Did you know that Amazon has a list of the top-selling and free sci-fi and fantasy books? The list changes constantly — authors and publishers set their books to free temporarily to promote their work, and, of course, books move up and down in the rankings. Read on to find your fun free read for this weekend! And grab the books quickly because they don’t always stay free for long.
This week’s list is completely different from those of the previous weeks. So if you’re a fan of free books, there are going to be new things to read all the time. If you want to get this list in your inbox every Friday afternoon, subscribe to the MetaStellar weekly newsletter.
There are a lot of books to go through, so this week I’m being helped out by a couple of other members of our MetaStellar community. If you’d like to join me in doing these reviews — and taping our regular Free Friday videos — email me at maria@metastellar.com.
5. Lunaria by Kara Douglas
This is the first of two books in The Unraveled Fate romantic fantasy series. The other book is $2.99 and it’s in Kindle Unlimited. This is the author’s first time on our Free Friday list.
From E.S. Foster:
This story focuses on Amira, a young daughter of one of the royal merchants of the king. She’s forced to spend her days in the regiment training camps with her father, mostly acting as a servant.
She gets to the market one morning, but her father sends a guard after her to keep her from finding any opportunity to escape or otherwise get out of line. As a merchant’s daughter, the villagers either pity her or fear her with not much in between.
When Amira returns to the camp, she stares at the young recruits, wishing she could train as a soldier just to escape her boring life. Her friend Opal also shows up and insists that finding a husband will be the perfect way to escape their old routines.
Through it all, Amira starts losing hope that things are going to change and that her life will get more exciting.
But bigger things are put into motion. The king unexpectedly announces that every nobleman and woman is invited to the court for a huge matchmaking event. Finally, a chance for Amira to find some adventure.
However, her father is more concerned about status, meaning Amira is still under his control. She’s going to have to figure out how to survive all the political intrigue, especially when the presence of magic, dormant for hundreds of years, suddenly occurs.
I will say that this book was very slow when I read it. The first few chapters established Amira’s everyday life and how she longed for something better, but besides that, nothing that might advance the plot occurred. I enjoyed Amira as a character, and I couldn’t help rooting for her, especially when she challenges the soldiers to sparring matches out of spite. Ultimately, I don’t think I’ll continue with this book.
Get the Kindle ebook free from Amazon here.
4. Court of Tricksters by S. L. Prater
This is the first of five books in the Fae Tricksters romantasy series. The other books are $4.99 each, and are all in Kindle Unlimited. This is the author’s first time on our Free Friday list.
From Maria Korolov:
Rain is in the woods with her demon familiar, who’s in the form of a tiny fluffy cat. The animals stay away from her because they instinctively fear witches, and she’s a witch. A fae witch. She’s in the woods to meet a mysterious man. She’s been seeing him for nearly a month, even though she doesn’t even know his name. She’s hardly spoken to him. She doesn’t know how — she’s been living in the woods alone for far too long.
She’s been giving him gifts, and he’s brought her gifts as well — sweets, flowers, little mementos.
But tonight, she senses the stress of a woman she knows, a tavern owner. So she turns around, and, instead of going to meet the guy, she goes to help the woman.
When Rain gets to the tavern, she tells her familiar to hide and goes inside. The tavern owner explains why she called for her — there’s a customer, part dragon and part fae, who refuses to leave and is keeping other customers away.
Rain uses her magic and a demon weapon to resolve the situation. There’s another customer, upstairs, also causing trouble. Rain throws him out the window.
Rain used to a be a fae warrior, and she’s got skills.
She’s making sure that everyone is okay when someone pulls up outside in a coach and a crowd gathers. It’s her mystery man, and he’s all dressed up. In fact, he’s really dressed up. Dressed like royalty. And the tavern owner tells Rain who is is — the Fae Duke of Night. Rain has foolishly set her sights on the most unobtainable man in the area. She feels like a complete idiot. Then she wonders what the duke was doing visiting her in secret at night.
