**Quick Note: This was posted early and not on Sunday because WordPress gave up the goods early**

Hello all! I hope your week has been great, but if not don’t worry hopefully my new Sunday feature will cheer you up. Seven books, for the seven days of the week.

This Sunday feature will hence forth be named Sunday’s Seven.

Creative, I know.

To start of Sundays Seven I’m going to treat you to 7 fantasy standalone from my TBR.

THE GOBLIN EMPEROR BY KATHERINE ADDISON

I bought this on Kindle this month, so I actually intend to read this relatively soon, or at least I hope to. I found this gem while reading a post about fantasy books with court intrigue, and it made it to the TBR straight away. I love reading books with crazy politics, and it just so happened that it was also one of the Kindle Deals this month, soooooo, I bought it.

Synopsis:

The youngest, half-goblin son of the Emperor has lived his entire life in exile, distant from the Imperial Court and the deadly intrigue that suffuses it. But when his father and three sons in line for the throne are killed in an “accident,” he has no choice but to take his place as the only surviving rightful heir.

Entirely unschooled in the art of court politics, he has no friends, no advisors, and the sure knowledge that whoever assassinated his father and brothers could make an attempt on his life at any moment.

Surrounded by sycophants eager to curry favor with the naïve new emperor, and overwhelmed by the burdens of his new life, he can trust nobody. Amid the swirl of plots to depose him, offers of arranged marriages, and the specter of the unknown conspirators who lurk in the shadows, he must quickly adjust to life as the Goblin Emperor. All the while, he is alone, and trying to find even a single friend . . . and hoping for the possibility of romance, yet also vigilant against the unseen enemies that threaten him, lest he lose his throne–or his life.

CIRCE BY MADELINE MILLER

I put this on my TBR not to long after its publish date, and I still haven’t read it and that’s not because I’m not interested! I love Greek mythology and retellings can be done really well but as it is with many books on the TBR they just get forgotten.

Synopsis:

In the house of Helios, god of the sun and mightiest of the Titans, a daughter is born. But Circe is a strange child—not powerful, like her father, nor viciously alluring like her mother. Turning to the world of mortals for companionship, she discovers that she does possess power—the power of witchcraft, which can transform rivals into monsters and menace the gods themselves.

Threatened, Zeus banishes her to a deserted island, where she hones her occult craft, tames wild beasts and crosses paths with many of the most famous figures in all of mythology, including the Minotaur, Daedalus and his doomed son Icarus, the murderous Medea, and, of course, wily Odysseus.

But there is danger, too, for a woman who stands alone, and Circe unwittingly draws the wrath of both men and gods, ultimately finding herself pitted against one of the most terrifying and vengeful of the Olympians. To protect what she loves most, Circe must summon all her strength and choose, once and for all, whether she belongs with the gods she is born from, or the mortals she has come to love.

THE PRIORY OF THE ORANGE TREE BY SAMANTHA SHANNON

Dragons.

That’s it. Dragons.

Synopsis:

A world divided. A queendom without an heir. An ancient enemy awakens.

The House of Berethnet has ruled Inys for a thousand years. Still unwed, Queen Sabran the Ninth must conceive a daughter to protect her realm from destruction – but assassins are getting closer to her door. 

Ead Duryan is an outsider at court. Though she has risen to the position of lady-in-waiting, she is loyal to a hidden society of mages. Ead keeps a watchful eye on Sabran, secretly protecting her with forbidden magic.

Across the dark sea, Tané has trained to be a dragonrider since she was a child, but is forced to make a choice that could see her life unravel.

Meanwhile, the divided East and West refuse to parley, and forces of chaos are rising from their sleep.

DESCENDANT OF THE CRANE BY JOAN HE

It was the cover to this that first drew me in, and then…”tyrants cut out throats. Rulers sacrifice their own” and I was safely sucked in. If the cover is this gorgeous, then I am really hoping that the story is just as stunning.

Synopsis:

Tyrants cut out hearts. Rulers sacrifice their own.

Princess Hesina of Yan has always been eager to shirk the responsibilities of the crown, but when her beloved father is murdered, she’s thrust into power, suddenly the queen of an unstable kingdom. Determined to find her father’s killer, Hesina does something desperate: she engages the aid of a soothsayer—a treasonous act, punishable by death… because in Yan, magic was outlawed centuries ago.

