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 Azure Kingdom by Michelle Dare
This is the first of four books in the Iridescent Realm fantasy romance series. The other books are $5.99 each and are not in Kindle Unlimited. This is the author’s second time on our Free Friday list. We reviewed this book in June 2023.
From Tim McHugh:
This is a fantasy book that takes place in a world parallel to ours. I love high fantasy and anything magical, but this book is clearly targeting lovers of romance, which is not my area of interest. Still, I think I am a fair audience for this story overall.
The story starts in our modern world.
Alison is a young woman who recently lost her mother, the only family member she had ever known, and inherited an antique store that she isn’t all that interested in. She runs the store only because it was her mother’s, but she is otherwise just drifting through life. She dreams every night of being lifted off her feet by a handsome knight who has a tamed dragon.
In the first chapter, while dealing with customers, Alison finds a key in an old dresser and a letter from her mother. The letter tells Alison that this key leads to a parallel world, a world that her mother has visited. This world is presumably where her father lives.
After some soul-searching Alison takes the keys and uses it on an old door that takes her to the alternate world. She falls through into a medieval world and immediately runs into a group of knights, one of whom is the man from her dreams — he has also apparently had dreams about her.
Once they get acquainted, she asks about her father. The knight is immediately stricken when he hears the name because her father is a man with a very dark reputation.
I stopped reading here, but Alison will have to grapple with the truth about her father and her birth while she goes on a romantic journey with the knight from her dreams.
My initial thought was that this novel is very well written; the author’s descriptions are eloquent and detailed, and the story flows very smoothly. The world seems very interesting, and I like the drama that is building around her father. A couple of plot points, however, come along a bit abruptly for my taste. Alison stumbles upon the key before there is much of a setup and she happens upon her dream knight before there is any build-up of tension. Besides those few problems, there is not much to complain about.
If you’re a lover of romance fantasy, this book should be on your list.
Get the Kindle ebook free from Amazon here.
4. Isolating Contact by Ash Remington
This is the first book in the upcoming The Contact Series science fiction thriller series. This is the author’s first time on our Free Friday list.
From Terrence Smith:
Lydia Vera is the head of a propaganda department for a group called OWG which manipulates the public into pushing for a unified world government. She is absolutely toxic as a boss and does not have the qualities of what one would call a positive leader. She treats her underlings like dogs, scratching one on the head and teasing him with a treat for proper behavior.
Lydia does have layers, though. She was a troublemaking youth from the slums of Argentina, who is one day introduced to OWG member Penelope, who becomes her mentor, and can empathize with her in a way others haven’t. Lydia has always loved to learn and has never really wanted anything to do with people, not being able to relate to them as much. This makes me suspect that she has a hint of autism, because I seemingly want every anti-social character to be autistic. She also carries deep scars with her, both physically in the form of the burn marks on her face, and emotionally.
We also meet Alexis, a YouTube journalist determined to expose the OWG’s secretive and manipulative practices. She is messy, scrappy, and dedicated to her mission. Lydia can’t help but loathe her and admire her in equal measure, and I anticipate them butting heads soon, amidst the chaos.
I am intrigued enough by the story so far to maybe read further, since there’s supposed to be an alien invasion coming.
Anyone who is into alien invasions and political conspiracies might want to give this a go.
Get the Kindle ebook free from Amazon here.
3. Princess Broken by Mara Leigh
This is the first of three books in Her Psycho Vampire Bodyguards paranormal romance series. The other books are $4.99 each and are in Kindle Unlimited. This is the author’s first time on our Free Friday list.
From Maria Korolov:
Ah, my old nemesis returns: the mentally unstable vampire love interest. At least, that’s what the series title suggests.
I’m not fond of stories with big age gaps or with male leads made exclusively out of red flags. But here I go — judging the book by its cover again.
The book opens with Rasputin — yes, the creepy Russian guy who wormed his way into the Russian royal family and who had to be killed several times before it took. Well, maybe it didn’t take the last time, either.
Because here he is, a hundred years later, and he’s still around. Turns out, he made a bargain with a demon. In return, for the power the demon gave him, Rasputin promised the demon that it could have the virginal princess Anastasia.
Since the demon didn’t get Anastasia, it’s been torturing Rasputin all this time. If he can find Anastasia — apparently, she’s still alive, though no longer fully human — he might be able to give her to the demon and finally be released from the torture, to sweet, sweet death.
In the next chapter, we switch to Anastasia’s point of view. She now calls herself Ana. She’s an ambassador for the oldest vampire syndicate in the world and is about to head off to a meeting with a rival syndicate, her nine bodyguards in tow. She’s also the adoptive daughter of the vampire king. She’s been living in the king’s palace ever since he rescued her from a Russian forest and turned her into a vampire. She’s also sleeping with one of her bodyguards, but doesn’t love him, though he’s in love with her.
In fact, she thinks she’s doomed to a loveless life, like the vampire king, who’s been single for nearly a thousand years.
The two of them ride sitting side by side, in a limousine, to a meeting in Philadelphia, with more bodyguards packing the rest of the vehicle. The meeting is inside a dingy restaurant. They all have to walk through a grimy industrial kitchen splattered with blood, then down a staircase. Here everything is clean, ornately, decorated, with a real Monet hanging on a wall. They go in to meet with the head vampire and it turns out to be a trap. Four of the enemy vampires kidnap her, and they’re all much bigger than her, muscular, and incredibly attractive.
Oh, no!
But then the four vampire kidnappers apologize for killing the bodyguard she’s sleeping with, and pledge their lives to her in return. What? What kind of kidnappers are these.
