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 Golden Spider by Anne Renwick
This is the first of four books in An Elemental Steampunk Chronicle series of steampunk fantasy. The other books are $5.99 each, and are not in Kindle Unlimited. The author has been on our Free Friday list before.
From Carla Nordlund:
In the late 1800s, Sebastian Talbot is the fifth Earl of Thornton and secret spy of the Queen. One foggy London night, he is field-testing a new audio recording device alongside his partner and an informant, and absolutely nothing is working. Talbot performs a quick fix on the device in the shadows of the dock before he and his partner secretly follow their informant down the Thames. However, before they can reach him, the informant is brutally murdered and the matching audio device implanted into his ear destroyed. While searching the warehouse, Talbot and his partner discover another tortured and mutilated corpse – one more victim of a series of murders targeting the Roma community of London.
Although Amanda Ravensdale is a woman of society, her interests lie elsewhere: in completing medical school and discovering a cure for paralysis that may help her brother Ned to walk again. Over breakfast Amanda spars with her sister Olivia over her “oddness” – which, in Olivia’s eyes, is doubly harmful to the family since their sister Emily has scandalously run away and married a Romani man. Afterwards, Amanda heads out to the chicken coop where she maintains a small laboratory, where she has invented a spider-like device with the potential to repair neuro-muscular systems. However, when she arrives, her subject – a mouse with a broken spine – is dead, just as all of her attempts before.
Moving into the third chapter, Talbot is forced to temporarily sub in as the professor in Amanda’s medical class, and the two immediately notice each other.
Alright. A few caveats here. Although I’m an avid romance reader, I don’t have a lot of experience within the steampunk romance subgenre. I also — like many romance readers — have certain tropes and archetypes that just don’t work for me, one of which is a teacher-student romance. I’m also uncomfortable with the use of violence against the Roma community as an external plot driver, although I’ll again add a caveat that I haven’t read the entire book to see how it is handled throughout, and also am not familiar with the author and their background. All to say, these elements aren’t anything against this book, but just a flag for me personally that I am not its target reader.
All of that said, for steampunk fans, this book already has several delightful steampunky gadgets already in play, kraken infest the Thames, and both Talbot and Amanda already have great personal stakes to drive their goals and actions further into the storyline. Although I’ll personally stop here, steampunk or romance fans should check this one out.
Get the Kindle ebook free from Amazon here.
4. EMP Castaway 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 Hannah M:
Taylor Fuller is a young woman living on a remote island with her two younger siblings. She’s got ten acres of farmland in a self-sustaining system, but she still takes monthly trips to the mainland to pick up supplies.
Taylor is a scientist, fascinated by the solar system. Over the past few weeks, she has been noticing something strange in the sky. Before she has time to fully realize what this is, her younger sister Waverly asks to go to a party with her friends, yet Taylor immediately shuts this down, citing her sister’s duties as the reason. This part made me dislike Taylor: her tone with her sister was harsh and condescending, so I wasn’t really rooting for her as a character.
Taylor turns her attention back to the oddity in the sky and realizes it is a solar flare. Though this is a common occurrence, Taylor has reason to believe this would be catastrophic and phones her boss, Bob, to warn him.
Bob admits it seems like a problem and has told the government, yet he refuses to inform the public, something Taylor argues with him over. She continues researching herself, and debates whether to tell her siblings.
I wanted to keep reading this novel, but the heavy reliance on telling rather than showing made it difficult to stay engaged. For example, instead of gradually revealing details, we were told facts that could have been naturally woven into the story. On the other hand, that does make for a fast-paced story, so if you enjoy that, you should pick it up.
Get the Kindle ebook free from Amazon here.
3. Bewitched and Bespelled by Sara Bourgeois
This is the first of seven books in the What the Cat Dragged In Cozy Mysteries, a magical mystery 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:
Cozy mysteries are one of my favorite genres, not as quite high up as space operas and urban fantasy, but definitely something I reach for when I’m in the mood for the warm and fuzzies. Lately, I’ve often been in the mood for warm and fuzzies, like a hot bowl of soup on a chilly day.
Magical cats are a big plus, so when I saw the cat in the witch’s hat on the cover, I was in.
Jen, our protagonist, lives in a small town in Oregon and as the book starts she’s on her way through the rain to a job interview at a very creepy tattoo parlor. Unfortunately, while Jen has a double-major in art and chemistry, she doesn’t have any experience in tattooing — nor a license. And, with all the student debt she already has, she can’t afford to go back to school.
This is why I highly recommend that people figure out what they want to do before they get their degree. Take some part time jobs in your field, do some internships, shadow people, whatever you have to do to figure out what the job you’re studying for is actually like. You might decide that you don’t want to do that for a living. In that case, you just saved yourself a ton of time and money. When I realized that I didn’t want to be a computer programmer for a living — due to my undiagnosed SAD, but that’s a different issue — I took a year off and worked some different jobs, including one at a newspaper. That’s when I decided I wanted to be a journalist. I went back to school and took some journalism courses, and got a math degree — that’s where I was the closest to graduation — then went to work for a newspaper as soon as I got out of school and have been writing for a living ever since.
In Jen’s case, I’d recommend that she get a job in the chemistry field, since that’s probably what will pay the most, and, while she doesn’t have any kids yet, use her extra time and money to pay off her loans and get her tattoo license.
Except, as Jen’s prospective employer tells her, Oregon is the only state that requires a license. So she can also move to a different state.
Anyway, Lil, the person Jen’s interviewing with, asks to see some examples of actual tattoos that Jen’s done instead of her art portfolio. So Jen pulls out her phone and shows some really bad examples of her work. Why does Jen even want this job?
