booktok's new obsession: romantasy

Use BOOKLEO to unlock 30 additional chapters! [paid promotion]

How to Use the Promo Code:
[1] Make a new account on Tapas.
[3] Enter the code to receive Ink and start reading!

*This code can only be used by the first 100 new users to sign in to Tapas.
*After using the promo code, 6,000 Ink will be added to your account which can be used to unlock 30 additional chapters of I Made a Deal with the Devil.

#tapas #webnovel

today we do a deep dive into tiktok's new favourite genre: romantasy! aka romance fantasy books. where did it come from? why is it so popular all of a sudden? and is it really as feminist as people think?

00:00 intro
1:09 romantasy's sudden popularity
6:56 why can no one agree on a definition?
12:42 ACOTAR
20:00 romantasy & Young Adult fantasy
25:33 romantasy & spice
30:07 is romantasy more feminist fantasy?

sources:
What is romantasy? The best-selling book trend, explained, Sarah Wendell. The Washinton Post (2024)
Romantasy was 2023’s hottest book genre, Eli Cucini. Dazed (2024)
A genre of swords and soulmates: the rise and rise of ‘romantasy’ novels, Ella Creamer. The Guardian (2024)
Dragons and Sex Are Now a $610 Million Business Sweeping Publishing, Ella Ceron. Bloomberg (2024)
What is romantasy? Our experts explain the bestselling book trend, Jodi McAlister & Kate Cuthbert. The Conversation (2024)
Audited Preliminary Results for the year ended 29 February 2024. Bloomsbury Publishing (2024)
The Mortal Queen of Faerie Smut, Kathryn VanArdendonk. Vulture (2024)
Who’s Reading Romantasy?, Joanne O’Sullivan. Publishers Weekly (2024)
How ‘A Court of Thorns and Roses’ broke the romance lit taboo, Financial Times Podcast (2024)
Romantasy - The biggest genre you’re not aware of?, The Rest is Entertainment with Richard Osman and Marina Hyde (2024)

🌼 s o c i a l m e d i a
• twitter: @thebookleo
• instagram: @thebookleo

🌺 a b o u t m e
Hi! My name is Leonie and I am a 25 year old girl from the Netherlands who loves talking about books! From YA to non-fiction to classics, I read it all (although fantasy will always be my fave).

🌹 m u s i c
Music, art, and video by Jokabi

Download / Stream Lost Woods

[TheBookLeo]

The first 100 to use BOOKLEO can read 30 chapters for free. See the video description for more details!

[loxry_]

My biggest problem with most ‘romantasy’ books is that the connection between the two characters is often very superficial, the writing focuses too much on physical touch, and the characters are always fawning over how hot the other person looks, it’s more lust than love and I would love to see emotional connection happen before physical attraction more.

[likethecatiam]

I've come to realize my biggest gripe with romantasy is the writing quality. While they claim to be romance, it ends up just being lust, with superficial characters and basic physical attraction. Characters' personalities themselves change or warp to the whims of whatever serves the plot and tropes like enemies to lovers are actually just the main lead and her bully who she finds hot. The plots of these books also tend to be pretty weak, full of massive plotholes and contradictions, with no or confusing worldbuilding. Romantasy in theory sounds enjoyable to me, but as it is now, they just feel like books that rely too heavily on checking off popular tropes and sexual tension rather than an actual story and world.

[skyhideaway]

regarding the whole feminist take, i would argue that a lot of romantasy novels are very much NOT feminist, even when theyre are written by women.

there is a lot of emphasis on beauty standards and privilege (the main character usually being a skinny white conventionally attractive woman), gender roles (alpha man who wants to dominate the female character, sometimes even without consent, and this being framed as sexy and romantic), rivalry between women (especially some of the stories where the rival is always a hyperfeminine woman or a woman who is not conventionally attractive and is jealous of the main character), and women with superficial strengths (she’s a trained warrior but she still needs to be saved by her love interest).

of course, this doesn’t apply to ALL romantasy, i’m sure there are good ones out there, but romantasy as a genre is not inherently feminist.

[i.j.]

romantasy as a genre is honestly such a good idea but most of the books suffer from bad writing imo… it’d be so awesome if it had the same merits that fantasy books have!

[plswatchinfinitytrain]

Tbh i dont really understand the "strong female character" stuff. Ive read a few young adult/romantasy books and usually the female protagonists are just edgy and kinda mean. But the second they fall for a man they fold and turn into a feminine damsel in distress.
I havent really read any of the popular series so i wonder if those are different.

