A feel like a lot of Sapphic writers tend to gravitate toward fantasy/sci-fi so there are more options in that genre, but maybe that’s also because I read more fantasy /sci-fi too so I’m encountering that more as well.
I really appreciated your clarification of how you define Romantasy because that’s a genre I feel like I am always misunderstanding when I try to define it
I posted about it on socials today asking to get everybody’s different definitions of it so that I can try to talk about it further in a video. It’s been really interesting seeing everybody’s different definitions.
@@ReadswithRachel I am very excited to see that video. I had no idea Divine Rivals was 'romantasy', I always see it in cozy fantasy recs, and I DNF'd it! I have no idea what the rules are now. I thought it was just ACOTAR and Fourth Wing nonsense, I've been watching movies instead waiting for someone to write a decent book!
Some contemporary sapphic romance (starring adults) books that I enjoyed: 1) Late Bloomer by Mazey Eddings, 2) The Puppy Love Romance trilogy by Georgia Beers (book 1 'Rescued Heart' is the best), 3) How to Find a Princess by Alyssa Cole, 4) I Can't Think Straight by Shamim Sarif, 5) Poppy Jenkins by Clare Ashton
I would agree with your definition of Romantasy. The only split I've identified in that general genre is "Romance before Fantasy" = Romantasy, "Fantasy/plot before Romance" = Romantic Fantasy (unless written by a man, then it's just Fantasy). But it'll probably still vary person-to-person how one weighs the Romance against the Fantasy/plot, so 🤷♀️ I tried. I've never been very good at drawing a definite line between genres, same with music.
Rereads of the locked tomb books are SO rewarding! Can’t wait for Alecto to come out period but also can’t wait for it to come out so you can do your rereads. It’s like getting two different books in each one. (I’m listening to this from another room and I spaced out and missed your emoji and I can’t rewind it right now so sorry about that!!)
I would looove a list of your scifi/fantasy sapphic recs because I love love LOVE The Locked Tomb. I feel like when content creators do sapphic recs, its always contemporary romance but I need more grit and fantastical situations.
If you haven't read A Memory Called Empire and its sequel A Desolation Called Peace by Arkady Martine, you would really like them! They're a lot more serious than TLT but really fantastic for worldbuilding Edit: and in case it wasn't clear, the central romance is a sapphic one haha
i think… what the publishing industry defines romantasy as is repackaged fantasy romance. so it is genre romance with a relatively high fantasy aspect but, by all conventions, should follow genre romance conventions (ie. HEAs etc.). could not tell you what that means for your historical fantasy romance but i think this is how i’ve come to think of romantasy 😂😂
Fiction that has really great rep of anxiety: Check out Emily Austin books. 'Everyone in this Room Will Someday be Dead' and 'Interesting Facts about Space.' She's the first author I have ever read that really gets how our thoughts spiral and how anxiety can get so bad that we don't take care of ourselves.
@@leacampbell2969 a heretics guide to homecoming is one of the most relatable depictions of anxiety that I've read so far! Outside of that, it's also just one of my favorite books in general :)
The way you described The Gilded Crown had me intrigued! I read the synopsis and then immediately went to the library to pick it up. Excited to read it after I finish my current read. I also love necromancy and shadow magic in fantasy
18:10 I think the problem with defining singularly romantasy is that actually genres are just a messy venn diagram and it's all just an excuse to argue about the portmanteau. 😊⚙
Yeah genre is overall more descriptive than prescriptive which is why it’s often hard to really pin down one definitive answer. The only genre I can think of with anything resembling a hard-and-fast rule is romance and the HEA/HFN.
@@chellyfishing YES THANK YOU, omg I have read one or two "romances" without a happy ending and I just want to chuck it in the river. THAT'S NOT A ROMANCE, PUBLISHER. 🔪 I'm trying to think of any other hard lines and nothing springs to mind... (Even something like "historical" has it's drama in "1980s isn't historical").
I haven’t read the beautiful ones before, but after looking it up I saw that it is classified as Adult and I think that is where you are getting those responses from. I think most people have come to expect a certain amount of immaturity plus the assessable writing style from Romantasy since so many are YA and NA, so something like this probably feels so different that it doesn’t seem like it COULD be the same genre
100% for the shadow magic being weilded by women. The desperation has driven me to write my own 😅 I've rewatched your fourth wing/iron flame videos way too many times and decided I would do it better, so it has become my work in process. Your questions and plot holes (and some solution) rambles and i was inspired. If I ever finish I hope you will still be doing beta reads!
