It Didn't Help Me Wade Into the Book

In terms of first lines I like what Kathryn Guare wrote in her piece on Writing Craft: The Challenge of Writing An Opening Line of Staggering Genius on the Alliance of Independent Authors Blog (see here) back in 2013.

Concluding pep talk to myself: the first sentence of a novel is exactly that—nothing more, and nothing less. It is the building block and the foundation from which to build everything else. It needs to work, but it does not need to be a work of art onto itself. If you like it yourself, then stop obsessing over it.

I like what she says. This is exactly the sentiment that I try to imbue to my series on first lines (see here). It's not the end all beat all of the novel, it's merely the first line the reader happens to run into. If anything I think the last line should be more important for that's the image you will be leaving the reader with (see here).

All that being said, the last line I read in Flashman and the Mountain of Light, the book I'm currently reading, it barely had enough oomph to make me want to read the second line, and Oh Brother! that second through tenth line almost had me closing the book. If anything this sample emphasizes how important a really intriguing first line is. If not for the history I have with Flashman (see here), this one would have gone back on the shelf.

“Now, my dear Sir Harry, I must tell you,” says her majesty, with that stubborn little duck of her head that always made Palmerston think she was going to butt him in the guts, “I am quite determined to learn Hindoostanee.” 

This at the age of sixty-seven, mark you. I almost asked her what the devil for, at her time of life, but fortunately my idiot wife got in first, clapping her hands and exclaiming that it was a most splendid idea, since nothing so Improved the Mind and Broadened the Outlook as acquaintance with a Foreign Tongue, is that not so, my love? (Elspeth, I may tell you, speaks only English – well, Scotch, if you like – and enough nursery French to get her through Customs and bullyrag waiters, but anything the Queen said, however wild, always sent her into transports of approval.) 

Fraser, George MacDonald - Flashman and the Mountain of Light

What does the learning of a foreign language by the Queen of England have to do with the novel? Very little actually. It's a stepping stone to the real mystery, but phew, like I said, made we want to give up quick.