Fallen out of love with Romantasy

[CoubousAndTourmaIet]

Does anyone else feel they've reached saturation point with romantasy?

Having been an avid fantasy reader when I was young, I moved away from the genre for many years. I came back to it during the pandemic, when I seemed to need escapism. I started with Throne of Glass and the Grishaverse then ACOTAR and it went from there. I've read hundreds and some of them I did enjoy (notably Samantha Shannon).

Now, I'm suddenly having a lot of DNF's and they're all starting to feel a bit samey; pretty dresses, enemies to lovers, marrying princes and lots of kissing. Stephanie Garber was the final straw.

So, I'm looking for recommendations for recent fantasy series with relatable females please. I've done all the old ones - Tolkien, Ursula Le Guin, the three Terry's (Brooks, Goodkind & Pratchett), Anne McCaffrey, Katherine Kerr, Robin Hobb etc. But there must be plenty of modern writers that have slipped under my radar and this is what I'm looking for.

I know there are more recent male authors - Brandon Sanderson, Jay Kristoff, John Gwynne to name but three, but I don't know what sort of female characters they create... Don't want glamour or sexism cause I'm an old thing of 61.

Grateful for any recommendations. Thank you.

A agree with the Brandon Sanderson Mistborn trilogy, it's a really interesting concept and a good story arc.

Have a look at The Unlikely Ones by (Mary Brown I think - not at home so can't check name). Down to Earth unsentimental fantasy.

Good call - I have that somewhere on my bookshelves. I read it thirty odd years ago, but it's definitely worth a revisit. Thanks.

Marcus Lee as well - chosen trilogy and the other ones he's done are also good

Mark Lawrence had an early successful trilogy which sparked some complaints due to lack of diversity and the hero being a rapist. He used to get quite defensive about it online which put me off. But I have enjoyed his later works.

Romantasy isn't for me at all but I did spend many years reading fantasy. Robin Hobb is of course excellent. Bujold is great, but I actually fell in love with her SF series more. But yes now that you mention it, they're older books and authors (though Hobb keeps publishing, and both authors are so good they should be read).

Hmm in recent years I've enjoyed books by Novik and VE Schwab. The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison was good.

Shamefully, for someone who considers myself a big SF/F fan, I've just realised I've read far more SF over the last decade.

I've just found it on the shelves upstairs and brought it down to read, @FizzingAda It's dated 1986, which is probably when I first read it.

They're aimed at young adults but if you liked uprooted you might enjoy Frances Hardinge's books. They might be a little childish for your tastes but they're beautifully written and no romance.

Robert Jackson Bennett.

He's got two trilogies, iirc, but my favorites of his are the Shadow of the Leviathan series, a mystery fantasy smashup. The Tainted Cup is the first. A Drop of Corruption, the second, was one of my favorites of the year. There's also the Divine Cities trilogy and the Founders trilogy. He writes strong women characters.

Bit older: all of Patricia McKillip, Robin McKinley (except Deerskin)

Newish : Katherine Addison - The Goblin Emperor, the Witness for the Dead, The Grief of Stones and Tomb of Dragons (not a female MC but v good)
T Kingfisher - not her horror ones (The Twisted Ones is total nightmare fuel)
The Library of The Dead by TL Huchu

The Rook by Daniel O'Malley
Vespertine by Margaret Rogerson
Bookshops & Bonedust by Travis Baldree
Dragonfall by Laura Lam

More sci fi but Arkady Martine's A Memory Called Empire

Another Anne Bishop recommendation and start with The Black Jewels Trilogy. Read all her books, a cut above imo.

janny wurts (try the empire trilogy with Raymond Feist first maybe then the curse of the mistwraith series but avoid the audiobook that is not how the hero should sound in my head at least)

Jacqueline Carey (bdsm in fantasy renaissance France…sounds terrible is brilliant)

Katherine kurtz deryni series

old school Roger zelazny amber series

and yes I am utterly totally fed up with the only stuff seemingly being published being romantasy!!!

I’m reading the Wandering Inn at the moment, it is massive and still ongoing but I’m enjoying it. Also can’t stand romantasy particularly as most of the relationships are toxic as hell.

I just thought of another who could sort of fit into this category, Guy Gavriel Kay. My favorites of his are The Lions of Al Rassan and A Song For Arbonne.

Oh Tigana by GGK is wonderful. Lions of Al Rassan too.

Not new, but you might want to look at Sheri Tepper.

Possibly also David Eddings if you haven't already read them. Disclaimer, I haven't re-read them in years and I have a nasty feeling they might not be as good as I thought they were when I was a teenager.

