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.
Each week’s list is 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. Dawn of the Void by Phil Tucker
This is the first of three books in the Dawn of the Void LitRGP 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 E.S. Foster:
I first reviewed an LitRPG-style novel a couple of weeks ago, and the story was a bit surprising — but made me interested enough to do another LitRPG review.
LitRPG — RPG stands for “role playing game” — is a type of fantasy story that is reminiscent of watching someone play a video game. The main character typically progresses through levels and there is sometimes — but not always — some kind of framing that puts the whole story inside a virtual world. The books are also often, but again not always, light on character development and heavy on the game mechanics.
Anyway, this book begins with James, a homeless man. He has no one in the world, and he spends most of his nights drinking, so he isn’t in a good place. He’s walking through a train station when suddenly words start appearing in his vision, almost like he’s looking at a screen that no one else can see. The text explains that “Nemesis 1” has just been released. Also, the text threatens that a huge wave of a mysterious attack is going to happen in the future.
Suddenly, James spots what appears to be a small gremlin. The gremlin goes on the attack, chasing James out of the train station and into the street. James runs up to a group of bouncers in front of a club and warns them of the creature, but when the others look, they don’t see anything. James stands there confused because the gremlin is clearly right there in front of him.
Desperate, James breaks into the club. The gremlin follows him. He tries to fight the gremlin off and gets bitten numerous times, but he manages to kill the creature. Everyone else stands by in shock because they can only see the blood appearing from nowhere.
James wakes up in a hospital. There, he meets Serenity, a woman who was also attacked. They realized that they both saw the same screen in their minds. The text appears again, warning that another “nemesis” will appear in a few days.
James and Serenity leave the hospital and go to another bar, where the news shows footage of hundreds of people becoming victims of “dog attacks.” Multiple people point and say that a creature is attacking them, but people can’t see the creature. James realizes that only a select number of the population can see the texts and the creatures, and some of these people haven’t been so lucky as to survive the attacks. James and Serenity leave the bar, having upgraded their stats and ready to come up with a plan.
I’ll be honest. I was a little skeptical about how this story was going to handle character development and build tension. I was pleasantly surprised that James and Serenity were both strong, likeable characters. The monsters also appear very threatening, and I can tell that there are going to be high stakes throughout. So if you’re a fan of RPG novels, I recommend you check this one out.
Get the Kindle ebook free from Amazon here.
4. The Unicorn Herd by Ariana Jade
This is the first of nine books in The Griffin Sanctuary Series of cozy urban fantasy. The other books are $3.99 to $5.99 each, and are not in Kindle Unlimited. The author has been on our Free Friday list before, under her other pen name, Arizona Tape.
From Maria Korolov:
As much as I like books full of violence and mayhem, I also like a nice cozy fantasy. As a change of pace, or palate cleanser, if you will.
The book opens with Charlotte as she arrives at the Griffin Sanctuary to apply for an internship to work with unicorns. It would be a dream come true if she can get it — but there’s competition.
The other young people in line all have smartphones, which tells me that — aside from the whole unicorn thing — this story is set in the modern world. The sanctuary is also home to dragons, sphinxes, and other fantasy creatures. Charlotte is one of the three people chosen to work with unicorns, and she couldn’t be happier — even if one of the other interns does rub her the wrong way.
The first day ends with Charlotte and the other two interns being accepted by the unicorn herd. The next morning, she has a quick phone chat with her girlfriend, then rides her bike back to the sanctuary for her first full day of work.
The next few chapters are all about the day-to-day work of taking care of the unicorns — it seems to be a lot like taking care of horses — and minor bickering between the three interns.
A third of the book in, and still nothing has happened. One of the other interns fainted once, but seemed fine after. And a new unicorn arrived. We also get a lot of world-building. The new unicorn had its horn cut off, for example, in order to discourage poaching — some people think that unicorn horns have magical properties and kill unicorns just to get their horns.
Despite the fact that the plot still hasn’t gotten started, I’m having trouble putting down the book in order to go on to the next review of the day. It’s an easy, pleasant read, and I do want to keep going and find out if Charlotte’s internship does eventually turn into an actual job offer — and why that other intern fainted for no apparent reason.
Get the Kindle ebook free from Amazon here.
3. Midnight Secrets by Rita Stradling
This is the first of four books in The Vampire Legacy urban fantasy series by a USA Today bestselling author. The other books are $0.99 to $3.99 each, and in Kindle Unlimited. The fourth book isn’t out yet. It is scheduled to be released in June and is available for pre-order. This is the author’s first time on our Free Friday list.
From E.S. Foster:
Sixteen-year-old January is trying to deal with being a teenager and living with her alcoholic mother when she finds herself in an entirely new situation: she was hit by a truck then woke up on a coronary slab with a piece of paper telling her to contact a mysterious blood donor. The note also explained that if she didn’t start drinking blood, she would kill people.