Oh this is my JAM. Here's some of my personal picks (make sure to look up TWs in advance, of course): - IMO this is where Brandon Sanderson is at his best; start with Elantris or Warbreaker if you want something self-contained, start with Mistborn if you want a short series, start with Way of Kings if you're not afraid of a book that can deal blunt force trauma - The Wayward Children series by Seanan McGuire: series of novellas deconstructing portal-fantasy tropes. Softer worldbuilding but strong enough that you could run, say, a Kids on Bikes game with it - Dune: cliché rec but it's still a deserved one if you're into the kind of things Dune offers - Jade City by Fonda Lee: The plot is a cross between The Godfather and Yakuza 0. An absolute delight if you like your mob stories with magical martial arts thrown in - NK Jemisin's Broken Earth trilogy: fantastic in every way. Full stop - The Adventures of Amina Al-Sirafi: an absolute blast if you like pirates or historical fantasy - The Poppy War, R. F. Kuang: not a perfect execution in many ways but for me it's enjoyable enough to recommend. Might not be for everyone though - Lastly, I'm not personally a grishaverse fan but I can't deny that I would at least try an RPG based on the setting so it gets an honorable mention 😅
If your looking for a good thriller, drowning by tj newman is a good one. Its about a father( an engineer) and daughter who are involved in a plane crash and the mother (a professional diver) has to help rescue them before the remaining survivors die.
I'd love recs for good YA or adult fantasy books with no sex scenes! No romance (or very little) would be a bonus. Your videos are great fun to watch/listen to, by the way!
I think a very good YA fantasy with little romance is So Let Them Burn by Kamilah Cole. It has dragons and I think there’s a sequel coming out sometime in 2025. It was one of the first books I read last year and I highly enjoyed it. Also, Race The Sands by Sarah Beth Durst is in my opinion, one of the best YA fantasy novels of all time. The Bone Houses by Emily Lloyd-Jones is another one. It’s a bit darker though.
My favourite "romantasy" book is The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater. I have read it the first time two years ago and it was just so beautifully and atmospharically written. One thing that always bothers me about romantasy is that I would not actually call them romantic, while Scorpio Races definitely is. The only couple that makes me giggle by just thinking about them and I've read over 900 books in my life
to anyone wanting a sapphic romance - i would recommend late bloomer by mazey eddings. i thought it was really cute and actually good rep for neurodivergence! plus its on a flower farm!!! it also talks about grief and healing from the loss of a loved one and i felt like it represented bisexuality quite well ⚙
Loving all these recommendations. I actually had a few on my list already. I'm about halfway through the audiobook of Our Wives Under the Sea right now. Also, Gearbreakers was one of my favorite books I read last year. Absolute banger of a book.
I also thought Gideon the Ninth was confusing at parts when I read it. And then I read Harrow. I don't know if a book has ever made me feel more stupid 10/10
I'd Love a good pirate book rec :) Also a Fantasy that explores class issues And a rec for a really good Audiobook Thank you for all the reccomendations! Gideon the Ninth IS now top on my tbr list
I'd love some good queer books with male main characters. I've found very little that scratch the right itch at the book store, and I'm not particularly into contemporary romance like Red White and Royal Blue. Definitely added a few of these books to my future wishlists
@@themanbehindthecurtains I'm not sure if this is the type of book you're looking for (it's not strictly a romance, but love plays a big part in it) but the spear cuts through water instantly became one of my favorites of all time after I read it! It's just a lovely book
The Nightrunner series was one I enjoyed quite a bit and is centered around a male queer couple. And if you haven't explored the world of Chinese danmei, there's a lot of interesting settings and genres within it.
If you haven't read Freya Marske's Last Binding Trilogy, you might like it! Two of the three books are mlm romances in a fantasy version of Edwardian England. They are "spicy" books, so don't read them at work unless your boss is cool like that lol
I recently read the first three Rowan Blood novels by Kellen Graves, first one being Prince of Sorrows (IIRC), and I really liked them! It’s fantasy with fae and magic and whatnot.
THANK YOU FOR RECOMMENDING OUR WIVES UNDER THE SEA My sister is infamous in our friend group for recommending weird books that no one else is going to read. I have forced at least one other person to read Our Wives, I've read it and listened to the very well done audiobook. Highly, highly recommend if you can handle weird.
I hope to do right and create a good lady protag with shadow magic. I think I do have one with just a story to build around her. Just know that so far her name is Taryn and she has like two guns named Wax and Wane and she is never seen without a pair of cowboy/cowgirl boots on. I know Gearbreakers and Gideon so far is on my tbr!
This was such perfect timing, i was thinking how i would love some of your recs, i keep seeing your bookshelves and thinking how i want to know all of them🤩
It almost feels like there are two typesof romantasy, what everyone agrees on as the genre, and then the hyper specific vibe of the most popular types of romantasy. Maybe it needs it's own sub sub genre? No thoughts Romantasy compared to romantasy as a whole.
I have two different meanings for romantasy based on observation, and although they can both be described as such, the 'rom' part is what differs the most. There's roMANCE fantasy, where romantic relationships take the forefront and fantasy is left on the backburner; then there's romanTIC fantasy, where the setting has a romantic setting in a fantasy world, whether or not there are romantic relationships doesn't matter, as that is secondary. This obviously causes some, if not most, of the confusion and why people can't seem to agree on what a romantasy is by definition.
