The golden age of epic fantasy is NOT over.

𝐒𝐮𝐩𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐥: (I get a commission when you use the links)

𝐒𝐨𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐋𝐢𝐧𝐤𝐬:

𝐂𝐮𝐫𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐓𝐁𝐑 𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬:

𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐜𝐭 𝐌𝐞:

𝐖𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐝 𝐦𝐞 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠?
Matt's Fantasy Book Reviews
2435 Iron Point Rd #1015
Folsom, CA 95630

𝗣𝗮𝘁𝗿𝗲𝗼𝗻 𝗦𝗼𝗰𝗶𝗮𝗹 𝗟𝗶𝗻𝗸𝘀:

𝐌𝐲 𝐄𝐪𝐮𝐢𝐩𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭:

00:00 | Intro
01:41 | Claim Number 1
02:30 | Claim Number 2
03:45 | Claim Number 3
04:18 | Claim Number 4
04:58 | Claim Number 5
06:03 | Claim Number 6
07:07 | Claim Number 7
07:57 | Claim Number 8

#fantasybooks #bookreview #bestbooks #fantasybooks #booktube #booktuber #books #bookstagram #bookworm #booklover #booknerd #bookish #book #reading #read #booktubers

[DanielGreeneReviews]

Personally believe the golden age of fantasy is just getting started. Mostly because I heard a kid last week say his superpower was spaghetti and I really think that has same game changing potential for the genre in a few years.

[delilahwaan]

Late to the discussion but just wanted to make one comment in relation to 9:53 - there have always been many, many women reading and writing speculative fiction, and epic fantasy in particular. What's happened is the vagaries of traditional publishing failed them. Most of their books fell out of print and as a result, their works weren't stocked in bookstores which meant nobody read them, which meant the general reading public forgot about them.

Janny Wurts wrote an EXCELLENT comment on r/fantasy explaining the "book store death spiral" phenomenon (including sharing her experience of going through it) and in the same thread, listed many of these incredible women authors, which I'll quote from as I'm not sure if YouTube will allow links in the comments:

---- u/JannyWurts wrote: ----

Women authors were writing adult fantasy and were in fact far less discriminated than they are today. Even from the pulp era, they have virtually been erased.

I was there; I read heavily in that time period, and published my debut in 1981. McCaffrey was in fact the first ever to make the times best seller list with Moreta. Tanith Lee and Ursula LeGun were everywhere. Julian May, Ellen Kushner, R. A. MacAvoy, Sheri Tepper, C J Cherryh, CL Moore, Jane Gaskell's Atlan, Janet Morris, likely Judith Tarr, Tanya Huff at the borderline, late 80s/1990, Andre Norton, whose name was as prevalent as Asimov or Heinlein ever were, virtually erased from history. Jennifer Roberson's entire Cheysuli series, Megan Lindholm (aka Robin Hobb! for gosh sake) did Limbreth Gate trilogy then, Diane Duane's Door into Fire, some of the earlier LGBQT fiction in fantasy, R. M. Meluch's remarkable Jerusalem Fire, Ru Emerson, Emma Bull, Elizabeth Moon, Kate Elliott (and I've edited to add, her original byline for Curse of Sagamore was Alis Rassmussen), though she wrote under a different byline then, Vonda MacIntyre, Diana Paxon, Elizabeth Lynn - many of them award winners, top of their field.

And this is a list I compiled without EVEN TRYING!

The saddest part of this story: Most of these authors are still alive, and still writing - many - far too many - were forced to change their bylines to something else due to emerging prejudice and algorithm suppression creating the bookstore death spiral....Edgerton, Hobb, Tarr, Eliott are likely the most notable forced to switch byline and this is still happening (Carol Berg/Cate Glass). So even loyal readers lost track of them. Worst, some died in utter obscurity, within the past few years.

Notable for younger readers then were Nancy Springer (of today's Enola Holmes fame, still writing), Joy Chant/Red Moon, Black Mountain, very Narnia inspired) Jane Yolen.

Yes, some women wrote SF - CJ Cherryh being the best known of these - but she also wrote phenominal fantasy - brilliant stuff - now suppressed for gosh knows why.

