FANTASY & ROMANTASY TRENDS 2026
ROMANTASY IS CHANGING
The fantasy and romantasy world is always developing, but there has been some major shifts recently that readers should look out for. Not just anticipated releases, but real patterns in writing and publishing. Here are the big fantasy and romantasy trends 2026!
Here the fantasy and romantasy trends 2026 in publishing and writing
(Too) long series are on the way out
Compared to just a couple of years ago, more duologies than ever are released in fantasy and romantasy. Leigh Bardugo with Six of Crows, Carissa Broadbent with Serpent and the Wings of Night, Bree Grenwich & Lennox Parker with The Ascended and the planned sequel and Rachel Gillig with One Dark Window are just some examples out there.
And this seems to be an increasingly popular format among both writers and readers. There are a few different reasons that I can see for this. Partly, it’s because of our attention span and the amount of long fantasy and romantasy series that are out there. It can be quite daunting to start a series of 5+ books, and two book arc can also offer a tighter story.
Three popular duologies or planned duets.
Everything is connected now
Interconnected universes is also on the rise in both fantasy and romantasy. Execept Brandon Sandersons huge interconnected Cosmere and Sarah J. Maas ”Maasverse” we see more examples from newer releases. Bree Grenwich & Parker Lennox recently signed a huge deal with Penguin UK for 5 of their books, which is a trilogy and a duet with interconnected books. Again, Carissa Broadbents duologies are connected in the same realms and Leigh Bardugos Grishaverse is growing with mor’e releases 2026.
This also seems like a trend born from the urge to get away from never ending book series, but also a way for authors to connect their doulogies and trilogies and make everything more intriuging. It also makes the reading experience more fun and interesting for readers, but also makes it less dauting to start.
More global inspiration & variety
Something that’s also trending and is really fun is that more folklore and inspiration from all around the globe is included in fantasy and romantasy books. We see more of arabic, eastern and european mythology in both worldbuilding and book lore. A very needed and exciting trend, which also shows that demand from readers can make an impact on the publishing community.
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Deals with the devil, dystopian settings and the Lady Knight Era
Are you in your ”Lady knight era”? Because a lot of us are! What we can see trending right now in many books is that deals with the devil, mideval settings with female knights, celestial themes but also a lot of dystopian books.
A few recent and upcoming releases with deals with the devil, lady knight theme and dystopian settings.
Genre breaking books are trending
Instead of hard rules of different genres, we see an influx of genre breaking books. Fantasy leaning towards sci-fi? Historical fiction with a subplot of romance? The possibilities are endless and both authors and readers seem to enjoy it.
Romantasy fatiuge changes the genre in 2026
When romantasy get big it hit hard. Booktok and love for these books skyrocketed sales and this genre of books for women made by women really exploded. But, recently the spike in romantasy releases and popularity has started to flatten out, and I see more comments online that readers are tired of reading the same books, and crave something unique.
And I think that this trend will force the romantasy genre to evolve – in a good way. Readers want something that haven’t been done before, and authors that create really good romantasy but combines it with new characters, interesting world building, fresh magic systems and love stories that doesn’t feel copy pasted will move this genre forward.
Books created for audio first
An other new fantasy and romantasy trend 2026 that is also growing is books written for audio versions first. In march 2025, Spotify released their audiobook option, Spotify Audiobook Selects, and also worked togheter with authors on special releases to their platform. For example, Ali Hazelwoods book Two Can Play were released there during 2025, and will be out as a written book in 2026. Considering how popular audiobooks already are, I think this will lead to even more books written with focus on the audio book audience and the listening experience first.
Ali Hazelwoods Two Can Play was created for audio first and will be released as a written book this year.
The rise of Indie Authors
An other really interesting fantasy and romantasy trend 2026 is the rise of indie authors. With Amazons program Kindle Direct Publishing and now also Spotify Audiobook Selects more and more independed authors are releasing their books without traditional publishing deals. This is great since it offers readers an easy way to discover new unique books and favorite writers, and authors can get acknowledged for their books without the high treshold of a traditional book contract. And with bookish content on social media, it’s easier than ever to get your name and your books out there. So this is a very interersting and important trend I think we will se more of 2026!
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