Then we switch to the point of view of one of the kidnappers. Apparently, the rival vampire leader hired them as bodyguards — they didn’t expect to be party to an ambush and kidnapping, and the reason they took her was to get her to safety. And there’s too many throbbing organs here for my comfort. I’m getting the vapors just reading this.
I don’t know where the story is going to go, but I’m 100 percent sure there’s going to be some very steamy vampire-on-vampire princess action coming up soon.
If you’re looking for some spicy reading this weekend, this is it.
Get the Kindle ebook free from Amazon here.
2. Tentacles and Teeth by Ariele Sieling
This is the first of seven books in Land of Szornyek postapocalyptic survival series. The other books are $2.99 to $3.99 each and are not in Kindle Unlimited. This is the author’s first time on our Free Friday list.
From E. S. Foster:
In a post-apocalyptic landscape, Askari lives in an area called the Baratok community, deep in the wilderness of a land torn apart by strange monsters. The story begins by throwing us deep into an action sequence, with Askari coming face-to-face with a nagy, a tentacle monster with a penchant for human flesh. With quick knife-work, Askari escapes and climbs up the mountain known as the Tuske, where she finds her friend Shujaa. When Askari and Shujaa return to their fortified community, braving more monsters along the way, the Elders are not happy.
It seems that Askari has been one too many rules at this point. Now she faces her worst fear: banishment. But there is hope. The Elders were impressed by her ability to fight off the monsters she encountered. They order her to travel to a distant town, where she’s supposed to find a mysterious book. If she can get there, find the book, and come back in one piece, her past transgressions will be erased. But this new world is impossible to survive on your own, and Askari has no one to guide her.
I haven’t read too many post-apocalyptic adventures, but I can see why this was number one on Kindle when it was first released. The action is spectacular and the monsters and terrifying to witness. You immediately want to root for Askari the second she appears, and it’s so easy admire how she handles the tough world she lives in. Plus, this is a pretty original take on the apocalypse. It’s less abandoned cities and more wild woods, something that’s not seen as often but should definitely be a thing.
I highly recommend this work to anyone interested in science fiction, monsters, and tons of apocalyptic landscapes. I can’t wait to see what happens next!
Get the Kindle ebook free from Amazon here.
1. Life After War by Angela White
This is a box set of the first three books in the 23-book Life After War post-apocalyptic series. The other books range from $.99 to $5.99 each and are all in Kindle Unlimited. This is the author’s first time on our Free Friday list.
From Maria Korolov:
I am not a fan of apocalyptic dystopias. When I read escapist fiction, I want it to be just that — escapist.
But I’m always willing to make an exception. Especially when the box set has over 2,000 positive reviews. And — I just checked — the first book in the series, The Survivors, has more than 4,500 positive reviews.
In the prologue, we learn that there’s a refugee camp called Safe Haven on an island in the Pacific Ocean. There’s been a devastating war and people barely survived.
The book starts for real with Samantha, crammed into a government helicopter with some civilians evacuated from the Environmental Protection Agency office in Seattle. Their helicopter is shot down over Wyoming.
Then we meet Kenn, an officer in the Marines. He’s trying to get to someone named Charlie, who’s in an officer dorm, when a helicopter crashes into the building.
Then we switch to Angela, a pregnant nurse watching the news, learning that the latest death count is five million dead and another two million injured and exposed. And the cloud is moving at a steady pace. She’s worried about someone named Charlie. Probably the same Charlie as in the previous chapter. Maybe Kenn and Angela are Charlie’s parents?
Oh, and she has magic powers. Magic powers that she’s been keeping locked away for more than a decade. She now wants to use that magic to see if Charlie is safe, but she’s too weak.
Then we switch to a guy named Marc, on a Greyhound bus, listening to the radio. A terrorist got into the US nuclear arsenal and set off the nukes. Nobody can call them back. Other countries have already retaliated and the president has ordered the evacuation of five major cities, declared martial law and reinstated the draft. Marc is also in the military, but he’s on temporary leave to attend his mother’s funeral. His leave has been cancelled, but he’s still going, so he’s now officially a deserter.
Then we switch to the point of view of yet another character, Adrian, the son of a former president, sitting with some Greenpeace members in a basement. Adrian also has magic powers. He can make people fall asleep. The people in the basement are blaming Adrian’s father for the war when he feels that danger is coming and throws himself under the steps. The walls above them disappear in a blast and the rest of the house crumbles on them.
Then, yet another character! Kendle, on a cruise ship somewhere in the Pacific Ocean, trying to save her twin sister from a tidal wave.
Then we’re back to Samantha. It’s nine days after the helicopter crash. She survived, but was immediately captured and raped by two locals. Oh, and Samantha also has a magic power. She can predict the weather. But that power isn’t particularly helpful to her right now. A blizzard is coming, though, and she’s hoping that she’ll get a chance to escape then.
I like Samantha. I like all the characters. And even though earlier I said that I don’t like post-apocalyptic novels, I’m getting caught up in this one. I had to pull myself away to write this review. I might continue it this weekend.
Get the Kindle ebook box set 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, Terrence and Emma discuss all five books in the video below:
Kristin Noland is a developmental and line editor who works with women authors of speculative and crime fiction. At Noland Editing, she expertly guides authors through the writing and editing process to strengthen their storytelling skills, so their readers are entertained and immersed in their stories from cover to cover. With over seventy manuscripts edited, including two bestsellers, and her caring and encouraging editing style, she helps her clients create captivating novels. Follow her on YouTube at @KristinNoland.
Tim McHugh writes sci-fi and fantasy. Though he currently works full time in the software industry, he has a love for stories with grey characters and moral ambiguity that tell us something about the world. His book A Voice for the Scavengers is now available on Amazon.
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.
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 on her blog, E. S. Foster and her personal website E. S. Foster - Author