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. The Serpent Stairs by Dan Michaelson and D.K. Holmberg
This is the first of seven books in the Essence Wielder coming-of-age magic academy fantasy series. The other books are $4.99 to $5.99 each, but are all in Kindle Unlimited. The seventh book isn’t out yet, but is scheduled for release this coming November and is available for pre-order. Both authors have been on our Free Friday list before, multiple times.
From Lilivette Domínguez-Torres:
Dax Nelson is a man raised at the border of the Empire and the Unclaimed Lands where powerful monsters prowl. In the first few chapters, we get to meet Dax’s family and see how they survive by fighting the monsters that try making their way past the border and selling their remains to alchemists.
Almost everyone in his family wields a fire essence, which means that they’re warriors — all except for Dax’s sister Megan. After Megan’s testing, she ended up claiming a wind essence and becoming a scholar at the Academy, something that bothered Dax’s father.
Knowing this, Dax can’t help feeling anxious about his own testing. He’s the only one left in his family who hasn’t claimed his essence yet and maybe meeting his father’s expectations of becoming a warrior just like him will be harder than he thought. After all, he’s not really sure of what he even wants for himself or for his future, he’s basically just training his hardest and hoping for the best at this point — which makes the beginning of this story actually pretty interesting and captivating.
This looks like a story with an interesting magic system that will leave you wanting more — just like it did to me.
The writing feels great right from the beginning but I do think there’s a few things missing like proper descriptions of characters and things that could help us visualize the world better.
But it’s still a pretty entertaining story and I think I will be sticking to this one and I definitely recommend it to those out there looking for a new, fast-moving fantasy story with magic, monsters and probably a lot of mysteries.
Get the Kindle ebook free from Amazon here.
4. Ninth Planet by Jason Palmer
This a short story collection and not part of a series, but if you like the author’s style, he’s got a few other books up on Amazon, all of which are in Kindle Unlimited. This is the author’s first time on our Free Friday list.
From Maria Korolov:
This is a pretty hefty volume of stories. By page count, it’s the longest book on this list, not counting the box sets. It contains nine short stories, but I’d be more inclined to call them novellas, instead.
The first story starts in the near future, with Griffin and Linda traveling cross-country on a motorcycle. They stop at a truck stop about twenty miles from the city that is their destination, far enough away for the bike’s self-driving system not to kick in. They go into the diner and order a milkshake. They’re revolutionaries of some kind, on their way to an important meeting.
Everything has electronics in it. Their clothes have tags in them that report their location. People get advertisements delivered right into their brains. Griffin seems to be upset by this.
The man in the booth next to them seems to be really enjoying those advertisements and, when passing by him, Griffin injects him with a needle. The man notices it, and tries to attack Griffin, so Linda sprays his face with self-defense spray, and they both leave the diner and get back on the bike.
We learn that the ads are being broadcast from towers, and whatever they did to the guy in the diner will mean that he can’t hear the ads anymore. And it seems that refusing to listen to ads is something you’re not supposed to do, maybe illegal, and can mark you as a terrorist.
As they drive, Griffin pulls up the news. We learn that there have been reports of a mysterious virus, possibly a genetically engineered bioterror, known as the “dead quiet” plague. I guess that’s what Griffin and Linda are spreading. Good for them.
We also learn that the terrorists have AIs working for them, disrupting broadcasts, creating traffic jams, and causing other havocs, while the government AIs try to shut them down.
It’s a very cool premise and definitely reads more like the beginning of a novella, or even a novel, rather than a short story. It reminds me a little bit of the movie Brazil. I like it and might read the rest this weekend.
Get the Kindle ebook free from Amazon here.
3. The Orb of Kandra by Morgan Rice
This is the second book in the four-book Oliver Blue and the School for Seers young adult fantasy series by a USA Today bestselling author. The other books are $4.99, and they are not available on Kindle Unlimited — but the first book in the series, The Magic Factory, is free today as well — and has over 2,500 star ratings. The author has been on our Free Friday list before.
From E.S. Foster:
This is the second book in this series, so there’s a lot to unpack. The story begins with Oliver who finds himself trapped in a cabinet. As he’s trying to figure out where he is, he realizes that he’s wearing an amulet that a professor gave him. It turns out this amulet allows him to travel through time, but only as long as it’s hot. So right now, with it being so cold, he’s unable to get back to a place called the School of Seers. Also, in the first book, Oliver caused some chaos by appearing in 1944 at one point.
But Oliver soon understands why he ended up there. He teleported with the amulet to a factory owned by Armando, a friend whose death he’s supposed to prevent. He goes to find his friend and comes across an old man. It looks like this guy wants to get rid of Armando. They both reach Armando’s office, where Oliver successfully thwarts the old man’s plan to poison his friend. The old man is then taken away.
The perspective then shifts to Malcolm, another young student. However, he’s at a rival school. He wants to make it his mission to destroy the one Oliver goes to. And with his gifts, he might do just that.
