Did You Say You Find Fantasy Sex-bomby?
To paraphrase Friends: they don't know we know they know... YA Fiction is no longer for Young Adults...
Hello. My name is Danielle Weakley, I am a successful, 40-something-year-old business owner, former editor-in-chief of several award-winning magazines and mother of two well-adjusted teens… and it turns out that I am, ahem, hooked on romantasy.
Never heard the phrase? Consider it the love child of romance and fantasy in book form. You know, like the portmanteau of Ben and Jen becoming Bennifer. Romantasy. And before you scoff – I am not alone. It might have started as something relegated to the Young Adult section, but romantasy is booming at the bookshops across the globe and its a lot spicier in its current form.
Sales of these books that blend romance, fantasy and sex – we see you Fifty Shades Of Grey, if only Christian Grey had been fae - almost doubled last year. Yes, doubled. And yes, sex. Horny elves and fairies – although these books take fairies seriously and thus refer to them as fae - are having it off with angels, dragon riders, shape shifters, vampires, princes, you name it.
Sarah J. Maas is the genre’s queen. Her latest book, House of Flame and Shadow – the third and final book in her Crescent City trilogy – released earlier this year becoming the third fastest-selling fantasy novel in the UK since records began. The share price of her British publisher Bloomsbury rose nearly ten per cent around its on-shelf date – highest it’s been since the mid 90s according to the UK newspapers. Her series, A Court Of Thorn And Roses is fondly referred to by the Booktok community that blasted its popularity into the stratosphere as ACOTAR –  a hashtag has more than nine billion views on Tiktok. Billion. With a ‘b’.
Romantasy is hot, in more ways than one. It’s one of the fastest-growing genres… Maas alone has sold 40 million copies of her books worldwide. – Washington Post
It's safe to say, we are, like, literalllllly obsessed.
Sarah J. Maas’ books have dominated the bestseller charts. So have those of Rebecca Yarros… Fourth Wing and its sequel, Iron Flame have not moved out of the top ten charts for many long months. When the UK bookstore Waterstones announced its special edition of Iron Flame last year, it received the single largest number of orders for a title taken in a day.
In a world where there is so much uncertainty, it apparently gives us a little reprieve / zing from the crazy to escape into a parallel universe of smoking hot, mind-reading dragon-riders with giant members. See also: smoking hot, violet-eyed fae princes with giant members. The plot usually involves a brooding, shadowy, li’l bit dangerous dude with major 'rizz falling arse-over-face for a plucky, sarcastic, ballsy, cool chick, just as the forces against them - and the world they live in - power up and threaten the known universe.  They must fight in major battles, while also having loads of ver’ spicy sex, falling in lurve and making friends and enemies galore with all sorts of interesting people.
Rizz, as the kids say, is short for charisma. You need it in spades. Zendaya says Tom Holland has it. Watch here.
But what gives? Why have we all suddenly gone bananas for fae bananas? It’s been attributed to a few things… One is that Gen Z who grew up on Harry Potter are, well, all grown up and looking for spicier, more emotionally angsty versions of their fave bedtime stories and the other is that we’re all looking for a smidge of escapism. These books have turned up escapism to the nerve-twitching max…. Escape from everything - from #MeToo to gender pay gaps to the war in Gaza, but also escape from being lasciviously eyeballed by some idiot, idling in his jalopy at the pedestrian crossing, as you scooch across the road, just minding your own biz.
The female leads have agency. Please, no Bella Swans in this pack of alpha gals. These heroines are not dragging their heels around cold and misty mid-American towns with a face like a slapped-arse and a ‘leave me alone, I am pining and wilting’ demeanour. They are kicking butt and taking names. And thank fork for that because Bella was not a vibe. As a thousand memes will now tell you.
The relative insubstantiality of romantasy is both its greatest charm and its Achilles’ heel. It’s why it’s so ludicrously popular and why it can never be taken seriously. – The Times of London
And as for the leading men. Yes, thank you for asking. They are dark and brooding. Definitely ALL Scorpios. None of them are snapping bad pics of their fish / car / beer / bicycle race and loading them to Tinder with a ‘hit me up’. They’re defs not sending pics of any kind, if you catch my drift. They aren’t leaving the dishes stacked in the dishwasher, their dirty Bovril knives on the kitchen counters and their wet towels on the bed. Ohhh no, my princess, they are fighting tooth and nail for their beloved, filled equally with lust and some sort of noble quest that requires them to have abs of steel, cheekbones that could carve a parmesan wheel, pants of the darkest leather, a withering attitude to almost everyone except you. And an insatiable lust for, again, only you. I mean them! I mean them, the heroines! Of course. Of course THEM! Not you. Silly me. Getting carried away with myself over here.
