Brandon Sanderson’s science-fiction series has made an unexpected connection to the Cosmere, thanks to a joke that became part of Blightfall.
Most of Sanderson’s fantasy novels share the Cosmere, a galaxy whose planets have distinct magic systems linked by a common divine origin. His Cytoverse stories occupy another reality: Earth has disappeared, and humanity’s survivors live on distant, isolated worlds.
Blightfall, co-written by Sanderson and Janci Patterson, is the first Cytoverse book to bring the two settings into contact. The connection comes through Hoid, Sanderson’s immortal traveller, storyteller and trickster.
Hoid appears as a taynix in Blightfall
Hoid has appeared in numerous Sanderson novels, prompting some readers to view him as a self-insert character. He also narrates the Hoid’s Travails books, including Tress of the Emerald Sea and Yumi and the Nightmare Painter, as well as the upcoming The Fires of December.
The character’s identity and abilities change depending on the world he visits. In Blightfall, he turns up as a psychic, slug-like alien called a taynix.
Patterson has explained that the appearance was not the result of a long-planned crossover. A discussion on the 17th Shard fan forums led to a joke about naming a slug Hoid. She included the idea in the book, and Sanderson allowed it to remain.
Because the Cytoverse is set in Earth’s distant future, its characters can refer to history, mythology and popular culture from the old world. The illusion-creating taynix is named after a wandering figure from Old Earth mythology associated with illusions, star travel and unlikely appearances.
That does not make the Cytoverse part of the Cosmere. Patterson clarified that the relationship works in the opposite direction: the Cosmere exists inside the Cytoverse as a popular fictional work, comparable to The Lion King or Hamlet.
How Patterson and Sanderson build the Cytoverse
Patterson and Sanderson are long-time friends who have belonged to book critique groups together. Sanderson has also worked with other writers on non-Cosmere projects, including The Strata Wars, an urban fantasy series launched with Peter Orullian in June.
The pair previously collaborated on the Cytoverse novellas Sunreach, ReDawn and Evershore. All three were published in 2021 before Cytonic, the third novel in Sanderson’s Skyward series.
Their process begins with Sanderson setting the project’s parameters and brainstorming with Patterson. She develops an outline, receives his notes, revises it and writes a draft. Sanderson then provides feedback on the manuscript before she completes another revision.
The Skyward books follow Spensa, a teenage pilot with cytonic abilities. At the end of Sanderson’s 2023 novel Defiant, Spensa and several other characters leave on their own adventure. Sanderson is keeping that storyline available for a possible future solo novel, so Patterson’s new trilogy focuses on the supporting characters who remain behind.
The intention was also to make the new trilogy accessible to readers who have not completed every earlier Cytoverse story. That created a delicate balance: established fans still expect familiar characters, while new readers should not feel they have missed essential information.
Why the series needed limits on cytonics
One of the collaboration’s more difficult creative problems was the Cytoverse’s power system. Cytonics can move entire starships across space, providing faster-than-light travel through teleportation.
That ability made it difficult to create genuine danger. Patterson and Sanderson established restrictions imposed by the Delvers, extradimensional beings who inhabit the realm used by cytonics to cross immense distances instantly.
Sanderson also devised an inhibitor for the planet Blightfall. The device further suppresses cytonic powers after Skyward Flight becomes stranded there while responding to a new threat during a diplomatic mission.
Without those limits, characters who can teleport could simply return home whenever a situation became dangerous. Patterson compared the problem to decorating over a structural flaw, only for Sanderson to expose the issue and insist that the underlying rules be repaired.
What comes next for the Cytoverse
Sanderson publishes at least one new book each year, and Patterson is maintaining that pace within the Cytoverse. She has completed Songrise, the next instalment in the Riftwake trilogy, and has written roughly two-thirds of the currently untitled final book.
Patterson says Sanderson’s productivity once influenced her own expectations. As a newer writer, she assumed she needed to match his output, but later recognised that his pace is unusual. The experience nevertheless helped her develop an efficient writing process built around substantial drafting and rewriting.
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