Happy Friday book lovers! We’re back with another First Lines Friday, 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? Here are 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:
“As Sancia Grado lay facedown in the mud, stuffed underneath the wooden deck next to the old stone wall, she reflected that this evening was not going at all as she had wanted.”

Do you recognize the book these first lines come from?








*drumroll please!*


Sancia Grado is a thief, and a damn good one. And her latest target, a heavily guarded warehouse on Tevanne’s docks, is nothing her unique abilities can’t handle.
But unbeknownst to her, Sancia’s been sent to steal an artifact of unimaginable power, an object that could revolutionize the magical technology known as scriving. The Merchant Houses who control this magic–the art of using coded commands to imbue everyday objects with sentience–have already used it to transform Tevanne into a vast, remorseless capitalist machine. But if they can unlock the artifact’s secrets, they will rewrite the world itself to suit their aims.
Now someone in those Houses wants Sancia dead, and the artifact for themselves. And in the city of Tevanne, there’s nobody with the power to stop them.
To have a chance at surviving—and at stopping the deadly transformation that’s under way—Sancia will have to marshal unlikely allies, learn to harness the artifact’s power for herself, and undergo her own transformation, one that will turn her into something she could never have imagined.
For some reason, these first lines from Foundryside are giving me Kristoff/Nevernight vibes? I’ve heard a lot of really positive things about this book so I’m excited to get to it this spring!

Have you read Foundryside or is it on your TBR?

This has been on my TBR for a while now and now I’ve read the first lines I’m eager to pick it up. Looks like its getting a bump this spring 😀
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Those first lines definitely had me eager to keep reading! I think I will come back to it this week 😀 These first lines are so great!
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What a great first line! LOL
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Right!? It definitely hooked my attention! 😀
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Never even heard of this one! 🙈 excuse me while I crawl back under my rock…. 😂😂😂
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Haha it’s hot in the SFF world, Emer! 😛
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That really does give me Nevernight vibes too, now that you mention it – maybe because the narrator sounds like they’ve got quite a dry/sarcastic sense of humour?
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Yeah, I think that’s definitely it! I was trying to pinpoint why I thought it and landed on that reason 😅 I don’t mind it at all though!
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Ahh, this is sitting on my shelf. I just really need to hurry and pick it up!
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I think I’m going back to it this week because this first line really piqued my interest. I hope it continues to be awesome throughout 😀
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Never heard of this one but sounds interesting!! Will have to take a look at it 🙂
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I think if you’re into SFF then it could be a winner. Lots of people have said really positive things about it!
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Oooh, this is totally on my TBR! I’ve heard it’s really good, but I haven’t had a chance to squeeze it in yet. I absolutely LOVE that opening, though, and I want to know what’s going to happen to poor Sancia. xD
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Saaame! I think I might pick it back up this week. I might be ready to get in an SFF mood lol the tone of this is really giving me Kristoff/Nevernight vibes 😂
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I just got this one for my kindle! Can’t wait to read it.
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I think I’m going to get back to it this week. I hope you enjoy it whenever you read it 😀
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Oh, I had no idea! This has been on my TBR for a long time now. This is a great opening!
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It really is and it gave me such Nevernight vibes for some reason 😂 I’m looking forward to this read!
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