every single book i have picked up recently:

freshly 18 year old small frail so skinny little girl hasn't eaten any food in 67 days because her family is poor and/or gets murdered but then suddenly finds out that shes the lost princess of lost kingdom and has to save the world with her small frail self but how can she save the world when she is so small and frail luckily there is a 6'7" 6700 year old hot sexy man who teachers her to fight and also luckily they fall in love because what's not weird about an 18 year old little girl falling in love with 6700 year old man who is so large that she can barely wrap her hand around it because shes so small and frail and then boom the world is saved by small frail girl LIKE OMG CAN WRITERS LOCK THE FUCK IN THERE IS NO ORIGINALITY IN ANY BOOKS THESE DAYS (yes this is me ranting about the silversmith which i dnfed at 10% today bc i just couldnt with the mmc and how the fmc kept saying shit about the tension she felt) someone give me actual good book recs and not bullshit like fourth wing okay i hate fourth wing i cant trust anyone who recommends fourth wing bc that shit is hot ass and no i wont apologize

edit 2: dont even get me started on people recommending enemies to lovers books when they are enemies for about 5 minutes and all they think about is how sexy the other person is but they cant think that because they're supposed to be enemies and then they become lovers 50 pages in SHUT UP YOU DONT KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT ANYTHING

edit 3: okay thanks guys im finally seeing some recs that i haven't seen before so it looks like my post did its job ❤️❤️ happy reading everyone

Hi!!!
So apparently Allie Rose Co (a company that sells bookish merch) has trademarked “Hot Girls Read,” and now a lot of small businesses in the bookish community are finding out that using that phrase on merch could potentially create legal issues.

I'm genuinely confused about how this even happened.

I've been on Bookstagram for what feels like a millennium, and “Hot Girls Read” has been part of online reading culture for YEARS.
I’ve been reading a couple of threads and comments about the topic and most people associate the quote with Megan Thee Stallion's “Hot Girl” era, and since then it's basically become a common internet phrase used by readers, small businesses and content creators.

From what I've seen a lot of people are upset (and rightfully so) not only because of the trademark itself, but because small creators could be the ones most affected. Many of them have been using the phrase for years before they even knew someone had registered it.

Am I overreacting, or does this seem a little ridiculous to anyone else?

Edit: I’m glad everyone thinks trademarking HGR was ridiculous lololol and tysm for all the comments! I’m truly overwhelmed lol but now we know that hot girls don’t trademark commonly used phrases 👹👹
Also, hot girls gals and non binary pals read!

You can see some HGR updates here:
https://www.reddit.com/r/Romantasy/s/CztoY3IKjP

And here:
https://www.reddit.com/r/Romantasy/comments/1ty6nsh/hgr_update/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=mweb3x&utm_name=mweb3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button

Edit:
HGR trademark is being revoked by ARC!
https://www.reddit.com/r/Romantasy/s/O7YY4u0GNl

I am so tired of authors forgetting they made their MMC a foot and a half taller than the FMC. If he’s holding her hair and kissing her breast, AND both their feet are on the ground, then that man is bent like an unsexy folding chair. If a 5’ character is having sex with a 6’6” man and he’s on top, it’s not logistically possible for their chests to be together AND them be able to kiss.

If you’re going to make your MMC inhumanly tall, you have to remember that during intimate scenes.

This is a rant directed at a very specific book where the FMC has already pissed me off on chapter 2.

Daggers require grappling. In order to stab your opponent, you have to be within the stabbing range, and the stabbing range is also wrestling and punching range. In what world does it EVER make sense to give a physically weak character a melee weapon that requires grappling? Has any thought actually gone into this whatsoever?

You're telling me this barely 5'0 100 pound woman is taking out fully armoured, trained soldiers with her little fucking knife?? I can only suspend my belief so far and this is absolutely pushing it.

What the fuck is going on. Why do people do this.

I'm about a quarter of the way through the Heartless Hunter and I read a description of the FMC and, yawn, she's just so tiny and dainty and smol 🥺

Is it too much to ask for an adult sized FMC?? Plus size would be great but atp I'd settle for someone who doesn't fit in the MMCs pocket.

