Hi everyone. It’s been, what, three weeks since I’ve participated in this post? Yeah, I’m pretty sure. Anyway, here’s First Line Fridays.
First Line Fridays is a weekly feature for book lovers (formerly) hosted by Wandering Words, but I saw it over at One Book More.
What if instead of judging a book by the cover, author or most everything else, we judged it by its content? Its first lines?
If you want to join in, all you gotta do is:
š Take a book off your shelf (it could be your current read or on your TBR) and open it to the first page
š Copy the first few lines, but donāt give anything else about the book away just yet ā you need to hook the reader first
š Finallyā¦ reveal the book!
Here are the first lines:
Neither here nor there, but not so long ago…
There lived a merchant named Loulie al-Nazari who was as legendary as she was elusive. Garbed in midnight-blue robes, she was known as the Midnight Merchant, a magic-peddler who sold enchanted jinn relics in hidden souks.
Know the book yet? If you don’t, here’s another couple of hints…
Still have no idea? Here are some lovely photos of books to look at while you think about it a bit longer…
Annnd the book is… š„š„ The Ashfire King by Chelsea Abdullah!!
(Didja guess it?)
The Ashfire King by Chelsea Abdullah
SERIES: The Sandsea Trilogy #2
LENGTH: 544 pages
GENRES: Fantasy, Fiction
PUBLISHER: Orbit
RELEASE DATE: 11 April 2025
BOOK DESCRIPTION:
A thief and a prince trapped in the crumbling, magical realm of the jinn must figure out how to save one world in order to return to their own in The Ashfire King, the second book in this epic series of myth and magic, perfect for fans of The City of Brass and The Bone Shard Daughter.
Neither here nor there, but long agoā¦ After fleeing a patricidal prince, legendary merchant Loulie al-Nazari and banished prince Mazen bin Malik find themselves in the realm of jinn. But instead of sanctuary, they find a world on the cusp of collapse.
The jinn cities, long sheltered beneath the Sandsea by the magic of its kings, are sinking. And amid the turmoil, political alliances are forming, and rebellion in the jinnās capital city is on the rise. When Loulie saves the life of a dissenterāone of her bodyguardās old comradesāshe puts herself in the center of a centuries-old war.
Trapped in a world that isnāt her own and wielding magic that belongs to a fallen king, Loulie must decide: Will she carry on someone elseās legacy or carve out her own?
What books have you been reading lately? Whatās on your TBR that youāre currently the most excited about?
As always, thank you for reading, and I hope you have an awesome day/night!
See ya ~Mar