March 2026
    M T W T F S S
     1
    2345678
    9101112131415
    16171819202122
    23242526272829
    3031  

    I've been trying to read a bit more (If you want to write, read, and all), so I've been looking into recent releases instead of just the old goldens on my backlog, since they're always be there for me later and never relevant to a query letter.

    Anyhow, there is one recent fantasy book that caught my eye because of a blurb I saw on the Reactor website. Reactor does have a dedicated "new romantasy releases section," which I avoid. But I believe I've stumbled into romantasy anyway, between the instant attraction between the two leads and the fact that the page I left off on this morning was her feeling the urge to both stab him and get fingered by him, possibly at the same time.

    A few things have felt a tad off, but not enough to drop it for me, so I took a look at Goodreads, and there is a quote from one review that brought me here, since it's more or less my current perception of romantasy:

    This also touches on a broader issue I’ve been noticing within the genre. Many adult romantasy novels seem to rely heavily on YA-style character archetypes and themes, simply aged up without the additional nuance, depth, and emotional complexity that adult storytelling really benefits from.

    Since I went out of my way to try and find fantasy, not romantasy, I'm clearly not a reader of the genre, and based on what I've seen of the internet, it is more or less "YA fantasy, but the characters are adults so you can put in sex," and that's the end of it. The "fantasy" part that might demand more complex, intricate worldbuilding and character writing is simply not the priority.

    Could also just be a consequence of publishing being an industry and what gets sold gets bought by publishers, and what gets sold is what makes people feel things, even if the worldbuilding, plot, and characters crumble into a fine dust under any semblance of scrutiny.

    So I wanted to ask people who do read romantasy regularly if that feels about right to them. If, compared to adult fantasy that's adult for non-sexual reasons, romantasy can feel imamture or more like it would fit right in with YA if the characters were aged down a handful of years.

    by Shadowchaos1010

    3 Comments

    1. thevampiresanguini on

      You should think of romantasy less as a subgenre of fantasy and more of a subgenre of romance.

    2. I read it if its fun.

      Personally, I don’t enjoy reading the drama between 24 year old teenagers, but I can see why people would be entertained by that.

      It’s a bit concerning to see minors reading this stuff, but I’m sure they’ll be fine.

    Leave A Reply