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. Breeder by Cara Bristol
This is the first of three books in the Breeder sci-fi romance series. The other books are $4.99 each, but are both in Kindle Unlimited. This author is a regular on our Free Friday list.
From E.S. Foster:
Just to be clear: this is not something I would ever think of reading, and I could only get through a little bit of this book before I couldn’t take it anymore.
As I expected, the story was graphic, and the woman in this situation is treated like an animal. So right off the bat, I won’t be continuing with this one.
This story takes place on a different planet, run by men, one of which is considered an “alpha.” Dax, the alpha goes to this prison to find a woman who can produce him an heir, literally called a “breeder.” So you can imagine how this culture feels about women. It’s the fact that this book was written by a woman that I especially don’t understand.
But anyway. The guy in charge brings Dax to Omra, who I’m guessing is supposed to be the love interest, though I use the term loosely. Dax spends most of the time checking to make sure that she’s “fit” for whatever he plans to do to her, which I won’t elaborate on.
He also notes that Omra is defiant, which he plans to discipline her for. At one point, he whips her because, you know, she doesn’t want to be handled. Omra does manage to bite Dax, so at least she fights back. After deliberating, Dax decides to buy Omra.
I stopped there. I’m not a fan of this genre. I don’t even like romance all that much unless it’s a good wholesome story of mutual respect and sharing each other’s interests. These genres seem to be popular, including among women. Either way, I won’t judge whether you decide to pick this book up or not.
Get the Kindle ebook free from Amazon here.
4. The Bone Trap by Tormod Cockburn
This is the first of nine books in the Mysterious Scotland sci-fi mystery series. The other books are $2.99 to $4.99 each, but are all in Kindle Unlimited. The last book isn’t out yet — it’s scheduled to be released in March and is available for preorder. This is the author’s first time on our Free Friday list.
From Luciana Alioto:
It is hard to establish the genre of this novel from its initial three chapters, but if you’re looking for mystery, it’s definitely worth checking this one out.
The book starts off with a couple of prologues, introducing us to the adventure that the novel will explore. The author does a good job at weaving the plot right from the start, without giving too much away. A murder. A research breakthrough. That’s all we are given to dive into this story.
We are soon introduced to our main character, Gill, a professor at the University of St. Andrews, who seems to be at a low point in his life where not much is going his way. He has somehow compromised his academic career progression, and similarly, his love life is on the rocks.
We meet him when he further receives another blow — he has not been selected for some big thing he applied for.
His mentor cannot pull the strings to undo his past, and instead refers Gill for a gig that doesn’t necessarily align with his research goals.
And he’s off, to investigate a skull and to figure what mysterious creature a skull belongs to — and how it’s connected to a murder.
I was honestly swept away by Cockburn’s writing style. The descriptive language conveys everything in such a way that you feel like you are right next to Gill, at the pub, on the train, on the ferry. Also, despite having only read the first three chapters, it is evident that the story is very well researched, this combined with the alluring writing style, makes this book one that will immediately go in my to-be-read list.
Get the Kindle ebook free from Amazon here.
3. Fragile Threads by JB Landrey
This is the first of three books in The Ties That Bind post-apocalyptic romance series. The other books are $3.99 each, but are both in Kindle Unlimited. This is the author’s first time on our Free Friday list.
From Maria Korolov:
Abigail is a third-grade teacher with a six-month-old son. She lives in a city, surrounded by skyscrapers, and wishes for a small-town life. She also helps the homeless.
She’s got a particular interest in Blake, a vet who lives in a tent camp with only his dog for company, drinking away his pain.
The second chapter is told from Blake’s point of view, which makes me think that he and Abigail are eventually going to get together.
Over the course of the next couple of chapters, we get more insights into their respective lives. Abigail is a single mom, taking care of her son. Blake hears other homeless people talking about how the end of the world is coming. That there’s going to be an EMP attack that takes out all electronics and civilization will come crashing down.
Oh, no! This is an EMP book!
Anyway, the book moves slowly at the beginning. I’m seven chapters in now and there’s still no apocalypse. Not that I’m anxious for it to start.
But the book is readable, and both Abigail and Blake are compelling characters. I’m interested in how Abigail will resolve the tension with her son’s grandparents — they want her to live closer to them, so they can see the baby more often. And whether Blake can get a handle on his drinking and his survivor’s guilt.
If you like slow-paced, emotional stories set in the middle of an apocaplyse, you might like this one. I’m not sticking with it, though — I prefer my escapist reading to be a bit less like real life.
Get the Kindle ebook free from Amazon here.