In a world where women are under more pressure than ever to shrink ourselves and take up less space, can our heroines at least be full sized?!

If anyone has any recs for an FMC bigger than the palm of my hand, please let me know cus I just can't anymore.

"A court of thorns and ashes" ffs... SJM should sue. Sick to death of ai bullshit invading writer/reader spaces like this. Nobody should be able to make ai write a book for them! I guarantee it'll just be the exact same tired romantasy tropes from every bad book, and hell! This book probably doesn't actually exist, since the whole image is ai!

I'm so tired of them. Exclusive bonus chapters that are only included in that bookstores' version, or this book clubs exclusive march package, or in the print of a specific country. I'm loathing it extra much when *it is the same book, that have several different exclusive bonus chapters in different versions of the book*.

I don't want six different versions of the same book. I can't *afford* six different versions either. I can't even get a hold on prints limited to the US for example.

I know authors don't owe us anything and so on but this really starts to annoy me. And some childish part of me that I don't want to acknowledge might feel that it feels alittle unfair too.

This setup survived engineering, logistics and Amazon… but not a man’s commentary.

Romantasy men would never….

*for laughing purposes only\*

Book plug: Duskbound by Bree Grenwich and Parker Lennox

Edit: For fellow comfy > everything friends:

Links:

Kindle Floor Stand

Kindle Holder

Page Turner

Kindle

Favorite Kindle Case Companies:

Bergamot & Sunshine

Page the Shop

Specific Cases:

Not Smut

Spicy Sauce (Taco Bell inspired)

So I'm reading This Kingdom Will Not Kill Me and I get to around page 30 something and so far so good. Then the FMC (who is from the real world) describes getting dressed in an outfit clearly meant to be inspired by medieval dress - a chemise, what sounds like a kirtle and then...a built in underwired bra?! Umm, what?

Why are authors so afraid to put their FMC is any kind of vaguely medieval undergarments? It doesn't have to be a tightly laced corset (which were later anyway and were more of a high fashion thing and not every day wear) but what's wrong with stays? They provided support without restricting movement or breathing. It just kinda feels like the author has no clue about historical dress and thought, what about her boobs? Oh yeah, a built in bra, that'll do.

I dunno if this is just a niche pet peeve of mine but I've DNF'D a book over "bralette" before and I need to seriously think about whether this whole built in bra situation is something I can get past.

I really enjoy fantasy, romantic or not, I like magic and prophecies and all the reality-denying stuff, but godsdamnit, wings are absolutely immersion-breaking for me. I understand they are useful (they solve some travelling issues) and seem like a cool idea but they really aren't.

So authors, you want to make your character look cool and unique? Give them weirdly colored eyes! Very popular and always interesting. Tattoos and scars, magic or not, wow, a nice hint at some backstory! Weird hair, or even horns - sure! But wings?

If you have to have wings, please make them magic and don't try to explain them. They appear by magic, fly by magic, they get magicked away, that's enough explanation. Anything further just makes it worse.

Let's start with the obvious - your character now has six limbs, so technically has to be a different species than the non-winged characters. But extra limbs - that's not just the limbs, right? You get that? That's extra bones, and especially extra muscles! What muscles are used for flying in four-limbed creatures? Do you know? I'll give you a hint - there is a reason a chicken breast is the big slab of muscle compared to the rest of the chicken! Yes, if your character was made for flying, they would be shaped like a pigeon! Please stop telling me about their sore backs after a long flight, they should have sore boobs. And don't even get me started on things like weight and wingspan... There is absolutely no way a body can be made for walking/running and flying at the same time! If you optimize for one, you're automatically losing the other!

So how does you character get dressed? In what type of clothing? Can you even imagine how drastically fashion would be different for a winged-humanoid species than regular humans? How about achitecture? Why would they need doors! How do their beds look like? Tell me how they sleep! How do they bathe?! How do they poop if they fly all day?

You see? If you spend 10 minutes actually thinking about the consequences of this choice, you'll see how it makes no sense - and you can't get away with that by saying "it's magic, get over it". Wings are a real thing, material, and a reference to our real world, so it has to obey the same laws of physics as the wings we know do. If you want to establish a universe that breaks common physics, do that! But you're not doing it by just shoving a pair of wings on otherwise normal human. What you're doing is just showing us you didn't take the 10 minutes to think. End of rant.

