Fantasy books, romantasy: Millions of women are escaping into fantasy novels. With the state of the world right now, it’s no wonder

Look around any bus or train during peak hour and you’re bound to spot a woman with her nose in a fantasy book, often one by bestselling author Sarah J. Maas.

Fantasy book sales have skyrocketed in the last few years, owing in large part to the women and girls reading and talking about the genre louder than ever.

The explosion of BookTok (TikTok’s book community) and the Romantasy subgenre, where love stories play out against fantastical backdrops with high plot stakes, has played a huge role in fantasy’s literary resurgence.

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But what has compelled women to throwing themselves into fantasy novels with such fervour in recent years? Well, just look at the world around us.

“Why would I want to read anything set in the real world when it’s so horrible?” Rebecca*, an avid fantasy reader, tells 9honey.

“Just look at Trump, and the Ukraine war, and Gaza, and climate change … if I can read a book about a fantasy world and pretend the world isn’t falling down around me for a while, of course I’m going to do that.”

She fell in love with fantasy novels during the COVID-19 reading boom and has read about 200 in the five years since.

When the real world feels so hopeless and scary, it’s so nice to escape

In a world where global conflicts continue to rage, natural disasters driven by climate change are becoming more common, and women’s rights are being threatened around the globe, it’s no wonder women like Rebecca want to escape into fantasy worlds.

Fantasy novels can transport them to alternate realities where these threats and conflicts don’t exist, or if they do, some brave heroine is certain to defeat them by the end of the book.

It can also be cathartic to read fantasy novels that deal with dark themes that mirror real-world issues, especially when those issues so often affect women and girls in targeted ways.

“When the real world feels so hopeless and scary and we have all these cascading political crises, it’s so nice to escape to a world in which there’s good and evil, and evil is trumped by good,” says Carly Dober, psychologist and practice coordinator at the Australian Association of Psychologists Inc.

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“That’s a really nice, comforting thought that we don’t always get in the real world.”

Dober explains that reading is also a low-stimulation activity that can help reduce stress and improve mental health and wellbeing, so reading of any kind can be beneficial.

Fantasy novels also provide a safe space for women to indulge in fantasies, explore their own identities, and challenge the status quo without fear of repercussions.

The romantasy genre has absolutely exploded in the last few years with series like Sarah J. Maas’ A Court of Thorns and Roses and Rebecca Yarros’ Fourth Wing dominating bestseller lists around the globe.

In these novels, the love interests are usually devastatingly good looking, well-versed in consent, and endlessly devoted to the women they love.

Romance was already one of the biggest, most profitable genres in the publishing world and pairing hunky male leads with fantasy worlds and magical (usually shadow-based) powers has only made them more appealing.

“If you tell me I can read about a 30-something business man who forgets to text back, or an immortal fae who has waited hundred of years for the woman he loves and would burn the world down just to see her smile, I know what I’m picking,” Rebecca says.

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Dober agrees that romantasy is a very attractive genre in an age where many women have ‘dating fatigue’ and are sick of the online dating game.

The spike in romantasy’s popularity is undoubtedly linked to the growing number of vocal women in fantasy spaces, be they reading or writing fantasy novels.

“Women fans of fantasy probably always existed, but there were no voices that actually represented them or spoke to them,” Dober says.

For decades, fantasy fiction was seen as the realm of men like J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis, where female authors had to hide behind initials lest people realise the ‘J’ in J. Doe stands for Jane.

But that era is fading as more female fantasy authors (including queer women and women of colour) find their titles dominating the GoodReads charts.

The demand for fantasy novels written for and by women has also helped plenty of indie authors get their foot in the door; from Blood Over Bright Haven author M. L. Wang who self-published her novels before landing a traditional publishing deal; to SenLinYu who first released her upcoming debut Alchemised as a Harry Potter fanfiction online.

And there’s no sign of the female fantasy boom slowing down, with tens of highly anticipated fantasy released already scheduled for 2025 and hugely dedicated reader bases ready to promote them all across TikTok and Instagram the moment they drop.

Rebecca can’t wait, eschewing popular literary fiction releases in favour of pre-ordering special editions of the next fantasy releases.

“If I wanted to think about finances and online dating and climbing the corporate ladder, I’d live my real life instead of reading. I read to get away from all that s–t.”

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