Science Fiction and Fantasy Books You Can Read for $5 or Less

A peasant is sent to the arena, fodder for the carnage—but before the horrified gaze of noble ladies, the warrior named Dog slaughters headsmen, hunters, and beasts to win freedom as a full-fledged gladiator. Then deep-space rebels attack an Empire ship where Dog performs combat killings for the amusement of the passengers, and the gladiator becomes a rebel. Now a beautiful officer of the court finds her life depends on the mercy of Dog, the man she ordered put to death!

Two thousand years into the future, runaway pollution has made the earth uninhabitable except in giant biodomes. The society is an anarchy, with disputes mediated through the Machiavellian Committee for the Revolution. Mars, Venus, and the moon support flourishing colonies of various political stripes. On the fringes of the solar system, in the gas planets, a strange, new, violent kind of human has evolved. In this unstable system, the anarchist Paula Mendoza, an agent of the Committee, works to make peace and ultimately protect her people in a catastrophic clash of worlds that destroys the order she knows.

Revolution spreads like wildfire through humanity’s interstellar empire, sparked by the opening of Geodesica and the destruction of an entire inhabited system. But who was ultimately responsible? And who will pay the price?

Melilah Awad and Palmer Eogan delve deeper into Geodesica’s ancient alien labyrinth than anyone has ever dared, hoping to unravel its secrets before the hunter-killers from Earth bring them down. Former Exarch of Bedlam, Isaac Forge Deangelis, finds his grip on sanity slipping as his very reason for existing is ripped from him. While a rebel Exarch and Palmer Horsfall, grieving for her lost sister, form an alliance that might tear humanity’s interstellar empire apart…

Lixia and the members of her human crew are determined not to disturb the life on the planet circling the Star Sigma Draconis which they have begun exploring. But the factions on the mother ship hovering above the planet may create an unintended chaos for both the life on the planet and the humans exploring it. As the anger increases on the ship, the ground crew becomes more and more affected by the conflict and begins to rely on their instincts to keep the project moving forward. Unexpected danger plagues the mission as Lixia is determined to expand her knowledge.

The shocking discovery of a child’s corpse in the Tsiyonim ghetto of Arcassanne stirs up old fears and enmities in the city. Suspicion falls on Rahab ben Chazhael, a tailor still haunted by the day when he lost hold of his little brother’s hand as his family fled a brutal pogrom.

Rahab must escape the city guard and search for help—and the truth—in Tifereth, a scholarly Tsiyonim community hidden deep in the mountains. He’ll bring with him an unexpected companion: wealthy Lia, once a customer of Rahab’s, who has made some shocking discoveries about her own past.

But time is running out. As the citizens of Arcassanne surround the ghetto, can Rahab find the murderer and save his community from suffering the same fate as his family?

Magic has been forbidden in Caithe for 200 years. Those born with magic—the Lorngeld—are considered the devil’s children. They are ruthlessly executed by the Caithan Church before they can be corrupted by mind-plague—the volatile madness that afflicts untrained wizards. Only King Kelwyn, artificially gifted with borrowed magic, is exempt from punishment. His daughter may not be so lucky.

Impertinent and rebellious, Princess Athaya prefers to spend her time gambling and drinking rather than courting would-be suitors. Discovering that she is a natural-born wizard is an unwelcome surprise. But there are those who believe it is a gift, and that someone with Athaya’s unique ability may be capable of leading the Lorngeld out of persecution.

Torn between loyalty to her kingdom, her duty to the Lorngeld, and her own impulsive heart, Athaya must harness her burgeoning magic before it drives her mad, and learn to wield its power before those who fear it—and those who envy it—can destroy her.

Four children live on an island that serves as the repository for all the world’s garbage. Trash arrives, the children sort it, and then they feed it to a herd of insatiable pigs: a perfect system. But when a barrel washes ashore with a boy inside, the children must decide whether he is more of the world’s detritus, meant to be fed to the pigs, or whether he is one of them. Written in exquisitely wrought prose, Pigs asks questions about community, environmental responsibility, and the possibility of innocence.