Genre Romance has two requirements: a central romantic plotline (that is to say, the love story has to be the A-plot) and a happy ever after or happy for now.* Therefore, romantasy is that, but with fantasy trappings. Historical fantasy takes place on earth, has fantasy trappings. So... if fantasy itself isn't limited to secondary worlds and is big enough to have subgenres, and Romance isn't limited to earth and is big enough to have subgenres, I think romantasy can open itself up to historical romantasy. Because I think someone who's out there looking specifically for historical romance and suddenly there's dragons, they might be alarmed. So: historical fantasy, historical romance, historical romantasy. (*Disclaimer: I do not entertain arguments that genre romance does not need a HEA or HFN. I am done arguing with people about that. *Romantic* novels can have tragic endings; genre Romance cannot.)
6:33 As soon as someone asks for lesbians, I appear in a tornado of bone chips and throw Gideon at the requester. This book has ruined my brain. I will never recover.
I’d love some recs of queer books with a disabled character. I know it’s really hard to find, I’ve been having such a hard time looking for them. I prefer fantasy/scifi but at this point I’d take any genre, I just want to read about a character like me😭
There's a really good list on LGBTQ Reads (website) for Disability/Neurodivergence. Also for a fantasy recommendation: 'Cursed Cocktails' by SL Rowland (chronic pain based on author's disability)
Can I recommend you the Irons and Works Series by E.M Lindsey? I think almost every book features a character with a disability in it. All are M/M I think. Its been a while since I read them but I remember enjoying them.
Gideon the Ninth wasn't that confusing to me as a long-time reader of convoluted and/or purposefully puzzling content lol. I think once you're used to info overload and identifying the patterns, these kinds of stories are easier to digest.
I LOVED Jesus and John Wayne. It's one of my favorites. It was really impactful, and helped me sort out some of my thoughts (if that makes sense). Thank you for the wonderful list and new books to add to my TBR!
⚙I will say that I think the problem is the fact that Romance and Fantasy while have overlapping subgenres, they have just that....Subgenres. So like @kiseaf said: "a lot of genres are messy vindagrams". So people trying to make a clear and cut Defintion of it.... makes it even more messy. And why I'm not crazy with the whole "romantesy" name in the first place. Fantasy Romance have been around even before "Romantesy" became a "thing". But to break down genres a bit more: - You can have Historical Romance and Historical Fantasy. If it has any historical connection to earth, it's considered "historical". For example: Victorian earth with fairys? That's considered Historical Fantasy. Victorian earth where a lord and lady are falling in love? Historical Romance. Combine the two together? Then it's a historical fantasy romance. - Fantasy can be both secondary world and first world (earth). If on Earth, that's where you get your Magical Realism, your urban fantasy (most cases), and your historical fantasy. If on Secondary world, that's where you can have the other type of urban fantasy, your steampunk/gaslight fantasy (this is where they take the aethetics of victorian era and apply it to a secondary world with high advance steam tech mixed in with magic, it's not really about the historical acceracy or time period convos. It's more a set dressing in a lot of cases), your pirate fantasy (same as steampunk), and the like. Dystopian can be in both. -Romance can be on both secondary and first world. Depending on what you want to focus on. Secondary does fall into fantasy romance, but you can have a fantasy romance on earth as well. But Historical Romance is on earth, Contempary Romance is on Earth, and Sci-fi Romance can *defeantly* be on both earth or on a secondary world. -Magical Realism is a subgenre of Fantasy set on earth (in most cases) or in some way connected to earth (like Parenesi and verious form of portal fantasy like Alice in Wonderland.) -You can mix Fantasy with Literarty (Again Parenesi falls under this) -Romance is where the Romance is the main focus of the plot. It's also where it becomes extreamly tropey in a lot of cases (not a bad thing but you have to know how to use those tropes to tell the story and not have those tropes *be* the story). This is why some romances fall flat for some because a lot of people think a romance story must have to have a happy ending where the couple is together in order to be considered a romance. If it's sad or bittersweet, it's considered a love story and not a romance. -You can have Horror Romance, Horror Fantasy, Horror Fantasy Romance, Sci-fi Fantasy, Sci-Fi Romance, Sci-fi Fantasy Romance, Dystopian Fantasy, Dystopian Romance, Dystopian Fantasy Romance and the list can go on like this. So If *I* were to define Fantasy Romance personally: Romance has to be the main plot and it has to have something magical within it. Weather it's secondary world or earth, it doesn't matter. High or low magic fantasy doesn't matter. If it has magic in any compacity, then it's a fantasy. If the Main focus is the couple getting together and they love each other romantically, then it's a romance. If it has these two things, then it's a Fantasy Romance. So what books I consider under as Fantasy Romance: Mortal Follies, The Beautiful Ones, A Exchange of Gifts, A Soul to Keep (yes it's a monster romance but it still has magic and still a romance), and Bride (supernatural/paranormal falls under fantasy