Romantic fantasy

Romantic fantasy or Romantasy is a subgenre of fantasy fiction combining fantasy and romance, describing a fantasy story using many of the elements and conventions of the chivalric romance genre. One of the key features of romantic fantasy involves the focus on relationships, social, political, and romantic.

Romantic fantasy has been published by both fantasy lines and romance lines. As a result of the financial success of authors such as Sarah J. Maas and Rebecca Yarros, publishers have been creating imprints to focus on this subgenre. Some publishers distinguish between "romantic fantasy" where the fantasy elements is most important and "fantasy romance" where the romance are most important. Others say that "the borderline between fantasy romance and romantic fantasy has essentially ceased to exist, or if it's still there, it's moving back and forth constantly".

2023-2024 romantasy trend
In 2023 and 2024, romantic fantasy novels termed "romantasy" became a social media trend. Sales of the books have been widely driven by promotion on social media, particularly the part of TikTok known as BookTok. The Economist notes that the genre has particular appeal to those who grew up reading young-adult fantasy, such as Harry Potter, and are now interested in similar themes, but with adult themes of sex and romance. Key exponents are Sarah J. Maas and Rebecca Yarros, whose Fourth Wing and Iron Flame have both broken sales records and are due to be made into a TV series. Authors of novels labeled as romantasy are largely women, as is the market, and the novels are known for representing minorities.

Examples of romantic fantasy in literature

 * Catherine Asaro's Lost Continent (aka Aronsdale) series; The Night Bird.
 * Mercedes Lackey's Tales of the Five Hundred Kingdoms series; Fairy Godmother, One Good Knight, Fortune's Fool, "The Snow Queen", "The Sleeping Beauty".
 * Sarah J. Maas' A Court of Thorns and Roses series
 * Tamora Pierce's The Immortals quartet; Wild Magic, Wolf-Speaker, Emperor Mage, The Realms of the Gods.
 * Wen Spencer's Tinker (Elfhome) series.
 * George MacDonald's The Princess and the Goblin
 * Peter S. Beagle's The Last Unicorn
 * William Goldman's The Princess Bride
 * Neil Gaiman's Stardust
 * Rebecca Yarros's Fourth Wing series