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!

Today’s First Lines:

I need to stop the bleeding.

Calen dropped to his knees. His heart pounded as he pushed the dwarf up against the hard stone of the battlements. The sword had come through on the left side of the dwarf’s stomach, just where the plate gave way to the chain mail. Calen took the dwarf’s hand and pushed it up against the wound, blood streaming through his fingers.

Do you know which book this is from? Scroll down to find out!

Goodreads Synopsis

Heroes will rise. Nations will fall.

Behind the towering walls of Belduar, Calen Bryer and his companions stand in defense of the city and its new king. In over a thousand years, Belduar has never fallen. It has stood as a bastion of hope. But the Lorian empire are at its walls once more, and the Dragonguard are coming.

In the North, with Faenir by her side, Calen’s sister Ella arrives at the port of Antiquar. She holds no fear of the unknown. She will see this through, no matter what – or who – gets in her way.

Meanwhile, at the embassy of the Circle of Magii in Al’Nasla, Rist Havel hones his newfound powers in preparation for the trials. Unbeknownst to Rist, he is being watched, measured, and judged. He was not taken into the Circle by chance. There is greatness in him. But great men can do terrible things.

As Lorian forces land on southern shores and Aeson Virandr’s letters of rebellion find their way to the right hands, only the Knights of Achyron see the true danger. The danger that stirs in the darkness. The coming shadow will not stop. It will consume all in its path. It wants for nothing but blood and fire.

Thoughts & Comments

This book is so good, and it all starts with a bang from these first lines. I’m only half way through it, and I’ve already decided it is one of my top 5 books of the year. Of Darkness and Light is available today. So, go pick it up!

Does this book sound like something you would like? Why or why not? Let me know in the comments!