(2/2): . . .
the call to action:
ARE YOU READY?

This blurb isn't trying to entice or convince a prospective reader. Instead, for a certain kind of knowing reader, its message is simply: this is for you.

You know, and the blurb knows you know.

(3/3): An inverted triangle blurb starts wide with the world and ends narrow with a single character and their problem.

Its argument: stories don't get any bigger, or more personal, than Dune . . .

(2/3): Then we narrow things by getting into the story: we're told about spice - key to how this universe works. The focus narrows still to one world, then one house and finally one man: the person that the universe and this story is all pointing towards . . .

(2/2) We have three paragraphs concerning three unpleasant men. But through them we glimpse a brutal, merciless and very violent world. A dark and dangerous world in which, perhaps, these men are the only good things in it.

Make it horrible. But also make us care.

(2/2) But look at the 2nd paragraph! Lots of seemingly unnecessary detail doing one crucial thing: it thoroughly humanises our protagonist. It gives you a sense of his life and his needs: comfort. For a book pitching a disreputable trade – murder – that mid-para proves to be the most important bit.

(2/2) . . . a man – Ryland Grace, Earth’s last chance, only he can’t remember his mission. These two elements are in tension: a big thing (human extinction) v a little thing (lonely Ryland is our last hope). The blurb has given way very little, but perhaps it has also said everything it needs to.

(2/2) ... like protagonist Zinzi. But the blurb doesn't tell you this. Instead, it sneaks intriguing details in under the guise of a Chandleresque mystery – 'sloth on her back', 'Zoo City', 'animal companions'. It's immersive, dropping you into its world. Its mysteries await the reader's discovery.