Amazon is giving away 9 books from around the world for World Book Day (April 23, 2019)! These 9 are in various genres so we’ve compiled some great reads from around the world in the Fantasy and Sci Fi genre. Let us know if we missed any of your favorites! Each of these books is either written by someone outside of the US or the book takes place in a country other than the US. Join us on Discord to discuss these and other titles on World Book Day!

Not all of the books listed below are free, so check the price before purchasing! 

https://youtu.be/4ZJuTP1eSeI

Omnia
By Laura Gallego

Where else but Omnia would a boy go looking to replace a one-of-a-kind stuffed bunny that happens to be his baby sister’s favorite toy? Scrolling through the online retailer’s extensive inventory, Nico finds what looks like a perfect match, but the item is lost somewhere in the vast Omnia warehouse. He doesn’t believe it, so he stows away in a shipment being returned to the warehouse to search for the bunny himself.

Nico quickly gets stranded on the island of Omnia, a fantastical place that does much more than sell everyday items. It is a hub for a business with intergalactic reach, and while stray visitors to Omnia are welcomed warmly, they are not permitted to leave, ever.

The Elven
By Bernhard Hennen

A fierce and merciless demon has been unleashed on the world, spreading destruction and bloodshed in both the human and the elven realms. Northlander Jarl Mandred witnesses the ruthless attack on his men, and he seeks vengeance with the help of the elf queen, Emerelle. Despite Mandred’s barbaric human nature, the queen orchestrates an elfhunt joined by the two strongest warriors in Albenmark to pursue the beast. Farodin, the fiercest fighter in the land, and Nuramon, the healer, seize the opportunity to make history alongside Mandred in a life-defining series of battles waged in parallel universes.

The Gray House
By Mariam Petrosyan

Bound to wheelchairs and dependent on prosthetic limbs, the physically disabled students living in the House are overlooked by the Outsides. Not that it matters to anyone living in the House, a hulking old structure that its residents know is alive. From the corridors and crawl spaces to the classrooms and dorms, the House is full of tribes, tinctures, scared teachers, and laws—all seen and understood through a prismatic array of teenagers’ eyes.

But student deaths and mounting pressure from the Outsides put the time-defying order of the House in danger. As the tribe leaders struggle to maintain power, they defer to the awesome power of the House, attempting to make it through days and nights that pass in ways that clocks and watches cannot record.

The Oddfits
By Tiffany Tsao

Eight-year-old Murgatroyd Floyd doesn’t fit in—not as a blue-eyed blonde living in Singapore, not in school, and certainly not with his aloof expatriate parents, who seem determined to make his life even harder. Unbeknownst to him, there’s a reason why he’s always the odd boy out: he is an Oddfit, a rare type of human with access to the More Known World, a land invisible to most people. Yet unfortunate circumstances keep Murgatroyd stranded in the Known World, bumbling through life with the feeling that an extraordinary something is waiting for him just beyond reach.

Seventeen years later, that something finally arrives when a secret organization dedicated to exploring the More Known World invites Murgatroyd on a mission. But as the consummate loser begins to grow into the Oddfit he was meant to be, the Known World becomes bent on exterminating him. For once in his underachieving life, will Murgatroyd Floyd exceed expectations and outsmart those trying to thwart his stupendous destiny?

Lord of all Things
By Andreas Eschbach

They are just children when they meet for the first time: Charlotte, daughter of the French ambassador, and Hiroshi, a laundress’s son. One day, Hiroshi declares that he has an idea that will change the world. An unprecedented idea of how to sweep away all differences between rich and poor.

When Hiroshi runs into Charlotte several years later, he is trying to build a brighter future through robotics. Determined to win Charlotte’s love, he resurrects his childhood dream, convinced that he can eradicate world poverty by pushing the limits of technology beyond imagination. But as Hiroshi circles ever closer to realizing his vision, he discovers that his utopian dream may contain the seeds of a nightmare—one that could obliterate life as we know it.

Morgue Drawer: Do Not Enter!
By Jutta Profijt

Pascha, the snarky ghost of a deceased twenty-five-year-old, finds himself stuck between this world and the next with no one to talk to aside from Martin, a coroner with the dubious gift of being able to hear the dead. Since Martin prefers his girlfriend’s company to Pascha’s, Pascha is stuck haunting hospital rooms and accident sites hoping to meet a spirit who will stay a while and keep him company. He gets more than he bargained for when four small children are gravely injured in a car accident and put into induced comas, letting their anxious little spirits out to roam. What’s more, the young teacher who had been driving the totaled van seems to have disappeared into thin air. Pascha suddenly becomes not only a reluctant babysitter but an unlikely detective in this quirky, engrossing murder mystery from celebrated German author Jutta Profijt.

