Romantasy

[Bramblethorn]

I've read or tried reading plenty of LitRPGs. There are a few I truly enjoyed.

I've also found that the most popular ones suck the most. I suspect that the same might be true for romantasy.

But either way, neither of those should sit in fantasy next to serious fantasy books. They are a popular, light read and should be treated (and categorized) as such.

If we're splitting off Popular Light Reading from Serious Fantasy, there'll be a hell of a lot of stuff besides romantasy that needs to get chucked out of the fantasy section.

 

[YmaOHyd]

At least in the first three Kushiel books, romance is a major presence in Carey's work. Phèdre, the protagonist of the first series, is a kind of Chosen One/sacred courtesan/spy who falls in love with her straight-laced bodyguard Joscelyn but also has an ongoing rivals/lovers thing with Melisande, one of the antagonists.

All totally correct. Ultimately, there are three trilogies, one stand-alone retelling of the first novel from the perspective of Joscelin, and one short story. All of them are to some degree or other romances, but there is always a plot that exists beyond romance. The focus of Phedre and Joscelin's story isn't their romance; it's uncovering a multigenerational plot to seize the throne, by force or intrigue, and unravel a divine curse. Their romance develops as a consequence. It serves the broader story rather than the story existing to serve it, and that's often where people bounce off: they go in expecting kinky sex-princess x tsundere man, and what they get is ten layers of Anglo-Frankish and Franco-Germanic politics wrapped up in hundreds of words about how flowers smell.

 

[Bramblethorn]

And third, I think romantasy as a genre label is basically a pejorative one. Novels are romantasies when the plots and worldbuilding aren't strong enough to support being called fantasy. Authors that do hit those heights in plotting and worldbuilding often reject the romantasy label -- Jacqueline Carey, for one, absolutely writes what might be considered romantasy, but when left to her own devices calls them historical fantasies. She wrote in her newsletter that (paraphrasing) romantasy is a label that implies shallowness, so while she allows her work to be described that way in marketing she doesn't like it. I think that's basically true, at least about the current boom.

This has me trying to figure out whether something like T. Kingfisher's "Saint of Steel" series would count as romantasy: author who already had several non-romance books in a fantasy setting also writes fantasy/romance stories within that setting. Each story has some sort of fantasy adventure plot (who is trying to kill the prince, and why are all these headless corpses showing up?) along with a romance happening within that plot (he's a depressed berserker trying to protect this woman, she's a domestic abuse survivor who's had bad experiences with "protectors", together they fight crime and pine at one another). In terms of carrying the story the fantasy aspect does about 60% of the work and romance 40%.

Or something like "This Is How You Lose The Time War", assuming one is willing to admit sufficiently advanced technology as fantasy.

 

[TheWritingGroup]

Or something like "This Is How You Lose The Time War", assuming one is willing to admit sufficiently advanced technology as fantasy.

I agree with Larry Niven that any time travel story is automatically fantasy.

I also think Time War is very, very Romance.

--Annie

 

[forgotmyantidepressants]

T. Kingfisher is good. She's a good place to start if you want to get into the genre (Nettle and Bone was fun). Robin hobb is too, but I'm not sure if she's considered "romantasy" or if she's more "fantasy with romance as a nice side plot".

 

[Nynah]

Or something like "This Is How You Lose The Time War", assuming one is willing to admit sufficiently advanced technology as fantasy.

Time War so does not count as romantasy, it's entirely too sapphic and there's not enough lying and emotional gaslighting between the two leads. It's also firmly within the realm of sci-fi, though that does have me wondering what the equivalent would be called. Science friction?

T. Kingfisher is good. She's a good place to start if you want to get into the genre (Nettle and Bone was fun). Robin hobb is too, but I'm not sure if she's considered "romantasy" or if she's more "fantasy with romance as a nice side plot".

T. Kingfisher is much too good a writer to be considered romantasy. She never sacrifices story quality for meaningless sex between shallow heterosexual couples so she's automatically out.

 

[YmaOHyd]

This has me trying to figure out whether something like T. Kingfisher's "Saint of Steel" series would count as romantasy: author who already had several non-romance books in a fantasy setting also writes fantasy/romance stories within that setting.

She's a standard recommendation on the fantasy romance subreddit, so I'd say she counts.

 

[happyyy_]

My sense is that A Court of Thorns and Roses (which I have not yet read) was a Hunger Games-type smash hit and inspired a lot of authors to pile into the genre and kind of dilute it. This feels like a genre that's wide enough in scope that there's room for more than one story at the top.

I think most romantasy readers agree that ACOTAR is not the greatest romantasy book, but its one of the best to get you into the genre. A lot of readers rediscover reading, and the fantasy/romance genres through it.

I have read a ton of romantasy. I loved Wheel of Time and LOTR. I want something more. There are much better romantasy books being published and getting the splotlight right now. ACOTARs popularity is fading, and people are starting to poke more holes in Maas writing. I hope it opens the doorway for more plot driven and political, but still very sexy fantasy.

I would also love to hear recommendations. I find its hard to sift through whats an ad online versus a legit rec sometimes.

 

[alohadave]

Or something like "This Is How You Lose The Time War", assuming one is willing to admit sufficiently advanced technology as fantasy.

I tell people this is a love story across space and time.

 

[Bramblethorn]

T. Kingfisher is much too good a writer to be considered romantasy. She never sacrifices story quality for meaningless sex between shallow heterosexual couples so she's automatically out.

She's a standard recommendation on the fantasy romance subreddit, so I'd say she counts.

Happy to have this question resolved for me

 

[AwkwardlySet]

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