Opening Lines: The Thousand Emperors

Some novels have the ability to draw you in from the start. A single line or paragraph can grab your attention in such a way that the novel just demands to be read. Opening Lines is a feature where I'll share some of the best opening lines that hooked me.

In brief, then, human history can be split into two parts: the period occurring before the destruction of all life on Earth in the year 2235 C.E., and that following those terrible, final days.

The Thousand Emperors by Gary Gibson

Order a copy

Archivist Luc Gabion has finally achieved his life's goal - of bringing down Winchell Antonov, head of the Black Lotus terrorist organisation, and the scourge of the Tian Di's stellar empire for countless years. But instead of feeling victorious, the encounter has left him scarred. Forcibly implanted with a technology far in advance of anything he's encountered before, Luc sees and hears things he knows he's not supposed to. Worse, the technology is killing him, slowly. So when he finds himself investigating the murder of one of the Tian Di's ruling clique, the Thousand Emperors, he knows he's in real trouble.

Any one of them could be the killer, and any one of them could have him put to death on a whim. Worse, the dead man is the architect of the coming Reunification: two great civilisations, separated for centuries by old enmities, are about to reunite in a new age of peace and prosperity. But it soon becomes clear that someone out there is willing to do anything to make sure that day never comes.