Romantasy is currently bringing more new readers into fantasy than every other subgenre combined, and it gets sneered at more than all of them put together. Those two facts are related, and the relationship isn't subtle: this is a category written largely by women, read overwhelmingly by women, and dismissed in almost exactly the terms that romance has been dismissed in for two centuries.
Set that aside and look at what the books are actually doing. Romantasy puts the relationship at the structural center rather than treating it as a subplot that resolves in the epilogue — which means the worldbuilding has to serve the emotional arc instead of the other way round. That's a real craft constraint, and the writers who handle it well are doing something harder than it looks. The ones who handle it badly produce exactly what the critics describe. Same as any genre.
Seventeen books, sorted by how much you're willing to commit to.
Start here: the ones everyone is actually reading
The four entry points. If someone in your life will not shut up about a fantasy book right now, it is almost certainly one of these.
A woman built for the quiet scribe quarter is forced into dragon-rider training instead, where cadets die in the first week, and the dragons choose whether you live. The biggest fantasy debut in years and the book that took romantasy fully mainstream. Fast, unembarrassed, and structurally very well built — the reveals land where they should.
A huntress kills a wolf in the woods and is taken to a faerie court in payment. The series that defined modern romantasy and still the most common entry point into it. Worth knowing that the first book is the smallest in scope — readers who find it slight are usually the ones who haven't hit book two yet.
A mortal girl raised in the faerie court by the man who murdered her parents decides she would rather rule it than merely survive it. Black has been writing the sharpest faerie fiction in the business for twenty years, and Jude is one of the genre's genuinely great protagonists — ruthless, wrong-footed, and not remotely interested in being likable.
A young woman raised as a sacred vessel, forbidden to be touched or spoken to, discovers what her role actually requires of her. Unpretentious and enormously popular — a good pick for readers who came primarily for the romance and want the world to stay out of its way.
The long series, if you want somewhere to live
Multi-book commitments with real worldbuilding underneath. These are the ones readers disappear into for months.
An eighteen-year-old assassin is hauled out of a labor camp to compete for the position of royal champion. Maas's first series and the one long-time readers usually recommend for the arc — it starts as a competition novel and ends somewhere enormously bigger. Also worth noting: Maas is currently among the most frequently banned authors in American schools, which tells you more about the banning than about the books.
The opening of Crescent City, and Maas's most ambitious world — an urban fantasy setting with cars, phones, nightclubs, and a murder investigation running underneath. Longer and denser than her other openers, and the one to pick if secondary-world faerie courts aren't your thing.
A human raised by the vampire king enters a lethal tournament she has no business surviving. Originally self-published, picked up after it took off, and beloved for a slow-burn rivalry that actually earns its ending. First of the Crowns of Nyaxia series.
A shield maiden bound by an oath she never wanted, in a Norse-inspired world of warring jarls and meddling gods. Jensen writes political stakes better than most of the category, and the mythology is doing real work rather than set dressing.
Standalones and duologies
For readers who want the payoff without a five-year commitment. Everything here resolves in one or two books.
By
Naomi Novik
A village girl is taken by the wizard who protects her valley from a corrupted forest that swallows people. A Nebula winner, entirely standalone, and the most literary book on this list — Novik writes a Polish folktale with the darkness left fully intact. The romance is prickly and slow and completely satisfying.
By
Naomi Novik
A moneylender's daughter, a winter king, and a Rumpelstiltskin story braided into something far richer than a retelling. Standalone, and a great many readers rate it above Uprooted. Start with whichever premise appeals; they're unconnected.
By
Alexandra Christo
A siren who collects the hearts of princes is turned human and must retrieve one to become herself again — hunted by the prince who hunts sirens. A dark Little Mermaid inversion, standalone, and one of the most efficient books in the category.
A young woman takes an administrative job in an evil overlord's operation because she needs the income and the benefits are surprisingly good. Comedic romantasy that started as a serialized story online, and the funniest book on this list by a distance.
When you want the prose to work harder
Romance still central, sentences doing more. This is the section to point a skeptical literary reader toward.
By
Rebecca Ross
Two rival journalists at competing newspapers in a country at war between gods, corresponding through a pair of enchanted typewriters without knowing who's on the other end. Genuinely beautiful writing, a first-world-war atmosphere, and the correspondence device used properly rather than as a gimmick.
A soldier of the rebellion is forced into a political marriage with the heir of the empire that destroyed her home. Southeast Asian-inspired worldbuilding, an enemies-to-lovers arc with actual political stakes attached, and a debut with unusually confident prose.
By
Elizabeth Lim
A princess is cursed into silence — every word she speaks kills one of her transformed brothers — and has to save them without being able to explain anything. Japanese and Chinese folklore, a quieter romance, and a premise that generates its own tension without any effort.
By
Sabaa Tahir
A slave in a brutal Roman-inspired empire and a soldier being trained by it, told in alternating voices as their paths converge. Darker and more violent than most of this list, with a romance that costs both of them something.
By
Leigh Bardugo
An orphan mapmaker discovers she can summon light and is taken to the capital to be made into a weapon. The book that built the Grishaverse, and worth reading before Six of Crows if you want the full picture. Bardugo's world has more interesting bones than most of the category.
Where to go from here
For the wider genre, our 50 best fantasy books of all time is sorted by subgenre so you can find the neighboring shelves. If the heist energy of Bardugo's world is what caught you, the best cozy fantasy books shares more DNA with it than you'd expect — both are about found family under pressure.
And since Sarah J. Maas came up: her books are among the most challenged in American schools right now. We wrote about how book banning actually works, and who gets to decide.
