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 Soul Seekers by D.G. Swank
This is the first of three books in The Soul Keepers paranormal romance series. The other books are $.99 each, and are both in Kindle Unlimited. The author has been on our Free Friday list before.
From E.S. Foster:
Piper is a fake medium just trying to get by. She lives close to where the mysterious Roanoke colony disappeared. However, the colony has supposedly reappeared unscathed over four hundred years later. Piper thinks it’s all a hoax, much like the fake medium stuff she does.
Piper pretends to be a medium because her ex-boyfriend is also in the psychic business. She does it for free, because she thinks her ex is ripping people off. It does seem, though, that she has a knack for getting certain details right.
At the beginning of the story, Piper finishes up with a client, but as she’s leaving, a woman approaches her and says that there’s danger and Piper must be prepared for whatever is coming. The client then tells Piper a neighbor just died and the description of the dead neighbor exactly matches the woman Piper encountered moments ago. It looks like Piper has seen a ghost.
When Piper gets home, her grandmother is there to greet her. She wants to talk about Piper’s father’s will. Piper’s parents were murdered and the man who killed them claimed that some group called the Guardians made him do it. Also, Piper’s father made so many strange demands in his will that her grandmother had doubts whether he was even mentally competent. In addition, Piper’s father made crazy accusations about her family’s relation to the Roanoke colony, something Piper doesn’t want to learn more about.
Piper’s father owned a law firm, but Piper dropped out of law school and now it’s not clear who will inherit the firm.
Piper then goes to meet another client, but her ex shows up at the same time. They get into an altercation, but the client insists that Piper handle the job. Despite not believing that she saw ghosts earlier, she steps inside the house, ready to encounter whoever arrives.
This was the perfect amount of spookiness that I look for in a book. I’ve read books about a protagonist randomly seeing ghosts before, but the Roanoke bit sounded interesting, and I enjoyed Piper as a character. If you like a spooky mystery that isn’t too spooky and a little cozy, check this series out.
Get the Kindle ebook free from Amazon here.
4. The Eternal Frontier Box Set by Anthony J. Melchiorri
This is a box set of the first three books in the five-book The Eternal Frontier space opera series. The other books are $4.99 each, but are all in Kindle Unlimited. The author has been on our Free Friday list before.
From Maria Korolov:
Space operas are my favorite genre right now, and I’ve read several series back-to-back in the last few weeks. And I’m ready for another one.
Tag, a lieutenant commander and a chief medical officer, bears the responsibility of his ship’s biomedical science mission. He’s busy growing some neural tissue but takes a break to take a look at the new planet they’re approaching. He’s jealous of the other crew members, since they’ll get to go down to the surface. He just has to stay and wait for the samples they bring back.
Then a mysterious new ship appears and all hands are called to battle stations. Then Tag hears explosions and his ship shakes. They’re under attack. Tag heads to the medical section to set up triage section. He helps a wounded marine to a regeneration chamber. Then the hatches slam shut and the computers stop responding. But the cameras still work, and Tag is able to watch as the attackers kills people throughout the ship.
Then the engines die and the lights go out. The regeneration chamber he put the wounded marine in also goes out of service. He opens it and gets the marine out. She’s heavily wounded, but he works hard to save her life.
Then yellow smoke starts coming into the medical bay.
He drags the marine away from the smoke. She’s already wearing an emergency oxygen mask. He grabs another one for himself, as well as a medical kit, and heads for the sterilization chamber that’s connected to his laboratory. It has an airlock and might keep the poisonous gas out.
Then, in the relatively safety of his lab, he turns back to the marine and finishes patching up her wounds. Then he accesses the camera network again and finds out that everyone is dead and the pirates who boarded the ship and killed everyone now seem to be gone as well.
He thinks that if the captain had managed to send an emergency drone out before the attack, that rescue might come in about eight days. Unfortunately, the ship’s travel displays shows that it’s now headed directly into the local sun. The pirates had changed the ship’s trajectory. They’d be burned to death in less than a day.
It’s a pretty fast-paced and tense start. I’m into it. I think I’ll stick with it this weekend.
Get the Kindle ebook box set free from Amazon here.
3. Skyborne: Sentinel Court by Taylor Night
This is the second of five books in the Skyborne epic fantasy series. The other books are $2.99 to $4.99 each, and are not in Kindle Unlimited. The last two books in the series are scheduled to be released later this year but are both available for preorder. This is the author’s first time on our Free Friday list.
