There’s something to be said for a good first impression, and this is true of books as well as people. The first few pages — and certainly the first chapter — have crucial work to accomplish: snagging the reader’s interest, introducing them to some characters, and generally giving them a good idea of the world, mood, and events that will follow. Done well, first chapters can be shepherd’s crooks that take you by the throat, jerk you out of frame of the real world, and pull you head-first into literary exhilaration.
Given the importance of first chapters, I was immediately taken with the idea of the First Chapter Frenzy reading challenge, in which you read the first chapter of five different books you’d like to read, then move forward with the one that captured your interest the most.
So tonight, I’m embarking on my very own First Chapter Frenzy. Come along for the journey and see how the openings of my five chosen books perform.
Disclosure: Please note that some of the following links are affiliate links, meaning we earn from qualifying purchases — at no extra cost to you. We are an affiliate of Bookshop.org and will earn a commission if you click through and make a purchase. You’ll also be supporting local literature access, as Bookshop.org gives over 80% of its profit margin to independent bookstores. Thank you for your support!
The Contenders
For this First Chapter Frenzy, I’ll be reading the first chapter of the following five books:
- Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke: Set in 19th-century England, this is an epic historical fantasy novel following two rival magicians bringing magic back to England and changing history as they go. I’ve heard great things about this one and it sounds right up my alley, so I’m eager to finally give it a read!
- You Dreamed of Empires by Álvaro Enrigue: This is a translated work from Mexican author Álvaro Enrigue. Described as a “hallucinatory, revelatory colonial revenge story,” You Dreamed of Empires is a literary historical fiction novel that reimagines Hernán Cortés’s encounter with the Aztec emperor Moctezuma in 1519. My curiosity was piqued by a Washington Post blurb that called the novel “an alternate history of Mexican conquest, with a Tarantino-ready twist.” On top of that, when I picked up the paperback in a bookstore, a woman standing near me exclaimed that she’d been waiting for someone to pick that up, and proceeded to tell me how much she’d enjoyed it. She said she’d found it a little slow at first, but that it went completely crazy by the halfway point. I thanked her for the recommendation and now I’m excited to see what lies in wait!
- Still Life by Louise Penny: This is a police procedural mystery that’s often described as cozy. It follows Inspector Armand Gamache of the Surêté du Québec as he investigates the death of one Jane Neal — and the secrets uncovered in her idyllic town. I actually decided to pick up this book because I came across the TV show based on it, “Three Pines,” in which Alfred Molina plays Armand Gamache. I so enjoyed the show, its unique protagonist, and the First Nations perspectives it incorporated, that I decided to try the book series to see what it was like. It’s been a while since I’ve seen the show, so the details are no longer fresh in my mind and I expect that I’ll still be surprised by the revelations throughout the novel.
- The Terror by Dan Simmons: The Terror is a historical horror novel that provides an imagined explanation for the famous lost Franklin expedition, in which the titular ship HMS Terror and her sister ship Erebus became stuck in the ice while searching for the Northwest Passage through the Arctic. I’ve long been fascinated with nautical history, the Arctic, and expeditions in general, so this checks all my boxes!
- The Devil and the Dark Water by Stuart Turton: A historical murder mystery set on a ship traveling from the Dutch East Indies to Amsterdam in 1634, The Devil and the Dark Water follows an investigative duo that attempts to discover the truth behind bizarre, apparently supernatural incidents on board the ill-fated voyage. This is Stuart Turton’s second novel. I read and thoroughly enjoyed his first, The Seven and a Half Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle, so I’m reasonably confident that Turton will continue to deliver.
Without further ado, let’s start reading!
Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke
The prose, oh, the prose! Clarke’s writing is delightfully old-fashioned, perfectly suiting the time period of the novel. The adherence to older language conventions and spellings — “connexions,” “any one,” “shewed” as the past tense of “show,” etc. — gives the work a very immersive and realistic feel. I also thoroughly enjoyed the footnotes relating to various in-universe texts, which create a scholarly air while also injecting some delightful humor (see, for instance, the page below that’s almost entirely taken up by the footnote).
While the language of the book and the approach itself hooked me the most, the first chapter did introduce some interesting characters as well — particularly the mysterious titular character, Mr. Norrell. I’m definitely curious as to where the plot will take us, but mostly, I’m excited to sink back into this luscious old-fashioned world and spend some time steeped in these pages.
Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell is a hefty book (coming in at 846 pages), and I genuinely look forward to the hours of happy enjoyment those pages promise. Plus, there’s just something so satisfying about the physicality of reading through a good thick tome.
You Dreamed of Empires by Álvaro Enrigue
The beginning of this book includes “A Note to English-Language Readers,” which is a copy of the author’s note to his translator, Natasha, explaining some of the language within. Enrigue provides some helpful guidance for the pronunciation of some of the more unfamiliar names and shows a very interesting approach to his language choices. “I’m a writer and words matter to me,” he writes at the end of the note. “They may signify and signal, but I believe they also invoke.”
This helpful and intriguing note is followed by a possibly even more helpful list of characters, which I’m sure I’ll be referring to as I read. While the note at the beginning certainly piqued my interest, the unfamiliarity of the language did admittedly give me some pause, but I resolved to allay any doubts and plunge on with the novel.
