Photo: Getty Images Save Story Save this story Save Story Save this story As the clock edges toward midnight on October 27, book stores and e-tailers across the globe will be blushing with anticipation. On the hour, the sixth novel in Sarah J. Maas’s viral A Court of Thorns and Roses (ACOTAR) series is set to be released after a five-year wait. Announced just last week, fans are already in throes of excitement, with scores of late-night launch events lined up internationally. In the UK, 76 Waterstones stores have started promoting ACOTAR parties, offering bone readings, dainty cake, parlor games, and Night Court-themed dress codes.
It’s testament to romantasy’s vertiginous ascent in pop culture over the last two years. Earlier this month, Bloomberg declared the literary genre, a romance-fantasy fusion focusing on “spicy” scenes between fantastical beings, a billion-dollar industry , over 10 years since the first ACOTAR novel landed in 2015. In the next month alone, buzzy authors Rebecca Yarros ( Fourth Wing ), Rachel Gillig ( The Shepherd King ) and Penn Cole ( The Kindred’s Curse Saga ) are all dropping new titles. Fourth Wing is even becoming a TV series, developed by Amazon MGM studios and Michael B. Jordan (the release date is still to be announced).
Luxury is never one to shy away from a cultural phenomenon, even if it doesn’t scream style (see: the jockstars of Heated Rivalry , or satirical rockstar Jim E. Brown modeling for Rick Owens ). But while fashion has flirted with the idea of a romantasy hook-up, it hasn’t yet unleashed a wave of tie-ins. In fact, the only brand to dip its toe is Tory Burch , which invited Maas to its Fall/Winter 2024 show, and that was ahead of the romantasy boom.
Now is definitely the time for brands to make a move. “Romantasy arrives at a time when consumers are looking to escape and imagine a world filled with magic, hope and excitement, but also moral complexities that thread between good and evil, love and hate, desire and love,” says Elizabeth Tan, senior marketing and culture strategist at WGSN Insight, noting that recent years’ consumer sentiment forecasts have signposted “awe”, “imagination” and “glimmers” as ways to escape.
Indulging in fantastical romps was, previously, something to be coy about — and, thus, something for brands to swerve. “It felt like enjoying romantasy was something to keep private, perhaps it even felt a little embarrassing to admit,” says Sophia French, editor of culture agency Protein. But, with cringe now readily embraced as a badge of authenticity , it’s become mainline to openly read about assassins and fairies copulating. Romantasy, French notes, has its own “dedicated, ample section” in book stores. In fact, there are even book stores dedicated to the genre. In July, Bad Girl Books opened in Oxford, stocking over 2,000 titles categorized by themes including “Unhinged” and “Monster Smut”. “It’s a perfect storm for it to be culturally relevant right now for so many people,” says 30-year-old founder Starlin Marot.
Bad Girl Books categorizes its titles by themes including “Unhinged” and “Monster Smut."
For Marot, romantasy is a safe space for women and LGBTQ+ communities. “The world can be quite frightening for women and queer people in many countries, and I think romantasy specifically feels like a great escape,” she says. Vitally, the genre focuses on female characters. “A world is created that puts female pleasure at its heart, with some male characters, such a…