Gaston de Foix Posted February 4, 2014 Share Posted February 4, 2014 I don't think this thread exists/has existed yet. Mods, feel free to chastise me if I am wrong... For my money: A Game of ThronesThe Name of the WindThe Darkness that Comes BeforeA Way of KingsBest Served ColdStorm Front Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
polishgenius Posted February 4, 2014 Share Posted February 4, 2014 The prologue to Vellum (by Hal Duncan). Frigging awesome in every way. Works as a standalone short story too, if you wanted it to (which is handy coz a lot of people read the prologue, love it, get onto the rest of the book and are like :shocked: ). And the introduction to Perdido Street Station by China Mieville.Tbh out of your list the only ones I can remember off-hand are aGoT and Darkness that Comes Before, both of which are indeed very good (I love the sense of doom and despair in the Bakker; really sets the tone for the series). The others I don't recall as being in any way remarkable, though I love all three of the series that I've read (not read Way of Kings). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maester Llama Posted February 4, 2014 Share Posted February 4, 2014 I would agree about The Way of Kings, with the caveat that I'm talking about the prologue, not the "Prelude to The Stormlight Archive" that comes right at the beginning of the book -- so epic is Brandon Sanderson's epic that not only does the first novel in his epic need a prologue but the epic entire needs one also. I don't hate the prelude or anything, and I see how it does good set-up work and needs to be there, but it's a type of first chapter that doesn't work for me that well anymore in that it's one of those fantasy novel openings where two characters of great significance to the invented world talk very seriously about backstory stuff and use a lot of made-up words to impress upon us how deep the worldbuilding is. The prelude is a world-based opening. The prologue that follows, by contrast, is a people-based opening that also manages good worldbuilding work, because it introduces us to a character -- Szeth -- who immediately starts stirring up shit. It shows us the world and starts kicking pieces of it over in the very same scene, and, I think partly because of this, it's one of the only scenes in the book I still remember quite vividly [the part where he rides a flying table round a room while being shot at helps too]. Matt Stover's Heroes Die and Elizabeth Bear's Range of Ghosts do this too, starting with major upheavals that change the status quo in their settings from sentence one. Can work real good. I was gonna try and think up some more, but I'll maybe do that later, because I seem to have talked about the prologue to WoK for three paragraphs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miss Carnahan Posted February 5, 2014 Share Posted February 5, 2014 The boy who lived + of course, the AGOT prologue as well The prologue to Vellum (by Hal Duncan). Frigging awesome in every way. Works as a standalone short story too, if you wanted it to (which is handy coz a lot of people read the prologue, love it, get onto the rest of the book and are like :shocked: ). :agree: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peterbound Posted February 5, 2014 Share Posted February 5, 2014 I hate to admit it, but that Prologue in 'EoTW' is pretty damn good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maester Llama Posted February 5, 2014 Share Posted February 5, 2014 The prologue to EotW is pretty good isn't it? [though I'm approaching this from the perspective of someone who likes the series, if not without significant reservations and a healthy appreciation for why many don't.] Maybe this is partially because it's another one that shows a moment of crisis / major activity right away, in tandem with introducing the world? By contrast, I have some problems with the prologue to Bakker's The Darkness That Comes Before, in that I find it to be a bit of an infodump. The tone, the cadence of the slower, majestic, foreboding language is really striking, and that carries me through, but I find the section a big ask right away. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Howdyphillip Posted February 6, 2014 Share Posted February 6, 2014 I don't think this thread exists/has existed yet. Mods, feel free to chastise me if I am wrong... For my money: A Game of Thrones The Name of the Wind The Darkness that Comes Before A Way of Kings Best Served Cold Storm Front I would add First Law Gentleman Bastards Belgariad (yeah, I know you don't like it...The series influenced my childhood... piss off) Although I absolutely adore the Kingkiller Chronicle, The first 7 or 8 chapters of Name of the Wind were by far the weakest of the books. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Larry of the Lawn Posted February 6, 2014 Share Posted February 6, 2014 The Darkness that Comes Before was my first thought.... but also the prologue to The Scar was really memorable for me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jaxom 1974 Posted February 6, 2014 Share Posted February 6, 2014 The opening of the third book of the Long Price Quartet... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rody Posted February 6, 2014 Share Posted February 6, 2014 I would add First Law Gentleman BastardsBelgariad (yeah, I know you don't like it...The series influenced my childhood... piss off) Although I absolutely adore the Kingkiller Chronicle, The first 7 or 8 chapters of Name of the Wind were by far the weakest of the books.So true actually most of the books is like that, painfully slowwwwww. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
