Book picks similar to
Children of a Broken Sky by Adam J. Nicolai
fantasy
young-adult
ebook
free-reads
Home: Interstellar: Hope's War Book 1
Ray Strong - 2015
Ten years later, the most powerful interests in the galaxy aim to kill her for what she might remember. And they’ll kill her family and friends if she does.Murdered parents and a busted spaceship, that’s what pirates left to Meriel and the orphans from the Light Speed Merchant Princess. But pirates didn’t exist, and for the Troopers, that defined her as crazy.After ten years of flashbacks, nightmares, and compulsory drugs, Meriel’s past will not stay buried. But while searching for a mythical sanctuary called Home, she trips alarms that protect the killers… and the biggest secret in human history.Meriel has only days to untangle the mysteries surrounding her parents’ death or face her own. What she finds can save the far-stars from extinction, but it makes the orphans targets.Again.And this time they can’t escape.First in the epic saga. Book 2 coming December 2021: Pandora’s Razor! "... a science fiction tale that reads like a pilgrimage with a haunted and haunting female character who combines strength and grace in a way that instantly wins the reader over to her perspective and her values, her every cause." -- Writer's Digest"Reminiscent of Ray Bradbury, early Heinlein, or Alan Dean Foster. Characters who are realistic, not perfect..." ★★★★★ Norma Mason (Goodreads)"Great Story! Great World Building! ... engrossing and entertaining, and a plot full of twists and turns... awesome world building and character arcs...!" ★★★★★ Madhavi Ghare (Goodeads)
Planet Urth
Jennifer Martucci - 2013
The planet has been battered by war, its inhabitants plagued by disease and death. Few humans survived and remained unaffected. Most changed dramatically and evolved into something else entirely. Irrevocable alterations caused by chemical warfare have created a new species. North America is in ruins and has been overtaken. Humanity has fallen at the hands of mutants known as Urthmen. Seventeen year-old Avery is alive and unchanged. But she has not been immune to the harshness of the new world. She has lived on the run for much of her life, in terror. After losing her father, Avery is the sole guardian of her eight-year-old sister, June. Avery is now charged with June’s safety as well as her own, a nearly impossible task.Forced to hide deep in the forest and away from the cities overrun by Urthmen, Avery and her sister are constantly hunted. Danger awaits them at every turn. They fear they are the only human beings left, that they are the last of their kind. But are they truly alone?Find out in this raw and rousing first installment of the Planet Urth series.
Brew
David Estes - 2014
During the slaughter, Rhett Carter's foster parents and sister are killed, and his best friend and girlfriend are abducted by a gang of witches calling themselves the Necromancers, who deal in the dark magic of raising the dead. Rhett’s sword-wielding neighbor with a mysterious past saves Rhett from becoming another casualty of the massacre and teaches him the skills he needs to survive in this new world.Rhett is broken, his normal high school life of book blogging and football playing shoved in a witch-apocalyptic blender. The only thing he has left is his burning desire for revenge. Armed with his new witch hunting skills and a loyal, magic powered dog named Hex, he sets out into the unknown with one mission: hunt and destroy those who took away everyone he ever loved. But Rhett isn’t just a witch hunter; he has secrets of his own that he has yet to discover, secrets that his enemies will stop at nothing to keep him from.And discovering the truth about himself is the human race’s only hope.
Forging Zero
Sara King - 2013
Now they own us.The Legend of ZERO: Forging Zero is the epic journey of 14-year-old Joe Dobbs in a post-apocalyptic universe following a massive galactic empire's invasion of Earth. The oldest of the children drafted from humanity’s devastated planet, Joe is impressed into service by the alien Congressional Ground Force—and becomes the unwitting centerpiece in a millennia-long alien struggle for independence. Once his training begins, one of the elusive and prophetic Trith appears to give Joe a spine chilling prophecy that the universe has been anticipating for millions of years: Joe will be the one to finally shatter the vast alien government known as Congress. And the Trith cannot lie.…But first Joe has to make it through bootcamp.
