Romantic fantasy, or " romantasy", is a Genre of fantasy fiction that combines fantasy and Romance novel, describing a fantasy story using many of the elements and conventions of the chivalric romance genre.
Romantic fantasy has been published by both fantasy lines and romance lines. As a result of the financial success of authors such as Sarah J. Maas and Rebecca Yarros in the 2000s, publishers created imprints to focus on this subgenre. Some publishers distinguish between "romantic fantasy" where the fantasy elements is most important and "fantasy romance" where the romance are most important.
2023–2024 Romantasy trend
In 2023 and 2024, romantic fantasy novels termed "romantasy" became a social media trend. Sales of the books have been widely driven by promotion on social media, particularly the part of
TikTok known as
BookTok.
notes much of the credit for the rise in the romantic fantasy genre can be attributed to platforms such as TikTok, where word spreads more efficiently in speed and "influencability."
notes that the genre has particular appeal to those who grew up reading young-adult fantasy, such as
Harry Potter, and are now interested in similar themes, but with adult themes of sex and romance.
Popular authors in the genre include Sarah J. Maas and
Rebecca Yarros, whose
Empyrean series have all broken sales records and are due to be made into a TV series.
Authors of novels labeled as romantasy are largely women, as is the market, and the novels are known for representing minorities.
Notable examples
Some examples of media in the romantic fantasy subgenre include:
Literature
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A Court of Thorns and Roses series by Sarah J. Maas
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A Court of Thorns and Roses, A Court of Mist and Fury, A Court of Wings and Ruin, A Court of Frost and Starlight, A Court of Silver Flames
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Throne of Glass series by Sarah J. Maas
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Assassin's Blade, Throne of Glass, Crown of Midnight, Heir of Fire, Queen of Shadows, Empire of Storms, Tower of Dawn, Kingdom of Ash
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Crescent City series by Sarah J. Maas
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House of Earth and Blood, House of Sky and Breath, House of Flame and Shadow
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Empyrean series by Rebecca Yarros
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From Blood and Ash by Jennifer L. Armentrout
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The City of Brass by S.A. Chakraborty
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The Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix E. Harrow
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Caraval series by Stephanie Garber
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The Cruel Prince series by Holly Black
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Serpent and Dove by Shelby Mahurin
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Once Upon a Broken Heart by Stephanie Garber
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The Serpent & the Wings of Night by Carissa Broadbent
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Servant of Earth by Sarah Hawley
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The Sky on Fire by Jenn Lyons
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Bride by Ali Hazelwood
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Heartless Hunter by Kristen Ciccarelli
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The Shadows Between Us by Tricia Levenseller
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Kingdom of the Wicked by Kerri Maniscalco
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The Bridge Kingdom by Danielle L. Jenson
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A Curse So Dark and Lonely by Brigid Kemmerer
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An Enchantment of Ravens by Margaret Rogerson
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The Twilight Saga by Stephenie Meyer – A love story between Bella Swan, a human girl, and Edward Cullen, a vampire, set in a world where supernatural beings coexist with humans.
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The Immortals series by Tamora Pierce
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Lost Continent (aka Aronsdale) series
[ Reader's Advice] by Catherine Asaro
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Tales of the Five Hundred Kingdoms series by Mercedes Lackey
Films
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Twilight film series (2008–2012) – The film adaptations of Stephenie Meyer’s novels, focusing on the supernatural love story between a human girl and a vampire.
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The Shape of Water (2017) – Follows a Muteness cleaner at a high-security government laboratory who falls in love with a captured humanoid amphibian creature.
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Edward Scissorhands (1990) – A story set in a visually fantastical world which focuses of Edward, an unfinished artificial humanoid that has scissors for hands, who falls in love with Kim, a teenage girl in an American suburban neighborhood.
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Ghost (1990) – focuses on a murdered banker, whose ghost sets out to save his girlfriend from the person who killed him – through the help of the psychic.
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Legend (1985) – A magical adventure in which Princess Lily and a hero named Jack must thwart the Lord of Darkness's evil plot to cover the world in eternal night.
Television
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Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997–2003) – A cult TV series that focuses on the adventures of the teenage girl Buffy whom was chosen to fight vampires and various other creatures, as well as explores her romantic relationship with the vampire Angel.
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True Blood (2008–2014) – A TV adaptation of The Southern Vampire Mysteries book series by Charlaine Harris. The series is set in a world where vampires coexist with humans and it features the romantic relationship between a telepathic waitress and a mysterious vampire.
Video Games
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Xenogears: A JRPG set in a fictional world ruled by a highly technological country named Solaris. The protagonists, Fei Fong Wong and the Solaris officer Elhaym van Houten, are destined by reincarnation to fall in love with each other.
See also