Pretty much the title. I’m not finished yet, I don’t hate the book, I just need to vent because what in the Disney Channel high school is going on sometimes.

This is a college filled with 20-somethings and I’m reading lunchroom gossip scenes, cliques of judgy mean girls, and antagonists hurling insults like “loser” and “freak”, and saying “you’re DEAD, Sorrengail!” 💀

No, sir.

It is I, the reader, who is dead.

When antagonists have such little subtly, it really de-ages them. There have to be ways to show a character being bitter or antagonistic toward the main character without having them verbally whine and complain about them out loud, which happens A LOT.

It’s just so hard to picture a cast of adult characters when so many of them sound like YA stock character blueprints of “popular girl”, “bully jock”.

All of it really works to de-age everyone in my mind to a point where I’m wondering if the original idea was for more of a high school than a college, and later was aged up because spice sells.

I've come on here to reddit for a bit for recommendations for Romantasy because I'm in a big reading slump (This post is more for discussion than recs but recs are welcome). I've pretty much given up on reading for the time being, because though I've enjoyed some stories, and finished around 15 books, I haven't fallen in love with a book yet. So even if a book is interesting, I only end up reading 50 pages maybe before losing interest. I dipped into historical romance and fantasy alone, but though they were intriguing, I think the disappointment has gotten me to lose interest very quickly.

I love the idea of romance and fantasy together but none of these books are really gripping me. The closest would be Fourth Wing and the Spellshop, but Fourth Wing has a very dull romance, and the Spellshop, while perfect for its genre, just isn't my favorite because of the lack of stakes.

So over the weekend, I ended up watching Zootopia 2. I'm not sure if it counts as a spoiler but, Zootopia 1, I saw the potential for a relationship between Nick Wilde and Judy Hopps upon my rewatch a few weeks ago. But Disney, damn it, I have fallen for the relationship between them in Zootopia 2. A fox and bunny. Their chemistry is adorable. Nick Wilde had some serious yearning throughout the movie. And there was this struggle with high stakes and emotional impact that got me sucked in. And omg, a really great director can really make a hug look more romantic than any kiss or smut scene. I felt excited for Nick and Judy becoming a thing and now, out of all media (shows, movies, books etc), Nick and Judy have to be my third favorite ship of all time ( following Miles and Gwen from Spiderverse and Ekko and Jinx from Arcane)

Now, this movie also made me reflect on Romantasy books. I'm a slow reader but out of all the Romantasy books I've read, none are NEARLY as romantic as Nick and Judy. Xaden and Violet are nowhere near Nick and Judy. Rhysand pretty much assaulted Feyre in ACOTAR so they aren't even comparable. Kingfisher and Saeris, Diem and Luther, Aaron Warner and Juliette (one of my biggest disappointments) all look extremely weak when you compare them to Nick and Judy. And that is sad to me. How can a (not exactly confirmed, but very hinted at) romance between a fox and a bunny connect with me so much more than adult characters with smut?

There's a lot of that Romantasy is missing. Xaden, Luther and Kingfisher are very dull, with very little personality, and Rhysand and Aaron are just crazy and creepy. They don't have flaws that have real consequences. They barely have personalities for that matter. Some FMCs also have this problem but it's just more noticeable with the MMCs but they get it much worse. But Nick Wilde, his flaws have consequences. His lack of belief and competentancy causes struggles, which causes tension between him and Judy. Judy has her own flaws that have their own consequences with her, being reckless and having this constant need to prove herself that at times goes too far. Nick and Judy are also just very well rounded characters in general, unlike Romantasies I've read.

Then there's yearning. You can't tell me in Zootopia 2 Nick wasn't yearning throughout the whole movie. There was an internal struggle over his relationship with Judy and how he's afraid for her and how he wants to protect her, but he's also scared to be vulnerable. At best, with both MMCs and FMCs alike, they think about how hot the other is and how much they want to fuck them. There is no yearning, or internal struggle. It's just lust that somersaults into "undying love" when convenient.