a lot, though leans into Horror Fantasy usually). But I think what a lot of people consider Romancsty are closer based on what they loved their YA books: High Magic Fantasy, Romance is the main plot, *usually* secondary world that is suppose to have world bulding with some exceptions, with no historical connection to earth in any compacity with some exceptions, heavy on the romance tropes and the like, And is an easy read usually. So what these people consider Romancsty: A Fate Inked in Blood, Divine Rivals, The Bridge Kingdom, The Serpent and the Wings of Night, Iron Flame, Assistant to the Villian, Bride, Powerless, and A Court of Thorns and Roses. I hope that kinda helps with figuring out where maybe these people are considering "The Beautiful Ones" as "Historical Fantasy" but that's also kinda wrong because you said it's set on a secondary world. I would still consider it Fantasy Romance because it still falls under a lot of what Fantasy is.ruclips.net/user/sgaming/emoji/7ff574f2/emoji_u2699.png
Oooh, this was a great vid, I'd love to see more stuff like this in the future !! Do you have any recommendations for fantasy books with zero romance? (At least with the main characters)
Thanks for the recs. Since you mentioned that you still worry about hell, I have a book recommendations that helped me putting the concept of hell in perspective. At least intellectually (some of the fear is more emotionally I assume but I am no religious trauma expert). Here it goes: Bart Ehrman‘s book „Heaven and Hell: a history of the afterlife“ which just explores the different ideas people have had over the course of history about life after death. It is a beautiful book that shows how people‘s ideas about the afterlife have changed over the years and that what most people today understand as hell (= eternal damnation) has not always been so. Not to say that people were making shit up along the way, but when you read books about Christian history it often seems so 🤣
I trust your reviews with my whole heart which is why it saddens me to read something that you didn't like and we have similar tastes especially when I already bought the book 😫
Have you read any YA with dragons or animals as a main focus? i know you review books for your channel so maybe you have recs for me, or lgbtqia+ fanasty books?
Im curious whether you’d like The west passage by Jared Pechacek- it’s very similar to how I’ve heard Piranasi described and has eldritch ruling ladies in a medieval setting. It’s an indescribable book, I don’t know how to explain it to someone.
IMO a world with similar vibes is Megan Whalen Turner's Queen's Thief series: it's less about imperialism and it doesn’t have as much explicit magic, but it has the same feel of this sort of historical/mythic fantasy world I'd also recommend The Adventures of Amina Al-Sirafi if you want something that's more adult oriented but still has that historical-fantasy element to it (it's based on similar folklore as well IIRC)
Somewhat re: what’s considered romantasy: Have you or will you ever read/talk about any danmei novels? As a gay manga nerd with no patience for straight romance, they’ve served me as a good way back into reading novels, but I’ve never seen them mentioned in typical booktube/tok videos :0
Yes! The Whispering Dark (deaf,HOH), A Curse So Dark and Lonely (cerebral palsy), Graceling (vision impairment), a fragile enchantment (chronic illness)
A feel like a lot of Sapphic writers tend to gravitate toward fantasy/sci-fi so there are more options in that genre, but maybe that’s also because I read more fantasy /sci-fi too so I’m encountering that more as well.
I really appreciated your clarification of how you define Romantasy because that’s a genre I feel like I am always misunderstanding when I try to define it
I posted about it on socials today asking to get everybody’s different definitions of it so that I can try to talk about it further in a video. It’s been really interesting seeing everybody’s different definitions.
@@ReadswithRachel I am very excited to see that video. I had no idea Divine Rivals was 'romantasy', I always see it in cozy fantasy recs, and I DNF'd it! I have no idea what the rules are now. I thought it was just ACOTAR and Fourth Wing nonsense, I've been watching movies instead waiting for someone to write a decent book!
Some contemporary sapphic romance (starring adults) books that I enjoyed: 1) Late Bloomer by Mazey Eddings, 2) The Puppy Love Romance trilogy by Georgia Beers (book 1 'Rescued Heart' is the best), 3) How to Find a Princess by Alyssa Cole, 4) I Can't Think Straight by Shamim Sarif, 5) Poppy Jenkins by Clare Ashton
I would agree with your definition of Romantasy. The only split I've identified in that general genre is "Romance before Fantasy" = Romantasy, "Fantasy/plot before Romance" = Romantic Fantasy (unless written by a man, then it's just Fantasy). But it'll probably still vary person-to-person how one weighs the Romance against the Fantasy/plot, so 🤷♀️ I tried. I've never been very good at drawing a definite line between genres, same with music.
Rereads of the locked tomb books are SO rewarding! Can’t wait for Alecto to come out period but also can’t wait for it to come out so you can do your rereads. It’s like getting two different books in each one. (I’m listening to this from another room and I spaced out and missed your emoji and I can’t rewind it right now so sorry about that!!)
I would looove a list of your scifi/fantasy sapphic recs because I love love LOVE The Locked Tomb. I feel like when content creators do sapphic recs, its always contemporary romance but I need more grit and fantastical situations.
