Romantasy
Also known as Romantic fantasy · Fantasy romance
Romantasy is fantasy where the central romance matters just as much to the story as the magic and the plot.
Lots of fantasy has a romance in it. In romantasy the relationship is one of the two main storylines, the ending has to resolve it, and readers expect a happy ending, or at least a happy for now. Take the romance out and the book falls apart.
The boom is recent and huge, driven mostly by BookTok and by authors like Sarah J. Maas and Rebecca Yarros. Publishing has caught up fast. There are now romantasy imprints, special editions with sprayed edges and character art, and marketing that leads with tropes instead of the plot.
You’ll see the same things come up a lot: fae courts, dragons, magic academies, fated or bonded couples, long series instead of standalones, and a clear spice level so readers know what they’re getting. These series can run to five or six books with hundreds of named characters, factions and family lines, which is part of why spoiler-free wikis and character trackers have become so useful.
Romantasy: common questions
What is the difference between romantasy and fantasy romance?
Most people use them interchangeably. When people do separate them, fantasy romance follows romance genre rules with a guaranteed happy ending, while romantasy is a broader label for fantasy with a central love story.
Is romantasy a new genre?
The books aren’t new. Fantasy with a big romance at its centre has been around for decades. The label is newer, and it became a mainstream category in the 2020s thanks largely to BookTok.