Romantasy: the TikTok-driven genre taking women’s fiction by storm — but should Christians be cautious?

What happens when you combine two literary genres as old as time - steamy romance novels, with fantasy novels? ‘Romantasy’ of course! And along with it, a huge surge in superfans on TikToks ‘BookTok,’ where women from all over the world share their favourite new romantasy reads.

The Publishers Association says that this new blend of romance and fantasy has increased fiction revenue by 18% in 2024- and has no signs of slowing down. Popular series include A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas and the Fourth Wing series by Rebecca Yaros.

It makes sense that romantasy has become a popular subgenre

It makes sense that romantasy has become a popular subgenre, you have all the escapism of fantastical otherworldly creatures (think dragons, fairies, and wizards), along with the emotional investment of the (sometimes hot-n-heavy) romance of the main characters.

READ MORE: Why I believe women’s fiction is an important tool to share the gospel

Basically, somebody sexy is always either saving the world or falling wildly in love, so no wonder these books are hard to put down.

And women are the biggest consumer group, which shows that chick-lit is changing. Whereas historically, it was the romance novel section of the bookstore that the girlies may have made a beeline for, BookToks’ romantasy trend is led by women, for other women. When I think of traditional fantasy, it’s all frustratingly male-dominated (even my beloved Tolkien), but romantasy is getting female authors on the map, and celebrating women as main characters for a change- and I’m all for that.

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As a Christian mum-of-three, this summer I was looking for some relaxing novels to read on holiday, and I downloaded Onyx Storm onto my Kindle

As a Christian mum-of-three, this summer I was looking for some relaxing novels to read on holiday, and I downloaded Onyx Storm onto my Kindle without having a clue what it was. (It’s the third book in the Fourth Wing Empyrean series). If I’m honest, I was in a rush, I googled ‘Top beach reads for 2025’ and grabbed it. I did not do my research!

Now, I was looking for something lightweight and chill to read by the pool. There was a ‘may contain gruesome and steamy scenes’ or the like in the warning, but I thought I’d see how I got on. I was one chapter in before I realised Onyx Storm was more intense than I had bargained for, so it ended up being more of a ‘skim a few pages now and then’ experience for me, rather than a ‘engrossed and binge-read in a day’ one.

Onyx Storm had an irresistible female protégé as the hero. It was steamy as heck in some places (I’m sure my husband caught me blushing on my sun lounger at one point), and the characters did draw me in, and I finished the book, and I enjoyed it.

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But it didn’t ‘do me any good’, so to speak. It didn’t refresh my soul or make me feel encouraged or uplifted. Now, I get why the series is so popular, and if I joined BookTok, I’ve no doubt I could dive into the rest of the Empyrean series for the escapism (and to see what happens to Violetta!) But Philippians 4:8-9 says: ‘Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable, if anything is excellent or praiseworthy, think about such things.’

For me, my (unplanned!) romantasy experience didn’t help me to do this, so I won’t be reading any more of the Forth Wing series. As disciples of Christ, we can grow in the discipline of discerning and avoiding content (books or TV!) that isn’t edifying for us, and let’s share book ideas with each other that do us good.

Can you recommend any good female-centred fantasy adventures to me? DM me your novel suggestions via my IG @‌beckythecopywriter