Romantasy VS Paranormal Romance: same or different?

[RedMage]

Years ago, there was the genre Paranormal Romance. Today, we have Romantasy.

How do you guys see these subgenres? Is there a difference between them, or is Romantasy just a rebrand for Paranormal Romance? I'm not a big reader of either, but I have been mulling these questions for a few days and would like to hear your thoughts.

 

[Hobbit]

It's all a question of degree, isn't it? To some extent it's just another way of rebranding a particular group of books that are currently popular.

The young women at my Book Club would all say (I think) that the main sellers of Romantasy at the moment are more explicit, and proud of it, as well as being more diverse and gender-fluid - not to mention less hung up on single traditional male-female relationships.

I do wonder what Robert A Heinlein would have made of it. I think he'd probably like it.

The paranormal element is just one aspect these days - there are more traditional fantasies, historical fantasies and the like that are Romantasy as well - although I would say that the urban fantasy is probably still predominant.

What separates the two? Well, in my opinion, Romantic fantasy has romance but it is less important than the other fantasy elements of the plot - worldbuilding, characterisation, adventure etc. Romantasy's focus is the romance - often explicitly so - with the other elements being secondary.

Obviously there is a range where such things vary, and I'm sure that there are exceptions.

It might be easier to compare and contrast two books - say, Anne McCaffrey's Dragonflight with Rebecca Yarros' Fourth Wing to show the differences. Similar themes, different focii (at least to start.)

 

[Rob B]

Romantasy has been the HOT! NEW! Subgenre for a few years now, it is inescapable. I haven't really dipped more than my toes into either subset. However, I'm seeing at least 3 pitches from book publicists every week about a new "Tik Tok Romantasy" sensation... and sometimes one per day.

 

[Fryan]

My feeling is that Romantasy is rebranded Paranormal Romance, but maybe the dial on the “Steaminess” is cranked up a bit? A lot of the ladies in my book group plow through the stuff, but when I ask if they’ve read things like Elizabeth Hand, Tanith Lee or Jacqueline Carey they haven’t heard of those writers.

One thing I’ve noticed is that the books seem to have a bit less staying power for them (the book group members who read them). They read them, cast them aside and look for the next hot thing to consume. But they bounce off a lot of titles and dnf a TON of books. So there’s maybe a bit of a difference in how the more modern books are published with less polish so that the writers and publishers can make hay while the sun is shining.

 

[Hobbit]

My feeling is that Romantasy is rebranded Paranormal Romance, but maybe the dial on the “Steaminess” is cranked up a bit? A lot of the ladies in my book group plow through the stuff, but when I ask if they’ve read things like Elizabeth Hand, Tanith Lee or Jacqueline Carey they haven’t heard of those writers.

One thing I’ve noticed is that the books seem to have a bit less staying power for them (the book group members who read them). They read them, cast them aside and look for the next hot thing to consume. But they bounce off a lot of titles and dnf a TON of books. So there’s maybe a bit of a difference in how the more modern books are published with less polish so that the writers and publishers can make hay while the sun is shining.

Oh that's a good point, Fryan. Based on my experiences from the book clubs that I go to, many of whom are young-30-something ladies who read Romantasy, it is very much a 'consume and then go on to the next one'. It is rare for some of them to be reread, I think, because there's so much new stuff out there to read.

I do wonder when the bubble will burst though. It does remind me a little of the Horror book glut of the 1980's, when by the end there was so much quantity over quality that it led to diminishing returns. ("What: vampires again?")

As Rob's said though, the amount of such stuff at the moment is overwhelming. I do look at what's being offered out there but usually pass.

 

[Fryan]

As Rob's said though, the amount of such stuff at the moment is overwhelming. I do look at what's being offered out there but usually pass.

It’s pretty telling how popular it is given how much shelf space is given over to Romantasy titles in the SF/Fantasy section in bookstores these days!