WOMEN DO NOT ALWAYS WRITE FOR CHILDREN! Nor do they fare any better writing SF, in the past few decades. Check out Sarah Zettel's brilliance as a SF writer, you will be astonished at the quality of her work - try Quiet Invasion, a stunning standalone, and yes, she also writes fantasy, but her fantasy came later then a string of strong SF titles.

Many of these women were published as original paperbacks; it was rare to get a start in hardbound, one had to work up to that.

[PetrikLeo]

Thank you for this video, Matt! I actually agree with some of your points and disagree with a few. I never said short epic fantasy books could not be good. However, I do disagree with author's vision and intent to write a big epic fantasy being limited. Which is happening now. And I did say epic fantasy is declining in traditional publishing. But NOT in self-publishing. The Bound and the Broken, Cradle, Sword of Kaigen, many more. Epic fantasy is actually THRIVING in self-published fantasy. And that's good! But anyway, it's good to have an opposite and more positive light to this. It is actually pretty good that romantasy and cozy fantasy is bringing in new readers to the genre. As I also said. But I hope this is not in exchange of sacrificing epic fantasy in trad pub. Something many authors have told me as well. I have no doubt epic fantasy from a new author will be back in power eventually, though. But not now. Everything always moves in a cycle in traditional publishing. :)

(That thumbnail though. Hahaha! So similar to mine)😂

[hannahblackwellbooks]

I love the poli sci view on this, as a poli sci major who used to work in politics. I saw this trend and immediately shook my head 😂 I personally am reminded of progress leading to backlash. In this case, I believe that the growth of fantasy romance (and maybe even cozy fantasy) is causing a certain fantasy audience 👀 to feel a bit jelly and resentful. I read both genres, and I just am glad people r reading more. But I’ll say I don’t think the bashing of a subgenre as “less than” is a cute look. It’s not going to, shall we say, “take the jobs” of the epic fantasy genre 🙄

[libraryofaviking]

Thank you for creating this video! While I don’t fully agree with all your points, I appreciate the thoughtful discussion and it is good to have another viewpoint highlighted! If I could revisit my video, I would certainly flesh out some of my arguments, especially regarding my stance on romantasy. I agree that the rise of romantasy is generally beneficial for the publishing industry, even though it’s not a genre I personally read. If it’s okay with you, I’d love to do a follow-up video to highlight some of the points you made. Thanks again!

[AccipiterF]

I watched one of those videos, and one of the claims was that traditional publishers don't buy epic fantasy anymore, and that got me curious, so I looked at the current catalog of the big SFF publishers, Tor, Orbit, Harper Voyager, Del Rey, etc... And found something like 25 epic fantasy series with volumes published so far this year. And that didn't include reissues of older series. Of which there were a lot. And I can't emphasize enough, **so far this year**. That was in April.

[irodeker]

That romantasy readers transition to classic epic fantasy books is so true in my opinion. I for example started reading fantasy with Harry Potter and the Shadowhunter series by Cassandra Clare got me back into reading. I know that many many people don’t like the books but they are a comfort fantasy series for me. And now I read Brandon Sanderson, John Gwynne etc. I enjoy both romantasy and epic fantasy. When I get tired of the big epic fantasy series’s I tend to read a lighter romantasy for a change. And there is nothing wrong about that. A reader should read whatever they enjoy wether it is epic fantasy’s or romantasy. Let’s just enjoy reading in general

[Gruso]

So glad you made this. I am not even fully aware of the publishing industry but 30 minutes of research and all of the points being made are refuted pretty easily.

Huge credit to your point about celebrating trends like romantasy and YA as it celebrates women authors and sheds light on fantasy as a whole. The gatekeeping is not good for the community.

[DoNotLookDown]

I've seen more people reading now then ever. I don't know if they are reading epic fantasy but the fact that I see more people reading now is a good thing for every genre, including epic fantasy. A book themed bar/cafe just opened up near me and it's awesome. Indie and self published authors are gaining more and more steam and I'm all here for it. Of War and Ruin releasing last year proves its not dying. That books gonna be remembered as a classic in the genre I'm confident in that.