Seconding what someone else said about Brandon Sanderson and his Mistborn series, although I don't think the writing of the female lead is a bit lacking. It's a fab series and he does excellent world building.

He also writes a Skyward series with a female lead but I'd say that's heavily YA-skewed.

The Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan is very good, written from a number of different character perspectives, male & female. I think it's a 12-13 massive book series and around books 8-10ish it DRAGS, as if the author was losing his way a bit. The series was finished by Brandon Sanderson - Jordan's widow chose him to do it when her husband passed away. The books pick up again from then and rattle along, despite their mammoth size.

I’ve got a left field one that doesn’t really feel like your pint of ale OP but someone else might enjoy it: How to become the Dark Lord or die trying, by Django Wexler. It was amusing, not that deep but fun. He’s making a series of it, I don’t except it to be good to the end (I liked Nemesin’s first book but it didn’t last did it).

Can I pick the readers’ brains? Years ago (yeaaaaars) I read a fantasy series that were all independent novels set in the same universe/lands. The theme was that some people where born with ”gifts” (they had different coloured eyes maybe? Something so three couldn’t hide anyway) and they were abominations but the kings claimed them so they had to work for him. Except in one country? The book that made an impression was about one man whose voice made everyone do what he said and he took over a kingdoms and it got pretty dark. Anybody know what I’m talking about?

I also really enjoyed the Winternight Trilogy by Catherine Arden and Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik and agree with a previous posters that A Drop of Corruption by Robert Jackson Bennett is very imaginative and entertaining. The audiobook is excellent.

For authors who have already been mentioned I would specifically recommend Warbreaker by Brandon Sanderson as the story centres around two sisters and it is a standalone so you don't have to commit to a whole series. I like it better than Mistborn which is also great.

My favourite (non-horror) T Kingfisher books are: Nettle and Bone (fantasy/fairytale vibes), The Raven and the Reindeer (Snow Queen retelling) and Jackalope Wives (folklore/fairytale short story collection).

Some more that haven't been mentioned yet:

The Adventures of Amina Al-sirafi by Shannon Chakraborty.

Emily Wilde's Encyclopedia of Faeries by Heather Fawcett.

Lips Touch: Three Times by Laini Taylor. And Strange the Dreamer Duology by the same author.

The Last Tale of the Flower Bride by Roshani Chokshi.

If you like fantasy that it's bit grittier then I recommend The Justice of Kings by Richard Swan (Empire of the Wolf Trilogy).

This last one doesn't really fit the bill as it's about male character who is good at everything but still have to recommend The Will of the Many by James Islington as it's a great time.

I would second lots of these recs, especially Katherine Arden, Naomi Novik, Katherine Addison and Trevor Baldree. @banivani could the series you're thinking of be the Annals Of The Western Shore series (I think it was a trilogy) by Ursula K Le Guin? I think they were called Gifts, Powers and Voices. Like you I also loved the Dark Lord book, lots of fun!

One more to add to the list might be The Kingdom Of Copper by SA Chakraborty. Another trilogy and very enjoyable although I haven't read the last one yet.

Thanks everyone!

So many of you are recommending Brandon Sanderson, I think a couple of his may be next on my list. I'll continue checking out everything else that's been suggested here.

Absolutely Bujold - start with The Curse of Chalion and Paladin of Souls, both with brilliant characters, and then move on to her sci-fi Vorkosigan saga, which not at all about spaceships and wormholes but has equally fabulous characters.

I also really like Sharon Shinn’s Twelve Houses books, written about 20 years ago - mildly romantic fantasy for young adults but absolutely not romantasy.

@banivani the Graceling Realm books by Kristin Cashore? Loved them and would recommend. Interestingly I think they were published as YA in the States and as adult in UK (it's been a while so could be wrong!).

I second Guy Gavriel Kay. Tigana is my all time favourite but A Song for Arbonne, the Sarantine Mosiac and The Lions of Al Rassan are very close contenders

Very few people mention Stephen Donaldson's Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever. Not sure if this is because of Covenant's behaviour in the first book but some of the other characters are just so wonderful. The giants never cease to break my heart. His other duology Mordants Need (The Mirror of her Dreams and a Man Rides Through) bit romancy but a good plot, many twists and turns and many of the side characters I grew to love

Laini Taylor - Daughter of Smoke and Bone Trilogy. Again thread of romance but oh so much more, side characters I again learnt to love. She has also written a duology Strange the Dreamer and Muse of Nightmares. So beautifully written.

Many of the other books I have read have already been mentioned

YES thank you!!! 🙏 It was killing me not remembering!