Around midnight on January 21, 2025, bookstores across the United States witnessed crowds reminiscent of the Harry Potter era. Hundreds of customers queued outside storefronts, eager to grab a highly anticipated fantasy book as soon as it hit the shelves. The excitement was so intense that some bookstores even charged an admission fee. Similar to the Harry Potter craze, many fans showed up in costumes to celebrate their favorite characters. However, unlike the Hogwarts mania of the ’90s, most of the attendees this time were women, often dressed in leather bodysuits. The book in question not only featured dragons and a magical realm but also contained explicit sex scenes.
The Ascent of Romantasy
The book that sparked this frenzy was Rebecca Yarros’s Onyx Storm, the third installment in the Empyrean series within the “romantasy” subgenre. Romantasy combines the elements of romance with the imaginative world – building of fantasy, creating novels often described as “The Bachelor meets The Hunger Games.” Bloomsbury Publishing claims to have coined the term “romantasy” recently to promote their author Sarah J. Maas’s books, but the definition had already appeared on Urban Dictionary as early as 2008. Marian A. Jacobs, a contributor to the Christian fantasy site Lorehaven and the author of the upcoming On Magic and Miracles: A Theological Guide to Discerning Fictional Magic, explained, “It’s not really a new genre, but one that’s grown so much that it’s earned its own nickname.”
Regardless of its origins, romantasy has skyrocketed in popularity in recent years. Onyx Storm sold 2.7 million copies in its first week, breaking a 20 – year record. At the time of writing, Yarros’s books held the top two spots on the New York Times hardcover fiction bestseller list and the top three spots on Amazon’s “most sold” list. Sarah J. Maas, another author driving sales in this category, has also achieved remarkable success; her A Court of Thorns and Roses series has sold over 13 million copies.
The burning questions are: Why have these books gained such a wide readership in the past few years? And more importantly, what should Christians know about romantasy? How can we protect our hearts as these books become increasingly common?
The Allure of Escapism
Social media has been a major factor in the growing popularity of romantasy. In the months following the release of Yarros’s first Empyrean book in 2023, fan videos on BookTok amassed over a billion views. Influencers often praise the female empowerment they find in these books. Instagrammer Christina Clark – Brown told The Guardian, “Romantasy allows women to have it all.” The editorial staff of The Guardian further elaborated: “The romantasy heroine speaks to the cultural moment. The strong, female – led stories show young women can be nerdy and sexy, vulnerable and powerful, both ‘not that girl’ and ‘that girl.’… You can be anyone—or anything—you please. This is the fantasy.”
Such comments suggest that women are yearning for meaning and identity. We all desire control over our fate, love, and to be lovable. There’s also an underlying longing to be like God (Gen. 3:4–5). This sense of wayward longing is also evident in the connection between romantasy and the pandemic. Fantasy book sales increased by 45 percent from 2020 to 2021, the largest increase among all genres except graphic novels. The Guardian noted, “Along with the rise in cosy crime, romantasy’s soaring popularity has been attributed to the appeal of escapism in dark times. For its devotees, the genre offers the joy of getting lost in another world and connecting with others.”
When I spoke with a group of Christian high schoolers about their experiences with romantasy, they echoed themes of loneliness and longing. One student shared, “My friends who are really into these books are trying to experience what they want, but don’t have. The boys in these books are all impossibly perfect. My friends can’t find these perfect relationships in their own lives, so they look for them in books. It makes me sad because they’re chasing something they’ll never find.”
Jacobs has noticed the same trend. “Post – Covid, women are hungrier than ever to fill that Jesus – shaped hole in their heart that only got worse during the loneliness of quarantine,” she said. “And while men usually turn to online pornography in such moments, women are more likely to pick up a romance novel or even erotica.”
Beware of the “Spice”
The erotic content in romantasy is a major concern for Christians. Euphemistically referred to as “spice,” these scenes are often graphic. For example, Kennedy Unthank, a contributor to Plugged In, noted in his review of Yarros’s Fourth Wing that the main characters “engage in two different graphic sex scenes, both of which are multiple pages long and describe the sex in such detail that readers will get a full anatomy course by the end.” Even some secular readers have found these depictions disturbing. A fan wrote in The Sunday Times, “During my forays into romantasy, I found it worryingly easy to veer from mild content to some fairly violent sexual tropes, almost without meaning to.”
