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 Lines:
“Once upon a time, a knight came riding into the holler.”
Do you recognize the lines?
Here’s a hint:
It’s a new dystopian fantasy.
Still not sure? Here’s another hint:
It’s written by Alix E. Harrow.
The First Lines Friday book is:
The Knight and the Butcherbird
Title: The Knight and the Butcherbird
Author: Alix E. Harrow
Page Length: 36
Pub. Date: March 11, 2025
Publisher: Amazon Original Stories
Synopsis: In this gritty, haunting tale about doing whatever it takes for love, a small-town storyteller resolves to keep the local monster—and her own secrets—safe from a legendary knight.
Nestled deep in the steep hills, valleys, and surrounding woodlands lies Iron Hollow, a rural community beset by demons. Such horrors are common in the outlands, where most folks die young, if they don’t turn into monsters first. But what’s causing these transformations?
No one has the answer, not even the town’s oral historian, seventeen-year-old Shrike. And when a legendary knight is summoned to hunt down the latest beast to haunt their woods, Shrike has more reason than most to be concerned. Because that demon was her wife. And while Shrike is certain that May still recognizes her—that May is still human, somewhere beneath it all—she can’t prove it.
Determined to keep May safe, Shrike stalks the knight and his demon-hunting hawk through the recesses of the forest. But as they creep through toxic creeks and overgrown kudzu, Shrike realizes the knight has a secret of his own. And he’ll do anything to protect it.
Ooh, I loved this one so much. I’m so glad you put it on my radar when you saw it! 💜
Yay! So glad you liked it, my friend!!