I can’t say that much of it captures my interest and I do get a sense of diminishing returns due to over saturation as the book group members seem to be increasingly frustrated with the subgenre as time passes. My feeling is that it’s been a good entry point into fantasy for a lot of the folks in the group, so I see it as my job to now steer them towards the “good stuff”.

Another general fiction book trend I’ve noticed this year is books about “Trad Wives” that folks in my group are reading and that topic seems ripe for a horror novel.

 

[Hobbit]

it’s been a good entry point into fantasy for a lot of the folks in the group, so I see it as my job to now steer them towards the “good stuff”.

Am also doing that! Little steps....

 

[RedMage]

@Fryan and @Hobbit, your discussion of "consume and move on" makes me think of Romance readers. Or, what's believed by non-Romance readers about those who do read it. As Romance is known to contain books "written-by-numbers" with certain characters or events occurring by a specific page number (or perhaps percentage of overall page/word count?), I wonder if something like that may happen with Romantasy.

I can’t say that much of it captures my interest and I do get a sense of diminishing returns due to over saturation as the book group members seem to be increasingly frustrated with the subgenre as time passes.

Interesting! I thought Romantasy readers loved anything and everything written in the genre. That just shows how many Romantasy readers I actually talk to, or just know. (Very few.)

Can I ask what your book group members find frustrating in the genre? I don't know if you know, Fryan, but I write SFF as well as read, and one thing I do when starting a new project is review readers' frustrations with my chosen genre to write in and the things they want the genre to do.

As for the question I asked, I've only dipped my toes into both genres. And not even that with Paranormal Romance. That one, I've always considered as straight up Romance with one of the main characters (either protag or the love interest) being either a witch, vampire or werewolf. That's all the "fantasy" I've thought was included and they're very much treated in the same way as a job or career--the character appears to do that fantasy "job" occasionally on the page, but it's 90% character background. And maybe setting (say, a town of all witches)? I'm probably being completely stupid and uninformed by saying that...

Romantasy... yeah, it's the heyday! Good for them! I have read a few of these and enjoyed several of them. But I've also really disliked others. Maas' Throne of Glass is one of the only 3 books I've ever thrown across the room in anger due to oh so many dropped elements and gaping holes by the end, I couldn't get through the first chapter in Yarros' Fourth Wing due to the world building surrounding the student recruitment and entrance exam... I liked those that I actually finished, though most of those I thought were more "okay" than "good". Generally, I'm drawn to Romantasy's non-Romance elements, such as the big bad, world and such.

In general, I see Romantasy as, perhaps, a rebrand of Paranormal Romance, though with plot, character and other elements taking about 50/50 from both Fantasy and Romance as opposed to my view of PR only using Fantasy as character background.

 

[Hobbit]

I am very aware that the reading audience is different to me... they like the same tropes over and over... lots of loss and yearning. They are quite happy with cliff-hanger endings and have probably the next book ready to go once finished.

Their biggest bugbear at the moment is that most of the characters are in their teens or early twenties. There are fewer books that deal with character their age (early 30's)

What is interesting is that publishers seem aware of this and there are lots of writers who have made their mark writing YA that are now transitioning to adult books - Veronica Roth is my most recent example.

 

[Dawnstorm]

I'm curious: Is this a marketing term for regular romance which is fantasy flavoured? Is this a marketing term for romance stories in a fantasy setting? Are there stories that are primarily romance but need a fantastic element to make it work?

For instance, I'm watching a lot of anime lately, and there seems to be one of those shows every season. This season we have Kaijuu Girl Caramelise (where a girl transforms into a Godzilla-like Kaijuu when she's under stress; then she falls in love, and getting the hots is... stressful), last season we had Replica datte, Koi Wo Suru (where a girl spontanously creates a replica of herself so she doesn't have to go to school, but then the replica falls in love and they diverge...). These are stories that are regular romances, but they have this one element that's important.

From what I read in this thread it seems romance is the genre, and fantasy the flavour?