If you haven't read A Memory Called Empire and its sequel A Desolation Called Peace by Arkady Martine, you would really like them! They're a lot more serious than TLT but really fantastic for worldbuilding
Edit: and in case it wasn't clear, the central romance is a sapphic one haha
I can confirm All the Sinners Bleed by S.A. Crosby is an excellent read. I couldn't put it down.
It’s SO good. I’m really excited about his new book coming out this year.
i think… what the publishing industry defines romantasy as is repackaged fantasy romance. so it is genre romance with a relatively high fantasy aspect but, by all conventions, should follow genre romance conventions (ie. HEAs etc.). could not tell you what that means for your historical fantasy romance but i think this is how i’ve come to think of romantasy 😂😂
I’ve got a few recommendation requests!:
- closed-door romance
- a banger of a ghost story
- a fiction that has really great representation of anxiety
Fiction that has really great rep of anxiety: Check out Emily Austin books. 'Everyone in this Room Will Someday be Dead' and 'Interesting Facts about Space.' She's the first author I have ever read that really gets how our thoughts spiral and how anxiety can get so bad that we don't take care of ourselves.
@@leacampbell2969 a heretics guide to homecoming is one of the most relatable depictions of anxiety that I've read so far! Outside of that, it's also just one of my favorite books in general :)
The Locked Tomb series!
I got Hidden Pictures after Rachel talked about it in a video - highly recommend that for a banger of a ghost story, could not put that thing down
The way you described The Gilded Crown had me intrigued! I read the synopsis and then immediately went to the library to pick it up. Excited to read it after I finish my current read. I also love necromancy and shadow magic in fantasy
18:10 I think the problem with defining singularly romantasy is that actually genres are just a messy venn diagram and it's all just an excuse to argue about the portmanteau. 😊⚙
Yeah genre is overall more descriptive than prescriptive which is why it’s often hard to really pin down one definitive answer. The only genre I can think of with anything resembling a hard-and-fast rule is romance and the HEA/HFN.
@@chellyfishing YES THANK YOU, omg I have read one or two "romances" without a happy ending and I just want to chuck it in the river. THAT'S NOT A ROMANCE, PUBLISHER. 🔪
I'm trying to think of any other hard lines and nothing springs to mind... (Even something like "historical" has it's drama in "1980s isn't historical").
Your recs are almost always a hit for me and has led me to some of my favorite books and authors
I’m so happy to hear this 🥹🥹🥹
Definitely putting foundryside in my tbr, love good magic systems, and its finished!
I haven’t read the beautiful ones before, but after looking it up I saw that it is classified as Adult and I think that is where you are getting those responses from. I think most people have come to expect a certain amount of immaturity plus the assessable writing style from Romantasy since so many are YA and NA, so something like this probably feels so different that it doesn’t seem like it COULD be the same genre
Have you read Blood Over Bright Haven? I absolutely LOVED it and I’m really curious to see your thoughts!
Im currently reading iron widow. Which im enjoin very much. So I'll definitely be checking out Gearbreaker thx ❤
100% for the shadow magic being weilded by women. The desperation has driven me to write my own 😅
I've rewatched your fourth wing/iron flame videos way too many times and decided I would do it better, so it has become my work in process. Your questions and plot holes (and some solution) rambles and i was inspired. If I ever finish I hope you will still be doing beta reads!
Here We Go Again by Alison Cochrun is a fantastic sapphic romance. ⚙️
I'd like a recommendation for a book with worldbuilding so deep and satisfying you wish there was a tabletop rpg built around it.
Oh this is my JAM. Here's some of my personal picks (make sure to look up TWs in advance, of course):
- IMO this is where Brandon Sanderson is at his best; start with Elantris or Warbreaker if you want something self-contained, start with Mistborn if you want a short series, start with Way of Kings if you're not afraid of a book that can deal blunt force trauma
- The Wayward Children series by Seanan McGuire: series of novellas deconstructing portal-fantasy tropes. Softer worldbuilding but strong enough that you could run, say, a Kids on Bikes game with it
- Dune: cliché rec but it's still a deserved one if you're into the kind of things Dune offers
- Jade City by Fonda Lee: The plot is a cross between The Godfather and Yakuza 0. An absolute delight if you like your mob stories with magical martial arts thrown in
- NK Jemisin's Broken Earth trilogy: fantastic in every way. Full stop
- The Adventures of Amina Al-Sirafi: an absolute blast if you like pirates or historical fantasy
- The Poppy War, R. F. Kuang: not a perfect execution in many ways but for me it's enjoyable enough to recommend. Might not be for everyone though
- Lastly, I'm not personally a grishaverse fan but I can't deny that I would at least try an RPG based on the setting so it gets an honorable mention 😅
If your looking for a good thriller, drowning by tj newman is a good one. Its about a father( an engineer) and daughter who are involved in a plane crash and the mother (a professional diver) has to help rescue them before the remaining survivors die.
I'd love recs for good YA or adult fantasy books with no sex scenes! No romance (or very little) would be a bonus. Your videos are great fun to watch/listen to, by the way!
