Free Friday: Today’s top free Amazon sci-fi and fantasy books for Fri. 22, 2024

Reading Time: 9 minutes

Free Friday: Today’s top free Amazon sci-fi and fantasy books for November 22, 2024

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. A Lever And A Place To Stand by Andrew Stanek

A Lever and a Place to Stand is a standalone hard science fiction book by Andrew Stanek. It is currently free with Kindle Unlimited. This is the author’s first time on our Free Friday list.

From Maria Korolov:

This book starts slowly even though there’s an explosion in space in the first chapter. That’s because the explosion is only talked about. It then shifts to Peter’s perspective. As the book opens, Peter is a hero astronaut getting an award from the President. We hear him interviewed by a journalist and he talks about what happened up in space.

He was part of a crew sent up to repair a big telescope. There was an accident and an explosion and Peter had to act quickly to save everybody. But in the process, he was exposed to a large amount of radiation. When he returned to Earth, he was grounded, and his dreams are going back to the moon were shattered.

We see him as he goes home and chats with his father, who was also an astronaut whose dreams were cut short. After, he meets up with a friend of his who’s an astronomer. This friend tells him some secret information: a planet has been discovered. This planet is going to be swinging through the solar system, maybe even close enough for astronauts to visit.

Then Peter goes swimming in Australia and visits a bleached coral reef. While he’s down there he’s with another scientist friend who tells him about a plan to drill a boar hole deep into the Earth for scientific research. Then he visits another friend who has a plan for a space elevator. So we’re four chapters in and I get a little bit of a sense of who Peter is and the people around him but I don’t really understand yet why he’s the protagonist of the story or for that matter what the story actually is.

I kept reading. We finally find out what the problem is. That planet in the old cloud? It’s going to hit Earth in 100 years.

Congress holds hearings. One of the people testifying suggests that humans be evacuated to Mars. Then it’s Peter’s turn to speak and his suggestion is that they move the Earth instead. For some reason blowing up the incoming planet is not an option. You’d think that with 100 years late time you’d only need to move the incoming planet a little bit off its path for it to miss Earth completely – and you wouldn’t risk damaging the Earth by trying to move it!

Governments dither. Meanwhile, Peter is contacted by mysterious artificial intelligence on behalf of a mysterious benefactor who’s willing to spend an infinite amount of money on Peter’s project to move the Earth. Peter agrees to head up the project. In fact, he already knows three of the people he’s going to recruit – the space elevator guy, the borehole drilling scientist, and the astronomer.

I’m not really caught up in the story so far. It moves really slowly and with a deadline 100 years away I don’t think the pace is going to pick up.

I like my books at a bit faster pace. So I don’t think I’ll be sticking with it.

4. After the Blackout by Colton Lively

After the Blackout is a standalone EMP thriller by Colton Lively. It is currently free on Kindle Unlimited, and the author has been on our Free Friday list before.

From Alex Korolov:

Here’s another EMP book, where an electromagnetic pulse wipes out all electronic devices, including cell phones, computers, modern cars, and in the case of this story — planes.

In Chapter 1, Katy Sheets is sitting in a small plane with her husband Peter, who’s the pilot. Their twelve-year-old daughter Meredith is in the back of the craft with her friend. They’re flying over some hills in Tennessee when they hear a mayday called out over their radio.

In the next chapter, Peter tries to radio the closest airfield but gets no response. They notice a commercial airliner that’s flying nearby crash to the ground and explode. Just then, all the power in their own plane goes out. Peter prepares to emergency land the plane at a nearby airfield without any power.

In Chapter 3, Peter manages to get the plane on the ground, but it hits hard and starts tumbling. Katy is knocked unconscious as glass and metal shatters around her.

That’s as far as I got in this book. I’ve reviewed more than one EMP book that starts out in a plane that loses power, so there’s nothing new going on here. I like that the story starts out with a lot of action, but it doesn’t seem original in any way, so I don’t plan to keep reading this one.

3. The Last Pendragon Saga by Sarah Woodbury

This is the first of eight books in The Last Pendragon Saga series by Sarah Woodbury. The other books range from $0.99 to $3.99 and are not available on Kindle Unlimited. The author has been on our Free Friday list before.

From E.S. Foster:

This historical fantasy takes place in Wales during the Dark Ages. It starts with an old man who takes a baby from a queen, whose husband was just killed in battle. The old man is part of an ancient brotherhood, and he guesses that this baby might be the Chosen One. Unfortunately, he and the other brothers have tried to divine who the Chosen One might be, and so far, their picks haven’t been successful.

The old man is also able to see the future. He realizes that the person who killed the king will take over and possibly marry the queen. He doesn’t look forward to the coming reign, especially since it will be years before the child, a descendant of King Arthur, can return to claim the throne.

