“The building was on fire and it wasn’t my fault.”
Blood Rites by Jim Butcher. Part of a series and there are some other good opening lines but that one’s the best IMO.
ooshogunoo on
“The man in black fled across the desert, and the gunslinger followed.”
The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger by Stephen King
ShakespeherianRag on
“I am a spy, a sleeper, a spook, a man of two faces. Perhaps not surprisingly, I am also a man of two minds.” From *The Sympathizer* by Viet Thanh Nguyen, and you can read the rest of the opening here: https://aaww.org/the-sympathizer-excerpt/
Shatterstar23 on
I’m pretty much fucked. That’s my considered opinion. Fucked.
The Martian
Sea_Milk_69 on
“Szeth-son-son-Vallano, Truthless of Shinovar, wore white on the day he was to kill a king.”
The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson
No-Strawberry-5804 on
“That bitch stole my soap.”
This is from Trial of the Sun Queen which is actually a terrible book but I love this opening lol
DiscountDramatic4315 on
Let’s start with the end of the world, why don’t we? – The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin. The next few lines are also incredible.
PsyferRL on
>The Deliverator belongs to an elite order, a hallowed subcategory. He’s got esprit up to here. Right now, he is preparing to carry out his third mission of the night. His uniform is black as activated charcoal, filtering the very light out of the air. A bullet will bounce off its arachnofiber weave like a wren hitting a patio door, but excess perspiration wafts through it like a breeze through a freshly napalmed forest, Where his body has bony extremities, the suit has sintered armorgel: feels like gritty jello, protects like a stack of telephone books.
*Snow Crash* by Neal Stephenson.
lady_lane on
“It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.” —Jane Austen, *Pride & Prejudice*
sd_glokta on
“Far out in the uncharted backwaters of the unfashionable end of the Western Spiral arm of the galaxy lies a small unregarded yellow sun.” – The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
carterna on
‘It was the day my grandmother exploded’
The Crow Road – Iain Banks
Vegetable-Lead-3679 on
“The sun rose slowly, as if it wasn’t sure if it was worth all the effort” – The Light Fantastic Terry Pratchett
EnormousGenitals on
“Many years later, as he faced the firing squad, Colonel Aureliano Buendía was to remember that distant afternoon when his father took him to discover ice.” – One Hundred Years of Solitude by Marquez
paw_pia on
>I am made out of water. You wouldn’t know it, because I have it bound in. My friends are made out of water, too. All of them. The problem for us is that not only do we have to walk around without being absorbed by the ground but we also have to earn our livings.
>Actually there’s even a greater problem. We don’t feel at home anywhere we go. Why is that?
>The answer is World War Two.
*Confessions of a Crap Artist* by Philip K. Dick.
>I am an invisible man. No, I am not a spook like those who haunted Edgar Allan Poe; nor am I one of your Hollywood-movie ectoplasms. I am a man of substance, of flesh and bone, fiber and liquids — and I might even be said to possess a mind. I am invisible, understand, simply because people refuse to see me.
*Invisible Man* by Ralph Ellison.
Odd-Tart-5613 on
Szeth-son-son-Vallano, truthless of Shinovar, wore white on the day he was to kill a king.
bodhidharma132001 on
“There is no beginning, no ending. Only the dark.”
Michael Moorcock’s Elric of Melniboné
Time_Marcher on
Tale of Two Cities has both the best opening and closing lines:
The opening line:
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way, in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only.”
The closing line, spoken by Sydney Carton:
“It is a far, far better thing that I do, than I have ever done; it is a far, far better rest that I go to than I have ever known.”
Gal1R4Y on
“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way—in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only.”
Dickens from Tale of Two Cities
Or
“Many years later, as he faced the firing squad, Colonel Aureliano Buendía was to remember that distant afternoon when his father took him to discover ice.”
Gabriel García Márquez from One Hundred Years of Solitude
19 Comments
“The building was on fire and it wasn’t my fault.”
Blood Rites by Jim Butcher. Part of a series and there are some other good opening lines but that one’s the best IMO.
“The man in black fled across the desert, and the gunslinger followed.”
The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger by Stephen King
“I am a spy, a sleeper, a spook, a man of two faces. Perhaps not surprisingly, I am also a man of two minds.” From *The Sympathizer* by Viet Thanh Nguyen, and you can read the rest of the opening here: https://aaww.org/the-sympathizer-excerpt/
I’m pretty much fucked. That’s my considered opinion. Fucked.
The Martian
“Szeth-son-son-Vallano, Truthless of Shinovar, wore white on the day he was to kill a king.”
The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson
“That bitch stole my soap.”
This is from Trial of the Sun Queen which is actually a terrible book but I love this opening lol
Let’s start with the end of the world, why don’t we? – The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin. The next few lines are also incredible.
>The Deliverator belongs to an elite order, a hallowed subcategory. He’s got esprit up to here. Right now, he is preparing to carry out his third mission of the night. His uniform is black as activated charcoal, filtering the very light out of the air. A bullet will bounce off its arachnofiber weave like a wren hitting a patio door, but excess perspiration wafts through it like a breeze through a freshly napalmed forest, Where his body has bony extremities, the suit has sintered armorgel: feels like gritty jello, protects like a stack of telephone books.
*Snow Crash* by Neal Stephenson.
“It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.” —Jane Austen, *Pride & Prejudice*
“Far out in the uncharted backwaters of the unfashionable end of the Western Spiral arm of the galaxy lies a small unregarded yellow sun.” – The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
‘It was the day my grandmother exploded’
The Crow Road – Iain Banks
“The sun rose slowly, as if it wasn’t sure if it was worth all the effort” – The Light Fantastic Terry Pratchett
“Many years later, as he faced the firing squad, Colonel Aureliano Buendía was to remember that distant afternoon when his father took him to discover ice.” – One Hundred Years of Solitude by Marquez
>I am made out of water. You wouldn’t know it, because I have it bound in. My friends are made out of water, too. All of them. The problem for us is that not only do we have to walk around without being absorbed by the ground but we also have to earn our livings.
>Actually there’s even a greater problem. We don’t feel at home anywhere we go. Why is that?
>The answer is World War Two.
*Confessions of a Crap Artist* by Philip K. Dick.
>I am an invisible man. No, I am not a spook like those who haunted Edgar Allan Poe; nor am I one of your Hollywood-movie ectoplasms. I am a man of substance, of flesh and bone, fiber and liquids — and I might even be said to possess a mind. I am invisible, understand, simply because people refuse to see me.
*Invisible Man* by Ralph Ellison.
Szeth-son-son-Vallano, truthless of Shinovar, wore white on the day he was to kill a king.
“There is no beginning, no ending. Only the dark.”
Michael Moorcock’s Elric of Melniboné
Tale of Two Cities has both the best opening and closing lines:
The opening line:
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way, in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only.”
The closing line, spoken by Sydney Carton:
“It is a far, far better thing that I do, than I have ever done; it is a far, far better rest that I go to than I have ever known.”
“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way—in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only.”
Dickens from Tale of Two Cities
Or
“Many years later, as he faced the firing squad, Colonel Aureliano Buendía was to remember that distant afternoon when his father took him to discover ice.”
Gabriel García Márquez from One Hundred Years of Solitude
All of this happened, more or less.