I think a very good YA fantasy with little romance is So Let Them Burn by Kamilah Cole. It has dragons and I think there’s a sequel coming out sometime in 2025. It was one of the first books I read last year and I highly enjoyed it.
Also, Race The Sands by Sarah Beth Durst is in my opinion, one of the best YA fantasy novels of all time.
The Bone Houses by Emily Lloyd-Jones is another one. It’s a bit darker though.
Try Breath of the Dragon by Fonda Lee (YA) or The Scarlet Throne by Amy Leow (adult).
My favourite "romantasy" book is The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater. I have read it the first time two years ago and it was just so beautifully and atmospharically written. One thing that always bothers me about romantasy is that I would not actually call them romantic, while Scorpio Races definitely is. The only couple that makes me giggle by just thinking about them and I've read over 900 books in my life
And Gearbreakers sounds awesome, I need to add that to my list!
I hope you love it, it’s such a gem!
I don't think you're meant to entirely understand Gideon until the end of the series anyways. It's one of my top favs and I've reread it several times
the second and third story in before the coffee gets cold made the entire book worth it
Former AOG here, and I still get those same thoughts, and I left the church 18 years ago!
Going to check out Jesus and John Wayne.
to anyone wanting a sapphic romance - i would recommend late bloomer by mazey eddings. i thought it was really cute and actually good rep for neurodivergence! plus its on a flower farm!!! it also talks about grief and healing from the loss of a loved one and i felt like it represented bisexuality quite well ⚙
8:58 When the pings sounded I gasped like "It's Ethan!"
Loving all these recommendations. I actually had a few on my list already. I'm about halfway through the audiobook of Our Wives Under the Sea right now. Also, Gearbreakers was one of my favorite books I read last year. Absolute banger of a book.
I’m so glad you loved gearbreakers!!
I haven't read The Beautiful Ones, but a book can be two genres. It can be a Romantasy, and historical fantasy. ⚙
I just wanted to say that I love your videos! You’re part of the reason I got back into reading!
My question was in the video!!! Thanks for the rec 💜
I also thought Gideon the Ninth was confusing at parts when I read it. And then I read Harrow. I don't know if a book has ever made me feel more stupid 10/10
I call Harrow a "marmite book" bc you either really love it or really hate it lol
Oh the color coded shelves are so pleasing to look at. It’s so pretty!
⚙ Here I go to see if my library has any of these available! ⚙
I'd Love a good pirate book rec :)
Also a Fantasy that explores class issues
And a rec for a really good Audiobook
Thank you for all the reccomendations! Gideon the Ninth IS now top on my tbr list
I'd love some good queer books with male main characters. I've found very little that scratch the right itch at the book store, and I'm not particularly into contemporary romance like Red White and Royal Blue. Definitely added a few of these books to my future wishlists
@@themanbehindthecurtains I'm not sure if this is the type of book you're looking for (it's not strictly a romance, but love plays a big part in it) but the spear cuts through water instantly became one of my favorites of all time after I read it! It's just a lovely book
I would recommend The Binding and Dark Rise, two of my favourite m/m fantasy books if that is a genre you are interested in:)
The Nightrunner series was one I enjoyed quite a bit and is centered around a male queer couple. And if you haven't explored the world of Chinese danmei, there's a lot of interesting settings and genres within it.
If you haven't read Freya Marske's Last Binding Trilogy, you might like it! Two of the three books are mlm romances in a fantasy version of Edwardian England. They are "spicy" books, so don't read them at work unless your boss is cool like that lol
I recently read the first three Rowan Blood novels by Kellen Graves, first one being Prince of Sorrows (IIRC), and I really liked them! It’s fantasy with fae and magic and whatnot.
THANK YOU FOR RECOMMENDING OUR WIVES UNDER THE SEA
My sister is infamous in our friend group for recommending weird books that no one else is going to read. I have forced at least one other person to read Our Wives, I've read it and listened to the very well done audiobook. Highly, highly recommend if you can handle weird.
I got Gideon the Ninth for xmas, can't wait to start reading 🧡
I hope to do right and create a good lady protag with shadow magic. I think I do have one with just a story to build around her. Just know that so far her name is Taryn and she has like two guns named Wax and Wane and she is never seen without a pair of cowboy/cowgirl boots on.
I know Gearbreakers and Gideon so far is on my tbr!
My unique and cool magic system rec: The Scholomance Series.
This reminds me that I still need to read the sequel to The City We Became.
Loved it! NK Jemisin is a genius.
This was such perfect timing, i was thinking how i would love some of your recs, i keep seeing your bookshelves and thinking how i want to know all of them🤩
I’m so glad it was helpful!
Re: Gearbreakers
I can attest to the goodness and the goodness of the sequel!!
Omg I just read The Tainted Cup by RJB and loved it! I should definitely give Foundryside a try.
It's SUCH a good one!
