A Rant About Cozy Fantasy

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| S O C I A L M E D I A |

[Thomas.R.Howell]

Deep worldbuilding is so cozy to me. For example Wheel of time. Living in the world alongside the characters. Coziness is also experiencing the characters journey and not rushing to the destination.

[ReeceG]

I could probably get more into Cozy Fantasy if book prices weren't so damn high. Don't wanna take the risk on something I can comfortably assume will have little plot when I'm paying 30-40 dollars for 300 page hardcover. Imma need these cozy fantasies to start having cozy prices.

[sierrajane]

*sits down with a nice cup of tea ready to listen to Liene rip books I liked to shreds once again* 😂

[azalea]

If cozy fantasy were shorter like novellas I wouldn’t have that much of a problem. I don’t want to read 300+ pages about northing

[OverlyAverageBen]

Honestly, i read Legends and Lattes, really enjoyed it and went 'well... I think i got everything i wanted from cozy fantasy' and went back to Age of Madness lol

[dogperson-wixl]

Usually cozy fantasy means "Fantasy where nothing cool happens."

[jmork]

I appreciate that cozy fantasy doesn’t feel stuck in following the hero’s journey plot beats.

[Steve_Stowers]

After watching the video, I'm still not sure whether you have a problem with the concept of cozy fantasy per se, or just with the particular examples of it that you have read.

I don't think I had heard Small Angry Planet categorized as "cozy, " and, having read and enjoyed it, I don't think it would have occurred to me to apply that label to it.

It's my understanding that the label "cozy fantasy" was inspired by the earlier term "cozy mystery" as a subgenre of mystery/detective fiction, with little or no "onscreen violence, " a "cozy" setting (like a small town), and an unassuming protagonist who is not a police or professional detective.

[Em-kenm]

I did like Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Fairies but I do feel like more could have been done with it. This idea of the scientific study of fairies is so interesting but I wanted MORE science, MORE academia.

[SilverScribe]

I first became addicted to Cozy Fantasy after seeing Legends & Lattes being recommended by Wee Lass Reacts.

I got curious about the book, looked it up, read it...and LOVED IT! I loved the book so much, I actually went about looking up other titles from the author and pre-ordered the prequel book

[timkinss]

I can really understand the frustration of a 'cozy' book having disturbing concepts and still presenting itself as cozy... it could mean that the writer (and publishers) don't even conceive of particular things are problematic, often from a narrow and biased worldview... or it could mean they fully do realise this and want to push the ideas or worldview as something you don't even need to think of as anything to question, just a given. Great point.

(It's not even a book, but I randomly thought of the BBC show 'Merlin', which had a comedy episode involving people forced to fall in love by magic... and in this ep, for the crime of being a bit stuck-up and mean to one of the male leads, a guest female character was left enchanted to love one of the men, with no way of breaking it forever. So no chance of peace or real love, for the rest of her life, delivered as a joke ending, that you don't even need to think about. Still hacks me off to this day. Didn't finish that show)

[poly-phonica]

Twee, sweet language while having unintentional dark or messed up implications sounds like the ground work for a good satire about these types of works.

[aaroncook]

So, I DNF'd Legends and Lattes yesterday and started The long way... this afternoon. Thanks for saving me some time.

[Nastya-ujbg]

I also thought about another cozy fantasy favorite -Howl's moving castle! The one that emily wilde really tried to rip off but with little success.

[JKSwiftWrites]

Ahhhh! Sometimes I love the youtube algorithm. You had me at Joe Abercrombie...new sub!

[Derekivery]

I haven't read any of these books so I might pick them up and hate them... but I like the idea of COZY Fantasy.

Does this mean I don't like more serious fantasy? Absolutely not, my favorite series is First Law where the "nice" characters are ruthless killers.

But I like the idea of also reading fantasy where the stakes aren't risk your life and loved ones or else the whole world (or universe or multi-verse) explodes. Sometimes you want to just relax and hangout.

It's why I can love watching Breaking Bad but then want to switch to Friends.

[Nastya-ujbg]

my cozy fantasy is jonathan strange and mr norrell

[annaelle_stasia]

i dont’ think the becky chambers one is a cosy sci-fi but an optimistic/hopepunk sci-fi which is in my opinion quite different

however for the kind of fantasy you talked about i mostly agree

[fishbowlwoman]

I don't know that people in SFF were deliberately going for "cozy" until after Legends & Lattes, which is why books like the Wayfarer series are sort of retrospectively labeled that way but absolutely may not qualify in the same way as L&L. I've also noticed that every time I hear a booktuber talk about Emily Wilde or Wayfarers or Can't Spell Treason without Tea, they almost always don't feel it's 100% "cozy." Beginning to think maybe L&L is the only really "cozy" SFF book start to finish? 🤨

[JamanMosil]

Before I sit down and listen to this rant (yay rant!!), I will express my issue with the recent "cosy fantasy" books I've read. Frankly, they just aren't good books.

Legends and Lattes (the one I've seen people rave about most!) is...fine. It's not a great book, not even good. I like cosy books, yes. But give me a good story, well told! That's what I'm looking for here. And most of these books recently marketed as cosy fantasy? They're not good stories. And they're not well told.

If I want cosy? I'll read Anne of Green Gables. I'll read Little Women. I'll read a book of quality that also makes my heart smile.