I really really like Rain. Her familiar is great. I love this setting and Rain’s relationships with the local mortal humans.
Then, in the next chapter, we switch to the duke’s point of view.
Turns out, he’s obsessed with the witch he’s been visiting every night and is concerned that she didn’t meet him this night.
Apparently, he thinks that the witch is a solution to the war that’s looming between the two fae courts. Meanwhile, the rulers of the two warring courts each want the duke to pick their side in the conflict, to marry the woman they choose for him, and to sire a brood of future mages.
His coach has come to a stop because there’s a half-naked guy sprawled in the street. The same one Rain threw out the window.
The duke gets out of the coach, sees that the half-naked guy is drunk, and goes into the tavern where he demands to see the witch — but she’s hiding. He can sense that she’s there somewhere.
I hate the premise. It’s so cliché. But I love the characters and the setting. And it’s not like I’m one to talk about cliché premises. Clichéd premises is my favorite genre. I might stick with the book this weekend.
Get the Kindle ebook free from Amazon here.
3. Crown of Earth and Sky by Emberly Ash
This is the first of four books in the Secrets of the Faerie Crown series, a retelling of the King Arthur story. The other books are $5.99 each, and they are all in Kindle Unlimited. The last book in the series will be published in November. This is the author’s first time on our Free Friday list.
From E.S. Foster:
In this world, Prince Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table possess elemental magic. Protecting non-magic users is everyone’s top priority. But Arthur’s mysterious twin sister Veyka learned long ago that she needed to protect herself, especially after being locked away because she wasn’t heir to the throne.
Now it’s almost time for the royal Court to convene for Arthur’s marriage to one of the non-faeries. Here, both the faerie and non-faerie kingdoms are meant to unite to please the ancient Ancestors.
Veyka is forced to join, but she doesn’t see any point in bringing up all the formalities. She knows that the elementals and the “terrestrials” are just doomed to fight each other forever. Thankfully, she’s safe from any politics and deception since her brother is about to become king.
But during the celebration, Veyka sees a mysterious light floating around the room, though it disappears before she can figure it out. Moments later, the lights go out, and the court erupts into chaos. Veyka is dragged outside for her own safety, but not before hearing the news that her brother has been assassinated.
Now she’s meant to become Queen of the Elemental Fae, but Veyka knows that something is up. The deception in the court clearly goes much deeper than anyone thought, and things are only going to get worse when her new betrothed shows up.
Right off the bat, I thought that this was a cool idea. King Arthur with fire powers sounded amazing, even if he was killed off in the first chapter. I also liked Veyka as a character because of how resourceful and witty she was. It was fun getting into her head, especially when she complained about all of the other characters (for good reason, it turns out). I think I might stick around with this series to see where it goes!
Get the Kindle ebook free from Amazon here.
2. The Night Market by Jesikah Sundin
This is a standalone novel in the Bound By Ravens romantasy universe. The other novel in this universe is $2.99 but is in Kindle Unlimited. The author has been on this list before, with the other book in this series, Bound by Ravens. We reviewed that book back in September of 2023.
From Maria Korolov:
Filena is destined to spend the night in a small, over-heated tent telling fortunes to strangers while baking to death in layers of satin, lace, and corsetry. Even her red fox familiar is annoyed.
Why is she trapped in this fae caravan? Because they discovered her family secret when she was 14, and she’s been their property ever since. The secret was that the women in Filena’s family were seers, though they could not control their magic. Filena also can’t see her own future.
But she doesn’t mind being owned by the fae too much. If it wasn’t the fae who owned her, it would be her oldest male relative, and she’d rather die than see that happen. Her father had sold her into marriage and her mother, after seeing a vision, sent her and her brother away to find safety.
Then a handsome fae comes in for a reading, bringing a dessert as payment instead of money. Filena has known him for years and seems to have a crush on him. But he only wants to know one thing — does his mate love him back? She sees a vision but instead of telling him the truth, she makes jokes, instead. In her visions, she sees that there’s a woman who will be the fae’s true mate, but she can’t see her face. But she knows when they will meet, and the challenges they will face.
