Fantasy romance novels

[Liadin]

The romantic element is much more prominent in the Sharing Knife books, yes; although if you weren't impressed by Curse of Chalion as a piece of fiction, I don't know if you will be by The Sharing Knife either. They fit the bill of what was asked for--fantasy with a larger than average and better than average romantic component--but let's face it, "average" in this regard is really pretty poor. What Bujold's more recent books do well is present credible, if somewhat idealized, portrayals of the thoughts of both women and men as they come to know each other--lust and affection, but also the slow and difficult process of learning to see someone as an individual, of having their own pride and needs and sense of self become important to you. They are, in the sense the OP asked for, almost primers in this regard (although her best books in this vein are her Vorkosigan science fiction books, not her fantasies). What Bujold does less well is having the obstacles to romance be almost exclusively external, while internally--in the minds and hearts of the characters--romance has a purity and inevitability; and also her habit of using romance almost as a reward for secondary characters. By the end of a Bujold series every good character will have been paired off, like in a Shakespearean comedy. Except these books aren't (for the most part) comedies.

Thank you for this analysis. I did see some of the things you mention in The Curse of Chalion, and yes, I was underwhelmed by the book in general (not just the romantic bits). I'd agree that it's better than average, although not memorable to me in any way. The only reason I might read The Sharing Knife is that well-written romance can sometimes redeem for me a book that's otherwise nothing special (why I continue to read Marillier).

As for all the obstacles to romance being external: far too common in fiction generally IMO. Authors assume we want wish-fulfillment. It would be great to see more books about characters who love each other, but have to overcome (or not) problems like having different goals in life, or one partner putting family before partners, or something. (Especially in fantasy, because pop lit books about middle-aged women going through divorces depress me.) I'd love to see if anyone here can recommend books along that line (and please, not Farseer again. I'll grant that the problems in Fitz and Molly's relationship would fit into this category, but let's branch out a little).

[MattD]

It would be great to see more books about characters who love each other, but have to overcome (or not) problems like having different goals in life, or one partner putting family before partners, or something. (Especially in fantasy, because pop lit books about middle-aged women going through divorces depress me.) I'd love to see if anyone here can recommend books along that line (and please, not Farseer again. I'll grant that the problems in Fitz and Molly's relationship would fit into this category, but let's branch out a little).

I mentioned it up-thread already, but Martha Wells's City of Bones is one of my favorite fantasy books in this regard: two characters who do care a great deal for each other, but whose romance is blocked by issues of race and class--which is dealt with in a way that is thoughtful rather than melodramatic. It's also a rather original work of genre fantasy, a post-apocalyptic secondary world in a desert setting that doesn't involve faux Islam. It was only the second novel Wells published so it's not quite as smoothly written as some of her later books, and it gets off to a slow start, but it's worth a look.

It likely wouldn't be a good idea to read them for this reason, but there's also an element of this in Steven Brust's Vlad Taltos books, which is one of the reasons I mentioned them, too, in my previous post.

[Jaerv]

Hey people, thanks for all the recommendations!!! I have now ordered the first Outlander-book and will hopefully start reading it in a few days.

Btw: When I told some friend s and acquaintances about my idea to venture into the unknown realm of romance literature, the reactions were very interesting: Amused disbelief from the women, and slightly worried, partly even shocked disbelief from the men. :lol: Combined with some of the responses in this thread I suspect now that reading romance as a male is unspokenly considered as a warning sign for a developing mental illness. Well we will see whether I will soon start to get abducted by aliens…

Koolkat: I really liked the second book in the Chalion series. I has a very well-written female protagonist IMHO, and there is also some romantic stuff in it. However, I was primarily interested in the treatment of religion. If that did not fascinate you in the first book, you will probably also not like the second book…

[Gigei]

No.

That's like saying, isn't Game of Thrones that book that begins with a man trying to murder a young boy by throwing him out a window after sleeping with his sister? Sounds horrible and completely unreadable out of context but works when you are reading the story.

So yes in Outlander there is physical discipline of the main female character by one of the main male characters at some point in the first book. But it isn't a "beating" and it is not at the beginning of the story. The action that is taken is completely appropriate in the context of the story and the time period in which it takes place. And its not something that either character enjoys or does again.

Er what? Lol! You missed the entire point there.

He did enjoy it and in fact, he wanted to have sex with her right after the beating. He didn't because she wasn't in the mood for it but he was basically very turned on.

Direct quote:

"I understand," I said. "And so far as that goes, I forgive you. What I can't forgive," I said, my voice rising slightly in spite of myself, "is that you enjoyed it!"

