I first discovered the romantasy genre with the release of Fourth Wing. It was before the book had gained any real traction, so I wasn’t sure what to expect. Growing up, I read books like Twilight, The Hunger Games and Divergent. It turns out, those books are a gateway into the new romantasy genre.

I adored Fourth Wing and quickly fell down the rabbit hole. Since reading that, I read the ACOTAR series, Quicksilver, Powerless, Shield of Sparrows, When the Moon Hatched, etc. However, I just finished reading Dire Bound by Sable Sorensen and felt the need to discuss something.

A lot of these more recent releases all seem to follow a kind of template, which often makes them predictable. I don’t always have an issue with that, but the main problem arises when there is a great delay in certain revelations.

Dire Bound is released as a romantasy, and very early on in the book, we are introduced to Stark. He clearly is written to be Meryn’s partner (most likely mate, given the whole wolf and fantasy theme), yet his character’s presence is drip-fed throughout the book. There are a few charged moments, but the other love interest is the main focus.

There are other books that do this, such as ACOTAR. But Rhysand is still an important part of the first book but Stark isn’t really in it truly until the last third.

The reason that this creates such an unpleasant reading experience is because the books become about profit, not the story.

Books are another form of art. They allow for self-expression as well as entertainment. They are a powerful form, connecting people all over the world. But this whole Romantasy wave has created a publishing problem. Many authors have fantastic ideas, but they don’t need to be more than one book long. However, publishers decide they want to make a whole series out of something and that leaves the storytelling to be mediocre.

So many fantasy book series are being published, and frankly, I’ve lost count of all the ones I’m reading to the point that the story doesn’t even matter anymore. And what I’ve found is that the second book almost always tends to be lacking in plot. Reckless by Lauren Roberts is a prime example. You could take the entire book out of the story, and the plot wouldn’t change. So why was it written? Because a trilogy sells better. Not to mention the additional novellas.

So many people want to be active writers, myself included. But it’s always sales that count, and that’s understandable to a point. Give people what they want. The main downside is that we are making it harder to find those special books. The ones that touch you to your core.

I will still pick up romantasy books as I still long to find something that I love in that genre. But I want it to be somewhat original. Dire Bound reminded me so much of Fourth Wing, but with the dragons swapped out for wolves.

Understandably, we are all inspired by things we read or watch, so there will be similarities. But those should fall in line with tropes. It shouldn’t be the entire story. And if it is the entire story, does it really need to be longer than one book?

Alchemised is another perfect example. It takes a lot of inspiration from The Handmaid’s Tale, but set in the world of Harry Potter (originally). However, the story itself was different from either, and it was only one book. It was one of my favourite reads of last year, and I’m so glad it was published as a real book outside the world of fanfiction.

It’d be amazing to find a way to encourage publishers and agents to take a chance on the more original stories, even if it means fewer books are published. Thankfully, self-publishing is an option, so everyone can be an author. It just means that as readers, we are more exposed to original stories and not mostly copies.

Anyway, that’s my rant over about the current romantasy wave. We just have to ride it out. It’s oversaturated, which means the sales will likely dwindle, and we will move on to the next fad.