LET’S TALK ABOUT THE GOODREADS CHOICE AWARDS NOMINEES 📚 fantasy, romantasy, ya fantasy

[@danielleoliver1734]

The fantasy nominees are very cozy, historical or literary this year, but at least we seem to be over the Greek retelling phase so yay 🎉

[@danielleoliver1734]

I think five broken blades is more fantasy than fantasy romance, the MCs are all paired up and separated but I still think the fantasy plot is stronger than the romance

[@atomknight8361]

​@@danielleoliver1734 I somewhat agree. Theres more fantasy going on than romance, but its still definitely romantasy

[@kiute.c]

⁠@@atomknight8361but wouldn’t it still be fantasy then if there’s more fantasy going on than romance? I personally felt like it was fantasy with a strong romance subplot, but not romantasy where the romance takes the center stage. The romance felt more like the friend you can’t shake off here 😅

[@danielleoliver1734]

@@kiute.c I agree, most fantasy has a romance subplot, fantasy isn’t no romance, it’s just less important than the fantasy elements

[@aaatt268]

I'm just happy they booted romantasy like Maas from the fantasy list

[@popuri48]

As someone who, just like you, prefers more epic fantasy, I found the nominees in the fantasy category to be rather depressing. It points to the fact that publishing has recently been veering away from that, which is disappointing. We’ll see what happens moving forward.

[@elskabee]

I rarely read epic fantasy but I'm also disappointed in the lack of epic fantasy nominees

[@RyeMiArt]

yeah totally agree

[@antivancrowe6886]

I’m just so disappointed but not surprised that there is no middle grade or graphic novel/comic category this year

[@174mars]

They replaced it with the audio book

[@Colaman112]

@@174mars They actually replaced them with the romantasy last year. This year they got rid of the humor category.

[@174mars]

@@Colaman112 thanks for the correction

[@katgreer6113]

I know. That demographic is dwindling right now and it's a litte sad that kids don't want to read

[@antivancrowe6886]

@ I don’t think the demographic is dwindling or that kids don’t want to read there are still plenty of middle grade books being published. Think schools are getting punished and books getting banned are effectively how much they read(an American problem I realize)

[@morganthomas3111]

Someone in the reading nymph’s discord mentioned looking into how they categorize the genres for each book. They said that it seems that goodreads places them based off how they are most shelved by the goodreads users and honestly that made a lot of sense to me. It would explain a lot of the inconsistencies with categorizing the books in the different genres

[@_ashleylh]

Blood Over Bright Haven is a big snub IMO. I don't know the Goodreads rule about publishing, but it wasn't nominated this year when it was trad published and it wasn't nominated last year when it was indie. I hope you get to it soon - it was a fantastic read!

[@loruffa]

It would've been eligible both years by their rules with rereleases, exact phrasing from them: "Books published in the United States in English, including works in translation and other significant rereleases"

[@gizmofox5995]

Blood Over Bright Haven is by far my favorite read of the year. I assumed the only reason it wasn't on there was that it was technically published last year.

[@IssaFe]

​@@loruffaif it's eligible, do u think it was less "shelved" than the other nominees?? im so sad it's not nominated. It's my favorite book of the year

[@loruffa]

@@IssaFeif you look at book statistics it's added to more shelves total than for example a sweet sting of salt(116,255 vs 72,029) and has more ratings. It could be a case of them valuing adds this year(nov-nov) more than the older ones. At the end of the day this is a curated list and goodreads has never shared more than the eligibility rules and wishy-washy mentions of shelved book numbers that don't always make sense They usually have at least one KU title in at least historical and mysteries even though they don't always have the numbers

[@melanie6759]

I also felt underwhelmed by the nominations across multiple categories, but especially the fantasy category 😕

[@Rachlemm]

I love tuning in to the goodreads nominees each year even though I rarely ever end up reading recent/same year releases lol

[@Danielle-mk5xn]

We can’t have the girls fighting 😂

[@missjlm3011]

Idk if anyone has spoken to this or not, but my take on Bride being in Romance is that its Paranormal romance, which is still a subgenre of romance and not a subgenre of fantasy, whereas Romantasy frames the romance and fantasy elements in somewhat equal measure, Paranormal romance centers the romance with paranormal characters often in a modern setting.