He bent forward in the saddle, clasping the pommel, and laughed for a long time. He reveled in the release of tension before finally tossing his head back and turning to me. The sky was noticeably lighter now, and I could see his face, lined with exhaustion, strain, and mirth. The scratches down his cheek were black in the dim light.

"Enjoyed it! Sassenach," he said, gasping, "you don't know just how much I enjoyed it. You were so… God, you looked lovely. I was so angry, and you fought me so fierce. I hated to hurt you, but I wanted to do it at the same time… Jesus," he said, breaking off and wiping his nose, "yes. Yes, I did enjoy it.

(I didn't quote the entire thing but trust me he later on expects her to thank him for "not committing rape on top of assault.")

I think the whole thing is supposed to be funny.

[Returned]

Not that the series is complete - DG is like GRRM when it comes to writing.

Lol? Where do you base this on?

The only resemblence I can see between DG and GRRM is the amount of pages their books have.

Anyway.

There is Jacqueline Carey fantasy romance for the open-minded, Sara Douglass with The Axis Trilogy is also quite daring.

And Shana Abe with her novels about humans that can shapeshift into dragons, with lots of romance.

[Rimmer]

Thanks for the recs guys, and good thread!

I’m really disappointed in the pithy comments that keep creeping up in this thread regarding romance novels and how they are shitty and trashy.

Sorry if I'm included in that. I don't regard fantasy and romance as shitty or trashy, because I haven't really read any of it. It's just that the one example I tried had endless sex scenes involving the main character magically not feeling pain with weird paying clients hurting her, and a made-up word for 'blowjob'. It was all well-written and full of merit, just not my thing. When I see this series so heartily recommended over and over on this board, I want to specify my tastes so that I can find out about some stuff I'd be more likely enjoy.

[Liadin]

Sara Douglass with The Axis Trilogy is also quite daring.

Again, recs should really be limited to books that have real merit, not bad fantasy books that have romance in them.

[Returned]

Again, recs should really be limited to books that have real merit, not bad fantasy books that have romance in them.

Well good romance and good fantasy don't really go that well, so the recs will be very limited if we try to seek high quality as well.

[lady narcissa]

Lol? Where do you base this on?

The only resemblence I can see between DG and GRRM is the amount of pages their books have.

I wasn't referring to their writing style - I was referring to the amount of time they take to write books. DG started the Outlander series in 1991 and she is still trying to finish the series. She takes about 4 years to write each book. In that way she's like GRRM to me.

[Liadin]

Well good romance and good fantasy don't really go that well, so the recs will be very limited if we try to seek high quality as well.

Nice work. It's been awhile since I've seen a comment this ridiculous.

[Borque]

4 pages of this and nobody mentioned Guy Gavriel Kay yet?

Tigana, A Song for Arbonne and The Lions of Al-Rassan have plenty of romance in them, from what I seem to remember.

[David Selig]

I knew I've missed someone really obvious. Guy Gavriel Kay is a great choice. He writes excellent books with plenty of romance in them.

[Jaerv]

4 pages of this and nobody mentioned Guy Gavriel Kay yet?

Tigana, A Song for Arbonne and The Lions of Al-Rassan have plenty of romance in them, from what I seem to remember.

I knew I've missed someone really obvious. Guy Gavriel Kay is a great choice. He writes excellent books with plenty of romance in them.

I've only read Sailing to Sarantium and Lions, but from that limited sample I would say that yes, there is a comparatively large amount of romance in his works, but its not enough to qualify them as belonging to the romance genre, or is it? If so, I obviously have a wrong concept of this genre...

[Liadin]

I've only read Sailing to Sarantium and Lions, but from that limited sample I would say that yes, there is a comparatively large amount of romance in his works, but its not enough to qualify them as belonging to the romance genre, or is it? If so, I obviously have a wrong concept of this genre...

Books belong to the romance genre if the romance is the plot. Romance readers would get pissed off if a book billed as romance was actually a quest story with a romantic subplot. Almost all of the books recommended in this thread fall into the latter category. So no, you don't have a wrong concept of the genre, you've just asked your question on a board that's quite hostile to romance, and lots of people are chiming in with whatever they've read lately that seems romance-heavy to them.

[Returned]

Nice work. It's been awhile since I've seen a comment this ridiculous.

Fantasy authors generally aren't very accomplished at writing good romance as well, I didn't mean to imply such a thing is impossible, it's just very unlikely.

The only good example I've seen is down below, the mention of Guy Gavriel Kay. I skimmed through the thread, and most recommendations either don't belong in the category fantasy(lol did I see a sci-fi recommendation as the third reply?) or contain so little romance it should not even be legit to label it "romance".

Sure, there's something out there, it's just searching for a needle in a haystack.

