Romantasy has been all the rage over the last few months. It might be humbling to try to figure out how to get into the genre, especially if fantasy is not your cup of tea. I though it might be handy to write a little guide on how to get into the genre: what is it? Where should you start? And what does it have to do with TikTok?
What is Romantasy?
The word Romantasy comes from two genres: romance and fantasy. It’s a combination of a love story, usually within a world full of fantastical elements. Think: dragons, vampires and fey. Key here is that the story would not be able to exist both being prominent elements. Most of the time, the genre has ‘spice’, but the degree of spice varies wildly.
Where did Romantasy start?
Romantasy doesn’t have a clear starting point, but YA fiction does seem to be one of the most prominent places where it started to become popular. Although not typically a YA book, the books by Sarah J. Maas seem like a good starting point of the genre, which would be around the year 2012 when the first Throne of Glass book was published. One could consider the Romantasy genre to be pretty niche back then.
Why did Romantasy become a popular genre?
‘Why’ is hard to answer, but when and where are easier. Where Sarah J. Maas build the foundation, it was with the release of Fourth Wing and TikTok that Romantasy was no longer considered niche and slowly became more mainstream. When you now enter a bookstore, you cannot get around the genre. Even non bookinfluencers are reading Fourth Wing and it shows in the bestseller charts.
I don’t read fantasy, is Romantasy my cup of tea?
I, as an on-and-off fantasy reader, would say yes! It combines the best of both genres into one.
How to start reading Romantasy
It’s as easy as going to a bookstore and walk to the shelves labeled Romantasy. However, if you’re not completely sure wat type of Romantasy is for you, I’ve created a core list of Romantasy books that you can read when you are not familiar with the genre yet. Enjoy!
Romantasy Books
- Fourth Wing – Rebecca Yarros
- Features: dragons, dragon rides, a hot guys, smut, a female character with disabilities and a war.
- A Court of Thornes and Roses – Sarah J. Maas
- Features: fey, a lot of smut, retelling of Beauty and the Beast (at least the first part of the series) and a lot of different characters that you will probably love more than the protagonist.
- The Serpent and the Wings of Night – Carissa Broadbent
- Features: vampires (different than Twilight), a war between them an humans, a Hunger Games-ish war game, a ‘princess’, smut and deceit.
- Powerless – Lauren Roberts
- Features: elites society, magical abilities, hidden identity, royalty and trials. Not so much smut as I understand (I haven’t read this one).
- From Blood and Ash – Jennifer L. Armentrout
- Features: supernatural, gods, smut, dark secret, twists and power struggles.
- Features: supernatural, gods, smut, dark secret, twists and power struggles.
I hope this page makes sense to you and that you now know everything you need to know about the ‘new genre’ called Romantasy. If you have any questions, please comment down below!
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