They glower, growl, groan. They never simply look, talk or, god forbid, whine. There is nothing but excellent shagging, lots of razor-sharp word play and strategic planning of the war-slash-military-slash-battle variety. As columnist Caitlin Moran quips: these books should be found in the ‘elf help’ section. So now that I have set-up this meet-cute perfectly, here’s what you should be reading over the next two long weekends…
You can also join my Instagram book club - I swear it is not just about fairies. Find it here
Sarah J Maas House Of Earth And Blood
For my money, you have to start here. With Crescent City. Billions of Booktokkers will say ACOTAR, but I preferred the start of Crescent City to A Court Of Thorns and Roses. The characters just seemed more grown-up. House Of Earth And Blood is classic romantasy. Bryce Quinlan is a fiery-haired smart-arse with a major chip on her shoulder – her best friend was murdered and she’s estranged from her abusive and hella powerful father. She’s a half fae – as in mam is human and pops is a fairy fae. More on him in the book. She meets Hunt Athalar. Hunt is, frankly, a total smoke-show and also goes by the rather casual moniker Shadow Of Death. He’s a fallen angel - fallen because he was a leader of a thwarted rebellion. They’re both hot, single, generally pissed off and they get thrown together when people start getting murdered in much the same fash as Bryce’s best friend. The two of them are tasked with finding a killer. But thta is only the tip of the proverbial iceberg. Mercifully, there are two books to follow – House Of Sky and Breath and this year’s House Of Flame and Shadow. They are thumping great big reads – these fantasy writers do deliver bang for their buck! And they are compulsive reading.
Rebecca Yarros Fourth Wing
Violet Sorrengail is supposed to become a scribe. Studious, silent and fond of a robe. Instead, without telling ehr fam, she enters Basgiath - the military academy for dragon-riders. A place so brutal that many of the intake die before they have even entered the grounds of the college. Violet is the family bebe and she is not considered a perfect match for a bloodthirsty military academy that expects you to bond with a super-powerful, could-kill-you-with-a-huff-of-breath dragon. She bonds with not one, but two, dragons when the time comes and she also meets Xaden. Xaden, quite rightly, is lethal. He has mastered shadows, is a major badass, seems to only wear black leather and is the de facto head guy of all the fallen rebel leaders’ children. The rebel leaders were all killed by the military, led by, erm, Violet’s mother. Anyhoo, awks. He wants to kill her. Until he doesn’t. There is a lot happening! A rebellion is brewing, there are unknown assassins, rebels, fellow dragon-riders, major spice between his powers and hers… Basically Violet is safe from no-one, but turns out to be pretty powerful and minxy herself. And Xaden is <insert all the fire emojis here> for her. Major drama building to the second book, Iron Flame. Five books are anticipated in this series. Bring them on.
Do you want to more on my romantasy meet-cute? Last year when I was in Oxford, I desperately wanted to read a book set in Oxford. It is that kind of a town, where every winding path and stone bridge and hidden alcove seems set for love and poetry and magic. Or murder. Maybe all of the above. So, I needed a book set in Oxford to read in Oxford. And Blackwell’s is not just the oldest book shop in England, but it is also situated in the beating heart of Oxford. And it boasts kilometers of books. Really. No better place to find one.
I’d read a few and wasn’t in the mood for a few others so I settled on fantasy. Or as I now know, romantasy. The book is called A Discovery of Witches. Set in Oxford, you can meander the paths taken by the characters, eat the scones, drink the wine. But that is where similarities end because A Discovery Of Witches is all immortal vampires and witches and bad guys. Always bad guys. I was hooked. It’s a trilogy by Deborah Harkness. You can read this too.
PS If you will never move past Harry Potter, I recently watched a Graham Norton where Kit Harrington / Henry Cavill / some equally lantern-jawed, dark-haired British actor (see above) was telling Graham that the cure for his insomnia was listening to Stephen Fry reading Harry Potter on Audible. I had to try this defence against the dark arts not sleeping. It’s an absolute treat. Turns out I would listen to Stephen Fry reading the phone book, but Harry Potter is a joy.
PPS Its the Franschhoek Literary Festival in May and I will be hosting a couple of the author convos - none about romantasy, I swear it! - if you find yourself in the ‘hood. The programme this year is smoking hot and launches next week.
Loved this week!!! totally here for Romantasy!