It almost feels like there are two typesof romantasy, what everyone agrees on as the genre, and then the hyper specific vibe of the most popular types of romantasy. Maybe it needs it's own sub sub genre? No thoughts Romantasy compared to romantasy as a whole.
I have two different meanings for romantasy based on observation, and although they can both be described as such, the 'rom' part is what differs the most. There's roMANCE fantasy, where romantic relationships take the forefront and fantasy is left on the backburner; then there's romanTIC fantasy, where the setting has a romantic setting in a fantasy world, whether or not there are romantic relationships doesn't matter, as that is secondary. This obviously causes some, if not most, of the confusion and why people can't seem to agree on what a romantasy is by definition.
Genre Romance has two requirements: a central romantic plotline (that is to say, the love story has to be the A-plot) and a happy ever after or happy for now.* Therefore, romantasy is that, but with fantasy trappings. Historical fantasy takes place on earth, has fantasy trappings. So... if fantasy itself isn't limited to secondary worlds and is big enough to have subgenres, and Romance isn't limited to earth and is big enough to have subgenres, I think romantasy can open itself up to historical romantasy. Because I think someone who's out there looking specifically for historical romance and suddenly there's dragons, they might be alarmed. So: historical fantasy, historical romance, historical romantasy.
(*Disclaimer: I do not entertain arguments that genre romance does not need a HEA or HFN. I am done arguing with people about that. *Romantic* novels can have tragic endings; genre Romance cannot.)
6:33 As soon as someone asks for lesbians, I appear in a tornado of bone chips and throw Gideon at the requester. This book has ruined my brain. I will never recover.
I’d love some recs of queer books with a disabled character. I know it’s really hard to find, I’ve been having such a hard time looking for them. I prefer fantasy/scifi but at this point I’d take any genre, I just want to read about a character like me😭
There's a really good list on LGBTQ Reads (website) for Disability/Neurodivergence. Also for a fantasy recommendation: 'Cursed Cocktails' by SL Rowland (chronic pain based on author's disability)
Can I recommend you the Irons and Works Series by E.M Lindsey?
I think almost every book features a character with a disability in it. All are M/M I think. Its been a while since I read them but I remember enjoying them.
Outdrawn for sapphic contemporary romance!
⚙⚙⚙ i think i really want to read Gearbreakers - it sounds good!
Gideon the Ninth wasn't that confusing to me as a long-time reader of convoluted and/or purposefully puzzling content lol. I think once you're used to info overload and identifying the patterns, these kinds of stories are easier to digest.
I’m like “historical romantasy” lol
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I LOVED Jesus and John Wayne. It's one of my favorites. It was really impactful, and helped me sort out some of my thoughts (if that makes sense). Thank you for the wonderful list and new books to add to my TBR!
⚙I will say that I think the problem is the fact that Romance and Fantasy while have overlapping subgenres, they have just that....Subgenres. So like @kiseaf said: "a lot of genres are messy vindagrams". So people trying to make a clear and cut Defintion of it.... makes it even more messy. And why I'm not crazy with the whole "romantesy" name in the first place. Fantasy Romance have been around even before "Romantesy" became a "thing".
But to break down genres a bit more:
- You can have Historical Romance and Historical Fantasy. If it has any historical connection to earth, it's considered "historical". For example: Victorian earth with fairys? That's considered Historical Fantasy. Victorian earth where a lord and lady are falling in love? Historical Romance. Combine the two together? Then it's a historical fantasy romance.
- Fantasy can be both secondary world and first world (earth). If on Earth, that's where you get your Magical Realism, your urban fantasy (most cases), and your historical fantasy. If on Secondary world, that's where you can have the other type of urban fantasy, your steampunk/gaslight fantasy (this is where they take the aethetics of victorian era and apply it to a secondary world with high advance steam tech mixed in with magic, it's not really about the historical acceracy or time period convos. It's more a set dressing in a lot of cases), your pirate fantasy (same as steampunk), and the like. Dystopian can be in both.
-Romance can be on both secondary and first world. Depending on what you want to focus on. Secondary does fall into fantasy romance, but you can have a fantasy romance on earth as well. But Historical Romance is on earth, Contempary Romance is on Earth, and Sci-fi Romance can *defeantly* be on both earth or on a secondary world.
-Magical Realism is a subgenre of Fantasy set on earth (in most cases) or in some way connected to earth (like Parenesi and verious form of portal fantasy like Alice in Wonderland.)
-You can mix Fantasy with Literarty (Again Parenesi falls under this)
-Romance is where the Romance is the main focus of the plot. It's also where it becomes extreamly tropey in a lot of cases (not a bad thing but you have to know how to use those tropes to tell the story and not have those tropes *be* the story). This is why some romances fall flat for some because a lot of people think a romance story must have to have a happy ending where the couple is together in order to be considered a romance. If it's sad or bittersweet, it's considered a love story and not a romance.
-You can have Horror Romance, Horror Fantasy, Horror Fantasy Romance, Sci-fi Fantasy, Sci-Fi Romance, Sci-fi Fantasy Romance, Dystopian Fantasy, Dystopian Romance, Dystopian Fantasy Romance and the list can go on like this.
