Escapism or Indoctrination? The Problem with Romantasy

Romantasy Books Are Ruining Fantasy Romance (Here's Why)

Imagine the guy you cross the street to avoid. Now give him pointy ears, brooding eyes, a tragic backstory, and bam—he’s your new fae love interest. Welcome to romantasy, the literary lovechild of romance and fantasy that's currently dominating bookshelves and BookTok alike. But here’s the thing: for all its glittery wings and sultry covers, the genre is deeply flawed. Most of it? It’s toxic, lazy, and soaked in conservative ideology.

And yeah—before you yell at me on Discord—there are good romantasy books. Usually written by queer authors. But for every well-built world with rich lore and dimensional characters (hello, Faybound, The Hurricane Wars), there are ten more that serve up cardboard kingdoms, smutty self-inserts, and abusive alpha males wrapped in “dark romance” aesthetics.

The problem isn’t just bad writing. It’s what that writing glorifies. Romantasy often starts with a strong, brave, sexually liberated heroine… only to crush her under the heel of a “dangerous” man who “challenges” her. Read: dehumanizes, gaslights, kidnaps, and calls her “little female” like he’s auditioning for the animal planet.

This isn’t fantasy. It’s misogyny in a ballgown.

Where's the Worldbuilding?

Let’s start with the fantasy half of romantasy. Good fantasy immerses you in another world—one with history, politics, culture, and rules. You should smell the food, feel the weight of the sword, understand the shifting political alliances. Romantasy? More often than not, the world is a setpiece. A half-painted backdrop. The map might be pretty, but it exists only to give a vague excuse for magical mating bonds and tortured princes.

Books like When the Moon Hatched read like they were written with a fantasy name generator and a Pinterest board labeled “moody forest.” There’s no real world to escape into, which defeats the point of fantasy. The genre is escapism, sure—but where exactly are we escaping to?

The Real Villains Are Hot

Now, let’s talk about the romance part. Picture this: a brooding, emotionally abusive, possibly genocidal “male” (we’ll get to that word) kidnaps our heroine. He insults her, threatens her, removes her agency… but he’s hot. So, obviously, she’ll fall in love with him. Because in romantasy, beauty excuses toxicity.

From Quicksilver to Fourth Wing to A Court of Thorns and Roses, we’re constantly told that “he’s dangerous… but sexy.” That falling for someone who controls, manipulates, or harms you is romantic if he’s got good cheekbones and an ominous backstory. This isn’t escapism—it’s a fantasy version of the patriarchy. It teaches readers to accept and forgive abuse as long as it’s dressed up in lust and longing.

These books don't subvert real-world trauma—they romanticize it.

From Han Solo to Housewife

Perhaps the most heartbreaking part of this genre is watching vibrant, witty, independent heroines get reduced to quiet little “females” under the shadow of their fae husband-to-be. In Quicksilver, our roguish heroine—think teen girl Han Solo—becomes a submissive ornament the moment she’s dragged to faerieland. Her snark vanishes. Her spark fizzles. Her rebellion is replaced by breathy sighs about his “molten eyes” and “rugged jaw.”

She had personality. Now she has a mate.

This isn’t character development. It’s character erasure. Romantasy often builds women up only to knock them down and crown their hot captor king.

"Males" and "Females": Say What Now?

Let’s talk about the language. Why do romantasy books keep referring to men and women as “males” and “females”? It’s not just awkward—it’s dehumanizing. In fantasy, this word choice is deliberate. It paints fae or dragon dudes as feral, primal, animalistic. They’re not men. They’re males. Predators. Creatures of instinct.

And who else talks like this? Incels and TERFs.

No, seriously. Reducing people to biological terms is the favorite trick of people who hate women or deny the existence of trans folks. When you echo that language in a romance novel, you’re not worldbuilding—you’re signaling that gender is a rigid, biological prison. It’s gross. It’s not sexy. It’s conservative ideology wrapped in smutty packaging.

"But It's Just Fun!"

Look, I get it. Sometimes you want messy drama. Sometimes you want a guilty pleasure. Sometimes a fae warlord with washboard abs really hits the spot. And honestly? You should be allowed to enjoy messy fiction. I’ve read Fourth Wing. It’s dumb. It’s toxic. But it’s also fun—in the way eating an entire bag of marshmallows is fun. Just don’t tell me it’s good for you.

The issue is when this becomes the dominant voice in fantasy romance. When millions of readers are taught to equate toxicity with love, violence with passion, and submission with sexiness.

Romantasy isn't all bad. But most of what’s selling right now? Lazy. Regressive. Dangerous. And you deserve better.

There Is Better

There are romantasy books with real worldbuilding. With healthy queer love stories. With female characters who stay complicated, messy, and powerful. Queer authors are out here doing the work, and they’re not getting the credit or the sales. Books like Faybound and The Hurricane Wars show what the genre can be when it’s built on solid foundations—not hot guys and half-baked lore.

So yeah. Romantasy is broken. But we don’t have to keep reading the same toxic, lazy stories. Let’s read smarter. Let’s demand more. Let’s lift up the voices building better worlds—ones worth escaping into.

Stay sharp, stay magical, and steer clear of molten-eyed manipulators at Land of Geek Magazine!

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