I’m guessing that Filena herself must be this true mate, otherwise she won’t be the protagonist of the book. But, of course, the fae she has a crush on can’t be with her because she’s only human.
Then, in chapter three, we switch to the fae guy’s point of view. Ah ha, I was right! They will wind up together — otherwise, he wouldn’t also be a viewpoint character. And we discover that he also has a crush on Filena. In fact, he knows that she is his true mate and that the gods have decided that they should be together. But he’s forbidden from marrying outside his kind.
So there’s the premise, and romance is definitely the heart of the story.
But I like Filena very much. I like her relationships with the people around her, and her sense of humor and spunk. And the guy’s okay, too. I know I don’t like romance, but this book is fun and readable, and I love the setting. I might stick with it.
Get the Kindle ebook free from Amazon here.
1. Queen of Roses by Briar Boleyn
This is the first of four books in the Blood of a Fae romantasy series. The other books are $5.99 each, but are all in Kindle Unlimited. This is the author’s first time on our Free Friday list.
From Maria Korolov:
Things haven’t changed much since my last book review. I still have a cold, cold heart — and this book is yet another fantasy romance. Or romantasy, if you will.
We first meet Morgan when she’s hiding under her mother’s bed, reading a book about magical creatures. She’s five years old, and it’s her favorite spot in the castle.
Then she witnesses her mean, alcoholic father beat her mother to death, claiming that she tricked him into a faerie marriage.
The next chapter begins fifteen years later. The princess is all grown up, and in training to be a knight. There are fewer female knights than there used to be, thanks to the fact that her evil brother is now ruler of the kingdom.
Her best friend is also in training to become a knight and wants Morgan to go out to a tavern with her.
The best friend, who is gay, has her eye on a barmaid. Morgan prefers men, and the friend hopes to find someone for her.
As the two of them walk outside they bump into a stranger. Tall, with broad shoulders and a muscular frame, who’s rude to Morgan. She doesn’t know who he is, and he must not recognize her as the king’s sister.
She later learns that he’s a new recruit.
Then, while her friends go to the tavern without her, Morgan heads to the throne room, where the king is about to judge the fate of a captive, a half-fae boy, arrested for stealing an apple.
The king accuses the boy of being a spy, and nobody dares to disagree with him. The punishment for theft is the loss of a hand. The punishment for being a spy is death.
The king’s high priestess intercedes, suggesting that the boy might have some abilities that would make him a good acolyte. But the king orders execution, anyway.
So that’s the premise — evil who’s the king, prejudice against those with fae blood, and Morgan herself has some fae ancestry. But that’s not all. The name of the high priestess? Merlin. The evil brother’s name? Arthur. Morgan’s best friend? Lancelet. This is a retelling of the King Arthur story, but from a very different point of view — and with very different themes altogether.
And I like it. The story is strong, the premise fascinating, and the characters compelling. And the writing is extremely readable. I can see why the author is a USA Today bestseller. I think I’ll stick with it this weekend.
Get the Kindle ebook free from Amazon here.
See all the Free Friday posts here. Do you have other free books for us to check out? Comment below or email me at maria@metastellar.com.
Have you read any of these books? Are you planning to? Let us know in the comments!
Or watch Maria and Emma discuss all five books in the video below!
MetaStellar editor and publisher Maria Korolov is a science fiction novelist, writing stories set in a future virtual world. And, during the day, she is an award-winning freelance technology journalist who covers artificial intelligence, cybersecurity and enterprise virtual reality. See her Amazon author page here and follow her on Twitter, Facebook, or LinkedIn, and check out her latest videos on the Maria Korolov YouTube channel. Email her at maria@metastellar.com. She is also the editor and publisher of Hypergrid Business, one of the top global sites covering virtual reality.
E. S. Foster is a writer and graduate student at the University of Cambridge. Her work has been featured in a variety of literary journals and small presses. You can find out more about her and what she does at her blog, E. S. Foster.