[@storieswithskye]

I'd agree with this!!

[@taliadavidovsky4569]

The Ali Hazelwood book feels more like paranormal romance than romantasy, and also, yeah, Ali Hazelwood is a contemporary romance author. I'm surprised it's not in romantasy, but I can see why they can justify not putting it there.

[@buriedinbooks3847]

I agree, I think it was honestly a weird year for fantasy publishing and I think that is reflected in the nominees. A lot of the big name fantasy authors who would have made the list didn’t publish this year, publishing is trying to embrace the rise of Romantasy so it seems almost all big publishing deals that I see go through have romantic elements, and I think there has been a little decrease in people reading books that are darker (I know I’ve really struggled with that since 2020, my reading tastes have definitely switched to wanting to get more escapism from my books). I think this was just a year for readjustment and it will be interesting to see next year (as we’ve got the new Stormlight Archive book, a new Joe Abercrombie, and a new VE Schwab) if the category balances a bit better.

[@meid3801]

Bride read more like a contemporary romance to me than Fantasy. I describe it “contemporary with a supernatural beings overlay”.

[@estack24]

New to the Goodreads Choice Awards, but here are some thoughts: -I find it interesting that one of the criteria of being nominated is how many people have shelved as Want to Read. Maybe a better criteria would be people marking it as Read. Just because I want to read something doesn't mean I end up enjoying a book. -From what I researched, it seems like there are also minimum rating criteria and authors are Goodreads-verified. -What amount of those who want to read a book actually want to read it: I mostly use Goodreads/other bookish apps to keep track of what I have read/what I want to read. However, sometimes I get notifications about giveaways of certain books. Who doesn't like free books? To qualify for the giveaway, you have to add the book to your Want to Read shelf and leave it on for a certain amount of time. Earlier this year, I shelved The Lost Story as Want to Read specifically for a giveaway and just left it on my shelf because I do want to read it. I wonder what share of people genuinely want to read a book compared to shelving it because of giveaway criteria. -One of the nominees, Where the Library Hides (which I also really want to read) has not even been out for a month (released Nov 5). It seems odd to me that they would allow it to be nominated. -ETA: Looking at some of the nominees, it feels like people on Goodreads want to read more soft fantasy/more accessible fantasy/more romance with fantastical settings.

[@yoongbloom]

The Book of Doors is one of my favorite books that I've read this year. I will definitely be voting for that one.

[@nattienell]

I just finished Monstrous Nights, thank you so much for introducing me to this duology! I loved these books so much and it was 100% a snub on the Goodreads choice awards!

[@imaginary_oranges]

Re: Bride, I think they didn't want to give Hazelwood a shot at two categories, so they put them both in one.

[@kriseaf]

Five Broken Blades is ALLLLLL romantasy, it's actually insane that it's in Fantasy. It's published by Red Tower, for goodness sake. The plot sounds amazing... because it doesn't tell you what a mess of a romance it actually is.

[@rexincognito4638]

I almost wouldn’t have Five Broken Blades count as fantasy because it’s fantasy elements are so little in both world building/lore and in the relevance to the plot. There is one magical creature and reference to some magical artifacts.

[@ellealine4159]

It's more historical fantasy than anything. Like a made up historical place but with no magic (it does have magic, ik, but it's really irrelevant)

[@bloodstrxwberrymilk1833]

@@ellealine4159agreed. I think I heard somewhere that the next book will have more fantasy involved in the plot.

