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:

“They told her not to be afraid. That it wouldn’t hurt.

Who’d believe that propaganda bullshit? Of course it was going to hurt. She hid her protests, bitter like ice behind every forced smile.”

I thought the book sounded great just from the description, but if I had to go off just these first lines? I’d jump through serious hoops to get a copy.

Do you recognize the lines?

Here’s a hint:

This is a queer romantasy novel.

Still not sure? Here’s another hint:

It’s written by S.A. MacLean.

The First Lines Friday book is:

Voidwalker.

About the Book:

• Title: Voidwalker
• Author: S.A. MacLean
• Page Length: 592 pages
• Publication Date: August 19, 2025
• Publisher: Orbit

Synopsis:

Fionamara is a smuggler. Antal is the reason her people fear the dark.

Fi ferries contraband between worlds, stockpiling funds and stolen magic to keep her village self-sufficient – free from the blood sacrifices humans have paid to Antal’s immortal species for centuries.

Only legends whispered through the pine forests recall a time when things were different, before one world shattered into many, and the flesh-devouring beasts crept from the cracks between realities, with their sable antlers and slender tails, lethal claws and gleaming fangs. Now, mortal lives are food to pacify their carnivorous overlords, exchanged for feudal protection, and the precious silver energy that fuels everything from transport to weaponry.

When Fi gets planted with a stash of smuggled energy, a long-lost flame recruits her for a reckless heist that escalates into a terrorist bombing – and a coup against the reigning immortals, with Fi’s home caught in the crossfire.

She’s always known the dangers of her trade – and of the power she’s wielded since childhood, allowing her to see the secret doors between dimensions, to walk the Void itself. But nothing could have prepared her for crossing paths with Antal. For the deal she’ll have to make with him, a forced partnership to reclaim his city that begins as a desperate bid for survival, only to grow into something far more dangerous.

A revolution.

And a temptation – for how sweet the monster’s fangs might feel.

From the author of the instant Sunday Times-bestselling The Phoenix Keeper comes an era-defining new fantasy universe where spicy romantasy meets the Cosmere, unmissable for fans of the world-building scale of Sarah J. Maas and the world-shifting stakes of Rebecca Yarros.

Voidwalker will be your next romantasy obsession, a deliciously feral story that started with just two words: “bite me”.

Links: Goodreads     

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