Great Romantasy Books for Fans of Sarah J. Maas

There has always been fantasy fiction with romantic sub-plots but recent years have seen an explosion in the number of fantasy novels where the romance element has been pivotal to the entire narrative. This is romantasy and one of the titans of this genre is Sarah J. Maas, who found fame as an author of sizzlingly sexy young adult fantasy such as A Court of Thorns and Roses and the Throne of Glass series, and whose debut adult romantasy series Crescent City continues with House of Flame and Shadow. But Maas is not the only young adult author to branch out into the romantasy genre, with Cassandra 'Mortal Instruments' Clare delivering her entrancing adult debut Sword Catcher.

A favourite feature of many romantasy novels is the idea of forbidden magic, where the heroine must hide her special powers from a society or world that either doesn't understand them or has outlawed them outright. From Yelena's uncontrollable powers in Maria V. Snyder's Poison Study to Lainie Stones' necromancy in Saint Death's Daughter by C.S.E Cooney and Sascha's dangerous emotions in Nalini Singh's Slave to Sensation, possession of distinctive gifts marks these young women out as both special and hunted. Katsa in Kristin Cashore's mesmerising Graceling, however, suffers from a slightly different problem as she is forced to use her 'grace' of killing in order to protect her uncle, the king.

In addition to forbidden magic, of course, love must be forbidden as well. Frequently in romantasy novels this prohibition on affairs of the heart is class or caste-based, as in Marie Rutowski's The Winner's Curse, where general's daughter Kestrel falls for her alluring slave, or From Blood and Ash by Jennifer L. Armentrout, which finds a Maiden bred for acceptance by the gods develop feelings for her brooding new guard.

Ever since the phenomenal success of Suzanne Collins' The Hunger Games series, potentially deadly tournaments have been another staple of romantasy fiction. Our heroines take part in these contests either to prove themselves in a brutal, unforgiving world - as in Carissa Broadbent's The Serpent and the Wings of Night - or as a means to attaining a greater goal - such as Calla's opportunity to get close enough to her uncle to kill him in Immortal Longings by Chloe Gong. One thing is for certain though; an alluring fellow competitor will undoubtedly appear to complicate matters.

Finally, the novels we've covered so far have contained mainly heterosexual relationships but there is a thriving section of the genre that deals in sapphic romantasy. Two recent examples are Gabriela Romero Lacruz's South American-infused The Sun and the Void and Faebound by Saara El-Arifi. Indeed, romantic fantasy fiction has been in the vanguard of diverse character representation from its inception.