#OpeningSentence

There was a grim determination Maritza found, sometimes, when there was nothing to be done about how wrong the world had slid.

— Rose/House by Arkady Martine

Basit Deniau's greatest architectural triumph is the house he died in.

— Rose/House by Arkady Martine

Now, standing in front of the tower, it was far too real.

— The Warden by Daniel M. Ford

Her name was Dumai, from an ancient word for a dream that ends too soon.

— A Day of Fallen Night by Samantha Shannon

I’m really not supposed to be doing this, but a girl’s gotta get paid.

— The Library of the Dead by T. L. Huchu

Raindrops slapped the cowl of Rafe’s cloak as he followed Jassa through the trees.

— Viscera by Gabriel Squailia

Stella Wallace met her family’s god when she was nine years old.

— Revelator by Daryl Gregory

The war had begun long before we arrived because war was their way of life.

— Semiosis by Sue Burke, Sue Burke

Waking was floating to the surface of a soft world of water, not what Kai had expected.

— Witch King by Martha Wells

The last stragglers in the funeral procession were barely out the ghost door before the mason bots unfolded their long legs and reached for the pile of stones they’d removed from the wall so painstakingly the day before.

— Translation State by Ann Leckie

There was a boy in the crypt, and he wasn’t dead.

— Books & Bone by Veo Corva

I walked into the tavern in search of the most important thing in the world.

— The First Binding by R.R. Virdi

Onna Gebowa had always liked numbers.

— Unnatural Magic by C. M. Waggoner

I was standing on a stranger’s doorstep and wishing my feet were nailed to the ground.

— Non-Player Character by Veo Corva