2. Rescued by Bears by Skye MacKinnon
This is the first of three books in the Claiming Her Bears reverse harem paranormal romance series. The other books are $4.99 each, and are not in Kindle Unlimited. This author has been on our Free Friday list before.
From Maria Korolov:
So, first, my usual disclaimer. I’m not a fan of romance, reverse-harems, or shape-shifters — unless they’re involved in some romance-free plot. Yes, I have a cold, cold heart.
If you like paranormal romance and want to get into the whole reviewing books thing, drop us a line! We need you!
Anyway, on to the book.
The prologue tells us that there’s been an apocalypse. The sea levels rose faster than expected. London and New York sank, soon followed by Berlin and Mumbai. Society got thrown back to the middle ages, for unexplained reasons, and there are no more universities or banks or computers. Girls now marry at 14 and are supposed to have as many children as possible.
So that’s the setup. In the first chapter, we meet Isla, who lives on an island, her parents dead, her evil uncle in full control of her life. And he’s about to marry her off to one of the worst men on the island. It’s the middle of winter, and the water is frozen, so she walks out onto the ice. And she keeps walking, even though she almost freezes to death, until she reaches land again and collapses.
When she wakes up, she’s warm — and alive. She in a wooden house, wrapped up in furs, next to a roaring fire. Then a hot guy comes in. His name is Finn, and he tells her that he and his friends found her on the beach. She tells him her story, and then she sees a big brown bear through the window and screams. The bear runs away, and Finn tells Isla that the bears aren’t dangerous.
Then another big, hot, muscular guy comes in. They feed her, and she goes back to sleep. The next time she wakes up she’s in an attic. She’s about to go downstairs when she hears the men talking. They’re discussing whether she suspects anything about who they really are — and how long they can stay in their human forms. Without shifting into bears.
She’s terrified they’re keeping her around so that they can eat her. So she climbs out the window and jumps off the roof.
So that’s the premise. Isla is trapped on an island with were-bears. Who are very sexy in their human forms. And they’re nice to her and listen to her and feed her — unlike her uncle and the other men on her home island. I’d bet money that she’s going to fall in love with all of them and they’re going to setting down into some kind of group relationship. It’s a safe bet, I think. “Reverse harem romance” is right there in the book’s subtitle.
I’m not going to stick with it, but the writing is engaging, Isla is a sympathetic character, the bears are hot, and there’s definitely a promise of sexy times.
Get the Kindle ebook free from Amazon here.
1. Stranded by Shawn Inmon
This is the first of three books in the Lost Eden – A Portal Fiction Adventure series. The other books are $4.99 each, and are not in Kindle Unlimited. The last book isn’t out yet — it’s scheduled to be released in March and is available for preorder. This author has been on our Free Friday list before.
From E.S. Foster:
I’ve only recently started to get into prehistoric fiction, so I was excited to read this one. It begins with two brothers, Ben and Barney, as well as a guide, in some sort of giant cave. They come across a dinosaur, which prepares to attack because it feels threatened. Ben and Barney prepare to shoot.
The story then cuts to one week earlier, with Ben in Uruguay. Despite all of the dangers of wildlife, he’s happy to be in the middle of nowhere and spends his time putting his numerous PhDs to good use. Suddenly he gets a phone call.
His brother Barney is on the other end. He explains that he has something that Ben would be interested in seeing in Fairbanks, Alaska, and he’s sending a helicopter to get him. Ben isn’t too thrilled about the idea since he likes being in remote corners of the world. After a hike, however, he makes it to where the helicopter waits and begins a journey to Alaska.
Side note: I have no idea how far helicopters typically travel, but this seemed like a huge distance.
Ben makes it to Fairbanks, where he reunites with Barney and enters a strange building. Barney introduces him to the guide from before, Gord, and then takes him to a cage. Inside the cage is a stuffed dinosaur like a pterodactyl. However, it doesn’t fit the description of what that dinosaur would have looked like a long time ago. Barney also has evidence that it was only recently killed — maybe a few years ago.
Ben doesn’t really believe any of this is real. He thinks Barney was just duped into spending the last of his money. But Barney shows him one last thing: a giant telescope that points to a wormhole. It looks like this wormhole is the gateway to a lost world filled with the strange dinosaurs.
I really liked the concept of this story, especially the fact that it included new kinds of dinosaurs and introduced a more traditional sci-fi element with the wormhole. I think I might stick with this story to see what happens.
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.
Luciana Alioto is a graduate student at the University of Essex, studying translation, interpreting and subtitling. She loves reading a variety of genres, including classical retellings, fantasy, romance, feminist essays and philosophy works. After completing her law degree, she is now pursuing a career in publishing as an aspiring editor and literary translator.
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