With hardly any memories of the event and only the information on the note to go on, January heads to a liquor store. She tries to engage with a man who there — against her better judgment. But he turns out to be someone who just wants to take advantage of her.
A truck suddenly pulls up to the store, scaring the creepy man off. Then January meets Justin, who explains that he is the one who will be providing the blood. However, he has a few conditions. He first states that he needs to visit her house and confirm that her mother is still alive. Without much choice — since she really needs to drink — January returns to her house with him.
After getting her mother, who is falling over drunk, into the bathroom, January brings Justin up to her room.
Then Justin tells her that she is not allowed to contact the number on the note ever again. Second, she can’t tell anyone that she is a vampire. Justin also says that he’s not going to explain anything about vampires to her at all. He then offers her his wrist.
January is surprised, mostly because she thought the blood would just show up in donation bags.
Then we jump ahead a year. January and Justin have entered a kind of toxic partnership. Justin gives her January his blood, and January is no closer to learning about her condition. One day, January insists that it isn’t right for her to just take from him and Justin allows her to feed one last time before he leaves, seemingly for good.
I’ve seen some similar takes on vampires, but I thought this story had some interesting concepts. It made me interested in reading further. If you like vampires and want to see some a new take on vampire lore, I recommend you check it out.
Get the Kindle ebook free from Amazon here.
2. Alexis by Tasha Black
This is the third of six books in the Alien Surrogate Agency sci-fi romance series by a USA Today bestselling author. The other books are $3.99 each, and are in Kindle Unlimited. This author has been on our Free Friday list before.
From E.S. Foster:
I’m not the biggest fan of surrogate plots or romance in general, but after reading the description, it sounded like two people were going to come together in a potentially non-toxic relationship, so I thought I would give it a try.
The book begins with Alexis, a ballet dancer who is currently at a fertility clinic. She practices her ballet via a simulation, but her old ankle injury starts to bother her, and she falls. We then get a little background about how she ended up at the clinic.
In this world, aliens exist. Alexis herself is from the planet Terra, which I assume is another name for Earth. She grew up ballet dancing until one day an ankle injury took her out of the troupe she was in for several months. Over time, she got better and went back to dancing, but in an effort to keep the pain at bay, she began losing weight. She got lost in an endless cycle of pain and hunger until she was told that she would have to stop dancing for good.
Alexis thought about settling down and getting married. However, to do that, women on Terra need to produce an heir before they are considered eligible. Alexis goes to the fertility clinic only to find out that she can’t have children because of what she has done to her body. After working with some doctors, she managed to become eligible for the program, which would match her up with an alien from another planet to have a child.
We then meet Tiago, an alien who is on his way to Terra to find his mate. He’s one of the best prizefighters in the world, but that hasn’t left much time for finding a mate. Now that he finally has a chance, however, he hopes that this surrogate program he joins will be a success. He heads to a diner, where he meets the woman intended to be his mate, who introduces herself as Alexis.
So normally, I don’t read these kinds of books. However, I did find some aspects of the world interesting, and Alexis’s backstory was enough to suck me in for a little bit in the beginning. Then I got a lot of backstory dumped on me, so I don’t think I’ll continue with this one.
Get the Kindle ebook free from Amazon here.
1. Daros by Dave Dobson
This is a standalone space opera. This author has been on our Free Friday list before.
From Maria Korolov:
The book starts right out in the middle of a battle. Becca and Nex are in a cargo bay, and Nex is shooting his pistol at a fist-sized spider.
Becca tells him to stop because the bolts can ricochet. Plus, he’s a bad shot. Becca kills the spider by stomping on it. Becca’s worried that there might be more of the spiders on the ship, but her scans aren’t picking anything up.
Then her father comms her — he wants her to come to the bridge. She heads off, leaving Nex to clean up the mess.
Then in the next chapter we switch to Frim’s point of view. She’s a navigator on a different ship and, apparently, some type of alien species that procreates by growing buds on their bodies. He ship is one of 36 in an expeditionary force. They’re about to reach their destination. Also, this captain is cruel and capricious and kills one of the crew on a whim.
Then we switch back to Becca’s point of view. She’s on the bridge now. The main view screen shows the surface of a red planet — they’ll be landing in a few hours. Her dad is also worried about the spiders. If customs sees them, they might quarantine the ship. We also find out that the ship is smuggling alien tech.
Then the alarms go off and the ship is jolted. They’ve been hit by a weapon and there are unidentified hostile ships in the area. They’re hit again. Becca’s dad says he’s going to try to do an emergency landing of the ship and orders Becca and the rest of the crew to evacuate.
Then we switch back to Frim’s point of view. They’re the attackers. The captain also kills another crew member. Frim tries to keep her head down while she daydreams about a better life.
I like this book so far. I like both Becca and Frim. I like the pacing and the setting. The only thing that bothers me is that this book isn’t part of a series. I have a hard time with names, and if I learn a bunch of new names, I’d like to rewarded with more books with the same set of characters.
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 on her blog, E. S. Foster and her personal website E. S. Foster - Author