[justnick]

I wouldnt mind romantasy if it wasnt the same book every time

[losj]

in theory, I like romantasy. It has all the things I love: brave, no-nonsense heroines, repressed quiet big dudes who's not 100% human, forbidden romance, wizard fights, two people falling in love against the backdrop of a magical apocalypse or something, etc. And I'm always down for some spice. But the execution has been so, so lacking. Dry prose, stale humor, shallow characters, messy plot, mushy worldbuilding, cringy instalust. A lot of the execution falls apart when it comes to the most important parts of a romantasy book. And these are the books getting promoted over and over again. All the recs are the same 10 books with the same 10 tropes. It becomes very difficult to find something that's actually trying to be different than what's trendy. It's infuriating

[moonbabemarie]

I’m not a Romantasy girl, but I am so happy Romantasy is its own genre. I really hated it being confused for a Fantasy.

[voidmishka]

My biggest issue with popular romantasy is the constant dirty talk and overall immaturity. I attempted to read Fourth Wing before it got popular because it had dragons, but I just couldn't get through the first 100 pages without constantly cringing. The main character just crossed the bridge of death where some characters died, and right away she was dreaming of screwing someone. Why does it so blatantly ignore the trauma she just went through and instead focus on how big the bad guy’s back is? And the number of curse words used in every sentence is just… immature. At least it’s not done as well as it is in high fantasy which has plenty of badass characters with sharp tongues. The same goes for Crescent City! Other adult books that have both romance and fantasy, like Paladin’s Grace, still have the spicy talk, but it's in situations that make sense! I've been reading romantic fantasy for a long time, but these popular books are just icky—worse than some online novels.

[daisylee]

Nothing kills my interest in a book more than the phrase "for fans of Sarah J Maas" used in the description

[penlead]

In Korea, any fantasy with a female main character was 'kicked out' of both fantasy and romance section, creating the genre called RO-FAN. It is changing nowadays but I think this speaks alot

[elenabrutau]

I think that what happens is that even though there’s only two chapters with spicy content, the writing throughout the book alludes SOOO much to sex and male smells and physique, that it takes away from the story and the world. Maybe the issue is not the romance but the way it’s written and the balance with the other relationships within the story? 🤷🏻‍♀️

[dudeweedlmao]

As a dude, I think there can be great romantasy and I don't think as a concept its ruining fantasy. BUT from what I've seen a lot of the romantasy tends to be the equivalent of sword of sorcery fantasy of the 80's. Just shlocky, pandery, wish fulfilly junk food tier reads. Lacking in world building, characterization, themes and focusing on action and smut. I still think that has a place too but its disheartening to see those junk food books taking so much of the shelf space. I think fantasy, romantasy or any genre in general deserves more well thought out and fleshed entries.

[Evelyn_Okay]

Women are reading, writing, and publishing now more than ever. My only gripe is how romantasy has taken such a stranglehold on the market, which has changed how literary agents and publishing houses choose books to release. I highly doubt in 2024, The Hunger Game would be published and gotten as popular as it was.

[spencer]

Personally I think romantasy would be a great genre if it was done in the way you said at the beginning. More characterdriven with a little less worldbuilding but a big focus on characterdevelopment. But unfortunately the most popular romantasy books dont have that. They most often have boring main characters with a love interest that is always hot and mysterious but that's it. From my faire share of romantasy books I can say that there most often isn't great characterdevelopment or at least interesting characters...😅🤷🏻‍♀️
But I mean to each their own and I think it is nonsensical to belittle other readers.

[cal]

I love romance and I love fantasy. I love romantic fantasy. But I don't like romantasy pretty much at all, and it's making it harder to find solid fantasy books with solid romance subplots.

[atomicdancer]

I'm writing a romantasy story about an old boyfriend who gets into trouble after stealing some dragon eggs and bragging about it on Twitter.

It's called "An Ex of X and Eggs."

[dannymusic]

Leonie publishing a video in the middle of the night is one of those things I’d never expect to make me so happy.

[tattoowithlea]

I'm really glad that we officially have a name for the genre 'romantasy' because I'm not a fan of it. It happend way too often that I wanted to read a fantasy book but it was just romance with a sparkle of fantasy. I don't mind romance but I often feel like if it's the main focus it just doesn't hit right. I prefer it as one of many sub-plots. And spice bores me so the popular romantasy books are really not for me. And even though I don't like this genre I think it's stupid and misogynistic that just because a lot of female readers read romantasy it's frowned upon...
I'm just happy to know which books I can avoid and happy for the people who have their own genre now :)