They say the hardest part about writing a novel is the first line, now I’m not too sure how accurate that statement is having not written a novel but I know there are those out there that believe it to be a crucial element.
I appreciate a good opening line and the different ones you come across as a reader. There are the ones introduce a character like that of The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, or the ones that illustrate the beauty of an authors writing style! I love the ones that hook you and suggest an intriguing plot, it truly shows an authors talent when one line has you drooling for the rest of the book.
So, without further ado, here are seven books with opening that I love for one reason or another.
THE NIGHT CIRCUS BY ERIN MORGENSTERN
“The circus arrives without warning. No announcements precede it, no paper notices on downtown posts and billboards, no mentions or advertisements in local newspapers. It is simply there, when yesterday it was not.”
RED RISING BY PIERCE BROWN
“I would have lived in peace. But my enemies brought me war.”
THE HOBBIT BY J. R. R. TOLKIEN
“In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit.”
BLOOD SONG BY ANTHONY RYAN
“He had many names. Although yet to reach his thirtieth year history had seen fit to garner him with titles aplenty: Sword of the Realm to the mad king who sent him to plague us, the Young Hawk to the men who followed him through the trials of war, Darkblade to his Cumbraelin enemies and, as I was to learn much later, Beral Shak Ur to the enigmatic tribes of the Great Northern Forest – the Shadow of the Raven.”
THE VOYAGE OF THE DAWN TREADER BY C. S. LEWIS
“There was a boy called Eustace Clarence Scrubb, and he almost deserved it.”
THE NAME OF THE WIND BY PATRICK ROTHFUSS
“It was night again. The Waystone Inn lay in silence, and it was a silence of three parts.”
RED SISTER BY MARK LAWRENCE
“It’s important, when killing a nun, to ensure that you bring an army of sufficient size.”
Thank you again for reading and visiting the blog, it is very much appreciated. Let me know in the comments if there are any opening lines in books you love!
_ The Book in Hand _ 