[@timeoccupied]

bride is a paranormal romance which is different from fantasy romance

[@erikareading]

I get so confused by the Goodreads Choice award more and more every year. I do not understand it at all lol. This year I'm just happy I got to vote for books in more than one category that were five star reads for me.

[@tinyprettymoon]

I get jump scared by snakes on covers so I feel you there lol. I’ve pulled a few books off the shelf at the library, startled, and immediately slid it back. There’s been series I was interested in that I decided not to read because one of the books has a snake on the cover like can we please stop 😭 same with spiders too, like logically I know it’s just an image but I hate touching them anyway

[@night_becca]

Your question about Bride not being in Romantsy is valid as it can be considered an urban fantasy. But, since it is Omegaverse, it is actually in a separate subgenre of romance called Paranormal romance, so they just put it together with contemporary romances just for convenience.

[@xonicielizabeth]

I would be really interested to get a GR employee take on how these are chosen and how they determine which categories they put them in. I thought a lot of the categories had some great ones but that could be because for once I have read a good majority of the different genres. I really wish they had not done away with the MG category!

[@TheArtfulBrittani]

I saw the list, then looked at my shelves with what 2024 releases I got this year and kept being surprised by certain ones NOT being there at all. Even BOTM picks, I feel like usually there are tons of those, but there were less this year. I was already trying to do more backlist this year, but because there are so few I feel comfortable voting for (having read them) it just further solidifies my 2025 goal of just reading the books I pick and not the "hyped" books. I do like that they are giving audiobooks a shot, but we all know its to sell Audible memberships...

[@radudumanovschi3387]

I wanted Empire of the Damned on the list. Jay Kristoff got my vote.

[@nimzipow]

Absolutely!! My fave

[@katgreer6113]

Doesn't that book feature 1000 year old women with the bodies of little kids

[@radudumanovschi3387]

@@katgreer6113 There are several women (princesses) who have children turned into vampires. I don't remember mentioning the age/

[@nimzipow]

@ they’re vampires who were turned when they were children so they’re stuck that way

[@user-dh4lk7lo4q]

I would consider Bride paranormal romance. Neither romance or Romantasy is a perfect fit but out of the two I would put it in romance .

[@carolinesch.]

For bride I think its paranormal romance as a category, so maybe thats why rather romance than fantasy

[@thebookaura]

Video Idea: Five Broken Blades vs Six of Crows :) I would watch that and I'm curious what people are thinking when they say one is better.

[@she.is.literal]

I really like to listen to your predictions and speculation, I find your voice calming. Do you have any tips for beginner book tuber? How is the community vibe?

[@danielleoliver1734]

Isn’t bride paranormal romance not fantasy romance? I haven’t read it but I don’t know if paranormal is getting lumped into romantasy or not as it’s not super popular right now

[@AllyEmReads]

What I don't get about the awards in general this year is that they got rid of middle grade and graphic novels and added...audiobook????? Why??????????

[@lizzyp1414]

Definitely an underwhelming year for the Fantasy category. :( In previous years I had trouble voting because there were multiple books that I wanted to vote for. This year I can literally only vote for 1 book because it's the only one I've read...

[@spk6255]

I actually think you might really enjoy The Book of Doors. It is very good. It’s my “this book needs more hype” of the year. I did this one on audio and I highly recommend it.

[@yoongbloom]

I listened to the audiobook as well, and I loved this book so much. So many twists and turns! And the actor for the audiobook did a phenomenal job. It is so hard to find audiobooks that don't sound like someone is reading from a teleprompter.

[@lorifrederick2367]

I loved it, and so did my MIL. We both think it would be a great movie!❤

[@RoVicD]

I haven't read any of the nominees this year. I didn't read as many books in the past couple years and I tried to prioritize books that I already owned. I do have some nominees on my tbr. I do feel that they don't really sort the books into genres really well. I don't know about this year's nominees because I haven't read them yet, but my main genre in the past few years was historical and some previous fantasy nominees felt like historical fiction to me, and I've seen them in historical fiction lists.

