Romantasy: The New Genre

What is Romantasy?

Romantasy. It’s the newest recognized genre in the book world. In 2023, Goodreads listed romantasy as a genre for the Goodreads choice awards for the first time ever. But what is this new trending genre?

Romantasy is romance + fantasy. It’s as simple as that. Think of Lord of the Rings meets Hallmark, except the worldbuilding is subpar and the characters are usually not human. Think of elves and fairies.

Now, there are fantasy books with some romance in them. For example, no one would consider the Lord of the Rings a romantasy, but Aragorn and Arwen are surely in love. The difference is that in a romantasy, the romance is central to the plot, and typically there is just as much romance as there is fantasy. The downside is that most of the “romance” within a romantasy is not real romance, it’s typically physical and full of lust.

Why is Romantasy Popular?

I don’t know any reader who has not been sucked into the romantasy world in some way or the other. If you’ve heard of or read Fourth Wing or A Court of Thorns and Roses, then you have two popular examples of romantasy series. Almost everyone I know has read one or both of those series, and if they have not read it, they have at least considered reading them.

Romantasy appeals to readers that want to escape their real world and want to experience romance in their fake world. I understand the appeal of that, but the unfortunate part is that most romantasy books are wildly inappropriate. Sometimes I wonder if readers are in it for the story or the spice. But that’s the point of the romantasy: fantasy for the plot and romance for the spice.

My Take

I wish that romantasy books were not so inappropriate. Most of the fantasy world concepts are intriguing and I would be the first to line up to read them if it were not for the mature content.

I had a friend read A Court of Thorns and Roses, and she said that as the books continued, there were more and more scenes that she had to skip until most of the plot was central to the s*xual scenes where it was no longer enjoyable. Others that I have talked to loved the books, but everyone will admit that there is spice.

I would consider reading some romantasy books, for the main purpose of rating them, but I am not sure if it would be worth it because of how much content I would need to skip. Plus, most of the books are the type that I would need to preface with “I read so and so . . . but I skipped so many pages”. And if I’m ashamed of even telling someone what I’m reading, does that mean I should really be reading it?

One test that I have is if it is a book that I would recommend to my mom. Sure, I’ll recommend and she’ll read a Kristen Hannah book with some romance, but there’s no way that I would recommend most romantasy books without prefacing it with how many pages I had to skip because of the inappropriate content. So, thanks mom for being my guide!