[Liadin]

Fantasy authors generally aren't very accomplished at writing good romance as well, I didn't mean to imply such a thing is impossible, it's just very unlikely.

The only good example I've seen is down below, the mention of Guy Gavriel Kay. I skimmed through the thread, and most recommendations either don't belong in the category fantasy(lol did I see a sci-fi recommendation as the third reply?) or contain so little romance it should not even be legit to label it "romance".

Sure, there's something out there, it's just searching for a needle in a haystack.

No, actually there's a whole subgenre of fantasy romance, you just don't read in it. I take your point about romance in epic fantasy often being poor (because so many people dislike it so vocally?), but that's not the only type of fantasy out there. I agree that many, even most of the recs in this thread aren't really on point (and not being an avid reader of that subgenre I couldn't come up with much myself either), but that's a reflection of people on this board not reading those kinds of books, not the market as a whole.

[Returned]

No, actually there's a whole subgenre of fantasy romance, you just don't read in it. I take your point about romance in epic fantasy often being poor (because so many people dislike it so vocally?), but that's not the only type of fantasy out there. I agree that many, even most of the recs in this thread aren't really on point (and not being an avid reader of that subgenre I couldn't come up with much myself either), but that's a reflection of people on this board not reading those kinds of books, not the market as a whole.

There's a subgenre of almost any kind of fantasy under the sun. You have to also recognize a difference between romantic fantasy and fantasy romance(although I admit that distinguishing the border between those two can be difficult), OP mentioned fantasy romance of which there ain't that much out there.

And I don't really dislike these kind of works, else I wouldn't have given examples, would I? I do recognize your point on the Axis Trilogy however, it's why I only read the first book. I mentioned that however because it has a good balance and would fit in the fantasy romance genre.

I really like Jacqueline Carey's works tho. And her books are about fairly divided into parts containing sex, romance and fantasy.

[pat5150]

Don't want to go through the 4 pages and 76 replies, but if no one has put in a good word for it yet I'd suggest GRRM and Gardner Dozois' Songs of Love & Death anthology. I'm almost done (only one short story left) and I would say that the anthology is nearly as solid as Warriors was. :)

Patrick

[fitheach]

About Outlander.....

Doesn't the first book start off with the male "love interest" horribly beating the main character?

Not that I recall, Jaime is a pretty nice guy. I could be wrong, but I think it was another male (bad guy) character who did this dastardly deed.

I have to agree with the Outlander series, it's smarter than your average Romance novel and has a pretty interesting fantasy premise. Juliette Marillier is also a great suggestion, I enjoyed Wolfskin and Foxmask, Wildwood Dancing, and the Sevenwaters series. All in the fantasy section of the bookstore.

Oh yeah, and definitely Guy Gavriel Kay- beautiful romance and fantasy blend. He's in both the Literature and Fantasy areas of the bookstore..

Little/Big by John Crowley, Bellefleur by Joyce Carol Oats, Time Travelers Wife and Her Fearful Symmetry- both by Audry Niffenegger are beautiful romances with strong fantasy elements... All in the Literature section I believe.

If your looking for pure sex in the fantasy realm, go for Laural K. Hamilton's Merry Gentry stuff.. Orgies with fairies... Seriously. :stunned:

I think she's classified as Horror.

What a women goes for when she feels like reading these types of stories depends on her mood. Sometimes she wants a gentle romance, sometime she wants mystery and erotica. Sometimes it's pure raw sex with a story thrown in. The problem with paranormal/fantasy is that theres a lot of formulaic crap out there (same with any genre)... Personally I wouldn't suggest Twilight, go for the better stuff so you won't assume it's all shit.

BTW, you'll have plenty of male company- loads of guys read paranormal/fantasy romance (Sherilyn Kenyon is surprisingly popular with the dudes), they just rip off the book cover.

[Datepalm]

Sandra Hill, she of the Time Travelling Viking Navy Seals, has a new book out this month.

It's about Vampire Angels.

Actual Vampire Angels. Take that, Joss Whedon. Why has no one ever thought of this before? What is wrong with our civilization that it took us this long to come up with hot Vampire Angels? OMG, I love this woman's brain like a zombie.

But...wait..:

It's not easy being a Vampire Angel.

No one knows that better than Trond Sigurdsson. In the centuries since he last went out drinking and wenching with his Viking buds, Trond has been a gladiator, a cowboy, a ditch digger . . . even a sheik. But now he's the baddest of them all: a kick-ass Navy SEAL kicking butts of terrorist immortals

Hot navy SEAL viking sheikh vampire angels. Who fight crime.

That's it, my aspirations at a literary career shot to pieces right there. How am I suppose to do Nanowrimo now? How?