TIKTOK FALLS FOR ROMANTASY, AND THESE AUTHORS ARE AT THE HEART OF THE LOVE-IN
▶ Where dragons meet devotion, fans will follow. looks at the writers excelling by blending genres
In keeping with Gen Z’s preference for “discovering” things that have been around for a long time, from flip phones to libraries and Friends, the latest slice of culture to get repackaged and rebranded is the fantasy romance novel.
Called “romantasy”, a portmanteau of romance and fantasy, the genre that was historically derided as the guilty secret of Mills & Boon-reading middle-aged housewives has become a multi-million behemoth, making huge stars out of the most popular authors.
The romantasy hashtag has garnered billions of views across social media, and Facebook groups dedicated to the many different series have hundreds of thousands of followers.
Here are five of the most popular authors writing in the genre.
Sarah J Maas
At a recent midnight launch party in New York, hundreds of mostly young women turned up to count down the release of House of Flame and Shadow. It is the third book in the hugely popular Crescent City series by the current queen of the genre, Sarah J Maas.
Maas, who started her writing career penning fanfiction and posting it online, has written 22 books, including the popular Glass Throne, A Court of Thorns and Roses (Acotar to those in the know) and the Crescent City series.
Romantasy also captures Gen Z’s woefully perceived attention span. Maas’s books regularly top 200,000 words and her latest is 839 pages across 102 chapters.
Her public appearances provoke the kind of hysteria that was once
bestowed on Twilight author Stephenie Meyer and Harry Potter creator J K Rowling.
Maas’s books are often inspired by existing stories, with her Assassins series based on the Cinderella story, while A Court of Thorns and Roses is a loose retelling of Beauty and the Beast.
Her characters have names that seem straight out of Tolkien’s mind – Aelin Ashryver Whitethorn Galathynius, Arobynn Hamel et al.
The Acotar series and Crescent City books have sold more than 38 million books worldwide to date.
Shanora Williams
Having won a legion of fans with her contemporary romance novels, American author Shanora
Williams dipped her toes into the romantasy waters with her popular Tether Trilogy.
Vicious Bonds is the first book of the series, introducing the female character Willow who, after hearing a man’s voice in her head, gets pulled through a portal and lands in a different world. There, she meets Caz, who has been hearing her voice in his head.
The second book, Wicked Ties, came out in November and will be followed by the third, Rising Shadow, which is due to be released later this year.
Fans of Peaky Blinders may enjoy the trilogy as the male protagonist is inspired by the lead character Tommy Shelby. Williams says he “inspired me so much I wanted to write a story based off of him, but
instead of writing in the past, I set him to a different realm”.
Rebecca Yarros
Rebecca Yarros’s debut, Fourth Wing, spent 18 weeks on The New York Times’ bestseller list after being lauded on BookTok.
The first book in the acclaimed Empyrean series follows Violet Sorrengail, who joins Basgiath War College in the fictional country of Navarre. She must train to become a dragon-riding warrior against her wishes.
Yarros has written five series, including Flight & Glory and Legacy. She is also the author of seven stand-alone novels.
The second book in the Empyrean series, Iron Flame, was released last year, selling more than half a million copies on the first day.
Carissa Broadbent has become a heroine for aspiring authors looking to self-publish, as she eschewed finding an agent to release her latest novel, The Serpent and the Wings of Night, herself.
“I love being able to have full control over my output, books, packaging, marketing and career,” she wrote on Goodreads.
Her continuing Crowns of Nyaxia series features books including The Ashes and the Star-Cursed King and Six Scorched Roses. There are six novels planned for it. She has also written the War of Lost Hearts series, comprising four novels.
Her protagonists are mostly vampires, with a few human allies thrown in for good measure.
Jennifer L Armentrout
Werewolves are the main protagonists of Jennifer L Armentrout’s work. Her books have earned her the number one spot on the bestseller lists of The New York Times and USA Today.
Of her 65 published books, 50 are in the romantasy genre.
Her Blood and Ash series, with a focus on the love story between main characters Poppy and Casteel, is a sweeping epic across six books, with the final long-awaited instalment being released in May. “I try not to map out an entire series in too much detail because then you feel locked in and are reluctant to change the path,” she previously told nerddaily.com about her writing process.