Genre

The best Romantasy books

Fantasy worldbuilding plus the romance backbone. The contemporary subgenre that broke BookTok open and that did not actually invent itself in 2023; it just finally got named.

12 reviews in this genre.

Highest-rated romantasy on the shelf

The Cruel Prince

by Holly Black

The Cruel Prince by Holly Black 2018 review. Jude Duarte, a human raised in the High Court of Faerie, navigates Prince Cardan's cruel politics. Canonical contemporary YA romantasy.

A Court of Mist and Fury

by Sarah J. Maas

A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J. Maas 2016 review. The second ACOTAR book and the volume that broke the romantasy genre open. Feyre's recovery from Under the Mountain and the Night Court arc.

Onyx Storm

by Rebecca Yarros

Onyx Storm by Rebecca Yarros 2025 review. Third Empyrean novel and the volume that takes the war into its third year. Violet flies south. The fastest-selling adult novel in the past twenty years.

Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros 2023 review. Violet Sorrengail, a fragile scribe, is forced into the brutal dragon-riding war college. The first book of the Empyrean series and the romantasy novel that defined the 2023-2024 BookTok moment.

A Court of Thorns and Roses

by Sarah J. Maas

A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas 2015 review. A human huntress is taken to the faerie kingdom of Prythian after killing a wolf in the woods. The first ACOTAR book and the romantasy series that set the table for the genre's BookTok-era explosion.

Iron Flame

by Rebecca Yarros

Iron Flame by Rebecca Yarros 2023 review. The second Empyrean book picks up the morning after Fourth Wing's cliffhanger and runs eight hundred pages of war-college politics, signet escalation, and the slow-burn enemies-to-lovers payoff the audience came for.