10 sci-fi novel opening lines that’ll take your breath away
The opening sentence of a science fiction novel has significant work to do. Like all good fiction, it must hook the reader, provide a jolt into the story and establish the tone. It also needs to generate interest in an alternative world where the reader will live for the duration of the book. It is a big ask. Nonetheless, there are masterly examples of opening lines that achieve this. Here are ten that take the breath away.
1. Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card
“I’ve watched through his eyes, I’ve listened through his ears, and I tell you he’s the one.”
Starting a novel with dialogue is usually a mistake. The reader does not know the character, the context or why they should care. Scott Card succeeds because the line is intriguing. It raises questions that require answers.
2. Neuromancer by William Gibson
“The sky above the port was the color of television, tuned to a dead channel.”
Writing rules suggest one should never start a story with a description of the weather. Gibson shows why rules are made to be broken with this atmospheric opener. It is a vivid image that hints at an ominous world and pricks the curiosity of the reader.
3. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick
“A merry little surge of electricity piped by automatic alarm from the mood organ beside his bed awakened Rick Deckard.”
The “mood organ” defines this classic opener. The concept is fascinating and suggests an instrument with the power to understand human feelings. This opening sets the scene for a world that demands further exploration.
4. The Hacker And The Ants, Version 2.0 by Rudy Rucker
“Monday morning when I answered the door there were twenty-one new real estate agents there, all in horrible polyester gold jackets.”
This opening is surreal and unsettling. Real estate agents are difficult at the best of times, but twenty-one of them in hideous jackets is bizarre. The reader immediately empathises with the narrator and wants to know the reason for such a nightmarish visit.
5. 1984 by George Orwell
“It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking 13.”
This is one of the most famous sci-fi opening lines. It lulls the reader into thinking nothing is amiss until the final word. Clocks do not strike 13. The sentence implies a world where the nature of time keeping has been redefined. The reader wants to know how and why.
6. Undertow by Elizabeth Bear
“The morning after he killed Eugene Shapiro, Andre Deschenes woke early.”
The juxtaposition between the everyday and the horrific makes this a fantastic opening sentence. The mundane follows the horrific. It makes the reader wonder what sort of person could sleep at all and what the victim did to deserve his fate.
7. Voyage To The Bottom Of The Sea by Theodore Sturgeon
“At the end, the bottom, the very worst of it, with the world afire and hell’s flamewinged angels calling him by name, Lee Crane blamed himself.”
The drama and energy of this opening are compelling. Combined with the vivid imagery, the reader must know why Lee Crane blames himself.
8. A Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
“Far out in the uncharted backwaters of the unfashionable end of the Western Spiral arm of the Galaxy lies a small unregarded yellow sun. Orbiting this at a distance of roughly ninety-eight million miles is an utterly insignificant little blue-green planet whose ape-descended life forms are so amazingly primitive that they still think digital watches are a pretty neat idea.”
This opening underlines the vastness of the universe. It shows how insignificant humans and their interests are. It is brilliant work.
9. A Deepness In The Sky by Vernor Vinge
“The manhunt extended across more than one hundred light years and eight centuries.”
A manhunt is dramatic. A manhunt across one hundred light years and eight centuries is obsessive. It suggests incredible human endeavour and technology. The reader wants to meet the chaser, the chased and the world that enables such a thing.
For more literary inspiration, see the 10 greatest short story writers of the 21st century or discover 20 things about Carrie Fisher, the woman behind Princess Leia.
Very nice post! Not to be a nitpick, but you forgot to attribute Hitchhiker’s Guide.
“The man in black fled across the desert, and the gunslinger followed.”
The Gunslinger, Stephen King
Nailed it!
I was disappointed this was not included.
Yesssssssssssssssssssssssssss.
Classic! Love it!!!
Great line, but I’d argue that’s it not strictly sci-fi.
Oh yes. I’ll never forget this line. Still gives me goosebumps.
Pity that the books got steadily worse (except the one with the flashback).
Yes this would have been my first choice!
I was going to comment with the same quote. :-)
YES!!
Awesome background and post’s not bad either :)
“The Building was on fire, and it wasn’t my fault.”
Blood Rites, Jim Butcher
( a Dresden Files novel)
If you did an article about 10 most breathtaking closing lines, at least 8 of them would be Arthur C. Clarke short stories…
“Overhead, without any fuss, the stars were going out.”
“It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking 13.”
I think that you have misunderstood this line. Clocks do strike thirteen, especially as is revealed later in the book that the entire country of Oceania runs on military time. In civy time it would be 1:00 PM.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts, Lucideus.
I didn’t misunderstand it. For the vast majority of people who read that line clocks don’t strike thirteen and that’s all that matters. Of course, once you’ve read the book it’s significance becomes obvious. However, I’m working on the premise that readers who are starting a book don’t already know the ending.
My favorite opening line, even if the book it’s attached to is less than stellar, is the opening sentence of Philip Reeve’s book, Mortal Engines:
“It was a dark, blustery afternoon in spring, and the city of London was chasing a small mining town across the dried-out bed of the old North Sea.”
Good list, but man, language doesn’t mean anything anymore with the use of hyperbole as heavy as “..take your breath away.”
“The Deliverator belongs to an elite order, a hallowed subcategory”–Neal Stephenson, Snow Crash
‘The Deliverator belongs to an elite order, a hallowed subcategory. He’s got esprit up to here.’
Snow Crash, Neal Stephenson
I love this opening line, but really the opening three or four paragraphs are spectacular. Among the best in scifi.
I put the shotgun in an Adidas bag and padded it out with four pairs of tennis socks, not my style at all, but that was what I was aiming for: If they think you’re crude, go technical; if they think you’re technical, go crude. I’m a very technical boy.
Sorry, didn’t get the attribution in before posting the above.
“Johnny Mnemonic”
William Gibson
“On my 75th birthday I did 2 things. First I visited my wife’s grave… Then i signed up for the army”
Old man’s War
“When I was quite small I would sometimes dream of a city — which was strange because it began before I even knew what a city was.”
John Wyndham, “The Chrysalids” (1955)
The Hegemony Consul sat on the balcony of his ebony spaceship and played
Rachmaninoff’s Prelude in C-sharp Minor on an ancient but
well-maintained Steinway while great, green, saurian things surged and
bellowed in the swamps below. A thunderstorm was brewing to the north.
Bruise-black clouds silhouetted a forest of giant gymnosperms while
stratocumulus towered nine kilometers high in a violent sky. Lightning
rippled along the horizon. Closer to the ship, occasional vague,
reptilian shapes would blunder into the interdiction field, cry out, and
then crash away through indigo mists. The Consul concentrated on a
difficult section of the Prelude and ignored the approach of storm and
nightfall.
The fatline receiver chimed.
“His followers called him Mahasamatman and said he was a god. He preferred to drop the Maha- and the -atman, however, and called himself Sam. He never claimed to be a god, but then he never claimed not to be a god.” How could you not have this one, from Lord of Light by Roger Zelazny??
“It was time to whip the god” from “The god engines” by John Scalzi
“Call me Jonah”.
Cat’s Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut. Cheeky enough to steal one of the most recognized opening lines in literature. And the use of Jonah, who brought bad luck with him wherever he ran, tells you what you’re about to be in for.
Beowulf was bad.
Of which Sci-Fi novel is this the first line?