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 [email protected].
5. Forward Command by Daniel Gibbs
This is the first of six books in the Galaxy Bridge space opera series. The other books are $0.99 to $4.99 each, but are all in Kindle Unlimited. The sixth book is not out yet, but will be released in September and is currently available for pre-order. The author has been on our Free Friday list a couple of times before with other books.
From Terrence Smith:
This book looks to offer some sci-fi in a style that any Star Trek fan would enjoy, including aliens of different races working together, starships exploring unknown regions, and enigmatic threats.
The prologue introduces readers to one of these threats immediately: a massive, crystalline structure that lays waste to a starship, not only reanimating but also assimilating its surviving crew into its structure. It is a biological level of terror that would even give Star Trek’s Borg a run for their money.
The protagonists come off as readily likeable and interesting. The first two major characters introduced are Colonel Mateo Larra, who is being given command of a new ship, and the botanist Esme Larra, who is also the colonel’s loving and supportive wife. The two come off as having a healthy relationship, although Mateo’s work has its own classified aspects that he cannot share with her.
The other two are a businessman looking to cash in on some less than ethical opportunities, and his nephew. The businessman sounds like he would be an ideal member of the Ferengi race from Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, being familiar with the 34th and 35th Rules of Acquisition: War is good for business and peace is good for business. I suspect that the nephew is autistic. The businessman tells him that he smells money, and the nephew takes him literally, suggesting that digital currency doesn’t have a scent.
While I am only a little way in, so far things seem intriguing, and I would want to know exactly what this alien threat is that the characters will be up against.
Get the Kindle ebook free from Amazon here.
4. After the Ending by Lindsey Pogue and Lindsey Fairleigh
This is the first of six books in the The Ending dystopian science fiction series. The other books are $3.99 to $5.99 each and are not in Kindle Unlimited. We previously reviewed this book in May of 2023 and Lindsey Pogue has also had other book on our Free Friday list.
From Maria Korolov:
According to the book’s prologue, 90 percent of people on the world have died. Survivors have developed unbelievable abilities. And the protagonist has found love with the least likely person.
I don’t mind the unbelievable abilities, but massive death tolls — and romantic plots — are not my thing. So normally, I’d put the book down right then and there.
Anyway, after the prologue, the book starts right in with a flu that’s much worse than normal, sending people to the hospital. And there’s hand sanitizer. Lots of it. I guess the post-Covid novels are finally arriving.
Hold on a second, let me check the publication date. This book came out in 2013.
Over the course of the first couple of chapters, people are getting sick left and right, going to the emergency room, dying. Danielle and Zoe, the two protagonists, and sympathetic characters. I don’t like seeing them surrounded by all the horrors. Zoe’s roommate dies. So does Danielle’s boyfriend and best friend.
And both Zoe and Danielle get sick. Very sick. And the symptoms sounds way too close to Covid.
I can’t read this. It’s just too close to reality.
Get the Kindle ebook free from Amazon here.
3. Thaddeus of Beewicke by Louis Sauvain
This is the first of five books in The College of Sorcerers Trilogy epic fantasy series. The other books are $8.99 each, but are both in Kindle Unlimited. This is the author’s first time on our Free Friday list.
From E.S. Foster:
This epic fantasy begins with a quick prologue about the birth of a boy named Thaddeus.
A few years later, an old man named Silvestrus suddenly appears in the tiny village where Thaddeus lives. He meets Thaddeus, who has been fishing by the lake. Thaddeus finds it odd that Silvestrus keeps asking him a bunch of questions, such as how he enjoyed living in the village and if he believes in the Pixae, a fairy race that aids the growth of nature. But the old man seems harmless enough as he goes on his way.
When Thaddeus gets home, he finds Silvestrus sitting at the table with his parents and asking if the boy is going to be apprenticed. It is revealed that he is, in fact, going to learn under the most important beekeeper in the entire town. It’s not an option that Thaddeus exactly favors, since he feels doomed to spend the rest of his life beekeeping like his father.
The old man then asks if the boy could lead him to a stone relic of great importance to the village. Along the way, Thaddeus questions why the old man would want anything to do with him since he’s no one special. Silvestrus explains that he believes the boy has wonderful abilities that the school he teaches at, would be able to use. Still, Thaddeus worries about leaving his parents behind if he does have the chance to go. When they reach the relic, it mysteriously glows near the old man, leaving the boy confused.
The next morning, Thaddeus wakes to hear his parents explaining why he can’t leave for the mysterious school. But through bribery and magic, their minds change in minutes. Before Thaddeus knows it, his things are packed and he’s off with the mysterious wizard to this school.
