Project Director

Ventura, Abbie E.

Department Examiner

Todd, Stephanie E.; McCarthy, Andrew D.

Department

Dept. of English

Publisher

University of Tennessee at Chattanooga

Place of Publication

Chattanooga (Tenn.)

Abstract

The “romantasy” subgenre of YA literature has become influential for its novel combination of romance and fantasy as well as its popularity on Booktok, the book-based subsection of the popular social media app, Tiktok. This connection has become somewhat infamous in popular culture and has been underresearched due to how recently both concepts became significant forces within the publishing industry. This thesis argues that romantasy is a novel and lasting YA subgenre that is not dependent on Booktok to maintain it. The analysis of Sarah J. Maas’ A Court of Thorns and Roses (2015) and Rebecca Yarros’ Fourth Wing (2023) reveals how romantasy is an original subgenre because authors are able to reinvent the hero’s journey through presenting new ways for romance to impact the hero's development. Romantasy’s connection to Booktok does not diminish its impact on YA literature because Booktok is a legitimate book recommendation platform that encourages participants to clearly and succinctly construct book reviews and analyses. Romantasy’s connection to Booktok exhibits how social media has changed the relationships between readers, authors, and publishers which allows all parties to almost instantaneously respond to the others’ demands in ways that have established at least one new YA subgenre.

Acknowledgments

I dedicate this work to my parents and family who have wholeheartedly believed in me at every step of the way.

Degree

B. A.; An honors thesis submitted to the faculty of the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of Bachelor of Arts.

Date

5-2026

Subject

Young adult fiction--History and criticism; Fantasy fiction--History and criticism; Romance fiction--History and criticism; Social media and literature

Keyword

romantasy; booktok; young adult literature; the hero's journey; young adult fiction; young adult publishing

Discipline

Children's and Young Adult Literature

Document Type

Theses

Extent

54 leaves

DCMI Type

Text

Language

English

Rights

http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

License

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

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