8 Romantasy Novels That Changed My Relationship With Fantasy (In No Particular Order)

One Dark Window is not only one of those novels that kept me wildly entertained, it made me fall in love with gorgeous prose again. Packed full of flawed and morally dubious characters, One Dark Window resonated with me because with this work, Gillig forces us to interrogate who we once thought to be the evil monster, not just in this novel, but in all stories.

Of course, the reigning romantasy queen herself, Sarah J. Maas has to make my list. But unlike many other Maasverse lists, my favorite will probably always be the fourth book in the ACOTAR series. ACOSF is a departure for Maas in that she focuses almost entirely on the inner journey of one of ACOTAR’s most detested characters: Nesta Archeron. In ACOSF, Maas blew me away with her ability to write a character who is so self-loathing, so flawed and traumatized, and yet somehow, she slowly chipped away at Nesta’s fortress, and made us love her, cry with her, and feel every part of her broken soul. Plus, the spice is off the charts.

Heartless Hunter one slid into my proverbial reading DMs, in that it is a true enemies to lovers (and spoiler: back to enemies) trope. Ciccarelli has created a world where witches — read: powerful women — are reviled and hunted (sound familiar?), and yet, the most unlikely of pairing blossoms between a witch and a witch hunter. The catch? The witch hunter doesn’t know his love interest is actually the one witch he’s been hunting: the Crimson Moth. Heartless Hunter is a steamy, sweet, evocative read that I’ll never stop recommending.

If there is any writer who could make me salivate over gorgeous prose and searing insight, it’s Tahereh Mafi. Shatter Me turned romantasy completely upside down for me, and, as a writer myself, inspired me to think of my own writing in a completely new way. I will never not be in awe of Mafi or the Shatter Me series.

No romantasy list would be complete without Rebecca Yarros’s recording-breaking Fourth Wing. I adore this novel for many reasons. The main character, Violet, is disabled, and requires assistive devices in order to ride her (monstrously large) dragon. Which also brings me to the second reason I love Fourth Wing so much: because dragons. The third reason? Shadow daddies and steam spice, of course.

In the Fairyloot edition of The God and the Gumiho, Sophia Kim calls this novel “a love letter to K-Drama” that departs from traditional Korean folklore, giving it a modern day twist. And it’s easy to see. The God and the Gumiho is about an ancient grumpy god (Seokga) and a plucky, charming, and devious Gumiho (Hani), as they reluctantly pair up to solve a series of murders. Hani and Seokga have breathed fresh life into the genre for me, inserting K-Drama-inspired mythology and lore into my romantasy reads. Zero regrets.

I read The Honey Witch in two days while lying in bed in a deep depressive episode. It was the perfect balm for me. This cottagecore romantasy is filled with all the coziness I’d hoped for: witches, apiaries and golden honey, spells, charms and wise grandmothers, sapphic romance, queer rep, and all that lovely stuff. All I needed was a plate of cookies and a cup of tea, and everything would be right in the world again.

Clare’s world of Shadowhunters was my first foray into the romantasy genre (before it was coined as such) and since then, I’ve inhaled every one of her Shadowhunter novels. My favorite will always be The Infernal Devices Trilogy. Set in Victorian London, this trilogy is lush and steamy, filled with magic and demons, and a touch steampunk-esque flavor for flare. But while Clare is an expert worldbuilder, it’s her characters that have always snagged my heart.