Back with Oliver, Armando gives him a compass that might have belonged to his parents. Not to be confused with the couple who raised him until he was taken to the Seers school. It turns out he was adopted, something Oliver wants to confirm before finding his real family. He heads to his old house, following the compass to get there.
While there, he confronts his adoptive parents about how they mistreated him before explaining that he’s leaving. He decides to head back to his old middle school and find his science teacher, believing that’s where the compass wants to take him.
So right off the bat, we got into the action with this one. Everything was really fast-paced, but it was easy to catch up with all the details from the first book. I enjoyed getting to know Oliver as a character, and Malcolm’s arc promises to be interesting. The writing is simple, with quite a bit of telling in it, so I don’t think I’ll stick with this one. But if you like books about magic and schools, check this series out!
Get the Kindle ebook free from Amazon here.
2. The Thorne Witches: Books 4 & 5 by T.M. Cromer
This is the fourth and fifth of 13 books in The Thorne Witches, a romantic cozy magical mystery series. The other books are $3.99 to $5.99 each, but are all in Kindle Unlimited. The 13th book isn’t out yet, but is scheduled for release this coming November and is available for pre-order. The author has been on our Free Friday list before.
From Maria Korolov:
I love cozy mysteries, so I grabbed this book for myself this morning. Then I realized that I’d be starting in the middle of the series, so went back and got the first book, Summer Magic, instead. That book is not free today, but it is in Kindle Unlimited — and I have a subscription.
The series promises small town cozy mysteries and lots and lots of magic, and the first book has over 9,000 star reviews, so I had very high hopes going into it.
So there are four sisters, all witches, living in a house together in a small town, and their names are Summer, Winter, Spring, and Autumn. Summer, our protagonist, is a veterinarian who, in addition to doing normal vet stuff, also rescues animals. When the book starts her elephant is taking a bath in a swimming pool belonging to the house next door. The owner of that house is the town sheriff, and he’s got a big problem with Summer’s menagerie and thinks it’s a public health hazard. Especially when her elephant and orangutan keep escaping and causing havoc.
Also, he and Summer dated briefly in high school and it didn’t end well, but each of them is still in love with the other one. But Summer is carrying a big grudge and acts accordingly and the sheriff is just a jerk and has always been a jerk and so is acting like a jerk. There are some funny shenanigans, including the sisters letting a herd of fainting goats loose in the town center to distract from how they’re going to levitate the elephant out of the pool.
But I’m several chapters in and it’s all been relationship drama. The sheriff has brothers and a cousin who are also in love with the other witch sisters but there are contrived reasons keeping them apart as well. We get a lot of romantic back story in between the animal-themed shenanigans and I’m sure most people are going to absolutely love it. But I’m here for the cozy murder, and I still haven’t seen a dead body. And all the sexual tension is making me cranky. So I don’t think I’m going to stick with this book or the series, but I recommend it highly to anyone who loves romantic comedies, misunderstandings, and fated lovers.
Get the Kindle ebook free from Amazon here.
1. Bridgers 1-3 by Stan C. Smith
This is the first three of six books in the Bridgers science fiction adventure series. The other books are $3.99 each and all in Kindle Unlimited. The author has been on our Free Friday list before, and we reviewed the prequel to the Bridgers series in February of 2023.
From Terrence Smith:
The first book in this box set starts well enough with a decent action scene, in which protagonist Infinity, along with a fellow guide and a tourist, are fending off Neanderthal hunters, but the prose did not enchant me. There was nothing really wrong with it, it described everything well, but that’s all it did. It was just, you know, “fine.”
The premise does sound interesting, though. A tourism company called SafeTrek provides guided trips to alternate versions of Earth that have branched off from our timeline at different points in history. This could be a great setup. But the question is, why is this a thing? How does this work, exactly? This is just for rich people looking for a thrill? Legitimate scientists used to be interested in it, but now it’s mostly just tourists.
It doesn’t help that the protagonist is fairly on the bland side. Infinity doesn’t have really any defining traits as opposed to being strong, tough, and snarky, as well as emotionally distant. I would have liked to see a bit more nuance and complexity in her, like what she’s thinking when she goes on these trips, why she got involved with this in the first place.
The critique of the patriarchy running SafeTrek is a bit on the nose as well. She and her tourist at the start of the book talk to four men, who are all staring at them naked. Their clothes disintegrate with each teleportation, and they can’t get their clothes back until the two of them are properly decontaminated.
The most interesting part of the story right now are the three young students, Xavier, Lenny, and Desmond, who want to see a version of Earth that branched off millions of years ago for a dissertation. I want to know exactly what they are studying, and what they hope to learn from it.
This book does seem like it could be an fascinating story, but as things stand, I cannot say that I will continue with this one.
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.
Terrence J. Smith is MetaStellar's assistant fiction editor. He has contributed his writing to nonprofits and both print and digital publications. He enjoys all things technology, but remembers to meditate and appreciate the outside world.
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.