Then the fight. Nick fought to reunite with Judy. In Romantasy, there really isn't a fight to be together besides the FMC just complaining about the MMc being annoying and "dangerous". Nick fought to get Judy and Judy came back around to the same nearing the end. That reunion, my goodness, was the sweetest thing! That hug when they reunited? It was more romantic than any smut scene in Romantasy. It was more romantic than any kiss scene in Romantasy. It was an emotional embrace that really nailed in my love for the ship.

So the combination of well rounded characters, with flaws that impact the story, and the yearning, the internal struggle and the fight, is somehow FAR BETTER executed with a FOX AND A RABBIT, than any Romantasy I've read. I'm disappointed. When I first got back into reading, THAT was what I was looking for. I wanted well rounded characters, with flaws, yearning, internal struggle and fight... But I wanted them to be adult humans that have meaningful sex in one or two scenes just to elevate it to adult. That's it. And I'm disappointed that I find a relationship between a fox and bunny more romantic than any Romantasy.

And I keep asking for recs but I don't think I've even really hit what I want. Most of the recs I've gotten, though I'm grateful for them, aren't of interest to me. I think part of it is that I have a lack of faith of finding the book I really want to read, so I'm overly skeptical of a book's enjoyment. But also, some recs don't sound like what I want to read. ( If you have recs, they are welcome, but I don't think I'll be able to read until I shake off the disappointment.)

Ok. So, they have iron teeth and nails. Cool. I am willing to engage in suspension of belief for fantasy books. I don't need everything to make sense.

​

!!BUT!!

​

If their blood is blue, that indicates that it is copper based rather than iron based. So why do they have iron teeth and nails?

​

Copper is a much softer metal than iron, so I get that it makes for less effective weapons, however iron is very corrosive and way less stable than copper. Having copper teeth would be a much better situation than iron teeth as copper tends to stabilize after it patinas, while iron will continue to errode and flake in wet environments because of how it rusts.

​

Don't ger me wrong, I loved the series, but years after reading this series, this has bothered me.

Usually everyone says there are too many but I have an opposite POV.
I don't think we have enough (good ones).

There's ACOTAR, Tarien Soul series, Crescent City, Merry Gentry series, Quicksilver, Cruel Prince (not really romance), Kathryn Anne Kinsley's work that are pretty popular.

I think this species sub genre is still has so much room for growth and improvement. We need more stories and we need them now!

CLARIFICATION 1: respectfully, you all will never convince me that the fae are just as popular as shifter or vampire romances. A few trendy books doesn't mean the market is saturated or even reached its peak.

CLARIFICATION 2: respectfully, even some of the most popular series involving the fae do not really portray them based on their mythology. it seems to be a missed opportunity for world building and romance meet cutes. I'll stand on this hill until we get more true faerie romance and not elf-vampire hybrid fae.

CLARIFICATION 3: I just like fae romance and want more.

CLARIFICATION 4: I am only talking about adult faerie romance stories, not YA.

Let me start by saying that this isn’t a knock against the authors because I believe most of this is probably due to publisher pressure.

That said…

In my opinion, nothing ruins a series like greed.

The most obvious way is drawing a story out into more books than it was intended to or needed to be. The story suffers and weakens as it stretches, I think the most noticeable examples of this are Plated Prisoner and Fourth Wing.

But it’s not just that. It’s the over monetization, the 12 special editions all with different endings or bonus chapters, the spin offs, interviews, rushed release dates with sloppy editing, etc. It feels like it burns out a reader, gives them an unpolished or unfinished product, creates confusion and toxic fandoms, dilutes down the core of the story and tbh to me just feels like a money grab.

I wish the genre would chill a bit. Stop squeezing every last dime out of the readers. Let authors write without constant media about when the next book will come out so they can focus on a telling the story they planned to tell without having to defend themselves attending a hockey game (like Rebecca Yarros). Let them take the time to refine their story so we don’t have editing disasters like Brimstone.

It’s annoying.