Since 82 percent of romance readers are women, the rising popularity of spicy romantasy has implications for the women in our churches—our sisters, daughters, and mothers. Jacobs, who has written extensively on women’s lust and fiction, says romantasy “can absolutely be a gateway to a pornography and/or erotica addiction.” While most research on pornography focuses on its dangers for men, Jacobs has encountered more and more women who silently and shamefully struggle with lust, even within the church. In 2018, she conducted a small, anonymous survey of Christian women and found that 94 percent struggled with lust, and the same percentage reported that literature and television made their temptation worse.
These findings aren’t entirely surprising when we consider that the content we consume, whether written or visual, shapes our minds and hearts (Rom. 12:2). Reading explicit fiction is like chasing the wind (Eccl. 1:14) as we seek meaning, connection, and love in ways that will never truly satisfy. Dannah Gresh writes in her book Pulling Back the Shades: Erotica, Intimacy, and the Longings of a Woman’s Heart, “Reading erotica, like viewing pornography, may lead to an intense sexual reaction, but the characters are one – dimensional lies. With each page of erotica… evil is reinforcing the lie that sex is just about physical pleasure—divorced from true commitment, unselfish love, and God’s holy design. You will be left with a deep ache for something more. The truth is you were created for something more!”
Caution for Families
The possibility of accidentally coming across sexually explicit scenes in romantasy is a warning for parents and a challenge that teenagers face. Romantasy author Jennifer L. Armentrout commented in an interview for Reedsy, “A lot of romantasy covers look like fantasy books, so new readers may not realize they’re reading a fantasy romance, which is expanding the readership.”
This lack of clarity means that young readers might be attracted by an interesting cover and end up reading highly inappropriate content without knowing it. The high schoolers I interviewed said that the back – cover summaries of fantasy books rarely give any indication of the “spice” within. One student, who was troubled for weeks after discovering such a scene, learned to check books on Common Sense Media or Goodreads before buying them.
Guard Your Hearts… and Your Bookshelves
In this complex literary landscape, how can we guide each other towards books that are true, pure, commendable, and lovely (Phil. 4:8)?
Crucially, we need to develop discernment and guide one another towards a biblical understanding of God’s design for relationships. Christian sisters should talk about the beauty, the gift, and the fulfillment of covenant marriage as a reflection of Christ and his church (Gen. 2:24; Eph. 5:21–33). We should remind each other that true satisfaction doesn’t come from the fleeting things of this world or from the admiration of others (Col. 3:23–24), but from a restored relationship with God through Christ, who loved us so much that he sacrificed his life for us (John 3:16; 1 John 3:16).
Thankfully, there are ways to protect ourselves. We can use review sites to screen for objectionable content, whether for our children or ourselves. Plugged In, Common Sense Media, and Lorehaven all review popular media and fantasy books, focusing on identifying inappropriate elements.
We can also fill our bookshelves and minds with life – giving stories and recommend them to others. Dive into classic literature and explore themes of redemption, hope, and self – sacrifice. To find good books for kids and teens, check out Honey for a Child’s Heart or Wild Things and Castles in the Sky for recommendations. Additionally, sites like Read – Aloud Revival, Good Book Mom, Redeemed Reader, and WORLD Magazine offer Christian – perspective reviews.
Jacobs encourages believers to consider the wealth of vibrant and God – honoring literature by modern Christian authors. “There are literally hundreds of Christian authors of speculative fiction [writing that includes genres other than realism] who are desperately trying to get their books into the hands of Christian kids, teens, and adults, but they’re having a hard time,” she said.
She also had a message for Christian publishers: “They should publish clean, God – glorifying romantasy that aims to bring readers closer to Christ rather than leading them into a life of sexual addiction. Romantasy is a genre that can be, and sometimes is, done well. The danger isn’t that the genre exists but that readers need help finding the right books.”