[@fushiforever]

I loved, loved "A Sweet Sting of Salt." It's such a beautiful book. I was surprised to see it on any list since I don't see many people talking about it and even more so that it's not in romantasy but just straight fantasy. Still, I loved it (but will warn it's very much a romance for anyone intrigued by it).

[@bigskynavygirl1929]

I’ve started putting books in three categories for our customers at the bookstore. 1) fantasy with authors like Hobb and Gwynne. These are books with heavy fantasy and almost no romance or it’s NOT the focus. 2) books like Uprooted by Novik or city of brass by chakraborty. Still heavily fantasy but there is a romance subplot. 3) romantasy. These are books like fourth wing and assistant to the villain. More heavy on the romance plot than the fantasy plot. The worldbuilding is there but not great. I’ve read in all of these categories and I think that Five Broken Blades lands in category 2. There is definitely a romantic subplot but it’s NOT the driving force of the story. I enjoyed it but I take all Red Tower books as “popcorn reads”. I don’t take them all that seriously. I will say that the different voices for the characters was really well done. It’s very easy to differentiate the characters you’re following from the others based on speech patterns and personality instead of all of them seeming like the same person which some multi POV books suffer from.

[@iloveluisnani]

Next year I believe we will be getting more high and epic fantasy releases. Lightfall by Ed Crocker, Grave Empire by Richard Swan, The Radiant King by David Daglish, The Devils by Joe Abercrombie, plus the continuations to several series. It should be a great year for fantasy readers.

[@jaimee-kate]

The noms were very cozy, soft fantasy. Barely some magical elements. I was curious to hear what actual fantasy readers like you would have liked to see in that category

[@serenity8910]

I would definitely switch Five Broken Blades and The Spellshop. Very little fantasy elements in FBB and the focus was on the 3 couples and how much they wanted to get together 😂 Heartless Hunter is YA? I thought it was a spicy romantasy!

[@bobkeane7966]

You recently recommended Tainted Cup, I really enjoyed . Thanks

[@OkamiRose]

Hey Elliot, that book you’re thinking of is called The Book Eaters ❤️ I’m never impressed by the Goodreads picks each year, especially with how litfic the Scifi choices always are. It’s like no one who gets to choose these has read much scifi, even with knowing the qualifiers.

[@nflower33]

I’m reading Bonesmith and enjoying it.

[@nimzipow]

I beg of you… PLEASE read Empire of the Vampire 😭❤️ EotV and EotD are my top reads of the year

[@carolinesch.]

I miss the write ins they did a few years ago, also it needs a rating over 3.5 to be nominated

[@sarasgonzalezg]

I picked up Five Broken blades because I was lead to believe that it was the new Six of Crows. IS NOT!! so I was terribly disappointed 😔

[@violaivy]

I remember seeing Voyage of the Damned in shops when I visited London in February this year so it definitely came out earlier this year there (and the author's British). And I also think it was among the books that got review bombed by that debut author so that could have helped the want to read numbers. And it came out at the beginning of the year, that can help.

[@madison_brooke]

I think Bride is in the romance category because Ali Hazelwood mainly writes romance. I believe goodreads determines the category based on tags and Bride is mostly tagged as romance.

[@ColleenDelaney]

Bride was definitely paranormal over fantasy, but also overall I think it was marketed 100% to contemporary romance readers because of Ali Hazelwood. I'm a big paranormal romance fan (not so much contemporary romance) and could not get through Bride. I think A Song to Drown Rivers was put in fantasy because it's a retelling, but it definitely felt more like historical fiction to me.

[@fcsolis]

The Bright Sword. It's the one I started reading.

[@PistachioGold]

Academy for liars being in fantasy, believed to be dark academia, and I got in the horror sub box of Illumicrate 😂😂😂 But yeah lots of books I saw mentioned and hyped all year.