Which is what Lil wants to know, as well. Jen gives a half-assed answer about wanting to make art that isn’t disposable. I guess Jen is talking about commercial graphic art. After all, she could easily become a sculptor or something like that. And, as Lil points out, tattoos aren’t exactly forever either.
Lil offers her an unpaid internship where Jen will have to sterilize the equipment, disinfect the furniture, handle the medical waste, clean up the vomit and the blood, schedule appointments and answer the phone. Oh, and she’ll have to work from noon to 1 a.m. every day.
And, for some reason, Jen says yes.
On the plus side, Lil throws in a place to stay — a terrible apartment upstairs that Jen will have to deep clean before she moves in — and lunch.
And the tattoo shop is seriously creepy. A beaded curtain seems to have a life of its own and traps the UPS guy, who warns Jen to get out as fast as she can. She has to sign the apprenticeship contract in blood. Oh, and that upstairs apartment? In addition to being in truly horrible shape, it’s also haunted.
I’m seriously concerned about Jen’s lack of common sense. On the other hand, if she had any, she would be leading a very boring life right now at an entry-level job in some chemical company — or carving granite into fancy home decor — so her bad decisions are about to make for an interesting story.
The next morning, she shows up with all her worldly belongings and all the cleaning supplies she can afford to buy and starts settling in. Then she goes downstairs to the shop and starts learning her way around her job, starting with sterile procedures. When she’s not working, Lil has her doing practice tattoos on fake skin.
That first day they close up early because Lil has to go to a fundraiser to judge a photography contest. One of the photos seems to show human remains, if you squint hard enough. Lil decides that the photographer, a teenage girl, accidentally took a picture of a dead body and leaves the event early to go look at the park the girl said she took the picture. As Jen drives to the park, Lil tells her that she was magically drawn to the photo and they need to get to the crime scene first before other people notice what’s in the photo.
To find the exact location, Lil uses a magic spell. Jen thinks her boss is going crazy and considers calling 911 and asking them to send an ambulance when Lil actually finds the human remains. Then Lil steals a finger bone. They go back to tattoo parlor and Lil does more magic to get the victim’s name. It’s a woman, the mother of the teenager who took the photo.
That was weird enough, but then Lil’s cat starts talking and Jen’s finally had enough. She runs outside only to discover that someone had vandalized her car and damaged the engine.
I’m really caught up in the story now. I’ll definitely be sticking with it this weekend.
Get the Kindle ebook free from Amazon here.
2. Between Mountain and Sea by Louisa Locke
This is the first book in the five-book Caelestis Series space colonization series. The other two books are $5.99 and are not in Kindle Unlimited. The author has been on our Free Friday list before.
From Maria Korolov:
In 2025, a new planet has been discovered in the Andromeda Galaxy which can sustain human life. The Paradisi Project group uses breakthroughs in wormhole technology to carry ten founding families and a few thousand other people to the planet, called New Eden. They take off in 2092.
The story starts 165 years after their arrival in New Eden. Mei Lin Yu landed in the hospital after botched laser eye surgery, missing her academy entrance exams.
People now have brain implants to connect them to the Internet. Mei’s is temporarily removed because of the botched surgery, and she’s recovering in Mynyddamore, a family place that looks like a medieval fortress and is home to about 300 people. There’s also a telepathic monkey living there. Even though Mei’s never been to Mynyddamore before, she feels at home.
There’s a lot of gorgeous world-building here, but also a lot of family drama. I don’t know yet how old Mei is, but she sounds like an angsty teenager. She had failed her preliminary exams, doesn’t have any friends, and is a disappointment to her parents.
The book is extremely slow-paced, but seductive. I can easily see myself finishing it, even with the angsty teenage protagonist, if I didn’t have that book on ADHD I’m working my way through.
Get the Kindle e-book free from Amazon here.
1. Magical Creatures Academy Box Set by Lucía Ashta
This is a box set of the first of four books in the seven-book Magical Creatures Academy, a YA fantasy series. The other books are $4.99 to $5.99 each, but are all in Kindle Unlimited. The author has been on our Free Friday list before.
From E.S. Foster:
This story reminded me of Harry Potter when I first started reading, so I was excited to see where this was going. It starts off with Rina, a young girl who lives with her brother and father. Her mother died giving birth to her. On top of that, her father is a mage and her brother is a shifter. Since she belongs to a magical family, it’s likely that she inherited something from her parents, but she’s about to find out.
It’s a few minutes before her eighteenth birthday. Three in the morning to be exact. Once the exact date of Rina’s birthday passes, she should display some sort of magic. As she paces around the house waiting for the moment to pass, she thinks about how she will be enrolled in a magical academy if she does have magic.
Her brother and father try to encourage her, but the time passes and nothing happens. Rina is more than a little disappointed, though she wasn’t sure about attending an academy. Suddenly a fairy appeared at her front door, however.
This fairy announces that Rina actually does have magic, and the headmaster of the school has enrolled her. Rina isn’t sure if she’s hearing things right because she clearly doesn’t have magic. Despite this, she signs the contract with her blood, and she and her family head out to the school.
Her dad drops her and her brother off at a mountain, and her brother pulls her through a secret entrance to a magnificent school. After confirming that she actually belongs there, Rina and her brother step onto the school grounds, ready to start a new term.
I really liked where this story was headed. The prose was engaging, and I especially liked Rina’s voice. She was sarcastic and insecure in a good way. It was also nostalgic in a way, as it reminded me of reading Harry Potter when I was a kid. I think I might continue with this series.
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.
Carla Nordlund is a freelance developmental editor, book coach, and writer. She works with authors of fantasy, historical fiction, and romance to strengthen both their manuscripts and writing practice. You can find her on Twitter at @silverrunedit for writing tips and puppy nose boops; and at Silver Run Editing to collaborate on a developmental edit, manuscript assessment, beta read, or coaching.
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.
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