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. Protecting His Vampire Mate by Jay Castle
This is the third of four books in the Blood Bonded Mates GLBTQ paranormal romance series. The other books are $4.99 each, but are in Kindle Unlimited — and the first two are also free today! The fourth book is due out later this month and is available for pre-order. This is the author’s first time on our Free Friday list.
From Maria Korolov:
Normally, I don’t read the third book of a series. Instead, I review the first book, so as to get a sense of what the series is about without spoiling anything for me — or you. But from the descriptions of these books, it looks like each book has a different set of protagonists, so I’m going to just jump right in.
And… the third book begins right in the middle of a complicated paranormal situation that appears to have a lot of back story to it! Okay, so just jumping in was a mistake. I’m switching to reviewing the first book, instead — Snowed in with the Vampire Prince — which also happens to be free today.
Pierce is a hundred-year-old vampire, and he’s unhappy and sulking in a cabin up high in the Cascade mountains. It’s snowing.
He was turned into a vampire exactly a hundred years ago, and his maker is the vampire king of Seattle, which technically makes Pierce a prince. There’s a war brewing in Seattle, because te local witches have been turning up dead for the past few months, obviously murdered by vampires. The vampires are hunting for the killer, but haven’t found them yet. If they don’t, the witches will declare war. But the king’s given Pierce some time off, anyway.
Then, out there in the middle of nowhere, during a snowstorm, Pierce smells freshly spilled human blood.
In the next chapter, we meet James. He’s out hiking in the mountains and he’s worried about getting caught in the snow. He’s out there to scatter his father’s ashes, at the lake where the two of them used to fish.
Then he feels a prickle of unease. He’s being watched. But there’s nobody around.
James takes a final swig from a flask of brandy, to honor his father’s memory, and then a group of giant wolves appears on the other side of his dying campfire. The biggest one leaps across the campfire — and bites him.
Then we’re back with Pierce, who saves James’ life by carrying him back to his cabin, warming him up by the fire — and giving him a full pint of blood to repair the wound on his ribcage.
When James comes to, he immediately realizes that Pierce is a vampire. Is it because he himself is a witch or some other kind of supernatural? No, James says. But for some reason James isn’t particularly scared about Pierce being a vampire.
Oh, and Pierce thinks that James is very sexy and smells good.
Then we get some more discussion about politics, and whether werewolves are now part of the whole war that’s brewing.
The story so far is very readable, and both Pierce and James are sympathetic characters, but it’s moving a little too slowly for me and there’s a bit too much drama and emotional depth. No emotional depths for me, thank you very much! Right now, I’m in the mood for something light and fun with no depth, or something stupid and actiony and no depth. But that’s just me. If you’re interested in supernatural politics, conflicts, and two lonely men finding each other — and, probably, having some sexy times — then pick up this series while all the books are free.
Get the Kindle ebook free from Amazon here.
4. The Glorious and Epic Tale of Lady Isovar by Dave Dobson
This is a standalone book of epic humorous fantasy. The author has been on this Free Friday list before — in fact, just last week, he had the number one book.
From Maria Korolov:
Now this is more like it! Action and humor, judging by the cover. Everything I need this weekend.
Lady Isovar has been working on her extra-heroic bellow laugh, and has a chance to use it right on the opening page, when she holds a miscreant against a wall, her mail-covered hand around the thief’s neck. She’s about to kill him — not with her axe, because he’s not worthy, but with the knife she normally uses to clean gristle from her teeth — when her squire interrupts to remind her of her vow to show mercy on the fourth day of each week.
The thief is confused, and starts to explain that it’s the second day, when the squire pokes him in the side and gives him a meaningful look. Lady Isovar makes the thief promise never to steal goats again, and, after threatening him a little bit more, lets him go.
The thief is very confused through all this, but, under the squire’s nudges, agrees to her conditions. Then she kicks him out the tavern, even as the thief tries to explain that it’s his tavern.
Oh, so maybe he wasn’t even a thief!
Lady Isovar, proud of her own heroism, hefts her axe and surveys the room, then it’s time for the striding. She enjoys striding, and is very good at it.
In the next chapter, we switch to the squire’s point of view and see him hang back and pays the barmaid for the broken tables, walls, and chairs. Then he asks whether there are any bandits in the area, preferably far from any civilians. Or a death cult. Anything to keep Lady Isovar occupied and away from people. Then one of the patrons tells him about an old monks’ tower where dark figures, claws like razors, have been showing up at night.
I love, love, love this beginning. This is now my top read for the weekend.
Get the Kindle ebook free from Amazon here.
3. The Gryphon Series by Stacey Rourke
This is a boxed set of all four books in The Gryphon, a YA urban fantasy series. This is the author’s first time on our Free Friday list.