End of Disc One Posted February 6, 2014 Share Posted February 6, 2014 Brandon Sanderson is really good at opening lines Several Dresden Files books have great first chapters as well that raise the stakes quickly Edit: Oh we're talking about series, not books. My Sanderson comment still applies for The Way of Kings. The Eye of the World had one awesome prologue as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Happy Ent Posted February 6, 2014 Share Posted February 6, 2014 The Garuda prologue of Perdido Street Station completely hooked me. I thought “This is great! Why has nobody told me?” By comparison, I was embarrassed by the Game of Thrones prologue to almost put the book down. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Queen of Whores Posted February 6, 2014 Share Posted February 6, 2014 The prologue of Deadhouse Gates was pretty intense and violent. It was also noticeably better written than all of Gardens of the Moon, so I had high hopes for this book, and was not let down. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kat Posted February 8, 2014 Share Posted February 8, 2014 The Garuda prologue of Perdido Street Station completely hooked me. I thought “This is great! Why has nobody told me?” By comparison, I was embarrassed by the Game of Thrones prologue to almost put the book down. I also didn't like the prologue to Game of Thrones. Vastly prefer the first chapter, even though I know the prologue is necessary to set it up. This thread should be broader to include all books, because the # of fantasy series is not that high, whereas I can think of great openers to, say, sci fi standalones and such. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Bowie Posted February 8, 2014 Share Posted February 8, 2014 I also didn't like the prologue to Game of Thrones. Vastly prefer the first chapter, even though I know the prologue is necessary to set it up. This thread should be broader to include all books, because the # of fantasy series is not that high, whereas I can think of great openers to, say, sci fi standalones and such. Exactly what I was thinking. The majority of the books that I read are not fantasy/sci fi... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
First of My Name Posted February 10, 2014 Share Posted February 10, 2014 I love the prologue of Heroes Die, which is the first book in the Acts of Caine series. This prologue does everthing: it's action-packed, superbly written, not one but two worlds are introduced, you get a very good look at the main, you learn who he is and what situation he's in, and it gets the main plot moving. And the best thing is that this prologue isn't even 30 pages long. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jiriki Posted February 10, 2014 Share Posted February 10, 2014 The foreword to Williams' The Dragonbone Chair is so distinctive that I still remember, to this day, exactly where I was sitting when I first read it in November 1988. "The book of the mad priest Nisses is large, say those who have held it, and as heavy as a small child," it begins, as the narrator discusses Mad Nisses' heretical manuscript, in his own manuscript, which is in The Dragonbone Chair. Books within books... within books. :) I was hooked by the end of the foreword. Now, I know most people won't find a discussion of old, dusty books inside other dusty books (which are themselves in a book) "gripping", but I think it's amazing, and something you rarely see in modern Fantasy literature. The opening chapter, with its echoes of Gormenghast, cemented my love for the series. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ferrum Aeternum Posted February 10, 2014 Share Posted February 10, 2014 The prologue of The Blade Itself starring Logen and the Flatheads is my favorite. So visceral and immediate, and thus readily visualized. The Darkness that Comes Before prologue is brilliant in that without revealing too much (at least to the uninitiated reader) it sets the tone for the entire series and the world it takes place within. I had no idea what the fuck was going on but was hooked anyway. Agree that the opening chapter (Bran I) in A Game of Thrones is a fantasy fiction masterpiece, whereas the prologue is pretty meh. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Happy Ent Posted February 11, 2014 Share Posted February 11, 2014 When you folks talk about the Darkness, which one to you mean? “Young boy encounters Bard” or “Monk destroys a book.”? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gaston de Foix Posted February 15, 2014 Author Share Posted February 15, 2014 I'd be interested to hear sci-fi examples as well, although beyond the scope of my original post. I've read very little sci-fi, but I did like the "Robbie" chapter in I, Robot. That's how badly read I am. re Game of Thrones, I'm ashamed to admit I had forgotten the prologue and was thinking of the first Bran chapter. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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