A guide to fantasy genres

I get asked a lot about what different fantasy subgenres mean and so I'm here to give a simple/quick rundown of all the different ones...and give my opinion that it doesn't matter that much lol Tell me your favorites in the comments, as well as any you haven't tried!

Chapters
00:00 - Brief discussion of fantasy subgenres
01:51 - High fantasy, low fantasy, epic fantasy
03:57 - Urban fantasy, grimdark, cozy fantasy, magical realism
07:38 - historical fantasy, romantasy, sci-fantasy
09:35 - flintlock, hopepunk, dark academia
10:46 - sword and sorcery, steampunk, litRPG, progression fantasy
13:13 - portal fantasy

Socials

[Hrothlac]

I have always considered Star Wars as a fantasy that take place in space. I didn't know there was an actual genre catagory for that. Great Video!

[MrOpotamus]

For some reason, I find this video very soothing.

[nenerson]

When I was taught what urban fantasy was, one of the critical elements included in the definition was that the setting acts as its own character. This can come across in the mood, themes, or descriptions. A great example of this is the Kate Daniels series, a post-apocalyptic Atlanta where waves of magic and tech fight each other and only one can work at a time (ie guns work but spells don't when tech is up).

[nathanielanderson]

I really like Flintlock Fantasy, I feel like it is really one of the most niche subgenres though.

Great video as always!

[LiamsLyceum]

Nice that sword and sorcery didn’t get ignored. It’s largely indie these days, though Baen recently published Lord of a Shattered Land by Howard Andrew Jones and Garth Nix’s Sir Hereward and Mister Fitz counts too (the latter being a sort of homage to Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser, a classic S&S series). Cheers!

[Wouter_K]

I'm starting to know these, but still a fun video. First time I heard about Hopepunk though. Also, you said you have a bunch of magical realism recommendations! Would love a video about that ☺

[Johanna_reads]

Great video! I enjoy understanding subgenres because as a reviewer, I think the general framework can help me direct a potential audience to what an author is doing. How, for example, a Conan story functions differently than a Stormlight Archive book. At the same time, I think a rigid adherence to any framework does a disservice to the book and potential reader. Many of my favorite fantasy books tend to be a blend of things. 🤷🏻‍♀️

[civoreb]

One sub genre that doesnt have too many authors writing it is horror/fantasy mix. There are a few but it is rarely mentioned by people. Mark Anthony’s Last Rune series, Tanith Lee’s Dark Castle and Buehlman’s Between Two Fires to name a few.

[matthewpena]

I always enjoy seeing how people break down the genres and how much I agree or disagree with them. Also interesting to see what they suggest for those categories.

[titansfan]

To an extent I don’t think subgenres mater to much, because so many of them can overlap. It’s good if you wanting a recommendation though. Like after reading a grim dark Abercrombie book it might be nice to read a cozy book. Or after a Brandon Sanderson epic to read an urban.

[BenjaminAeveryn]

Great video! Got a couple of bits to add. I’ve been hearing noblebright more as a replacement for hopepunk (though still not a huge amount of uptake) and the Japanese term isekai has been slowly replacing portal fantasy.
Moving forward through history, after flintlock you have weird west and gaslamp fantasy.

[nanapoopy]

Thoroughly enjoyable. Reminded me of lots of types of books I used to enjoy!

[flipninja]

Arcane Ascension series is one of my favorite “progression fantasy” series. Your video just educated me that it was a sub-genre, so maybe I’m mistaken here😂

[aliciasorenson]

A magical realism/historical fantasy I really enjoyed is Kingdom of Back. It's about Mozart and his older sister who was just as talented as he was. In real life they had a make believe world they would pretend to play in, and the author uses it as a way to symbolically show their relationship and maybe how it changes as she deals with the role effect of being a girl and not being valued for her skills. I actually very highly recommend it!

[Glokta]

I just subbed to the channel after your video with Murphy and Cam, and I've been watching your older videos. I've noticed one thing that stands out across all of your videos, you have incredible enunciation.

Actually related to the video: you named a lot of subgenres I never considered, but will need to explore further. I do think there's a difference between grimdark and dark fantasy. Grimdark I always equate to morally gray as you mentioned in the video. Dark fantasy I think can still have the black and white good vs evil, but good doesn't always win. In many cases dark fantasy also has horror elements to it. It's not so much about the good defeating evil, but more that they survive and escape.

[DanielSClouser]

So, the high/low fantasy definition most commonly used actually isn't totally correct--at least, it isn't accurate to the original meaning. Common use is exactly what you said, but the original definition is just high fantasy=secondary world; low fantasy=Earth with fantasy elements. So that means that The First Law is high fantasy, while The Dresden Files is low fantasy. To me, this is the most useful way to use the terms because it is an objective way to classify things: any fantasy can be sorted into high fantasy, low fantasy, or portal fantasy. However, because so many people do not use the terms that way, they lose their utility in that regard.

[westower]

Yes sword & sorcery is definitely more classic low fantasy, but the magic elements are still VERY strong in it, just not very common. And another older term is comedic fantasy. The biggest example of that to more modern audiences is Discworld.

[shawnfritsche]

IMO, the best way to describe Sword and Sorcery is that it’s basically a fantasy western. Replace cowboys with barbarians and rogues and there you have it.

I think that having the different sub genres is useful to a point, but I definitely think that people get way too bogged down trying to pigeonhole everything to the point it can get a little ridiculous.

[TheDuckChris]

I wonder if anyone has read A Practical Guide to Evil, what it could be categorized as. It's very Hopepunk in that the characters feel good and they work towards a happy ending but man it does get quite dark at times. Also has some Progression elements where the main character has to develop her abilities in order to succeed.

[someokiedude]

For my favorite fantasy subgenre, I generally like fantasy that breaks the mold. Fantasy that challenges what fantasy could be as a genre and doesn't do the same old, same old. Books like American Gods, Perdido Street Station, Black Leopard, Red Wolf, The Vorrh. Those books are the ones that I find have impacted me

But for subgenres, I have to say that I like my fantasy to have soft magic. I have a soft spot for the old sword and sorcery of guys like Howard and Leiber. The lower stakes of their adventures appeal to me more, much as I like the epic journeys. I also like flintlock fantasy...at least in concept, admittedly I haven't read as much of the genre as I'd like (funny since I've written a novel with flintlock weapons in it.) I also like a lot of the darker fantasy, grimdark and the like.