Since this is the second book in the series, today we’re reviewing the first one, instead. That book, Skyborne: School of Combat, is also free today.
From E.S. Foster:
The story opens with Elyra, a young girl who lives on a farm with her mother. But as it happens, their barn is about to burn down. Elyra rushes inside in time to save one of the livestock, but as she gets home, she finds her mother distraught. A letter from the Skyborne Academy just arrived, recruiting Elyra whether she likes it or not.
So this girl is definitely not having a good day.
It turns out that Skyborne students are all recruited for their special abilities or because of their noble lines. All students are trained in combat, becoming soldiers to fight against the country’s rival kingdom. Elyra has no idea what special abilities she has, but her mother refuses to elaborate.
After saying goodbye, Elyra walks to the Skyborne Academy. She’s invited inside, finds her room, then enters a hall to be welcomed by the Grand Master. She’s also the immediate target of a group of bullies since she comes from a village. Luckily, another student, Caspian, comes to her defense. It looks like she might have a friend here while she’s trained in magic.
I will start off by saying I like the idea of this piece. I get the feeling that not everything is what it seems. But the prose moves very quickly, and I noticed a couple of typos. With everything moving so fast, I didn’t have a chance to really get to know the characters, though I did like what I learned about the world. All in all, I don’t think I’ll continue with this story.
Get the Kindle ebook free from Amazon here.
2. Caraway of the Sea by Madeline Burget
This is a standalone fantasy novel about pirates. This is the author’s first time on our Free Friday list — and it’s also their only novel on Amazon.
From Maria Korolov:
I usually prefer to read books that are part of a series, because I have a hard time remembering names. With a series, I get to follow the same set of characters through multiple books. But when I opened up this book, it said that it was the first book in the Phoenix Rising series. So — hey! There might be more!
Caraway is on a pirate ship where her brother is the captain. One of the sailors asks her to marry him. She tells him to talk to her brother about it first. Her brother is always paranoid that she’ll leave the ship and marry someone ashore — or join another ship. If she marries someone on the same ship, she’d have even more reason to stay. But before she can find out what happens, a storm hits and someone is swept overboard — the man who wanted to marry her.
Over the next couple of chapters, we learn more about Caraway and the relationships between her and the other pirates. She’s devastated by the loss of the man who wanted to marry her, more than anyone else on the ship. Personally, I suspect that her brother did the guy in. The brother is coming off a little creepy. We also get some flashbacks about a recent battle where the pirates attacked another ship. Caraway is really good with a sword.
The book is moody and atmospheric and really puts you inside this world.
It’s a bit too moody for my taste. Also, I prefer my pirates out in space instead of on the high seas. But if you’re a fan of pirate stories, this book is very readable, and the protagonist is a compelling character.
Get the Kindle ebook free from Amazon here.
1. Panglor by Jeffrey A. Carver
This is the first of six books in the Star Rigger Universe space opera series. The other books are $1.99 to $5.99 each, and are not in Kindle Unlimited. This is the author’s first time on our Free Friday list.
From Melody Friedenthal:
Panglor is a spaceship pilot who has a furry, winged, empathetic alien creature for a companion. The book starts with him using a highly risky maneuver to travel to his destination. He’s nervous and irritable about having to do this.
But he survives and gets to his destination, a human-inhabited space station in a distant solar system. He and his pet are decontaminated, he rents a room, checks his messages, and learns that he needs to meet some bad people.
These bad people promise him that he could become owner of his ship, not just the pilot, if he does something illegal and dangerous for them. Namely, they want him to destroy a ship owned by a company he hates. If he refuses, he’ll be charged with theft and piracy.
He can’t think of a way out. Plus, he really hates that company. They blacklisted him and left him destitute on an alien planet. Revenge could be sweet.
Then Panglor accidentally overhears a conversation where two adults are threatening a teenage girl, calling her a witch, and the girl follows him.
Then we get a flashback about how Panglor had to survive after being marooned on that planet.
So far the plot is interesting but the writing is a bit purple for my tastes.
Space opera is my favorite genre, but I don’t like Panglor and I’m not vested in what happens to him. But if I had a few hours with nothing else to do, I might read a few more chapters.
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.
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.
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.