Using the information illicitly provided by the sooth, and uncertain if she can trust even her family, Hesina turns to Akira—a brilliant investigator who’s also a convicted criminal with secrets of his own. With the future of her kingdom at stake, can Hesina find justice for her father? Or will the cost be too high?

In this shimmering Chinese-inspired fantasy, debut author Joan He introduces a determined and vulnerable young heroine struggling to do right in a world brimming with deception.

THE AXE AND THE THRONE BY M. D. IREMAN

I love a good debut, I love reading a book and seeing what it took, what amazed someone enough that they knew it could wow the masses. With a vivid world, savage and ambiguous heroes and raiding northmen it was hard not to put this on my TBR. I’m pretty sure its also on my Kindle too. Also, a little side point I actually appreciate a shorter synopsis, its like when you watch a trailer that tells you the whole film, I mean where are the days when a trailer just teased you with a little something and didn’t show you the end scene of the film in the trailer, but that’s a whole otherrr rant!

Synopsis:

It is a fool’s errand and Tallos knows it, but against his own better judgment and the pleading of his wife, Tallos has committed himself to a voyage north. His lifelong friend’s eldest sons are said to have been taken by Northmen, a raiding people ill-reputed for their savagery. The boys are already dead, Tallos knows, and in that dark place of grim reasoning he wishes only to find their corpses quickly so he can fulfill his promise and return to his wife. Instead, he finds something far worse. 

TALION REVENANT BY MICHAEL STACKPOLE

Described, somewhere, as an intelligent heroic fantasy so I had to look further into this, and then I read the synopsis and was even more intrigued. I’m expecting actions, steel and intriguing plot so I think I may have to move this up the TBR a fair bit.

Also.

Guys. Guys, look. Another short synopsis!

Synopsis:

The man he is sworn to protect is the man who butchered his family.

Justices–the select of the Talion, endowed with fearsome magick and lethal martial skills–roam the Shattered Empire, crushing the lawless and championing the oppressed. Their word is law and their judgement binding on highborn and low.

Nolan is a Justice born in what once was the free nation of Sinjaria. Orphaned in the war of conquest with the nation of Hamis, he traveled to far Talianna and secured the right to become a Justice. Now, years later, the Master of all Talions has a dangerous assignment for Nolan: He is to guard the life of the king who destroyed Sinjaria and slaughtered his family. Alone, Nolan ventures into the political maelstrom that is the court of Hamis to stop an assassin even his Masters think cannot be slain. . . . 

ELANTRIS BY BRANDON SANDERSON

So, I’m pretty sure this is a standalone but I’m not one hundred per cent sure seen as though some say it is and some say it isn’t. But, what can I say, I’m a rebel so I’m still putting it in.

Synopsis:

Elantris was the capital of Arelon: gigantic, beautiful, literally radiant, filled with benevolent beings who used their powerful magical abilities for the benefit of all. Yet each of these demigods was once an ordinary person until touched by the mysterious transforming power of the Shaod. Ten years ago, without warning, the magic failed. Elantrians became wizened, leper-like, powerless creatures, and Elantris itself dark, filthy, and crumbling.

Arelon’s new capital, Kae, crouches in the shadow of Elantris. Princess Sarene of Teod arrives for a marriage of state with Crown Prince Raoden, hoping — based on their correspondence — to also find love. She finds instead that Raoden has died and she is considered his widow. Both Teod and Arelon are under threat as the last remaining holdouts against the imperial ambitions of the ruthless religious fanatics of Fjordell. So Sarene decides to use her new status to counter the machinations of Hrathen, a Fjordell high priest who has come to Kae to convert Arelon and claim it for his emperor and his god.

But neither Sarene nor Hrathen suspect the truth about Prince Raoden. Stricken by the same curse that ruined Elantris, Raoden was secretly exiled by his father to the dark city. His struggle to help the wretches trapped there begins a series of events that will bring hope to Arelon, and perhaps reveal the secret of Elantris itself.

A rare epic fantasy that doesn’t recycle the classics and that is a complete and satisfying story in one volume, Elantris is fleet and fun, full of surprises and characters to care about. It’s also the wonderful debut of a welcome new star in the constellation of fantasy.

Well, thanks for reading kids.