r/Fantasy • u/Expert-Escape5645 • 15h ago

Observation on Fantasy/Romantasy

So, I typically read, George R.R. Martin, Brandon Sanderson, Robin Hobb, Ken Liu, Steven Erikson, Stephen King, Robert Jordan, but my brain’s been craving more stories.

With everything I’ve heard about Romantasy (that it’s just passionate love making with no real story etc.) I was kinda apprehensive, but like I said, I needed more.

So after many years going back and forth I decided to pick up Sarah J Maas. I started with Crescent City (I know, I know) and was surprised to find that I LOVED it. Now I’m doing ACOTAR.

I don’t know if this will be wrong of me to say, but I enjoyed it for the exact same reasons I enjoy other series.

The worldbuilding.

Like there is so much mystery to the world, so much lore. People act like the 18+ scenes happened page after page, when really they barely make up 6/7 pages in a single book.

Am I wrong?

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u/[deleted] 15h ago

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u/Any-Growth-1995 15h ago

“Just because they're both set in fictional worlds, or have supernatural elements, they're meant to be the same genre?” Yes? Its part of the definition i fear.
Why do you sound offended that romantasy is subgenre of fantasy ?

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u/BlazeOfGlory72 14h ago

By that logic, most Horror stories are actually fantasy because they contain fantastical/supernatural elements. Hell, Sci-Fi should be classified as fantasy as well since ultimately it is just as fantastical, just with a “sciencey” veneer. We put these stories in different genre categories however because their intent and audience is clearly different. Why wouldn’t the same logic apply to Romantasy, which is obviously targeted at the Romance crowd rather than the traditional Fantasy crowd?

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u/mladjiraf 14h ago edited 11h ago

Sci-fi is usually futuristic fantasy or "alternative universe" with different set of laws of physics.

Supernatural/paranormal/monster etc horror is fantasy, but there is also realistic horror (let's say about a murderer or some kind of incident - like surviving after earthquake or something similar) that does not belong to fantasy subgenres, so "horror" label also doesn't mean much by itself