[StephenAryan]

Claim 1, until fairly recently debut authors don't get multi book epic fantasy deals - the reality is they DO get multi book deals. This was the norm over the last 10 years, less so perhaps since the pandemic but it does still happen fairly often with the Big 5 publishers that want fantasy. This happened to me at Orbit in 2015, but here's a bunch of others that have since then at many publishers been given a trilogy or longer, Anna Stephens, David Wragg, RJ Barker, John Gwynne, Jonathan French (via SPFBO), Justin Lee Anderson (again sbpfo and 4 books series), Gareth Hanrehan, Joe Abercrombie, Hannah Kaner, Ed McDonald, Anthony Ryan, Bradley Beaulieu (although he got 7 books), Jen Williams, Peter Newman, Den Patrick, Alexander Darwin, and right up to the present, James Logan….the list goes on and on.

[RosLanta]

Thank you for this video as you have made most of the points I have thought about (and made to friends on Discord) after watching some of the "epic fantasy is dying" videos - and a few more besides. I particularly appreciate you pointing out that epic fantasy can be short, and that romantasy is a positive addition to fantasy not a negative one

[JasonsWeirdReads]

I just watched a recent epic fantasy reading guide video by a big YouTuber. At the beginning of the video, they mentioned the death of the epic fantasy as though it were just simply fact - it’s going to happen, dear friends, and there’s nothing we can do about it. Then they proceeded to recommend us epic fantasy books to check out. It’s unbelievable to me that people, especially big Youtubers, just seemingly believe this. It’s ridiculous.

[EpicTalez]

This was a much needed video. It makes me feel better that the golden age of Epic fantasy is not over. I was seriously upset because of the narrative that publishers were giving up on Epic Fantasy for romantasy or cozy fantasy which I am not the greatest fan of. Great Video!!

[PleatedPants]

Wonderful and well thought out video. Take all these points and counter points and the "truth" is probably somewhere in the middle. Markets change based on many different factors that are hard to evaluate in a vacuum.

I do think that your best point is that more readers picking up fantasy and even fantasy tangental books is good for everyone. It is not a zero sum game. Readers get older. Readers tastes change. Some will move to epic fantasy and that is a great thing.

[Mightyjordy]

From one grumpy old man to another, I appreciate these video essays and will always be happy to see more

[matthewbackhouse]

Not that I would want this to happen, but the truth is even if new epic fantasy stopped being published tomorrow, and only ongoing series were finished, no one would ever be able to read it all anyway, I’ve only gotten back into reading the last 2/3 years, and I love booktube, and as a result my TBR on Goodreads is over 400 books, and that’s mainly only 1st books in a series and standalone.

Anyway, great video, I really enjoyed the 🔥

[natcommon]

Thank you so much for this video. I loved how you backed your thoughts with examples. I also love that you show cased women authors in a positive light and how they are good for the fantasy sphere.

[anomandrewrake]

Thanks so much for this video. I only agree with your book reviews about half the time, but you have impeccable opinions on the fantasy genre as a whole. If the video you’re referencing is the one I think it is, I knew what I was in for as soon as they chose the comparison quote from Fourth Wing: not bad writing, just provocative. Kind of gave the game away on what the base issue was for that YouTuber.

Thank you especially for pointing out the obvious: that romantasy almost always IS epic fantasy. And thank you for consistently promoting women’s presence in the fantasy space.

[emiliopavongras]

Umm, akshuallyy...
LoTR is a standalone book, or at least was intended to be. However, it was chopped up into three because of, drumm roll please...

Paper shortages caused by major global events (WW2 rationing). Yep. It's nothing new.

[ithrahmunchswallow]

YES!! I grew up on the likes of LeGuin, Anthony, Burroughs, Norton, and Tolkien and they were fabulous but I'm kinda in love with The variety of sub genres out there now. It not dying but it is changing, growing and morphing into new and fantastic things 🙌🏼🤓

Maybe the elder gods are books? 🤪