The Appeal of the Fantasy Romance Genre

Publishing houses everywhere have enjoyed lots of recent success with fantasy romance novels. Their enormous appeal can be attributed to the fact that they allow the reader the opportunity to escape for awhile and rejoin reality with a sense of hope and promise. Research shows that readers find this genre rejuvenating, especially among young adult novels. They provide distance from real life and practicality in exchange for a clearer insight into reality.

Fantasy romance is a subgenre of fantasy fiction—it employs significant elements and conventions of the romance genre, enough to give balance to its name. The key focus of these stories is obviously relationships, as well as their key social and political factors. In books for young adults, there are also intertwined themes with coming-of-age issues.

As the best fantasy novels enjoy increasing popularity, many publishers, including small publisher companies like Sand Dollar Press, are drawing more and more critical attention to the genre. What is being discovered is that there is a need for a better understanding of the genre as a whole. In order to critique any type of fiction, whether paranormal romance books or something more straightforward, there has to be a clear understanding of the work. Whether analyzing young adult fiction novels or classics, there are some fundamental tenets to consider, yet also some niche specific elements to consider as well.

Certain traits that critics agree on in regards to properly defining the genre include story, characterization and the story’s heroes, the fantasy setting of an otherworldly place, the struggle between good and evil, and romantic plot. With the surge in popularity among paranormal romance novels, there can also be an element of magic or the supernatural to be critiqued. Young adult fiction novels from the fantasy world should also contain some of the main elements of the genre, and characters should be especially relatable.