First Lines Friday 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!
First Line:
“My name is Mawukana na-Vdnaze, and I am a very poor copy of myself.”
Do you recognize the line?
Here’s a hint:
It’s a new sci-fi.
Still not sure? Here’s another hint:
It’s written by Claire North.
The First Lines Friday book is:
Slow Gods
Author: Claire North
Page Length: 471
Publisher: Orbit Books
Synopsis: My name is Mawukana na-Vdnaze, and I am a very poor copy of myself.
Slow Gods is the galaxy-spanning tale of one man’s impossible life charted against the fate of humanity amongst the stars—a powerfully imaginative space opera from multi-award-winning author Claire North.
In telling my story, there are certain things I should perhaps lie about. I should make myself a hero. Pretend I was not used by strangers and gods, did not leave people behind.
Here is one out there in deep space, in the pilot’s chair, I died. And then, I was reborn. I became something not quite human, something that could speak to the infinite dark. And I vowed to become the scourge of the world that wronged me.
This is the story of the supernova event that burned planets and felled civilizations. This is also the story of the many lives I’ve lived since I died for the first time.
Are you listening?
Do you plan to read Slow Gods? What do you think of the first line? Comment below!
Read your post and (you provided inspiration) now I’ve shared too https://jhohadli.com/2025/11/21/journaling-reading-211125-and-completing-cycles