First Lines Fridays is a weekly feature for book lovers hosted by Wandering Words.
What if instead of judging a book by its cover, its author or its prestige, we judged it by its opening lines?
- Pick a book off your shelf (it could be your current read or on your TBR) and open to the first page
- Copy the first few lines, but don’t give anything else about the book away just yet – you need to hook the reader first
- Finally… reveal the book!
“When Anwei stepped into the trade advisor’s private study, she smelled death. The odor burned in her nose, the dregs of it seared into the ornate desk chair, the walls. It was rank in the very air.”
Do you recognize the lines?
Hint: This is a new standalone fantasy novel releasing later this year.
Hint 2: It features shape-shifters.
This week’s book is:
She Who Rides the Storm by Caitlin Sangster!
Long ago, shapeshifting monsters ruled the Commonwealth using blasphemous magic that fed on the souls of their subjects. Now, hundreds of years later, a new tomb has been uncovered, and despite the legends that disturbing a shapeshifter’s final resting place will wake them once again, the Warlord is determined to dig it up.
But it isn’t just the Warlord who means to brave the traps and pitfalls guarding the crypt.
A healer obsessed with tracking down the man who murdered her twin brother.
A runaway member of the Warlord’s Devoted order, haunted by his sister’s ghost.
A snotty archaeologist bent on finding the cure to his magical wasting disease.
A girl desperate to escape the cloistered life she didn’t choose.
All four are out to steal the same cursed sword rumored to be at the very bottom of the tomb. But of course, some treasures should never see the light of day, and some secrets are best left buried…
Similar to last week’s novel, Iron Widow, this is an ARC that I am very excited to read. In addition to the synopsis sounding very interesting, I am also curious to see how this novel will read as a standalone. There are a few really great standalone fantasy novels out there, but some of them feel incomplete. I hope this novel turns out to be one of those exceptions and exceeds my expectations.
- Have you read She Who Rides the Storm or is it on your TBR?
- What did you think of the first lines?
chonkybooksreview.com 
Ooh, I like it! 🔥
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I hope to get to this novel soon, but the first lines definitely make me want to read more! 😀
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