I don’t think it’s technically the very first line in the book, but The Way of Kings’ “Szeth-son-son-Vallano, Truthless of Shinovar, wore white on the day he was to kill a king.” still gives me chills.
Other than the epigraph for the prologue, it is sort of the first line of the book. Because the part about Kalak is the “Prelude to the Stormlight Archive,” and after that the book says “Book One \n The Way of Kings” and then goes on to the prologue.
Yeah i think the thing that gets me is that he likes to drop a lot of fantasy proper nouns at the same time in both those openings. There are ten heralds and this scene is so important it’s only fitting to happen there. And I think in a visual medium it might’ve gotten me better, or maybe had I been reading instead of doing the audio book.
I stand by the kelsier plantation scene being a worse opening than just starting with Vin though
I don’t think it’s technically the very first line in the book, but The Way of Kings’ “Szeth-son-son-Vallano, Truthless of Shinovar, wore white on the day he was to kill a king.” still gives me chills.
Other than the epigraph for the prologue, it is sort of the first line of the book. Because the part about Kalak is the “Prelude to the Stormlight Archive,” and after that the book says “Book One \n The Way of Kings” and then goes on to the prologue.
Yeah and I’ll admit the Kalak bit didn’t pull me in super well, in a way very reminiscent of the plantation scene of mistborn
That’s understandable. It worked on me though. I was convinced Taln was going to want revenge. 🤣
Yeah i think the thing that gets me is that he likes to drop a lot of fantasy proper nouns at the same time in both those openings. There are ten heralds and this scene is so important it’s only fitting to happen there. And I think in a visual medium it might’ve gotten me better, or maybe had I been reading instead of doing the audio book.
I stand by the kelsier plantation scene being a worse opening than just starting with Vin though
Oh yeah that was an excellent opener! Absolutely glues your nose to the book.
I love how it slowly changes in emotional tone the further you get in the series but it hits hard enough you remember the line.