So If *I* were to define Fantasy Romance personally:
Romance has to be the main plot and it has to have something magical within it. Weather it's secondary world or earth, it doesn't matter. High or low magic fantasy doesn't matter. If it has magic in any compacity, then it's a fantasy. If the Main focus is the couple getting together and they love each other romantically, then it's a romance. If it has these two things, then it's a Fantasy Romance.
So what books I consider under as Fantasy Romance: Mortal Follies, The Beautiful Ones, A Exchange of Gifts, A Soul to Keep (yes it's a monster romance but it still has magic and still a romance), and Bride (supernatural/paranormal falls under fantasy a lot, though leans into Horror Fantasy usually).
But I think what a lot of people consider Romancsty are closer based on what they loved their YA books:
High Magic Fantasy, Romance is the main plot, *usually* secondary world that is suppose to have world bulding with some exceptions, with no historical connection to earth in any compacity with some exceptions, heavy on the romance tropes and the like, And is an easy read usually.
So what these people consider Romancsty: A Fate Inked in Blood, Divine Rivals, The Bridge Kingdom, The Serpent and the Wings of Night, Iron Flame, Assistant to the Villian, Bride, Powerless, and A Court of Thorns and Roses.
I hope that kinda helps with figuring out where maybe these people are considering "The Beautiful Ones" as "Historical Fantasy" but that's also kinda wrong because you said it's set on a secondary world. I would still consider it Fantasy Romance because it still falls under a lot of what Fantasy is.ruclips.net/user/sgaming/emoji/7ff574f2/emoji_u2699.png
Oooh, this was a great vid, I'd love to see more stuff like this in the future !! Do you have any recommendations for fantasy books with zero romance? (At least with the main characters)
needed this list bad (my TBR did not, but I know it’ll thank me later)
Thanks for the recs. Since you mentioned that you still worry about hell, I have a book recommendations that helped me putting the concept of hell in perspective. At least intellectually (some of the fear is more emotionally I assume but I am no religious trauma expert). Here it goes: Bart Ehrman‘s book „Heaven and Hell: a history of the afterlife“ which just explores the different ideas people have had over the course of history about life after death. It is a beautiful book that shows how people‘s ideas about the afterlife have changed over the years and that what most people today understand as hell (= eternal damnation) has not always been so. Not to say that people were making shit up along the way, but when you read books about Christian history it often seems so 🤣
I trust your reviews with my whole heart which is why it saddens me to read something that you didn't like and we have similar tastes especially when I already bought the book 😫
Oh no, I’m so sorry! 😭😭😭
@ReadswithRachel fate inked in blood and when the moon hatched got me. Norse mythology? dragons? Sign me up
I'd like recs for MG/YA/NA/adult books with neurodivergence rep, and I prefer queer books and genre fiction like fantasy. Thank you in advance!😊
I need a rec of something like Iron Widow, but adult
Have you read any YA with dragons or animals as a main focus? i know you review books for your channel so maybe you have recs for me, or lgbtqia+ fanasty books?
Im curious whether you’d like The west passage by Jared Pechacek- it’s very similar to how I’ve heard Piranasi described and has eldritch ruling ladies in a medieval setting. It’s an indescribable book, I don’t know how to explain it to someone.
I think the writing being cringe and bad IS a requirement for a Romantacy lol🤣
any good recommendations for someone who really liked Ember in the Ashes?
IMO a world with similar vibes is Megan Whalen Turner's Queen's Thief series: it's less about imperialism and it doesn’t have as much explicit magic, but it has the same feel of this sort of historical/mythic fantasy world
I'd also recommend The Adventures of Amina Al-Sirafi if you want something that's more adult oriented but still has that historical-fantasy element to it (it's based on similar folklore as well IIRC)
Rachel book reccs!!! Letsgooooo!!
U should read a psalm for the wild built!
Somewhat re: what’s considered romantasy:
Have you or will you ever read/talk about any danmei novels? As a gay manga nerd with no patience for straight romance, they’ve served me as a good way back into reading novels, but I’ve never seen them mentioned in typical booktube/tok videos :0
Saving this as my tbr for 2025
I wonder what you'd rate a book like "House of Leaves." The book is really good, imo, but gat dam it's confusing.
New video 😀👍 My favourite story: Hello Humans series on RUclips :) Funny and interesting
Do you have any Recs for stories with disabled characters?
Yes! The Whispering Dark (deaf,HOH), A Curse So Dark and Lonely (cerebral palsy), Graceling (vision impairment), a fragile enchantment (chronic illness)
Megan Whalen Turner's Queen's Thief series has a main character acquire a physical disability in one of the books
Thank you very much
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It feels illegal to be that early-
I would like to know if you have any manga recommendations or light novel recommendations. I have a couple by I wanted to hear yours first.
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New vídeo 🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉
Ah man I gotta follow your Instagram now in case you do this again in the future haha!
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