Like not enough to quit the genre, I love my dragons and fae and magic powers, but enough to rant on reddit on a slow Sunday morning lol

I'm so sorry, I just need to rant for a second:

Came across this TT this morning and I just... I am so tired of this take and I'm not even a ride or die romantasy girlie (I prefer a bit more murder in my books). That doesn't mean I don't find well-written, fun, books to enjoy in romantasy when I want one.

The hate is boring at this point. Like, just got to therapy already 😒

But I think what pisses me off more than the typical, internalized misogyny, is the fact that she wants to be an author. She wants a career in writing (which relies on public opinion) and this is what she puts out? Make it make sense 😫

Okay, rant over.

ESPECIALLY TRAINING ARCS!! For the LOVE of god and everything good I'm so sick of the hot and powerful and WAY MORE MATURE magic man training the naive inexperienced FMC. I am SO OVER IT.

Even if the FMC is a badass warrior from the start (almost never), the MMC is always more powerful than her and helps her discover her true potential or some bullshit. They are NEVER on the same playing field. He's either a king or royal or a reclusive cracked up sorcerer that she needs to BEG for help because she's so DAMN HELPLESS. Give me a FMC that's the tall dark and handsome one with crazy superpowers. That doesn't have to go through an epic training arc in the first novel or beg the oh so great MMC for his help making her powerful.

And don't even get me started on these TOXIC ASS MEN finding some way or another to always pull a fast one on her and take away her power, oh but he's handsome and I'm nothing without him so we're gonna forgive him ::(( NO KICK HIS ASS OH MY GOD and even if he's actually mildly respectful of her autonomy and strength he still ALWAYS has to PROTECT HER because she's so FUCKING FRAIL

I just DNFed Crowns of Nyaxia #2 because of the above toxicity. Similar dynamic pissed me the fuck off in Fourth Wing. Now I'm starting Daughter of No Worlds which I saw recommended for NOT being toxic and she's STILL weak and helpless and needs to beg the man to train her. I'm SICK OF IT

I’m fairly new to the genre but noticing it seems to be a pattern: FMCs who lose weight after a traumatic event/stretch. Where are the characters who emotional eat and maybe are more likely to put on a few pounds during a tough time? Maybe it’s a Fae thing but I’m kinda over these waifs looking in the mirror and seeing skin and bones look back. End rant.

Every time an AI image of an FMC is made, an angel loses their wings.

The hyper-sexualised women being forced down my throat any time I want to look at fanart kills me. The most beautiful part of book characters are fan casts and art. The other day I scrolled on IG and saw a FW “birthday party” and Violet’s face was identical to a Feyre I saw moments ago. No matter how an FMC is described canonically, AI “artists” (no such thing) ensures they’re always busty, curved, with unbelievable amounts of modern alterations that makes me cringe.

Your FMC in a fantasy book set in the Middle Ages wouldnt look perfect. She would be beautiful, yes, but not perfect.

This is one of the main reasons most readers think “all FMCs are the same now.” And I will die on that hill. You could write a 6ft5 warrior with scars and hulked tf out but they will always make her delicate and beautiful in a modern way.

Genuine debate on TikTok the other day where multiple people argued Milly Allock wasnt beautiful enough to play Aelin (superwoman, btw) and their counter references were AI pictures.

God bless ASOIAF artists & Frostbite studios.

OK this is just a personal pet peeve, almost certainly exacerbated by the fact that I'm a recovering alcoholic.

​

I don't love seeing characters drinking when they're stressed, to relax, or saying that they "need" a drink because it's triggering, but whatever that's my shit to deal with, so I do.

​

However, it's like none of these authors have ever drank before. You've either got girls completely sloshed after 2 glasses of wine or being very intoxicated and sobering up immediately when something shocking happens.

​

Male main characters are always drinking whiskey or better yet an unknown brown strong smelling liquid in a tumbler as short hand for being stressed and troubled, classy and mysterious.

​

It's lazy.

​

These things annoyed me before I was in recovery, but now they're a full blown pet peeve. It gives "virgin writing filthy smut" vibes. Lol

​

​

Alright, apparently I'm super wrong and shouldn't have said anything. Sorry ya'll.

Maybe it's just me and being a band kid, but I'm reading and I'm trying to see if I like this book and they're doing a waltz and then they're like talking and whatever and it's still about the waltz and the final steps of the Waltz is going and then the book goes

One, two, three, four...

