The potential to accidentally stumble into sexually explicit scenes in romantasy is a warning to parents and a risk teenagers actively navigate. In an interview for Reedsy, romantasy author Jennifer L. Armentrout commented, “A lot of romantasy covers look like fantasy books, so new readers may not be aware that they’re reading a fantasy romance, which is expanding the readership.” This ambiguity means young readers may see an intriguing cover and unwittingly end up reading grievously inappropriate content.

Around midnight on January 21, 2025, bookstores across the United States experienced crowds they’d not seen since the days of Harry Potter. Customers lined up outside storefronts by the hundreds to snatch up a hotly anticipated fantasy title the moment it hit bookshelves. The fervor was so intense that some shops charged admission. As in the days of Harry Potter, many fans arrived in costume to celebrate their favorite characters.

Unlike in the Hogwarts mania of the ’90s, however, most attendees were women. Their costumes often included leather bodysuits. And the book in question featured not only dragons and a magical realm but also explicit sex scenes.

Rise of Romantasy

The title that sparked so much excitement was Rebecca Yarros’s Onyx Storm, the third book in the Empyrean series of novels within the “romantasy” subgenre. Romantasy blends the tropes of romance with the imaginative world-building of fantasy, creating novels described as “The Bachelor meets The Hunger Games.” Bloomsbury Publishing claims to have recently coined the term “romantasy” to promote their author Sarah J. Maas’s books, but the definition appeared on Urban Dictionary as early as 2008. “It’s not really a new genre, but one that’s grown so much as to receive its own nickname,” explained Marian A. Jacobs during my interview with her; Jacobs is a contributor to the Christian fantasy site Lorehaven and the author of the forthcoming On Magic and Miracles: A Theological Guide to Discerning Fictional Magic.

Whatever its origins, romantasy has soared in popularity in recent years. Onyx Storm sold 2.7 million copies in its first week, breaking a 20-year record. At the time of this writing, Yarros’s books occupy the top two spots on the New York Times bestseller list for hardcover fiction and the top three spots on Amazon’s “most sold” list. Maas, another author driving sales in the category, has also seen meteoric success; her A Court of Thorns and Roses series has sold more than 13 million copies.

Why have these books achieved such a wide readership over the last few years? Even more importantly, what should Christians know about romantasy—and how can we guard our hearts as these titles become increasingly prevalent?

Lure of Escapism

Social media has played a pivotal role in romantasy’s surging popularity. In the months following the release of Yarros’s first Empyrean book in 2023, fan videos on BookTok attracted more than a billion views. Influencers often praise the female empowerment they encounter in these books. Romantasy “allows women to have it all,” Instagrammer Christina Clark-Brown told The Guardian. Its editorial staff elaborated:

The romantasy heroine speaks to the cultural moment. The strong, female-led stories show young women can be nerdy and sexy, vulnerable and powerful, both “not that girl” and “that girl.” . . . You can be anyone—or anything—you please. This is the fantasy.

Such remarks hint at women’s yearning for meaning and identity. We crave control over our fate. We desire love, to be lovable—and yet to be like God (Gen. 3:4–5). It’s an undercurrent of wayward longing also evident in the link between romantasy and the pandemic. Fantasy book sales climbed by 45 percent from 2020 to 2021, the largest increase across all genres except graphic novels. “Along with the rise in cosy crime, romantasy’s soaring popularity has been attributed to the appeal of escapism in dark times,” The Guardian reflected. “For its devotees, the genre offers the joy of getting lost in another world and connecting with others.”

When I asked a group of Christian high schoolers about their experiences with romantasy, they echoed these themes of loneliness and longing. “My friends who are really into these books are trying to experience what they want, but don’t have,” one student shared. “The boys in these books are all impossibly perfect. My friends can’t find these perfect relationships in their own lives, so they seek them out in books. It makes me sad, because they’re chasing after something they’ll never find.”

Jacobs has observed the same phenomenon. “Post-Covid, women are hungrier than ever to fill that Jesus-shaped hole in their heart that only festered during the loneliness of quarantine,” she said.

Read More