As librarians, we are frequently asked about specific genres of books from dedicated readers. “Where are the mysteries?” “I’m looking for rom-coms.” “Do you have any cosmic horror?” As more books get published, we see new trends in the various genres, birthing whole new sub-genres. Personally, I am a big fan of fantasy novels, which combine all manner of magic powers, imaginary creatures, and battles of good versus evil. If you also enjoy fantasy, here are some of fantasy sub-genres that have recently exploded in popularity.
The big breakout sub-genre of late is called “romantasy.” As the name implies, it is a combination of fantasy with very strong elements of romance and passion between some of the characters. The reigning champion of these books is Rebecca Yarros’ The Empyrean series. The series focuses on a young woman forced to abandon her quiet scholarly life to attend a war college to learn to become a magical dragon-riding warrior. She forms a rivalry with a brooding older student who pushes her buttons, but could their relationship turn into something more? (It could!)
“Cozy fantasy” novels take the standards of the genre and turn them upside down. While most fantasy novels are action-heavy with apocalyptic stakes, cozy fantasies center on the struggles of day-to-day life and relationships of characters living in these mystical lands. I recently enjoyed A Witch’s Guide to Magical Innkeeping by Sangu Mandanna. Set in a version of modern Britain where magic isn’t uncommon, a young sorcerous prodigy casts a spell so powerful that it robs her of her powers and gets her banished from magical society. While perpetually trying to solve her plight, she lives at her homey family inn, full of eccentric long-time residents who develop into a quirky family.
A Witch's Guide to Magical Innkeeping
“Dark academia” isn’t restricted just to the fantasy genre, but the majority of these novels do involve magic and supernatural powers. Dark academia novels usually focus on students in some sort of college or boarding school, filled with dark secrets, corrupt faculty, and devious machinations of ambitious students. I’m currently enjoying Katabasis by R.F. Kuang. It begins when the advisor to magical grad student Alice Law abruptly dies and goes to Hell. Since she needs his approval to graduate, she stoically decides she must open a portal to the underworld and convince the King of Hell to release him. And you thought final exams were hard!
We’ll end with LitRPG. The lit is “literary” and the RPG” is “role-playing game.” In a world where millions of people have played fantasy video games or RPGs like Dungeons & Dragons, LitRPGs tell stories in a way that’s a bit more like describing the action in a fantasy game. The most popular of these is the Dungeon Crawler Carl series by Matt Dinniman, in which the titular Carl is forced by an evil AI to play in a virtual reality game where he (and his ex-girlfriend’s talking cat) must fight monsters and wizards to survive.
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