[@ChaptersWeLove]

I agree T Kingfisher deserves to win

[@brandi6862]

I don't think they know what to do with the Romantasy category...I really wouldn't put The Spellshop in that category! Is any fantasy book with a relationship now considered romantasy?

[@sheenaproffitt-taber630]

I see A LOT of BOTM, KU and Aardvark book club picks on these lists.

[@bloodstrxwberrymilk1833]

Lots of the fantasy + romantasy books were on my TBR. I voted for A Touch of Chaos. I thought it was a fantastic finale. It’s my first time voting in the good reads choice awards.

[@kriseaf]

I don't think _Can't Spell Treason Without Tea_ qualifies because it was technically self-published in 2022.

[@gabz49242]

I think there are fewer hyped releases because a few of the big names from the last year or two aren't releasing something new until next year. RF Kuang has another (presumably chunky) fantasy standalone coming, Mark Lawrence is releasing the next installment in the Book that Wouldn't Burn Series, and the sequel to the Will of the Many is set to release next spring, so those people have been taking a year or more to write those longer books. VE Schwab also has her new book coming pretty soon, so she didn't release anything this year. Honestly, with what's here, I'm not entirely sure what will win the regular fantasy category. Maybe the Familiar because of name recognition. I liked that one a lot, but I'm aware that that's an unpopular opinion.

[@chelle_nz]

Do you have a video tour of you amazing bookshelves. There are so many that I want just by how they look, and I can't even read the spine properly. Thanks for the video, I find it interesting some romantasy is finding its way into the pure fantasy genre. That might ruffle feathers.

[@beccabee8439]

I voted for A Sorceress Comes to Call in the fantasy category. Kingfisher is one of my favorite authors and I really enjoyed it. I was confused about the categorization of Bride too. It has both vampires & werewolves yet they dropped it in general Romance?

[@ellealine4159]

I was very excited to read fantasy again when I picked up five broken blades because I have been reading so much romantasy lately. Well.... that book is romantasy through and through. It barely even is fantasy, because the fantasy elements are so few. It's more of a high stakes romance stories in a made up historical country with a few magical artifacts

[@veroc86]

I was also surprised to see The Spellshop in romantasy. It felt like the romance was a subplot.

[@KittyAndTheBooks]

I was really confused by the fantasy choices, but also kinda pleased we don't have so many Greek myth retellings anymore. Still, some books I have never heard about...

[@NonAnonD]

Yeah voyage of the damned came out in the UK first. It was also popular on booktok for the pitch “fantasy murder mystery on a boat that’s all go read it”

[@antiformsora]

Bride I think is more paranormal romance, which is part of general romance usually.

[@violaivy]

In fantasy, I voted for The Tainted Cup, it's one of my favourite books of the year. I would've been conflicted if What Feasts at Night was also under fantasy, but thankfully it was in horror, so I could vote for it too. :D I have some of the horror nominees on my tbr though.

[@eheider8820]

It’s not on the Goodreads list, but my sister’s book is on Publisher’s Weekly Best Books 2024. If you like mystery, you could try “May the Wolf Die.”

[@ascendp7564]

If something other than funny story wins in the romance, then maybe will start finally getting interesting

[@PagesInTheForest]

For posterity, I want to predict that I think we will see more fantasy-mystery and fantasy-horror/thrillers in the next few years.

[@cozyaboutbooks]

Hello, could you make a video about fantasy where romanse is only subplot?

[@LauraWood]

I am so glad that Icarus is in the running for YA, because it's my favorite YA book I've read in a while and I haven't stopped thinking about it since reading it earlier this year

[@novelytic]

ugh I have an eye phobia as well and i feel like that has been a trend covers lately :(

[@AnastasiaWyrmberg]

Where do you find what the book of the month is?