Tears in Rain
By Rosa Montero

Death is inevitable. Especially when you have an expiration date.

As a replicant, or “techno-human,” Detective Bruna Husky knows two things: humans bioengineered her to perform dangerous, undesirable tasks; and she has just ten years on the United States of Earth before her body automatically self-destructs. But with “anti-techno” rage on the rise and a rash of premature deaths striking her fellow replicants, she may have even less time than she originally thought.

Investigating the mysterious deaths, Bruna delves into the fractious, violent history shared by humans and replicants, and struggles to engage the society that fails to understand her—yet created her. The deeper she gets, the deadlier her work becomes as she uncovers a vast, terrifying conspiracy bent on changing the very course of the world. But even as the darkness of her reality closes in, Bruna clings fiercely to life.

The Day of the Triffids
By John Wyndham

Triffids are odd, interesting little plants that grow in everyone’s garden. Triffids are no more than mere curiosities—until an event occurs that alters human life forever.

What seems to be a spectacular meteor shower turns into a bizarre, green inferno that blinds everyone and renders humankind helpless. What follows is even stranger: spores from the inferno cause the triffids to suddenly take on a life of their own. They become large, crawling vegetation, with the ability to uproot and roam about the country, attacking humans and inflicting pain and agony.

William Masen somehow managed to escape being blinded in the inferno, and now after leaving the hospital, he is one of the few survivors who can see. And he may be the only one who can save his species from chaos and eventual extinction . . .

Born of Water
By A.L. Knorr

A mysterious shipwreck could unlock ancient powers… or send her to a watery grave.
Targa MacAuley feels more at home on dry land than in the watery realm of her mermaid ancestors. After 17 years on solid ground, she fears she’ll never grow into the creature her mother hoped she’d become. To keep her mom’s homesickness and true identity under wraps, Targa signs on for a mysterious salvage dive in the Baltic Sea.

Her plan to blend in with the rest of the crew is spoiled when she catches the eye of a handsome local. A freak accident and a strange connection to the ancient shipwreck below attract even more unwanted attention. With both her mom’s secret—and her life—in danger, Targa must finally find the courage to unleash the currents surging deep within.

 

Moon Shadow
By Kat Zaccard

Alice always felt the pull of the moon … she just didn’t know why.
Shipped off to boarding school deep in the Canadian Rockies …
Challenged by every would-be rival …
Alice needs to figure out the secrets of her past, before it catches up with her.
She better do it quickly for only a true alpha can gather the pack.

Book of the Night
By Oliver Potzsch

In this thrilling adventure by bestselling author Oliver Pötzsch, thirteen-year-old Lukas has been trained as a swordsman by his father, a nobleman who was once a famed Musketeer. When the threat of war and accusations of witchcraft spread across the land, Lukas’s life is forever changed. He flees his home and vows to find his missing sister.

Surviving as an outcast, Lukas encounters thieves and mercenaries, a strange astrologer, and a master swordsman. He also meets three other fencers—Giovanni, Paulus, and Jerome. Each brings a special talent to their team that leads them to the Black Musketeers, the best fighters in the army. But living with the black-armored Musketeers is nothing like they imagined. In his quest to find his sister, Lukas learns of a legendary book that holds powerful magic. As he fights to keep the Book of the Night out of the hands of his greatest enemy, Lukas discovers the secrets of his own family and what it really means to be a Musketeer.

Memory of Water
By Emmi Itaranta

Global warming has changed the world’s geography and its politics. Wars are waged over water, and China rules Europe, including the Scandinavian Union, which is occupied by the power state of New Qian. In this far north place, seventeen-year-old Noria Kaitio is learning to become a tea master like her father, a position that holds great responsibility and great secrets. Tea masters alone know the location of hidden water sources, including the natural spring that Noria’s father tends, which once provided water for her whole village.

But secrets do not stay hidden forever, and after her father’s death the army starts watching their town—and Noria. And as water becomes even scarcer, Noria must choose between safety and striking out, between knowledge and kinship.

The Three-Body Problem
By Liu Cixin

Set against the backdrop of China’s Cultural Revolution, a secret military project sends signals into space to establish contact with aliens. An alien civilization on the brink of destruction captures the signal and plans to invade Earth. Meanwhile, on Earth, different camps start forming, planning to either welcome the superior beings and help them take over a world seen as corrupt, or to fight against the invasion. The result is a science fiction masterpiece of enormous scope and vision.