I’m so glad I did! You Dreamed of Empires is visceral and evocative from page one, with strong smells and tastes leaping off the page at once — from the pleasant, such as “chocolate frothed in water with honey, chile, and vanilla” to the decidedly less pleasant (and gruesome). We start in the perspective of Jazmín Caldera, third in command in Cortés’s expedition, and we soon learn that the expedition is actually there under false pretenses. What do they want? The opening creates gripping questions right off the bat.
Next, we are getting the conversation of different people around the table at a feast, but also the words of the translators; conversation between the Spaniards and the Nahua has to pass through a double filter of translation, from Castilian to Maya by one translator and Maya to Nahuatl by another — and vice versa. Readers are privy to not only the characters’ actual speech, but their attempts to disguise certain comments from the other parties, and the willful mistranslations on the part of the translators. This darkly comic interchange shows that everyone has their own agenda and sets the stage for a clash of cultures and purposes that feels like a powder keg waiting to blow.
I’m honestly surprised by how much I enjoyed this opening and I’m immensely interested to see where this goes next; I have no clue, and I love it.
Still Life by Louise Penny
The novel starts off, as it should, with the lead investigator, Armand Gamache, at the scene of the crime — the murder of Jane Neal. Though we get hardly a page of time with Gamache, it’s clear that he’s not your typical hard-boiled, jaded detective character, but a surprisingly soft sort of soul. I’m definitely interested to return to his perspective and see how the investigation moves forward.
After Gamache’s introduction, we move into a closer look at the lives of Jane and her fellow townspeople a few days before her murder. At this point, we’re still getting beautiful scenery and some pretty cozy vibes, but the small town and character-focused nature of the narrative at this point makes it start to feel more slice-of-life, and certainly more emotional — which is exactly what some readers love, but admittedly isn’t really my cup of tea or the kind of work I gravitate toward. However, it’s certainly not a bad thing to dip your toes into different waters.
Though I’m interested to see where things go when we return to Gamache’s perspective, I found that I haven’t quite warmed to the book yet. I’ll be giving it more time to win me over for sure, but as First Chapter Frenzies are all about the immediate hook, I’m forced to admit that Still Life is ultimately not a standout contender.
The Terror by Dan Simmons
Wow, this one surprised me! Immediately, the prose is direct and punchy, reading like a thriller. It’s not what I expected from a historical novel; I was expecting more slow and long-winded language, more akin to the style of Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell. But this surprisingly high-impact prose is really working for me, breathing a lot of life and high urgency into this historical horror.
I was surprised again on page two — by the forceful personality of the point-of-view (POV) character, Captain Crozier. Again, I expected something more restrained and objective, but what we’re getting here instead is personal, prejudiced, private perspective. We are solidly and undeniably in Crozier’s POV, with his opinions, language, temper, and more coloring the narrative landscape here.
I was also impressed by the excellent attention to detail. All the little things, from the crew avoiding touching metal in the cold, to the crew’s hand-knit gloves and scarves from home, make the setting incredibly immersive. I also noted that the sense of isolation — even from the Terror‘s sister ship, Erebus — is very well done, oppressive and thick.
One chapter in, I know I’m in store for a gritty, visceral, and unflinching tale that’s not for the faint of heart.
The Devil and the Dark Water by Stuart Turton
The first chapter of The Devil and the Dark Water was quite short, but it opened with an illuminating look at an interesting pair of friends, Lieutenant Arent Hayes and now-imprisoned Sammy Pipps. Their friendship warmed me to the story right away, and the short chapter ended with a very ominous pronouncement that foreboded a lot of tragedy for the Amsterdam-bound ship, the Saardam.
From this brief introduction, I’ve been decently hooked by both the friendship of Arent and Sammy and by the dark events that are surely ready to fall upon the crew and passengers of the Saardam as they make their way to Amsterdam. Although I’m confident I’ll enjoy The Devil and the Dark Water and I do look forward to reading it, the first chapter didn’t grab me by the throat as much as some of these other entries did, so while it’s still high on my TBR, it won’t be the one out of these five that I’ll pick up again first.
Winner: You Dreamed of Empires
After reading the openings of these five books, I find myself most itching to return to Álvaro Enrigue’s You Dreamed of Empires. The Terror was a close second, as I was surprised — in a good way — by its tone and approach, but I’m ultimately going with You Dreamed of Empires because those crucial first pages magnetized me the most. The book’s opening left me deeply curious about the characters and their intentions; I feel certain that the chaotic clash of personalities and purposes will soon explode into treachery and violence. I have no notion of where the plot is going except, surely, to disaster, and as a reader, I’m unable to look away. The brevity of the work — it comes in at a breezy 219 pages — also encourages me to dive into it, knowing I’m not committing myself to a long-haul kind of read, but what I’m instead expecting to be a vibrant, unusual, and distinctly memorable whirlwind.
This First Chapter Frenzy challenge has been such a fun way to sample some of the reads on my TBR, and I’d definitely encourage you to try it yourself — particularly if you’re a mood reader and would like to taste some flavors before deciding on a scoop.
As for me, I’m off to dive back into Tenochtitlan in 1519. See you on the other side!
Thank you for exploring with us! Until next time, may the pages and paths ahead of you be great.
