#thornchapel

[which-witchhazel]

Fantasy romance vs. romantic fantasy vs. romantasy

(according to me a mere English lit major)

Fantasy romance

The main genre is romance, the fantasy element is secondary. The plot revolves around something mainly seen in romance novels such as fake dating, forced proximity, etc. but it probably wouldn’t be too hard to take the fantasy elements out. The main reason you pick up the book is for the romance. It’s regular rivals to lovers but they happen to be witches. It’s the one bed trope but they’re vampires and it’s a coffin instead.

Examples:

Bride by Ali Hazelwood

Reason: While the characters would have a harder time meeting without the fantasy element (or mating, for that matter), it’s still possible. The main plot is the romance. Everything else comes secondary.

A Lesson in Thorns by Sierra Simone

Reason: the fantasy is barely present in this first book, but even in the main series, we mainly read to learn more about Proserpina, Auden, and Saint’s relationships. Why they fight, why they hate, why they love each other in their own fucked up way (cough cough Auden). If Thornchapel weren’t magical, everything would stay the same.

Twilight by Stephanie Meyer

Reason: the first good chunk of the book is romance. This isn’t the best example, but people don’t read Twilight for the inner vampire politics. They read it for the will-they/won’t-they of Bella and Edward’s relationship.

Romantic fantasy

These are fantasy books with a rather nice romantic subplot, but it’s very much a subplot. It’s not doing any of the heavy lifting. It may motivate a character’s actions, but the plot doesn’t hinge on the romance. The plot more revolves around whatever large fantasy issue is happening, usually world-changing. But there’s a lil bit of romance sprinkled in as a treat.

Examples:

The Spirit Bares Its Teeth by Andrew Joseph White

Reason: The main plot revolves around Silas and the school, figuring out the mystery. Daphne’s existence is primarily to affirm Silas’s and to rescue him during one moment. They have my favorite romance in any book ever, but it truly is a subplot.

One Dark Window by Rachel Gillig

Reason: While I love Elspeth and Ravyn, their romance doesn’t do much for the plot until the second book. Everything, for the most part, continues as it should, without the romance. If you wrote out the romance, not much would change.

Iron Widow by Xiran Jay Zhao

Reason: While a big selling point for this book is its unique love triangle, the plot doesn’t change much if the main three were friends instead of lovers. The plot doesn’t hinge on them being lovers until the second book, or until the very end of this one, depending how you look at it. They do have an absolutely stellar throuple, though.

Romantasy

To qualify as a romantasy novel, a book must balance the fantasy and romance plots with near equal precision and entwine them so that they become inseparable. If you get rid of the romance, then the third act crumbles entirely. Or if you remove the fantasy then the romance dies. This is a lot trickier to do which is why a lot of romantasy books feel similar to each other or feel like they have cheap quality.

Examples:

Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros

Reason: Without the magical war, there’s no reason for Violet and Xaden to be enemies. They wouldn’t have fallen for each other without magic in varying capacities. But also the actions they take are completely dependent on their love for/obsession with one another, sometimes to the narrative’s detriment.

Peter Darling by Austin Chant

Reason: Peter and James would never have met without Neverland, but they never could have escaped Neverland without each other. Their romance affects the fate of the island, literally. Peter’s heartbreak freezes the surrounding ocean and keeps James trapped on Neverland, and it’s their love for each other that melts the ice and allows them to go home with each other.

Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation by Mo Xiang Tong Xiu

Reason: Wei Ying and Lan Zhan would never have met without cultivation. They hunt demons together, fight in wars, learn magic, it’s all fantasy. And Wei Ying coming back to life through necromancy is what allows their relationship to come to fruition. Without the demonic cultivation, Lan Zhan never would have been able to be with Wei Ying. But without their romance, a lot of the plot wouldn’t exist. Lan Zhan stays by Wei Ying’s side no matter what, and his choices because of that change the outcome of both plots. But additionally, most people go to it for a mix of the fantasy plot and the romance. Xianxia does as xianxia do.

But also everything is up to interpretation! I’m sure someone’s going to disagree with a sorting I have on here, but I think this sorting helps identify more of what readers look for. If you need a strong fantasy plot and someone recommends you a fantasy romance book with cartoon protagonists on the cover, it’s not quite up your alley. Me personally, I’m someone who craves the duality of romantasy, so getting recommended the other two can let me down. This is all just to help understand your preferences.

Hope this helps!

[justanotherdork]

If you know me irl, you don't need to look into this... but for fellow Sierraverse fans, I've been deep in it with the Thornchapel series...

[allthosestrangelittlethings]

"I knew before the Thornchapel I needed love like this. That I needed it rough and tender and mean and sweet all jumbled together like a wild garden.

-- Harvest of Sighs by Sierra Simone

[slightlyrebelliouswriter23]

BECKET HESS 🚪

❝ Father Becket is at peace until he dreams. And then the zeal opens its pitiless mouth and chews him with eager, champing teeth. He’s terrified that the zeal waits for him in the chapel ruins. And when he dreams—dreaming of the summer he came here in college, alone and with the zeal blazing so hot inside him that he couldn’t even think—he dreams of being in the thorn chapel. He dreams of standing in front of the altar and feeling like a pillar of fire because he was so consumed with a desire to know his god.

And when he wakes up, he wakes up with his skin burning against the air, like he’s aflame with righteous hunger once again. ❞

❧ A LESSON IN THORNS by Sierra Simone

[surfeit-of-stoats]

does Sierra Simone know she directly jacked into my head with A Lesson in Thorns. does she know she has the number to my house phone, which does not exist, but she has it nonetheless. does she know. I'm going to eat my phone

[superbat-hell]

after taking the longest break ever from it (between book 2 & 3, for at least a couple years) I have finally finished the Thornchapel series. I reread 1 and 2 and then *demolished* 3&4 in two days. furious that there seems to be zero fanfics of it on AO3, this feels like a crime and I am being robbed

[kevin-day-is-bi]

Convivificat.

It’s Latin, and I don’t speak Latin, but the benefit of being a librarian at a university is that I know many people who do. Within an hour of firing off an email, I had a translation.

It quickens.

It quickens.

I didn’t know what that meant. I still don’t.

I mean, I know what the word quicken conveys in the dictionary sense; I whispered its synonyms as I went about my business that evening, as if that would help me understand.

It stirs, it awakens, it comes to life . . .

//

But that wasn't what happened. What happened was they drove to Harry's and parked the Camaro next to an Audi and a Lexus and Gansey ordered flavors of gelato until the table wouldn't hold anymore and Ronan convinced the staff to turn the overhead speakers up and Blue laughed for the first time at something Gansey said and they were loud and triumphant and kings of Henrietta, because they'd found the ley line and because it was starting, it was starting.

A Lesson in Thorns // The Raven Boys

[readinthedarkpod]

the tragic life of Poe (she wants to fuck everyone but doesn't know if it's weird)

LAETY: Not only that but Auden, the man who features in her kinkiest dreams, is now engaged to Delphine. KRISTEN: Tragic! LAETY: Yeah. I mean, Tragic. But also like... Delphine is how, and Poe kind of knows that she's hot and she's kind of like, tragic but also like, she's like, "Can we blame him?" KAITLYN: She's self-aware. KRISTEN: She's like, "It's tragic but can I get between you guys?"

Click here to find out where you can listen to the full episode (spoiler alert: anywhere podcasts are!)