
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:
An enormous rust-brown bowlship, pitted and scarred from its journey, descends through Ymir’s dark howling sky. Drones stream upward from the ice field to meet it, swarming like insects, tasting its hull with electromagnetic mouths and asking after its cargo. The bowlship reports nickel alloy, raw hydrogen, an inconsequential amount of human freight.
Do you know which book this is from? Scroll down to find out!




Title: Ymir
Author: Rich Larson
Publication Date: July 12, 2022
Goodreads Synopsis
A gripping, far-future retelling of Beowulf from an award-winning author, perfect for fans of Richard K. Morgan
Yorick never wanted to see his homeworld again. He left Ymir two decades ago, with half his face blown off and no love lost for the place. But when his employer’s mines are threatened by a vicious alien machine, Yorick is shipped back home to hunt it.
All he wants is to do his job and get out. Instead, Yorick is pulled into a revolution brewing beneath Ymir’s frozen surface, led by the very last person he wanted to see again — the brother who sent him off in pieces twenty years ago.
I’ve never heard of Ymir! I loathed Beowulf when I was in high school, so I’m curious to read Ymir to see how the retelling stacks up.
I have a similar post on my blog – Book Beginnings on Friday. Stop by if you’re of a mind to!
I honestly don’t remember anything about Beowulf. I had to read it in high school too, and I don’t remember hating it. So, hopefully I’ll enjoy this. I’m starting it today. So I guess I’ll know soon. 🙂
Ooh, a retelling of Beowulf! I had to read that in school and wasn’t a fan but this sounds intriguing 👀 I hope you enjoy it!
I think Beowulf is a right of passage. lol. It seems to torment everyone at some point. I honestly don’t remember much about it, but I don’t remember hating it. So, hopefully I’ll enjoy this…