Cascade Point
Joshua Guess - 2017
They fly at the edges of Alliance space, surveying new systems far from the problems that brought them all together. Some are former military, while others have more colorful pasts. Everyone aboard the Fallen Angel has a reason for staying on the fringes. It's a good life, but a chance discovery will change everything. Confronted by an enemy powerful enough to threaten all of human civilization, Grant and his crew are forced to choose between confinement or joining the Ghost Fleet, a hidden network of ships recruited and run by the Alliance Navy. Faced with an existential danger, Grant will lead his team into the far reaches of unknown space to keep the brewing conflict from exploding into all-out war.
Writing on the Wall
Tracey Ward - 2013
Since Joss watched her parents die at the hands of a nightmare, a nightmare that stalks her even now, all these years later. That's the problem with the Risen - they refuse to die.But Joss is a survivor. A loner living in the post-apocalyptic streets of Seattle. It's a world dictated by Risen and the looming threat of the Colonists, a group of fellow survivors living comfortably in their compounds and patrolling the wild, looking to "save" the orphans of the end.Orphans like Joss.Like Ryan.As a member of an all male gang, Ryan is a threat as real as the Risen, a threat Joss avoids at all costs. Then one night their paths cross and Joss makes a choice that goes against all of her instincts. A choice that will threaten everything she has.Now a new outbreak is imminent and the Colonists are closing in. Joss' solitary, secret world will be blown wide open and the comfortable numbness she's lived in for the last six years will burn away leaving her aching and afraid.And awake.
Ure Infectus
Caleb Wachter - 2014
A network of wormholes connects the far-flung segments of humanity, allowing virtually instantaneous travel between Star Systems connected by this vast, invaluable network. But what happens when one of those wormholes collapses and an entire Sector of relatively poor worlds is left to fend for itself without support, without guidance, and without the vast infrastructure of the Imperium available to its citizens? What might such a society look like after two centuries of independence, having been left to devise their own culture, values, and government? Welcome to the Chimera Sector. The citizens of this seemingly-forgotten splinter of the Imperium hold one belief above all others: Only when the leaders fear the voters as much as the voters fear the leaders can harmony be achieved. To achieve this harmony, a special type of guild was created called the Timent Electorum. The operatives of this guild -- called 'Adjusters' -- work at the behest of the voting public, and exclusively punish political corruption, tyranny, and treason with the ultimate sanction: assassination. This is the story of one such Adjuster, Jericho, who forges an unlikely alliance with an urban detective, Masozi, whose steadfast adherence to the Sector's core principles have placed her in harm's way. Acting together in a tenuous alliance, they will follow a trail of corruption across the Virgin Star System and witness the birth of a conflict which will forever change them -- along with the entire Chimera Sector.
Jaben's Rift
G. David Walker - 2010
Adding to his dilemma, his arrival also intensifies a conflict between two of the godlike Altered, one of whom is secretly aiding Jason's ancestor, violating a Covenant that has kept Teleria safe from their influence for over a millennia.Unable to return home, Jason must learn to use power he isn't convinced he has, keep from triggering a devastating war between the Altered, and most of all…survive.JABEN’S RIFT takes the reader on a journey of honor and deception, betrayal and self-sacrifice, as Jason tries to figure out who is telling him the truth and who only wants to use him, before Teleria’s fate is sealed forever.
15 Minutes
Jill Cooper - 2013
When Lara takes a bullet meant for her mother, her future changes forever. A new house, new friends and a new boyfriend turns Lara’s life upside down. She thinks if she can save her father from prison, reunite him with her mother, everything will be fine.15 Minutes is an edgy high octane YA thriller where the people Lara trusts change in an instant. She is in a timeline she doesn't understand, and is about to make one fatal mistake as she faces an enemy so familiar, he’s family.
