• dogslayeggs@lemmy.world
    441·
    2 months ago

    I fucking hate that Romantasy has become such a big thing. I go into the fantasy section of the bookstore and only find romance shit now. I swear the back-flap description of every single fantasy book at the last bookstore I went to talked about how the protagonist would have to come to terms with her feelings for some man she shouldn’t be with.

    • morgenman@lemmy.world
      182·
      2 months ago

      As someone who likes the genre I’m just really happy there’s so much content being made. Yea some of it is slop trying to recapture the fad of ACOTAR (the book pictured), but some of the stuff coming out of it is really good. Also, because of this, there’s more romance in a lot of genres that didn’t have much before (looking at you sci-fi).

      Personally, I love love and reading romance brings me joy. Some of these books are cringy teen angst with unrealistic and toxic relationships (mainly the YA side), but I’ve found that most I’ve picked up have healthy relationships with interesting plots that don’t revolve around just the romance.

      That said, pure romance books (the pastel section of the store) have burned me too many times for me to bother trying anymore. Almost everything that this post complains about but 1000%.

      Ngl, this post reminds me of the backlash that seems to follow anything coded for women that becomes really popular.

        • dream_weasel@sh.itjust.works
          51·
          2 months ago

          Now come on, if you stick to reading it out of principle it sorta turns into X-Men and that’s ok with me.

          • RebekahWSD@lemmy.world
            2·
            2 months ago

            I worked at borders when the last book in the 4 part series came out. Manager told me to read it. So I speed read the first two

            The only part I liked was the use of blank chapters to represent the passage of time during depression

            The rest was so dullllll

            I don’t know if xmen in the 4th book would have saved me

          • MinnesotaGoddam@lemmy.worldEnglish
            2·
            2 months ago

            When I watched the movie, I turned every line spoken by a vampire into a pickup line and it became fun again, but you shouldn’t have to play games like that with your literature. Or cinema.

            The whole “imprinting on a baby” thing I heard about, that really skeezed me out

      • dogslayeggs@lemmy.world
        4·
        2 months ago

        Ngl, this post reminds me of the backlash that seems to follow anything coded for women that becomes really popular.

        I don’t fucking hate that romantasy is being made, just that the percentage of fantasy that is centered on anything other than love is so low I have a hard time finding anything new I like. Just like I’m sure you were frustrated that your only option for romance was from the ripped bodice section and wanted more branching out. I’m upset that the fantasy genre has swung so hard. I’ve read fantasy books that were pretty decent that had romance as a large section, but most of the time it’s either men writing women badly or writing wish fulfillment porn, or women writing toxic and/or angsty shit.

        If you want a recommendation of what NOT to read when choosing new romantasy, avoid the Clocktaur set of books. Not only is the romance both angsty AND toxic, but the author switches between first and third person while also switching who the first person character is mid-chapter. Also, all of the characters constantly pinch their noses in consternation. It was really promising world building ruined by bad writing. A much better romantasy set of books was the Shepherd King set (One Dark Window and Two Twisted Crowns). It isn’t great, but the romance part was better written, and the magic system was very unique and interesting.

    • TubularTittyFrog@lemmy.worldEnglish
      133·
      2 months ago

      it’s huge because real life romance is collapsing as people prefer imaginary romance.

      the problem in real life is that if you are with someone you shouldn’t be with, there are usually real negative consequences in your life.

      • njm1314@lemmy.world
        9·
        2 months ago

        A lot of romance was like Pirates and shit. It’s not like it was ever really particularly grounded.

    • harsh3466@lemmy.ml
      5·
      2 months ago

      I also hate this trend. I’ve been reading a ton of SciFi the last few years because I fucking hate romantasy.

      I don’t mind love being part of a storyline either. But there’s a huge difference between love as part of the story and fucking romantasy.

    • Doom@lemmy.world
      4·
      2 months ago

      I have so many small book stores around me that all stock the exact same romantasy/fantasy/teen-fantasy catalog. I don’t mind that it’s there, but it bums me out that there isn’t any bookspace ever dedicated to the non-fiction stuff I’m actually interested in. If there is, it’s usually a single shelf of not very good over priced something or other off the New York Times best seller list.

    • Starya67@lemmy.world
      2·
      2 months ago

      I mean… there was romantasy before (for example the Rhodry and Nevin books, something Spell) but not nearly as vapid.

      Edit Daggerspell, that’s it. Katharine Kerr.

  • cccrontab@lemmy.world
    401·
    2 months ago

    Lol, I started this series based on it’s popularity and went in blind. I have never noped out of a book faster.

    • bcgm3@lemmy.worldEnglish
      8·
      2 months ago

      The “only barely legally distinct from that one popular book series” nature of the titles and cover art put this one in the “maybe later” category for me.

    • chemical_cutthroat@lemmy.world
      3·
      2 months ago

      I’m glad I grabbed it from the library and didn’t buy it. Definitely not my flavor. If it gets people to read, great, but I don’t recommend it.

    • Dzheyk@sh.itjust.works
      1·
      2 months ago

      Similar experience, but not necessarily noped out as much as a drop out of lack of interest. Had this recommended to me after I got done with Fourth Wing. Not a good recommendation in my opinion.

  • UnhingedFridge@lemmy.worldEnglish
    8·
    2 months ago

    I didn’t mind the series much until book 5, where the author went full raunchy and used “cock” 30 separate times instead of anything creative to describe those scenes. She took my theatre of the mind from cinemax in the first four books straight to pornhub level gonzo shit. Bah.

  • TubularTittyFrog@lemmy.worldEnglish
    91·
    2 months ago

    Everytime I am at a cafe there is a woman reading this book. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a man with a copy of it. Been seeing it around for few years now.

    Is it one of those romantasy novels? Or is more like YA fantasy fiction type stuff?

    • CerebralHawks@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
      3·
      2 months ago

      The same was said of Twilight. I’m male (AMAB/identify as male) and I read Twilight. It was okay. I stopped partway through New Moon. I did enjoy the movies. I liked what Meyer did with her vampires. I didn’t take it any more seriously than was warranted.

      I’m currently reading the Dungeon Crawler Carl books. Are they fine literature? No, but they’re fun. I’ve read about a dozen of the Sword Art Online books, and DCC is better. Same thing though. Kind of. They’re both very lowbrow, and I thoroughly enjoy both.

      No interest in the new romantasy stuff though. It just doesn’t appeal to me. I am curious… but not interested.

  • DrSoap@lemmy.world
    4·
    2 months ago

    Actually just read these books last week. Back in my day, writing like this would have never made it off of xanga.

  • Trump Rapes Kids@lemmy.world
    11·
    2 months ago

    This, those LitRPGs like that Dungeon Crawler Dogshit… just awful fucking writing. I hate finding another adult who says they read and then it turns out to be this shit.