From E.S. Foster:
The story starts with a girl trapped in the clutches of a dragon. As the dragon squeezes the life out of her with its claws, Celeste can’t help but think about how she ended up there. With her senses going, she remembers how she and her family left Michigan for a tiny town in the Appalachian Mountains after several break-ins in her old neighborhood. While dying, she also has a vision of a girl walking up to a griffin and pledging her loyalty to it after her village was destroyed.
The story then cuts back to when Celeste first arrived at her grandmother’s house with her siblings. At one point, what appears to be a gigantic lightning bug comes barreling toward her, and she runs into the house. Then there is some information about Celeste and her siblings. Celeste is about to head off to college, but she wants to relax for the summer in the meantime.
Later, Celeste tries to move things around in her grandmother’s cluttered garage. She finds a sculpture of a griffin, but a mechanical booby trap shoots out and pricks her finger. She feels an odd sensation but doesn’t think much of it.
When her truck gets a flat tire, Celeste heads to the auto repair shop on foot and has to wheel a tire home herself. Along the way, a man from a news station stops by and offers her a ride home. While she’s changing her tire, a strange bird perches in a tree and watches her. It then swoops down in a huge glowing trail near her head, like the lightning bug from before.
Celeste has the urge to follow it. She drives to the mountains, where she finds the bird again. This time it comes toward her and begins glowing, transforming into a woman. She explains that, when the sculpture pricked Celeste’s finger, the blood it took confirmed that she was the person the woman was looking for. Before the woman goes any further, Celeste passes out.
I like how the story is developing, even if there are places where it was a little slow and there was a lot of exposition in areas. I get the feeling that things are going to get more fast-paced as the story goes on, however. I think I might stick with this one to see what happens!
Get the Kindle ebook free from Amazon here.
2. Owned by the Alien by Tammy Walsh
This is the first book in the six-book Fated Mates of the Titan Empire sci-fi romance series. The rest of the books are $3.99 each, but are all in Kindle Unlimited. The author has been on our Free Friday list before.
From Amira Loutfi:
The cover touts a topless, headless man. Can’t imagine what this one is about. Can you?
So our protagonist is a young woman abducted by very handsome aliens. In their culture, you are mated for life with the first person — or alien? — that you have sex with. She wants to go back home, but the chief of the aliens needs to have sex specifically with her for medicinal purposes.
The chief says that if they do it just one once then he’ll return her to earth. Sounds a bit sketchy. Right?
So I really like the first few lines. I’m a big sucker for openings: “A funny thing happens when you smash through a barrier and descend into a ravine two hundred feet below. Gravity ceases to exist. You float up out of your seat, held in place only by a flimsy seatbelt. Time slows and you have eons to think, knowing your end is approaching, and you can’t do a damn thing to prevent it.”
The opening scene is really good. It sort of brings me back to my own preteen years when I was driving around in a car full of excited girls. We never drove off a cliff, though. And we didn’t get abducted by aliens.
These girls seem dumb. I kind of like that. They are less mature than a set of working women are usually expected to be. The opening scene made me feel like they must be in high school or younger.
The first chapter is about a bachelorette outing where the protagonist meets a handsome stranger. Each one of them is like a sorority girl that never grew up. It reminds me of the girl from the Flight Attendant.
On the drive home, a vehicle ahead of them shoots straight up into the air. Their reactions are satisfyingly in line with what I’d expect.
My assumption is that the handsome stranger is the alien who needs a human female to mate with. Haha.
Get the Kindle e-book free from Amazon here.
1. Defending Liberty by James Hunt
This is a standalone book of EMP apocalypse survival, but if you like the author’s style he’s got a lot of similar books on Amazon — more than a hundred, though some of them are repeats because they’re in box sets. And nearly all of them are in Kindle Unlimited.
From Alex Korolov:
This one’s an EMP book, where an electromagnetic pulse knocks out all electronic devices, such as cellphones, computers, and many modern vehicles. Usually, chaos ensues. Some EMP books take their time getting to the action, while others start out with crazy chaos right from the get. This is one of those stories.
The story starts in New York City, inside the Statue of Liberty. Tom Stryder, who’s from a small town in Pennsylvania, is visiting the city with his wife and kids. They’re on a staircase inside the statue, waiting in a line that leads to the top, when an announcement comes over the loudspeaker asking everyone to go back down the stairs. Then some gunfire erupts, and everyone starts to descend the stairs very quickly.
In the next chapter, Tom and one of his kids manage to make it into a storage room with another couple of people. They’re not out of the statue yet, but they manage to barricade themselves inside the room. There’s still gunfire going on outside the room, and Tom also notices that everyone’s cellphone is dead.
These first two chapters make for an exciting beginning to this EMP story. It’s more fast paced than most EMP books I’ve reviewed, which I personally enjoyed. I’d keep reading to see where this story ends up.
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 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.
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