What is romantasy? The best-selling book trend, explained
It’s been a while since a single book could summon thousands, but in November and again in January, fans lined up outside bookstores in the cold, awaiting the stroke of midnight. The draw? Romantasy.
Rebecca Yarros’s “Iron Flame,” which broke a preorder record, arrived on Nov. 7 and shot to the top of bestseller lists worldwide. Then came Sarah J. Maas’s “House of Flame and Shadow,” the third volume in the Crescent City series. Released on Jan. 30, it sold more than 120,000 copies in the first week and was an instant bestseller too. Maas’s biggest competition may be herself — she has four novels on the New York Times bestseller list and 13 on the USA Today list — and Yarros, whose books are on five bestseller lists.
Romantasy is hot, in more ways than one. It’s one of the fastest growing genres, according to market researcher Circana, with sales increasing by 42 percent, from 2022 to 2023. Maas alone has sold 40 million copies of her books worldwide.
What is romantasy anyway?
Like all fun indulgences such as brunch, Botox and Bennifer, romantasy is a portmanteau combining “romance” and “fantasy.” These books feature all the fantasy hallmarks, such as magic systems, mythology, high stakes and abundant worldbuilding but the love story is central to the narrative. Romance gets top billing in part because “fantamance” is a terrible name, and because there’s a difference between a fantasy with romantic elements, and a romantasy: In the latter, without the romance, the book falls apart.
The fastest way to tell if you’re looking at a romantasy is to look at the title. Is there a common noun, followed by two that involve something terrestrial and something corporeal? A “House of Earth and Blood”? A “Song of Blood and Stone”? You’ve got romantasy. You may also encounter verb, followed by disaster and anger nouns (“Fall of Ruin and Wrath,” “King of Battle and Blood”) or authority figure of weather (“Queen of Shadows”). Don’t worry, though: Click one and your friendly neighborhood algorithm will show you many more.
Romantasy may be a new-sounding term, but the genre is not. Among the earliest titles is “War for the Oaks,” by Emma Bull (1987), which won the Locus Award for Best First Novel. It follows a young rock singer whose band and relationship fall apart just in time for her to be drafted into a fairy war. In the years since, romantasy has more often been found within other genre headings like “urban fantasy,” “epic fantasy” or “paranormal.”
With the increasing popularity of romantasy as a search term and a genre - the #romantasy tag alone has some 800 million views on TikTok, for example - some of the early, influential books are getting new covers that move away from the classic clinch of two people fervently embracing in favor of more current styles, such as bas-relief illustrations of something on fire, encased in ice, or both. C.L. Wilson’s “Lord of the Fading Lands,” originally published in 2007, has a new cover that reflects romantasy’s influence on marketing imagery. Bramble, a new fantasy and romance imprint from Tor, is publishing “The Spellshop,” by Sarah Beth Durst in a hardcover edition with purple tinted edges and a luminous cover that adds a hefty dose of “cozy” to the romantasy.
Long-running romantasy series can fill miles of shelves with books from Jennifer L. Armentrout, Nalini Singh, Kresley Cole, L. Penelope, and Jennifer Estep. Indie publishers have their own romantasy titles of every flavor as well, such as “Daughter of No Worlds,” by Carissa Broadbent, and the impossibly lush “Trial of the Sun Queen,” by Nisha J. Tuli. There are online reader spaces like StoryGraph and subreddits like r/fantasyromance that are actively swapping book suggestions - and of course BookTok and Instagram. But if you’re new to romantasy and want to see what the fuss is about, here are a few recommendations:
‘House of Flame and Shadow,’ by Sarah J. Maas
The latest in the spicy and rich Crescent City series that began with “House of Earth and Blood” in 2020, this story finds the lead characters worlds apart and yearning for home, and may include special surprises for well-read Maas fans as well. And, an added treat for audiobook fans: A new audio version of the first book featuring a full cast of voice actors, with music and sound effects, will release in two parts, beginning Feb. 29.
The Mead Mishaps series, by Kimberly Lemming
The titles say it all — “That Time I Got Drunk and Saved a Demon,” “That Time I Got Drunk and Yeeted a Love Potion at a Werewolf.” Kimberly Lemming is having blast playing with the tropes and clichés of romance and fantasy.
‘Consort of Fire,’ by Kit Rocha and ‘Dragon Actually’ by G.A. Aiken
If you like your romantasy with dragons, particularly horny ones, look no further. Kit Rocha’s new series features a seductress, a handmaiden/assassin, and a dragon who wants to possess them both. Much of the hot dragon romantasy can trace its lineage to books like “Dragon Actually,” by G.A. Aiken, the first of a series that features a ferocious heroine named Annwyl the Bloody who trains with a mysterious, arrogant knight during the day, and shares her secrets at night with a dragon named Fearghus the Destroyer.
The Bliss Wars trilogy, by L. Penelope
In “Savage City,” a captive Fai must heal a princess of the Nimali, his sworn and hated enemy, in a world that blends high fantasy, fae, and shifters in an urban post-apocalyptic landscape. The concluding book in this trilogy, “Brutal Fortress,” arrives in March, so you have time to catch up.
Sarah Wendell is the author of three books and co-founder of Smart Bitches, Trashy Books, an online community devoted to romance fiction.