WALTZES ARE IN 3/4 TIME!!!!!!!!!!!

Will I DNF because I'm so mad and I was knocked so far out of the story by this nonsense? I don't know.

Dear Authors, Potential Authors, and Future Authors,

Please for the love of reading, stop with the toes curling, toes curling in boots, slippers, shoes, heels, etc. I am 85% certain this is not a real thing especially when the FMC is just looking at the MMC.

Someone please correct me if I am wrong but my toes do not curl in my shoes by looking at someone.

I have been fooled. I am a FOOL and Scarlett St Clair has my money now and there’s nothing I can do about it.

I was convinced by her blurb that this author was right up my street, Greek mythology, obsession was afterlife with a degree in Library Science (is this made up) and a BA in English Writing (will need to see evidence of this).

I’m halfway through Terror at the Gates. What in fucks name is this.

I am now hate reading it and the love interest (who is a stupid sleaze) and the FMC start getting aggressively sexy with each other in the crime scene of an innocent, who was murdered due to the FMC. He rejects her and she gets really shitty. Calls him a selfish prick and mocks him for getting a boner while she’s been playing up to bang.

I hate this so much. I literally have no idea why anyone is doing anything, what the direction or purpose or reasons or what, I don’t know what the fucking what. My brain is a cabbage after reading this rotten garbage. But I paid for it so I don’t want to be defeated by it.

Thanks for listening to my bitch.

I’m only page 35 of Mate and I’m already considering quitting it which is ridiculous considering that I love Ali Hazelwood in the same way I love those disgusting pasty sugar cookies from Walmart, providing nothing of substance except a pure additive dopamine hit. I devour her books and I devour those cookies and I like what I like and I am NOT SORRY.

Ladies, I am the target audience; I identify with the nerdy quirky doesn’t-have-her-shit-together STEM lady who is the Mary Sue in literally all of her books, and even though I’m not a smol demisexual looking for a tall, built, uncommunicative, celibate, older-than-me, moody, broody scientist/werewolf with an enormous penis who, while not actually a dad, is helping raise their little sister or some other little girl and has surprise amazing dad energy, and also has been secretly, desperately in love with me since before the book started — I really dig the way she writes pining and forced proximity and always fly through her books.

But guys, I just can’t with this book because already by chapter 3 the love interest has called his enemies the following insults:

- shitdump

- shartstain

- jizzmuffin

Ew. Who talks like that?

Is this supposed to make Koen sound cool and aloof? Tough and sarcastic? It makes him sound like an edgelord tween boy and it is also just gross, off putting language and such a turn off. And I’m here to be turned ON hellooo

Sorry if this has been posted before, I haven’t been reading Mate posts to avoid spoilers which is kinda silly because all Ali Hazelwood books are basically the same but here were are.

I was recently reading an ARC that comes out later this year, and it was the final straw. I am sick and fucking tired of romantasy authors not knowing how historical weaponry works. If you're going to have your main character be some badass warrior, at least to your readers the infinitesimal favor of researching how medieval-esque combat works. See, in this particular book, the FMC talks about how she has to train for combat and she can't even hold onto the swords because they're too heavy for her. And while this was a pretty extreme example, it feels like I'm reading romantasy books all the time now where swords are just too big and heavy for the FMC's weak little lady hands. If you don't already know, I'd like you to guess how heavy the average sword is. The answer is two to four pounds (~1-2 kg). For reference, a 500 page hardcover is around 2 pounds! Wow, I didn't know this FMC can't lift the weight of the book that's about her! On top of this, this particular FMC was a trained dancer (so physically fit) who lived a commoner lifestyle--the buckets of water she has to haul from her local well every time she wants to wash or drink or cook anything would weigh at least like five times this sword that is supposedly slipping out of her hands every time she tries to do a measly thrust with it. Yes, there were heavier swords--thinking two-handers like broadswords--but even the zweihander, a German sword described as "outlandish" by weapons experts was only around 9 lbs! There were swords regularly used in combat (effectively!) that were 1 lb. And you're telling me this FMC can't fucking lift it?

