Christopher Paolini released his latest Alagaesia newsletter today, giving us a detailed look at what to expect from his new Eragon’s Guide to Alagaesia book (and trust us, you’ll want to see this)! He goes on to update us on recent happenings with Book 4, including a tease at a part he just finished writing. Don’t forget that we’ll be interviewing Christopher soon with the questions you all submitted! Shur’tugal.com’s newest feature, the Monthly Q&A Interviews with Christopher is also mentioned near the end of the newsletter. Continue reading for all the goodies mentioned in this month’s newsletter!Thanks to Christopher’s newest newsletter, released earlier today, we now have a more detailed look at what to expect from his upcoming Eragon’s Guide to Alagaesia. Christopher takes us behind the scenes, explaining the process for constructing the book, including artists, points-of-view, and more, as well as giving us a better look at what to expect from the book:

[A]n illustrated tour of the most interesting peoples, places, and things of Eragon’s world. Eragon narrates the book himself, and if you pay close attention to what he says, you might catch a few hints about where the series is headed.

The art is by Fred Gambino, Larry McDougal, Ian Millar, and David Wyatt. (I also contributed a few sketches myself.) Each artist brought something different to the book—their styles vary widely—which means that you will get to see four distinct visions of Alagaësia. After working on the Inheritance cycle for over ten years, I’m delighted to finally be able to share with you images of some of the things I’ve imagined for so long: the Beor Mountains, Tronjheim in Farthen Dûr, the elves’ buildings in Ellesméra, the Urgals, the dwarves, and much more.

The book is also filled with fold-out pamphlets, maps, diagrams, letters, and other intriguing odds and ends, such as a patch of simulated dragon skin.

I really enjoyed having the chance to write a book as if I were Eragon; to draw glyphs from the elves’ writing system, the Liduen Kvaedhí (including the glyph for Brisingr!); to do a pen-and-ink portrait of Galbatorix; and, above all else, to see the artists bring the world of Alagaësia to life.

So now we know a lot more of what to expect from this new book! It’ll be written as if the book was written by Eragon himself and Christopher has hinted that we may be able to dig up a few hints about where the series is headed. We can also expect visual representations of the Beor Mountains, Tronjheim in Farthen Dûr, the elves’ buildings in Ellesméra, the Urgals, the dwarves, Galbatorix, and glyphs from Liduen Kvaedhí (the elves’ writing system). Christopher’s “and more” implies that we haven’t yet been told of everything it contains.

Christopher goes on to tease and update us on the status of Book 4:

On a more personal note, I’ve been having a blast with Book Four. Not too long ago, I finished a large and important chunk of the story, which made me feel all warm and fuzzy, and now things are hopping with Eragon & Co. I don’t want to spoil the story for you, but here’s a little teaser: The chapter I just completed is titled Brains! And no, there aren’t any zombies in the book, unfortunately.

Want to read this month’s Alagaesia Newsletter by Christopher Paolini in its entirety? You can find a complete archive of all of Christopher’s newsletters in our Alagaesia Newsletter archive! If you aren’t subscribed to receive the Alagaesia Newsletters (for free), you can do so here. Don’t forget that Shurtugal.com also has a newsletter signup (for free), located here. Signing up for the Shurtugal.com newsletter guarantees you will receive all breaking news alerts as well as our monthly news roundup!

Remember: We’ll be interviewing Christopher very soon using the questions submitted by Shurtugal.com visitors! You can learn more about our new monthly Q&A interviews with Christopher Paolini, including how you can contribute questions, on our Christopher Paolini Q&A page!