First Lines Fridays is 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?

  • 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!

Today’s book was a gift to me that I’m very much looking forward to reading.

The Line

“The web is based on a simple concept: a direct link between mind and machine.”

Hints

Hint #1: This is a space opera…

Hint #2: Originally published in 1988 and then gone out of print, the new edition hit bookshelves in 2017.

Hint #3: The new edition has an introduction by Becky Chambers, and from what I can tell this would appeal to her audience.

The Reveal

A Matter of Oaths by Helen S. Wright

Blurb (Bloomsbury)

‘A compelling, mind-bending future that’s finally come home to the present’ – Becky Chambers, author of The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet

When Commander Rallya of the patrol ship Bhattya hires Rafe as their new Web officer, she knows she is taking a risk. As an oath breaker, Rafe has suffered the ultimate punishment – identity wipe – but luckily for him, there’s no one else around qualified for the job. Shunned by his previous shipmates, Rafe is ready to keep his head down and do his job, but his competence quickly earns him respect, admiration, and, in one particular case, love.

It’s difficult to maintain the glow of acceptance however, when his past is chasing him across the galaxy in the shape of an assassin, intent on dealing once and for all with Rafe, whatever the cost.

Originally published in 1988, A Matter of Oaths is a space opera with heart, intergalactic intrigue and epic space battle.

With a new introduction by Becky Chambers, author of The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet.