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?

The Rules:

• 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!

First Lines:

“The Island tracked everything that washed ashore. 

An invisible barrier surrounded it, a shimmering wall a hundred kilometers in every direction. Canoes sank in crossing; navigators lost sight of the stars. Later, trawlers and airplanes split themselves against nothing, and the probes they sent into the water returned out of sync or cracked precisely down the middle.

Only the birds arrived unscathed. Only the foxes, floating in on driftwood rafts.”

This one sounds a little ominous, but I’m already intrigued. What is behind the barrier? What is this Island, and why is it sentient? I definitely have to read more of this.

Do you recognize the lines?

Here’s a hint:

This is an upcoming debut fantasy that reimagines the origin story of Captain Hook.

Still not sure? Here’s another hint:

It’s written by P.H. Low.

The First Lines Friday book is:

These Deathless Shores.

About the Book:

• Title: These Deathless Shores
• Author: P.H. Low
• Page Length: 433 pages
• Publication Date: July 9, 2024
• Publisher: Orbit

Synopsis:

Jordan was once a Lost Boy, convinced she would never grow up. Now she’s twenty-two and exiled to the real world, still suffering withdrawal from the addictive magic Dust of her childhood. With nothing left to lose, Jordan returns to the Island and its stories—of pirates and war and the cruelty of youth—intent on facing Peter one last time, on her own terms. If that makes her the villain…so be it.

Links: Goodreads     

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