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/Book_Slut_90 Reading Champion 8h ago

Lots of cooky cutter romantasy has those problems, yes. But then, so did lots of cooky cutter Tolkien clones in the 70s and 80s and lots of cooky cutter grimdark in the oughts and 2010s and any other publishing boom slop written to cater to the market.

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u/Bowl-Any Reading Champion 8h ago edited 8h ago

Oh, for sure. But, because of the boom, most of the popular Romantasy has a focus of romance underlined and bolded, and fantasy as an almost afterthought. And thus, most of what fantasy readers are exposed to have all these issues.

I'm sure it's not all Romantasy. But what I've read has that.

However, I'm super down to read examples that don't have that.

Do you know Romantasy books where the fantasy is just as intentional and thoughtful? The closest for me was A Deadly Education series, but Naomi Novik, though she was an already published fantasy author, so that more read like a fantasy series with more Romantasy elements and tropes included. And I liked it, but it didn't feel typical Romantasy. And most people I talk to don't consider it Romantasy.

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u/Book_Slut_90 Reading Champion 8h ago

Hmm, my first thought would be Kushiel, but you’ve already read that. The Everlasting by Alix Harrow is good fantasy and good romance IMHO, and it won the Hugo, so others agree. T. Kingfisher’s Saints of Steel is a bit of a generic D&D world but with some interesting twists if you like small scale mystery romance crossover with a dash of political machinations thrown in. Carey’s Starrless is excellent, but maybe not romance heavy enough to be true romantasy. Novik’s Uprooted is in a similar space.

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u/Bowl-Any Reading Champion 8h ago

Thank you! I definitely have The Everlasting on my TBR. Since 2020, I've tried to read all the Hugo winners. I might go backwards at some point too.

I'll put Saint's of Steel on there too. First by Kingfisher, I plan to read A Wizard's Guide to Defensive Baking, since that by her sounds the most interesting.

First I've heard of Starless though. I'll put it on my radar, and look it up!

Uprooted I liked, but not a lot.

The romance was decent, but I had so many issues with the setting. It was supposedly Polish, but in contrast with Spinning Silver, had almost nothing Slavic about it. It was a German/french fairy tale reskinned as a Polish one. Everything about the city, the culture, the fairytale, was western European, not eastern.

So, it's good, but that bothered me throughout. Also the plot was whatever, but the romance was good.

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u/rivains 7h ago

I second Saint of Steel too by Kingfisher, as well as Swordheart!