The story then shifts to Rhiann. Her father is the person from the beginning who killed the king and rose to power by forcibly marrying the queen. She mostly lives in fear of her father, and with the Saxons also causing chaos throughout the country, she’s learning how to lie low. In fact, she’s more of a maidservant than a princess.

Suddenly, the boy from the beginning of the story, Cadwaladr, is brought in by soldiers. He and the Queen actually acknowledge each other as mother and son. The new King berates him for losing his men in battle, though it’s clear that something treacherous happened for Cadwaladr to lose. The King orders his death for the next morning, despite Rhiann’s protests. After the boy is taken away, Rhiann wishes she could do something about it.

So I love reading historical fantasy, especially if it takes place in medieval times. But with this story, I admit that it took some time for me to figure out who was who. Also, a majority of the beginning is dedicated to explaining a lot of what’s going on, so it was a little slow for me. But if you enjoy historical fantasy and want to explore Dark Ages Wales, I recommend this series!

2. Obsolete Theorem by Stan C. Smith

This is the first of four books in the Across the Horizon series by Stan. C. Smith. The other books are $4.99 each and they are available on Kindle Unlimited. This is the author’s first time on our Free Friday list.

From Maria Korolov:

This is the first book in the series but as I started reading it I realized that it was awfully familiar. I’d already met Skyra, a Neanderthal woman living 50,000 years in the past. And I already met Lincoln, a scientist living in our near future.

And then I figured out what was going on. The book I read previously, Genesis Sequence, was a prequel to this series and features the same main characters. The series is about time travel. Lincoln, the scientist, figures out how to send drones back to the past. However, they don’t go back to his past – they actually go back into the past of a different universe.

And then the remains of one of his drones are found dating back to 50,000 years ago. So did the drone actually go back to his own past?

I’m wondering if a Lincoln from a different universe sent a drone back to the past of this one.

But there’s a message scratched on the drone. The message tells that Lincoln himself must go back in time to a particular location or all of humanity will be at risk.

Back in the past, Skyra’s sister has been captured by a group of humans and Skyra wants to rescue her. But there’s just one of her and several of them. Fortunately, she has one advantage – she can tell what someone’s about to do before they do it. In practice though, it doesn’t allow her to simultaneously fight a bunch of men at once.

Her sister has the same weird talent and, we learn, so does the future-day Lincoln.

I’m not going to tell you how the battle comes out in case you want to read the prequel book first. But as for myself, I don’t feel drawn into either one of the main characters. I do like the drone though, which is trying to keep Skyra alive. I remember the drone from the last book as well.

I don’t think that’s going to be enough to keep me reading this book, but if you’re interested in a thoughtful exploration of time travel physics and human-Neanderthal relationships, this could be an interesting one for you to pick up.

1. The Secret World of Maggie Grey by Granger

This is the first of two books in the Drew Collins series by Granger. The other book is $8.99 and it is available on Kindle Unlimited. This is the author’s first time on our Free Friday list.

From E.S. Foster:

This story begins with Maggie Grey, a college student who has gotten up in front of her class to read her essay on the Civil Rights movement. Because she hasn’t actually written anything, Maggie tells the story of her grandmother, who lived during that time.

She explains that once, her grandmother kept waking up to see people in the neighborhood walking down the street, but they would always disappear when she tried to meet them outside. The story then cuts to a flashback from the grandmother’s perspective.

One night, the grandmother and her cousin manage to sneak into the group and make for the town hall. When they arrive, the grandmother sits at a town meeting for an ancient magic society. A man comes up to the front of the stage and announces that he is a descendant of an important magical figure named Gaia. Then a group of people dressed in tribal clothing appears. Another group of beautiful women show up, and a member explains to the grandmother that they are sirens. Then the pastor and his wife show up. Maggie mentions elves, witches, vampires, and others that belong to this Black magical society.

One student interrupts, asking how this is relevant to the lecture. The professor, however, tells her to continue.

The story is narrated by the grandmother again. The people of the magical society are angry they can’t use their abilities to fight back against the hostile white people, including the KKK. The man at the podium proposes that everyone leave and create their own communities where they will be safe and able to practice magic.

Maggie explains her grandmother continued attending the meetings, and that the head of it all (the man who stood at the podium) eventually took advantage of her. Her grandmother gave birth to her mom, and now she is likely a vampire descendant. Not amused, the professor tells Maggie to meet her in his office.

I stopped reading at this part, but I really enjoyed what I have read so far! I think I might stick with this one because of all of the neat concepts the story has introduced. I also really like the character of Maggie. I recommend you check this one out!

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:

E. S. Foster

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 on her blog, E. S. Foster and her personal website E. S. Foster - Author

Maria Korolov

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.

Alex Korolov

MetaStellar news editor Alex Korolov is also a freelance technology writer who covers AI, cybersecurity, and enterprise virtual reality. His stories have also been published at CIO magazine, Network World, Data Center Knowledge, and Hypergrid Business. Find him on Twitter at @KorolovAlex and on LinkedIn at Alex Korolov.