I was immediately interested in this book because of my love of fantasy. I enjoyed the mysteriousness of Silvestrus, and I found myself wanting to know more about all the cool things this school was supposed to be about. But there were also some details about the world that occasionally took me out of the story. For example, there was information about the scientific name for the moon in the middle of introducing characters. Also, this book definitely leans more into the tropes of classic fantasy, but if you’re looking for something “old school,” check this series out
Get the Kindle ebook free from Amazon here.
2. Minimum Wage Magic by Rachel Aaron
This is the first of three books in the DFZ urban fantasy series. The other books are $4.99 each, but are both in Kindle Unlimited. This is the author’s first time on our Free Friday list.
From Lilivette Domínguez-Torres:
This is a book unlike anything I’ve read before. It’s set in a futuristic Detroit that is literally alive with its own soul and magic.
With the story being set in the future, I thought the magic would be kind of boring but what we get to see through the first two chapters is actually pretty interesting. Our main character, Opal Yong-ae, works as a Cleaner — someone who buys abandoned or overdue apartments from the city to scavenge and resell any worthy belongings that were left behind by their previous owners.
The job is usually a hit or miss but Opal Yong-ae has no time to waste since she owes money to a powerful and scary individual that could cause nothing but trouble if she misses her next payment. Yet things only continue to get complicated when she comes across the dead body of a mage in her latest apartment and there’s nothing she can do about it to get her money back.
Usually, I’m not a fan of books where magic collides with a futuristic world. I usually feel like the technology advances that are mentioned throughout the story take away from the magic but this wasn’t the case. I mean, it’s not like we get to see much of these in the first two chapters of the story, but it was enough for me to realize that it’s not that bad in this book. Futuristic technology and magic are actually fun when done right and I think that’s what I enjoyed the most about this book.
That and how nothing seemed to go right for the main character no matter how hard she tried. Overall, the writing and the pacing of the story are great but the chapters are extremely long, which makes the story feel a bit slow.
In the end, I actually enjoyed this book and I’m pretty interested in seeing what happens next with the dead body and Opal’s debt…but most of all I just can’t wait to see and learn more about the world the story is set in and how the magic works in it. Definitely recommend this if you’re a fan of urban fantasy books.
Get the Kindle ebook free from Amazon here.
1. Breaker by Amy Campbell
This is the first of six books in the Tales of the Outlaw Mages Western fantasy series. The other books are $5.99 each, and the series is not in Kindle Unlimited. We previously reviewed this book in June of 2023.
From Tim McHugh:
This book takes place in a western-like fantasy world. There are outlaws with six-shooters but also mages who practice alchemy. I am definitely not the target audience for this kind of story. While I love magic, I have a hard time getting into the western theme.
The story starts with Blaise, a young man who is hinted to have some magical powers. He is at the market buying supplies for his mother’s alchemy practice. The men in the shop give him a rough time but nothing really happens.
It’s when Blaise leaves and takes to the road that he is ambushed and robbed by Jack. Jack is a mage, meaning he has a certain type of power, and has a telepathic Pegasus to assist him. Jack realizes that Blaise is also a mage but robs him anyway and we get a peek at Blaise’s power when he touches Jack’s gun and it explodes.
Later in the story we can expect the two mages and the Pegasus to team up to take on the Salt-Iron Confederation, a large organization that threatens Blaise’s family.
The writing in this story is not bad, but it takes far too long for anything to happen. It takes pages for Blaise to buy supplies where nothing much happens and it takes a paragraph for him to decide where to eat his lunch. The dialogue is also a bit flat and surface level, and there are a few too many corny, quippy similes.
Regardless of the writing style, this book is not for me, but if you are interested in western-style stories you might like it. The world seems to be well thought out and there is potential for a good plot to play out.
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 [email protected].
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 [email protected]. She is also the editor and publisher of Hypergrid Business, one of the top global sites covering virtual reality.
Lilivette Domínguez-Torres is MetaStellar's marketing assistant and an aspiring book editor based in Puerto Rico. You can find her talking about fantasy books or K-dramas on Twitter at @lilivettedt.
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.
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.
I finished Rachael Aaron’s “Minimum Wage Magic” and LOVED it. Then read the rest of the books in the series. Then read all five books in the related Heartstrikers series.
I just downloaded “By a Silver Thread,” the first book in the DFZ Changeling series, also set in the same universe.
Rachael Aaron’s books remind me of Kim Harrison and Seanan McGuire. And Patricia Briggs and Ben Aaronovitch. And Ilona Andrews and Kate Daniels and Kelley Armstrong. Tons of action, great plots, and only a little romance — not much more than you’d get in any action movie. The world-building is amazing, and I loved the characters.