He was a big fan of the power of the first line. You can really see it in a lot of his books.

His last ever book started with

“The two craft met within the blast-shadow of the planetary fragment called Ablate, a narrow twisted scrue of rock three thousand kilometres long and shaped like the hole in a tornado.”

Or maybe it’s the second para. I haven’t got my copy on me. But I memorised the last bit on the spot.