Great Opening Sentences From Classic Fantasy Novels

“Diaries are kept by men: strong brushstrokes on smooth mulberry paper, gathered into sheaves and tied with ribbon and placed in a lacquered box.”
— The Fox Woman, Kij Johnson

“When a man you know to be of sound mind tells you his recently deceased mother has just tried to climb in his bedroom window and eat him, you only have two basic options.”
— The Steel Remains, Richard K. Morgan

“The building was on fire, and it wasn’t my fault.”
— Blood Rites: A Novel of the Dresden Files, Jim Butcher

“Locke Lamora’s rule of thumb was this: a good confidence game took three months to plan, three weeks to rehearse, and three seconds to win or lose the victim’s trust forever.”
— The Lies of Locke Lamora, Scott Lynch

“One cannot raise walls against what has been forgotten.”
— The Darkness That Comes Before, R. Scott Bakker

“Kaiku was twenty harvests of age the first time she died.”
— The Weavers of Saramyr, Chris Wooding

– http://io9.com/5925288/great-opening-sentences-from-classic-fantasy-novels