[@warlocksarecool]

Book of the Month is a monthly book box, they compile a list of upcoming releases or anticipated books each month and you can pick from those to order each month

[@GwenCooper-l1b]

Bride should absolutely be under Romantasy!

[@JayGTheAwkwardBookworm]

I haven’t read so many of the nominees 😅

[@tayxolly9871]

I love that a sweet sting of salt was nominated but I'm surprised it's in fantasy. It is, but i think it better fits historical fiction or debut

[@saramm3765]

If you read Stephanie Garber's Spectacular I can't wait to hear your opinion! It's a wild ride I wasn't expecting and unequivocally should be promoted as adult. Absolutely not YA. I enjoyed it and I don't know what that says about me.

[@heatherparisi8250]

yeah i'm underwhelmed by the fantasy noms I was more high fantasy there. my vote goes towards the tainted cup.

[@AlwaysSwarley]

I love assassins and schemes, so I picked up Five Broken Blades... it was okay. The world is cool and I'd be interested to see more of it, but the entire main cast is paired off (very trope-y pairings) and only in those pairs for over half the book. I unfortunately found one of those couples (golden retriever/black cat trope) super annoying, and they take center a lot whereas the one with a more interesting dynamic (and one of the more interesting characters) is hardly centerstage.

[@paperback_cat]

I have only read 2 books in the Goodreads Choice Awards (loved When Among Crows, dnfed The Bright Sword), and there were only 2 others that I'm at all interested in reading. Otherwise, the nominees were all so boring to me this year 😅

[@greenonionbabey]

I JUST finished reading a sweet sting of salt the other day and it was honestly the most shocking thing on the list to me, one because I didn't realize it would be that popular (although it is in book boxes so that's probably why), but mainly because it is at least three other genres before it's actually fantasy. I would describe it as historical romance suspense. It's based off the folk tale of the selkie wife but that Did Not make it fantasy imo. I did really enjoy it but I think it's extremely poorly pitched and shouldn't be on this list

[@leticiatoraci9855]

I agree about the eye ball cover. *cringe

[@nimzipow]

I loooooved Voyage of the Damned 💙 that had my vote for best debut

[@RabidSquirrelGaming]

I do not understand why people call Five Broken Blades romantasy! It's mostly political with a nice dash of romance/pining. There's no spice and there's a decent plot, both things which take it out of the romantasy category for me personally. It's kind of like you were saying a video a bit ago, that people keep shuffling books around from fantasy to romantasy, regardedless of if the "romance" is just a typical fantasy sub plot or the main focus. The main point of thus story is the politics and action, the romance is a subplot put in for some of the characters and is fun, but I *like* some romance in my fantasy! I just don't really gravitate towards books where romance is the whole point usually.

[@kriseaf]

I would argue Five Broken Blades definitely *is* a romantasy, personally. As someone who reads Fantasy and not Romantasy, I found it cloying and tedious in it's pushing of _all three_ romantic plotlines. And they don't feel like subplots at all--they take up a significant portion of every character's POV and are given equal, if not greater, weight than the _single_ non-romantic plotline. Add to the fact that from a story-pacing perspective, the non-romantic plotline was truncated in the middle and was narratively unsatisfying, while all three of the romantic plotlines ended right at their individual climaxes/cliffhanger. Romance doesn't require explicit scenes.

[@ellealine4159]

I disagree. While the book feels all high stakes and not very romantic, what is actually happening the whole time is romance. The plot takes more of a background role so the romance can be "developed". Also it doesn't have to have spice to be fantasy.

[@zodlord5669]

voyage of the damned, empire of the damned , alot of these titles sound the same

[@BlackHand531]

I find that the fantasy genre has had the same thing that was done to it by the publishing idustry that the gaming industry did to RPGs. Now that if any genre adds RPG elements to it, it's considered an RPG, even if it doesn't contain things that most RPG players care to about. The fantasy elements added to other genres in the same way don't make them what usual fantasy readers would consider fantasy.

