First Lines Meme, Redux

And now, the first lines of five of my favorite books (random sampling within reach of the computer, all contemporary, three fantasy, one sci fi and one historical mystery, all brilliant.) Not much in common, except they all have very strong, very distinct characters and settings, which are strongly evoked by the first lines.

This is the worst story I know about hocuses. Melusine, Sarah Monette

The Baron Alexander von Reisden went mad after his young wife died, and in five years he had not got himself sane. The Vanished Child, Sarah Smith

Snow was falling in Riverside, great white feather-puffs that veiled the cracks in the facades of its ruined houses, slowly softening the harsh contours of jagged roof and fallen beam. Swordspoint, Ellen Kushner

On December 7, 2059, Emilio Sandoz was released from the isolation ward of Salvator Mundi Hospital in the middle of the night and transported in a bread van to the Jesuit Residence at Number 5 Borgo Santo Spirito, a few minutes' walk across St. Peter's Square from the Vatican. The Sparrow, Mary Doria Russell

It was just past midday, not long before the third summons to prayer, that Ammar ibn Khairan passed through the Gate of the Bells and entered the Al-Fontina in Silvenes to kill the last of the khalifs of Al-Rassan. The Lions of Al-Rassan, Guy Gavriel Kay

And of course, my favorite literary first line of all time: There was a boy called Eustace Clarence Scrubb, and he almost deserved it. The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, C.S. Lewis