Airwoman (FREE as of 4/18/19)
By Zara Quentin

Jade Gariq dreams of a new calling. While she wishes she could join the elite force that protects her home world from interdimensional threats, she’s stuck working for the family business. But everything changes when her father is found with traces of magic on him… magic that should only belong to the mythical Dragon-Gods…

To uncover the mystery behind her father’s murder, Jade must follow the clues to an uncharted world. Beyond the portal, treacherous jungles, surprising betrayals, and a killer bent on tying up loose ends stand in her way of the truth. It’ll take every ounce of Jade’s cunning to solve her father’s death, but can she avoid his fate?

The Ghost Bride
By Yangsze Choo

Part 19th century novel, part magical journey to the Chinese world of the dead, Yangsze Choo’s debut novel The Ghost Bride is a startlingly original historical fantasy infused with Chinese folklore, romantic intrigue, and unexpected supernatural twists. Reminiscent of Lisa See’s Peony in Love and Neil Gaiman’s Neverwhere, The Ghost Bride is a wondrous coming-of-age story from a remarkable new voice in fiction.

A Kingdom of Exiles
By S.B. Nova

Growing up in a backwoods village, her life is lonely and dull. Then, on her eighteenth birthday, she’s gifted a magical heirloom only to be snatched by fae and condemned to a lifetime in chains.

Dragged to Aldar, a fae kingdom ruled by a tyrant witch, Serena discovers a forbidden love, and meets fellow outcasts, each with their own dark secrets.

As the lives of warriors, rebels, and witches clash,they find a shared destiny. For only together, and with Serena’s unique gifts, can they survive long enough to build the flames of a revolution. Only together can they go to war …

The Hands of the Emperor
By Victoria Goddard

Cliopher Mdang is the personal secretary of the Last Emperor of Astandalas, the Lord of Rising Stars, the Lord Magus of Zunidh, the Sun-on-Earth, the god.
He has spent more time with the Emperor of Astandalas than any other person.
He has never once touched his lord.
He has never called him by name.
He has never initiated a conversation.

One day Cliopher invites the Sun-on-Earth home to the proverbially remote Vangavaye-ve for a holiday.

Winter’s Fury
By A.E. Rayne

She was Brekka’s greatest warrior, destined to be the queen, but when her father died her uncle stole the throne. And without her father to protect her, Jael becomes a pawn; a woman to be married off so her uncle can fulfill his own desperate ambition.

Eadmund Skalleson is broken, tortured by the death of his first wife, but his father is out of patience. He wants heirs for his kingdom, and his son restored to the great warrior he once was. So when his daughter has a dream about Jael, he jumps at the opportunity to make an alliance with his arch enemy.

Heir of Iron
By J.S. Bangs

Mandhi has spent years looking for her lost brother Navran. Their ailing father is near death, and Navran must inherit the title of Heir of Manjur, the descendant of an ancient king and leader of a secret religious sect. More importantly, if Navran returns then Mandhi won’t be forced to marry to provide an heir, and will be free to elope with her bodyguard.

But the Navran she finds is not the man she was hoping for. He’s a drunkard and a gambler, and he has no interest in his religious duties. Mandhi attempts to reform him—but her efforts are interrupted when agents of the Emperor kidnap Navran. Mandhi must find a way to free her brother and remain with her lover, and what she sets in motion will shake the foundations of the Empire.

Soul Jacker
By Michael John Grist

t’s been a long time since Ritry risked his sanity on a deep-brain Soul-jack. Once renowned for hacking the most lethal minds, now he peddles cheap memory implants on the neon-lit slums of the Arctic Circle – staying out of trouble, mostly.

Then a terrified girl bolts into his jack-site, seeking a unique brain-hack to escape Don Zachary, the vicious slumlord. Ritry’s no hero, but he won’t stand by while another innocent dies.

Yet the Don does not forgive. Hounded from the slums, Ritry flees into the forgotten ruins of the old world, only to find a far crueler predator lying in wait, one with a dark taste for living Souls – plunging Ritry into one last desperate jack with the Souls of all humanity on the line…

Ezaara
By Eileen Mueller

When Ezaara meets Zaarusha the Dragon Queen, she’s swept up in a blaze of color and they imprint, forming a deep bond. She must give up her home and family to become the new Queen’s Rider. Ignorant and unprepared, how can she possibly succeed?

Luckily, she has a dragon master — although rumors say she might be better off with the enemy.

Plunged into a world of cutthroat politics and traitors in every shadow, who can Ezaara trust as Commander Zens and his army of bestial tharuks march closer, razing villages and enslaving the people of Dragons’ Realm?

What personal price must Ezaara and her Dragon Master pay to save their people?