Dragon Thief
Marc Secchia - 2015
He certainly did not intend to steal any dragon’s treasure. He was an adventurer. Avid art collector. Incurable wealth adjuster and risk-taker. Kal had legendary expertise in the security arrangements of palaces and noble houses the world over. He hankered for remote, craggy mountaintops and the dragon hoards he might find hidden beneath them. Besides, what harm was there in looking? Dragon gold was so … shiny. Most especially, he was not planning for any treasure to steal him. That was a little awkward, to say the least.
The Frozen Sky
Jeff Carlson - 2010
Robot probes find an ancient tunnel beneath the surface, its walls carved with strange hieroglyphics. Led by elite engineer Alexis Vonderach, a team of scientists descends into the dark... where they confront a savage race older than mankind...FIRST CONTACTBased on the award-winning short story, The Frozen Sky is a new full-length sci fi thriller novel from the international bestselling author of Plague Year.
Thea
Steven Jenkins - 2016
But monsters come in many forms. Teenage boys, drug addiction, underage sex - single mother Sarah battles to keep these demons from her daughters.As the long nights of worry start to feed Sarah's paranoia, she must take desperate measures to save her family.Although sometimes, the only way to kill a monster......is to become one."The epitome of chilling vampire noir. Cements Jenkins' pre-eminence in the realm of terror."NATHAN JONES - Author of THE NOWHERE
The Amber Project
J.N. Chaney - 2015
The surviving humans take refuge in an underground city, determined to return home. But after generations of failures and botched attempts, hope is beginning to dwindle. That is, until a young scientist makes a unique discovery — and everything changes. Suddenly, there’s reason to hope again, and it rests within a group of genetically engineered children that are both human and Variant. Terry is one of these children, modified and trained to endure the harsh conditions of a planet he cannot begin to understand. After years of preparation, Terry thinks he knows what to expect. But the reality is far stranger than anything he can imagine — and what he will become is far more dangerous.
Atlantic Island
Fredric Shernoff - 2013
Now that he’s fighting for survival in another dimension, he’d much rather be back in class…Teenager Theo Essex never had the courage to speak to girls or stand up to bullies. So when a spontaneous road trip to the Jersey Shore lands him in the arms of a beautiful young woman, he thinks he must be living a dream. But his fantasy turns into a nightmare when a supernatural storm tears Atlantic City from the coast and catapults it into a waterlogged alternate universe.Forced to figure out how to survive, Theo, Kylee, and the remaining castaways try to rebuild their ravaged society while hoping for rescue. But a power-hungry enemy with a grudge against Theo threatens to destroy the island and wash him away with the tide. And to top it all off, a strange magic lurks beneath the waves…Can Theo and Kylee unravel the mystery of the devastating Event and stop a dictator from enslaving the islanders?Atlantic Island is the first book in the gripping Atlantic Island dystopian YA science fiction trilogy. If you like accidental heroes, mysterious settings, and page-turning tension, then you’ll love Fredric Shernoff’s wild adventure.
Yesterday's Gone: Episode 1
Sean Platt - 2011
everyone on Earth vanished.Well, almost everyone.A scattered few woke alone in a world where there are no rules other than survival... at any cost.A journalist wanders the horrible reality of an empty New York in search of his wife and son.A serial killer must hunt in a land where prey is now an endangered species.A mother shields her young daughter from danger, though every breath fills her with terror.A bullied teen is thrilled to find everyone gone. Until the knock at the door.A fugitive survives a fiery plane crash. Will he be redeemed, or return to what he's best at: the kill?An eight year old boy sets out on a journey to find his missing family. What he finds will change him forever.These survivors aren’t alone...Someone or something is watching them.And waiting...Strangers unite.Sides are chosen.Will humanity survive what it never saw coming?The only certainty is that Yesterday’s Gone.You’ve never read anything like Yesterday’s Gone – the epic, groundbreaking, thrilling new series. Look for a new 100 page episode each month.