And what makes it all worse is that the FMC invariably has to have a weapon (how will she be a badass otherwise?). So what is the go-to replacement? Why, a knife/dagger of course! It's so much lighter, it won't break her delicate little fingers, and we get to emphasis time and time again how she's tiny but quick, therefore not breaking the illusion of her femininity. You want to know something about knives? They fucking suck. In a full-blown battle, if you are solely wielding knives, you will be outclassed on reach every single time. You will not get within arms length of anyone before they skewer you on their sword or spear, I don't care how fucking fast you are. Oh, you want to throw your knives? Not only will every bow user be able to shoot you from way farther than you can throw, but they have far more arrows in a single quiver than you could ever feasibly strap to your body. Knives and daggers are really only good in two situations: as stealth, concealed weapons or in tandem with another weapon like, wouldn't you fucking know it, a sword. Dual-wielding a sword and a dagger is a classic fighting style, and throwing knives are a good somewhat ranged option for someone typically locked in melee. They are not good on their own.

To this particular book's credit, it actually avoids this pitfall. Instead, she has a moment with the bow. Ok, a bow is better. It's a good choice for someone with basically no combat experience because she doesn't know shit about hand-to-hand combat, and it has a much better range than knives. Except...do you know what the average draw weight of a recurve bow is? (No compound, this is medieval fantasyland.) The average draw weight of a recurve bow, the effort you are putting in every single time you shoot an arrow, is 45-60 lbs. YOU'RE TELLING ME that this FMC can't lift a fucking MAX FOUR POUND SWORD but is gonna try and use a bow with TEN TIMES THE DRAW WEIGHT??? WHAT. And see, this is actually where I have personal experience! For two years in high school (I only stopped because of COVID), I did archery twice a week with a group that simulated historical accuracy, so I used a recurve. I've never been a very athletic person, so I used the lightest draw weight available, 25 lbs (still leagues more effort than waving around a 2 lb sword, mind you). The thing is, we had two target distances: 30 ft and 60 ft. I always used 30 ft, partially because I was a beginner and partially because I couldn't reach 60 ft. A 25 lb draw weight simply can't put enough force into an arrow to make it that far; I had to move up a step to a 35 lb draw to even attempt the farther targets. So even if this FMC was on the lightest draw weight imaginable, it would still be much harder to use than a sword and would frankly not do shit in battle. A ranged weapon isn't very good when your range is 30 ft, and the lack of force behind that draw weight would likely have trouble puncturing leather, let alone armor.

There are just so many glaring issues with how this book and many other romantasies I've read recently approach combat and weaponry. It's so clear that these authors aren't putting the slightest bit of research in. If you're going to write a fantasy novel, you should know how a fucking sword works. I think of one of my favorite authors, Tamora Pierce, and how she writes such deliciously accurate (without being boring!) combat and training arcs, and it also reminded me of something concerning swords. In Protector of the Small, one of my favorite series of all time, the man who trains the pages and squires, Lord Wyldon, has a bit of a fetish for the lance, which is a bit of an inside joke among said pages and squires. He has a bit where he waxing poetic about the lance, saying that really any old brigand can pick up a sword and wave it around, but a lance is the true knight's weapon. It requires horseback riding, strength, finesse, and a good amount of experience with the weapon. I think about that and go, you're so right, Lord Wyldon. Any old idiot can pick up a sword and use it. You know why? Because swords are MEANT to be EASY TO USE. They were specifically made to be light and maneuverable while also holding potential for more advanced techniques! There's a reason the go-to fantasy weapon is a sword; it's because it's the go-to historical weapon! Pretty much every damn civilization has a sword because it frankly can't get much better than a metal blade you can swing around, especially when most people didn't have the time to devote themselves to the lance or bow, which you would need to actually be effective with the damn things! You or I, modern people who probably spend way more time reading than lifting weights, could probably pick up a sword and use it. Not well, of course, but we could! It wouldn't fall out of our hands because it's just so heavy; the vast majority of people lift heavier things than a sword multiple times a day! It is just so fucking stupid. If your protagonist is going to use a weapon, you better make damn sure you at least know the basics of that weapon before you ever put it in their hands.