inspired" by '' Jeremy Thatcher, Dragon Hatcher'', by Bruce Coville. Other literary influences include David Eddings,

Andre Norton Andre Alice Norton (born Alice Mary Norton, February 17, 1912 – March 17, 2005) was an American writer of science fiction and fantasy, who also wrote works of historical and contemporary fiction. She wrote primarily under the pen na ...

Brian Jacques James Brian Jacques (, as in "Jakes"; 15 June 1939 – 5 February 2011), known professionally as Brian Jacques, was an English author known for his ''Redwall'' series of children's fantasy novels and ''Castaways of the Flying Dutchman'' series. ...

Anne McCaffrey Anne Inez McCaffrey (1 April 1926 – 21 November 2011) was an American writer known for the ''Dragonriders of Pern'' science fiction series. She was the first woman to win a Hugo Award for fiction (Best Novella, ''Weyr Search'', 1968) an ...

, Raymond E. Feist, Mervyn Peake,

Ursula K. Le Guin Ursula Kroeber Le Guin ( ; Kroeber; October 21, 1929 – January 22, 2018) was an American author. She is best known for her works of speculative fiction, including science fiction works set in her Hainish universe, and the ''Earthsea'' fantas ...

and

Frank Herbert Franklin Patrick Herbert Jr. (October 8, 1920February 11, 1986) was an American science-fiction author, best known for his 1965 novel Dune (novel), ''Dune'' and its five sequels. He also wrote short stories and worked as a newspaper journalist, ...

.Paolini, Talita
Christopher Paolini Q&A
''Shurtugal.com''. Retrieved January 20, 2008. Other favorite books include works by

C.S. Lewis CS, C-S, C.S., Cs, cs, or cs. may refer to: Job titles * Chief Secretary (Hong Kong) * Chief superintendent, a rank in the British and several other police forces * Company secretary, a senior position in a private sector company or public se ...

, George MacDonald,

Neil Gaiman Neil Richard MacKinnon Gaiman (; born Neil Richard Gaiman; 10 November 1960) is an English author of short fiction, novels, comic books, audio theatre, and screenplays. His works include the comic series ''The Sandman (comic book), The Sandma ...

, Jane Yolen,

Philip Pullman Sir Philip Nicholas Outram Pullman (born 19 October 1946) is an English writer. He is best known for the fantasy trilogy ''His Dark Materials''. The first volume, ''Northern Lights'' (1995), won the Carnegie Medal

, and

Garth Nix Garth Richard Nix (born 19 July 1963) is an Australian writer who specialises in children's and young adult fantasy novels, notably the ''The Old Kingdom, Old Kingdom'', ''The Seventh Tower, Seventh Tower'' and ''The Keys to the Kingdom, Keys t ...

. Nature influences much of Paolini's writing. In an interview with Sir Philip Pullman and Tamora Pierce, Paolini said that Paradise Valley, Montana, is "one of the main sources" of his inspiration. In the acknowledgments of ''

'', Paolini acknowledged the influence of Leon and Hiroko Kapp's ''The Craft of the Japanese Sword'' for his description of the forging of

sword A sword is an edged and bladed weapons, edged, bladed weapon intended for manual cutting or thrusting. Its blade, longer than a knife or dagger, is attached to a hilt and can be straight or curved. A thrusting sword tends to have a straighter ...

. Additionally, Paolini has admitted that he is a ''

Doctor Who ''Doctor Who'' is a British science fiction television series broadcast by the BBC since 1963. The series, created by Sydney Newman, C. E. Webber and Donald Wilson (writer and producer), Donald Wilson, depicts the adventures of an extraterre ...

'' fan, which inspired his reference to the "lonely god" (the

epithet An epithet (, ), also a byname, is a descriptive term (word or phrase) commonly accompanying or occurring in place of the name of a real or fictitious person, place, or thing. It is usually literally descriptive, as in Alfred the Great, Suleima ...

given to

the Doctor The Doctor, sometimes known as Doctor Who, is the protagonist of the long-running BBC science fiction television series ''Doctor Who''. An extraterrestrial Time Lord, the Doctor travels the universe in a time travelling spaceship called th ...

by the Face of Boe in the episode " New Earth"), to "rooms that are bigger on the inside than the outside" (from "Questions Unanswered" in ''Inheritance''), as well as to Raxacoricofallapatorius, the home of the Slitheen ("Blood Price" in ''Inheritance'').

Reception

Paolini's books have topped the charts of ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'', ''

USA Today ''USA Today'' (often stylized in all caps) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth in 1980 and launched on September 14, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headq ...

'', and ''

Publishers Weekly ''Publishers Weekly'' (''PW'') is an American weekly trade news magazine targeted at publishers, librarians, booksellers, and literary agents. Published continuously since 1872, it has carried the tagline, "The International News Magazine of ...

'' bestsellers lists. The

Guinness World Records ''Guinness World Records'', known from its inception in 1955 until 1999 as ''The Guinness Book of Records'' and in previous United States editions as ''The Guinness Book of World Records'', is a British reference book published annually, list ...

recognized Christopher Paolini as the "youngest author of a bestselling book series" on January 5, 2011. In 2024, the

American Library Association The American Library Association (ALA) is a nonprofit organization based in the United States that promotes libraries and library education internationally. It is the oldest and largest library association in the world. History 19th century ...

chose ''Fractal Noise'' for the Listen List (2024).Moore, Ninah.(2024). Paolini, Christopher,''Fractal Noise.''Narrated by Jennifer Hale. Macmillan Audio
2024 RUSA Listen List Revealed.
American Library Association, January 20, 2024.

Bibliography

''The Inheritance Cycle''

Main series

#''

'' (2002) #'' Eldest'' (2005) #''

'' (2008) #''

'' (2011)

Companion books/Side novels

*'' Eragon's Guide to Alagaësia'' (2009) * The Official Eragon Coloring Book - with

Ciruelo Cabral Gustavo Cabral (born July 20, 1963), better known as Ciruelo ('plum tree'), is an Argentine fantasy artist,The book ...

(2017) *''Tales from Alagaësia'': '' The Fork, the Witch, and the Worm'' (2018) *'' Murtagh'' (2023)

''Fractalverse''

*'' To Sleep in a Sea of Stars'' (2020) *''Unity'' (2021) - short story *'' Fractal Noise'' (2023) - prequel

Notes

External links

Paolini.net
Paolini family official website * {{DEFAULTSORT:Paolini, Christopher 1983 births Living people 21st-century American novelists American children's writers American fantasy writers American writers of Italian descent People from Park County, Montana Writers from Los Angeles Writers from Montana American writers of young adult literature American male novelists 21st-century American male writers