[@UuberAwesomeRandom]

As a reader of both romance and romantasy, Bride most definitely read more like a romance than romantasy. It had a very light magic system, but it's literally just a romance set in a fantasy world rather than a fantasy book that focused on the romance. I don't know if that make quite enough sense, but it just doesn't feel like most romantasy novels.

[@bloodstrxwberrymilk1833]

I get what you’re saying. I hope her next book has more world building.

[@leticiatoraci9855]

Defiant is YA Sci-fi.

[@leticiatoraci9855]

Too much cozy and romantasy, too little good fantasy and sci-fi imho.

[@jenniferbramer9807]

I love the All Souls Series but felt like TBBO was more of a filler/ transition book. Not my fave, sadly.

[@kristimoore8763]

For whatever reason, it took me a while to read The Fox Wife, but I really liked it.

[@gizmofox5995]

I'm surprised people are categorizing Five Broken Blades as romantasy. There are a couple romantic subplots but it's definitely not the main focus of the story. It has very similar vibes to Six of Crows.

[@bloodstrxwberrymilk1833]

Agreed. I wouldn’t pick it up if I was looking for romance.

[@amandakraczek4359]

Bride should be in Fantasy Romance

[@lennybrown3042]

😍😍

[@AlyciaRunsandReads]

I didn’t feel like five broken blades was very romantic lol but 🤷‍♀️

[@AlyciaRunsandReads]

However it’s a weird one I think could go either way

[@danielleoliver1734]

Honey witch and Spellshop could have gone either way as well

[@emilyelisabethsirois3820]

Same. I remember it being more fantasy action/ political than anything.

[@best_regards]

To a frequent drinker, a few glasses of wine isn't much wine. If you read a lot of romance what qualifies as a lot is vastly different from mostly fantasy readers.

[@AlyciaRunsandReads]

@@best_regards I think someone going into this expecting romantacy would be disappointed and it if someone went into this expecting high fantasy they’d be disappointed lol.

[@carolinesch.]

Five broken blades is fantasy for me, its just six of crows with 3 couples and a bit more romance

[@BookChats]

I have also not read Five Broken Blades but I heard the opposite as you! It's published by Red Tower so people thought it would be Fantasy Romance but then it was apparently not romance at all??? But I haven't read it so 🤷🏻‍♀️

[@violaivy]

I voted for The Honey Witch, it's the only one I read from the category and I'm not interested in reading most of the other nominated romantasy. I think Honey Witch might be the only romantasy book with non straight romance on the list. So that's a factor in why many readers who are looking for LGBTQIA romantasy added it, especially since it's a very heteronormative genre.

[@madison_brooke]

A Dark and Drowning Tide was nominated and is sapphic as well! I was surprised The Phoenix Keeper wasn’t on the romantasy list though. I feel like it had a lot of hype and was an Illumicrate pick.

[@violaivy]

@madison_brooke Oh yes it was, somehow I totally forgot, thanks! 😁

[@carolinesch.]

A song to drown river is ya for me, caus ethat is not really adult for me at all. Also its a retelling as well and a pretty close one

[@loruffa]

The only genre that's successful in capturing the zeitgeist(which is what the awards should aspire to do) imo is the horror genre. If someone wanted to know what's happened in that genre this year this is more or less the list that will give them that both in terms of popularity and spanning the various sub genres and tropes that we're seeing atm and it's pretty diverse. This was my feeling last year too, but looking at the other genres it keeps being lackluster. Very basic things too like no historical romance in the romance genre, only one sci fi in ya sff, ignoring sequels (mostly) in fantasy, and sci fi being more literary with some science than actual sci fi

[@Dani10luv]

Voyage of the damned was surprisingly good….i listened to the audibles and it was fun campy but I would consider it more romantic then fantasy but just my opinion

[@kytten]

I'm Afraid You've Got Dragons got SNUBBED SO DAMN HARD ;_;