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. Elven House of Ivy by K. J. Dawson
This is the first of two books in the Realms of Alysatree romantic fantasy series. The other book is $5.99 each, and hasn’t been released yet, but is due out next week and is in Kindle Unlimited. This is the author’s first time on our Free Friday list.
From Hannah M:
The book opens with a map and a character list — a must-have for fantasy novels, and something I appreciated.
The prologue begins by detailing the beginning of creation. Alysatraee, Mother of Magic, fashions centaurs, elves, fae and humankind out of trees and roots. We are told the elves have the unique ability of immortality, where they can live a thousand years in the human realm. I enjoyed this section, as it ends with an ominous warning: that this ability can be corrupted.
In the first chapter, we meet Ivy, an elf on the run from Seekers, a group of corrupted humans. The Seekers are dedicated to seeking out something called elven seeds, which Ivy has. The seeds possess a magical ability to revitalize and revive. Ivy keeps the seeds in enchanted glass, which is meant to keep the Seekers off her scent, but it doesn’t work.
She escapes the Seekers and enters room 777 — a lucky elven number. Upon entering, she encounters a man, who resembles her father, and warns him about the Seekers. The man attacks the Seekers without provocation. She wonders why his house was protected by magic even though he was human.
After she escapes this situation, she bumps into a human guard, and manages to evade him as well.
Her plan is to make it over the mountain, to some yet-unknown destination.
I did enjoy this, and will continue reading. I want to know more about Ivy’s backstory, especially as the author was vague why she had to leave home. For fans of incredible and detailed world-building, read this.
Get the Kindle ebook free from Amazon here.
4. The Lies of Vampires and Slayers by K. M. Shea
This is the first of three books in the Magic on Main Street urban fantasy series. The other books are $0.99 to $4.99 each, but are both in Kindle Unlimited. This is the author’s first time on our Free Friday list.
From Melody Friedenthal:
This book starts on a high note, with a three-way fight, using magic spells as weaponry. Jade, the protagonist, appears to have brought only mortal skills to this battle, which began between two Courts of fae. She kicks an attacker and nullifies the woman’s magic with magic-cancelling handcuffs.
Urban fantasy is not my thing, but I’ll attempt to give the story my undivided attention and fair judgment anyway.
Our protagonist may be a mortal, but she has non-human squadmates, including a fae, a vampire, and a werewolf.
She’s also a former vampire-slayer who is new to this policing squad and has social anxiety.
The next chapter is narrated by a vampire. Maybe this is one of those novels that alternates between points of view – and the two main characters eventually fall in love? The vampire has just set a mansion on fire.
Then in the next chapter, we’re back with Jade, who is off to work at her night-shift job at the Department of Supernatural Law Enforcement. I like the fact that Jade has social anxiety. While I have little patience for the supernatural, being a hard sci-fi fan, I appreciate the touch of reality portrayed by this aspect of her personality, which we see in her less-than-successful interactions with her teammates.
And now we get to the main plot: a human woman is missing and the human police have sought the help of the Department of Supernatural Law Enforcement, the first time they have done so. The supernaturals in the department are incredulous that the human police have not sent over the missing woman’s scent or blood type.
Then we’re back with the vampire, who’s indolent and nasty and might be working on some secret, possibly nefarious, political plan. Or maybe he’s just pretending to be indolent and nasty in the service of some greater good?
In summary, we have a bunch of species of supernaturals at odds with one another, a human crime fighter who never says the right thing, haughty vampires who snipe at each other but who have deadly powers, a missing human woman, and two points of -view.
I’m not going to read any further — see my note about hard sci-fi above — but if you like this sort of thing, you’ll get it in spades with this novel.
Get the Kindle ebook free from Amazon here.
3. Symbiosis by R.S. Penney
This is the first of 16 books in Justice Keepers Saga space opera series. The other books are $2.99 each and are not in Kindle Unlimited. The author has been on our Free Friday list before.
From Amira Loutfi:
Anna Lenai is a Justice Keeper chasing after a guy who stole a Nassai and went running with it through a portal to Earth. Anna also has a Nassai, legally though, and it grants her super powers, such as heightened spatial awareness.
Apparently, a Nassai is some kind of symbiotic being that lives in her head.
The story begins in a large cache with a bunch of crates and a triangular device guarded by a security guard. The triangular device is the portal and it starts shaking and then a bubble appears. Out pops a man — the fugitive. He has a glowing disk fused in his hand and waves it at the guard — the guard goes flying. It’s a good action scene.
Then, Anna steps through the portal. She looks normal enough. She observes that while the Overseers developed the triangular portal ten thousand years ago, it still works fine. It transported her across the galaxy, and possibly through time too — and she seems pleased at the technology of the humans on earth.
More guards come running in and the woman kicks their asses. Exciting!
She then runs out to find the fugitive. She sees an earthling city and it looks like a maze to her.
