5 Best Romantasy Reads For Newbies
Ollie Ander
Is probably just a couple cats in a trench-coat—the hair shedding and sunlight napping are highly suspect.
Romantasy became the hot genre of the book market in the early 2020’s thanks to a renewed interest on Tiktok.
Readers were ravenous for spice ratings and the perception of books’ marketability skyrocketed alongside indie Romantasy success stories. Now though, the hype is petering and the genre is flooded, so if you’re looking for a nice casual introduction to Romantasy, it’s hard to know where to start.
What is Romantasy?
Just to cover our bases, let’s go over what Romantasy is. "Romantasy" is the portmanteau of "Romance" and "Fantasy," Romance being the prominent definer.
Romantasy faced a lot of backlash as it gained popularization on social media because of the variation both in quality and in maturity of content.
Any fantasy novel can have a romantic subplot or character dynamics, but that doesn’t typically qualify it as a Romantasy. Romance should be a driving force of the plot, hence its place as the prefix.
The level of fantasy immersion can be vastly different, title to title, but to earn the "antasy" suffix, the story should not be able to exist without the magical elements (i.e. if nothing about the story would change should the characters be transported to mundane, everyday lives).
Must-Read Romantasy Books
Please note: this list contains titles that feature mature content and although many are listed as "Young Adult", reader’s discretion is advised before consumption.
$ A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas$
The book that started it all. Well, not quite. Romantasy isn’t a new genre—it existed for many many decades before ACOTAR published in 2015, but Sarah J. Maas and her publishing team are largely credited for spearheading the term’s use, resurgence, and subsequent boom in recent years.
Sarah J. Mass is a powerhouse in the Romantasy world, with many titles and series even before ACOTAR.
The $ Throne of Glass$ series is also a comparable place to start with Maas’s body of work, but its world is not magical, just deadly.
$ Divine Rivals by Rebecca Ross$
Divine Rivals follows aspiring columnist, Iris, in a tumultuous time of warring gods. Iris writes letters to her brother lost on the front line that magically disappear in her wardrobe, and after some time of hopeful unresponsiveness, someone starts writing her back.
A fantasy story that echoes the style of a heartbreaking historical fiction piece, Divine Rivals is a praised example of the enemies-to-lovers trope done right.
$ The Cruel Prince by Holly Black$
Iterations of Fae and their world are highly popular in the Romantasy genre. It’s hard not to be captivated by beautiful immortal beings, regardless of how cruel they are. Driven by fantasy power struggles and romantic tensions, The Cruel Prince is an engaging political drama. If ACOTAR is a wish-fulfillment fantasy, The Cruel Prince is a nightmare-overcoming power trip.
$ War for the Oaks by Emma Bull$
Eddi McCandry realizes that she's the object of pursuit by a man and a black dog—turns out they're the same dude. The shapeshifting goofy guy is known as a phouka, who pulls Eddi into a war between the good faeires and the evil faeries.
$ Legends & Lattes by Travis Baldree$
The classic D&D atmosphere of this romantasy is outstandingly immersive. Baldree does a masterful job bringing beloved archetypes together into a feel-good story about a retired orc, Viv, following her dream to start a cafe and finding unexpected love along the way. The most unanimously loved on the list—I can not recommend Legends & Lattes enough!
I wish you the best of luck on your Romantasy journey and hope that one of these five recommendations serve as a decent entryway to the genre.
You may have noticed that storylines involving magical folk and their romantic entwinement with mortals was prevalent in the Romantasy list. Growing up doesn’t mean fairy tales lose their appeal, quite the contrary—we want to be absorbed by them.
So if you are keen on that particular line of storytelling--bringing the classic into the modern—here’s a list of $ 15 Fairy Tale Retellings$ to supplement your new Romantasy TBR!
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