It’s packed with action, and just enough exposition to give meaning. The science-fiction elements are fascinating to me, although I have to admit I’m not the biggest science fiction reader. I probably will come back because I enjoy the world and I’d like to spend more time there.
Get the ebook free from Amazon here.
2. Legacy of Luck by Christy Nicholas
This is one of 11 books in Druid’s Brooch Series time travel romance series where the books can be read in any order. The other books are $0.99 to $5.99 each, and some are in Kindle Unlimited. The author has been on our Free Friday list before.
From E.S. Foster:
So I’m a big fan of historical fantasy but not so much romance. It’ll be interesting to see where this one goes.
It starts off with Éamonn in Ireland in the 1700s. His chief interests are women and gambling, both of which are plenty to be had at the horse fair he is attending. While perusing through the stables, he meets Deidre. Though Deidre has been flirting with Éamonn’s cousin, they eventually head to the woods for romance.
Deidre rushes back home afterwards and meets with her sister, Katie. From there, we get Katie’s point of view. Katie’s family is on the poorer side, and her father spends too much time drinking and wasting away their funds. Her mother sends her to the horse fair to buy bread, as well as more alcohol for her father. Katie reluctantly goes, knowing she won’t be able to have any fun because she’ll be expected straight home.
Katie enters the horse fair, where she meets Éamonn’s cousin, Ciaran. In exchange for some of the alcohol he has, Katie offers to reward him later. From there she runs into Éamonn, as in he accidentally steps on her foot. Katie instantly dislikes him, but Éamonn sees her as another conquest.
When Katie returns home, she notices her father talking with some men about something business-related. She thinks nothing of it. Later, she manages to sneak back to the horse fair, where she rewards Ciaran with a kiss. She continues to ignore Éamonn.
At one point, another man also accidentally steps on Katie’s foot, and Ciaran, Éamonn, and others get caught up in a fistfight. Katie tries to help stop it, but she falls near the fire and burns herself. She, Éamonn, and Ciaran are all taken to the healer’s tent. While there, Katie and Éamonn seem to share a connection.
At this point, I stopped reading. I’m not a big romance fan, but I was intrigued by some of the characters, including Katie. I have to admit that I was also interested in where the plot was going. I don’t think I’ll continue just because this isn’t my genre, but I recommend you check it out.
Get the Kindle ebook free from Amazon here.
1. Bitter Winds by Colton Lively
This is a standalone book of small town post-apocalypse EMP survival, but the author has many — more than thirty! — other books in this genre, so there’s plenty of reading here if you like his style. And nearly all of the books are in Kindle Unlimited. The author is also a regular on our Free Friday list.
From Alex Korolov:
This is an EMP book, a type of story where an electromagnetic pulse knocks out all electronic devices, including cellphones, computers, and most modern vehicles. Usually, society degenerates into chaos pretty quickly and our main character is left struggling to survive. Let’s see how this one goes.
We meet Kevin and and his 30-year-old daughter Diana in the first chapter. Kevin is a survivalist who’s been preparing his daughter for many different types of natural disasters her whole life. Now he thinks a major solar flare is about to happen and do some damage to the electrical grid. The two of them are hanging out at their remote cabin where they grow all the food they need on their property, and they have a bunker beneath the cabin that they dug themselves.
Kevin and Diana are sitting and watching the sun rise, and the sky lights up in new colors that they’ve never seen on the horizon as the solar flare hits.
In the next chapter, Diana uses binoculars to see that power has gone out in a nearby city, and she notices that explosions are happening in the distance. Also, Diana’s dad dies immediately in her arms because he had a pacemaker in his chest that’s stopped working. However, he’s trained Diana well, and she feels ready to handle the aftermath of the damage that the solar flare’s done.
That’s as far as I got in this book. The premise of this one’s a little weird to me. The book mentions that Diana’s dad pulled her out of school when she was ten and started training her to be prepared for a bunch of disasters. So, this woman has spent the past twenty years living alone with her dad, just preparing for doom and gloom, and not living her life at all? No dating, travelling, or some sort of regular job where she interacts with other people? I’m not sure about this one. I think I won’t keep reading
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.
MetaStellar reviews editor Amira Loutfi is an author and web designer. She is on a mission to craft excellent fantasy fiction that is inspired by late antiquity Arabia. You can join her monthly newsletter where she shares insider info, wips, and tons of cool stuff.
Hannah M is a student with a strong interest in publishing. She hopes to build a career that allows her to share diverse stories and voices.
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.
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
Melody Friedenthal is a librarian at a public library and a copyeditor for MetaStellar. In her spare time she's the chief bottle-washer for To Tell A Tale Writers' Group and is an affiliate member of the SFWA. Her work has been published in Tales From Shelf 804: an anthology, N3F, Bardsy, MetaStellar, and New Myths. She believes writing is a gateway drug, alpacas are cute, and dark chocolate is heaven.