Edited by Dave Oei

With the exploding popularity of Sarah J. Maas’s fantasy-romance series, A Court of Thorns and Roses, and the more recent bestseller Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yaros, the newly named genre romantasy has exploded. While lacking in specific definition, all such books share at least one common trait: Their plotlines require both fantasy and romance, though not necessarily in equal portions. However, the romance must exist as more than subplot; each book contains at least one full-blown trope, such as enemies-to-lovers. And while fantasy has always served as an arena to address social ills, most books marketed as romantasy to-date are penned by an authorship that is predominantly white and almost completely female. But as this Voices to Books column demonstrates, diverse books can be found when you make the effort to find them.

 

The Emperor and the Endless Palace
By Justinian Huang
Reviewed by Lisa Billington

Justinian Huang delivers a powerhouse romantasy in this debut novel. All the elements are here: spicy romance, a love triangle, magic, intrigue, and drama. Huang drags that love triangle and all its associated heart-wrenching pain through centuries of lifetimes in which three men tangle over and over, replaying the same tug-of-war for affection, and repeatedly culminating with frustrating results for all.

The story alternates among three timelines which at first seem disparate, but Huang draws them together into a single thread of obsession, betrayal, and revenge. In present day Los Angeles, college student River negotiates the challenges of his young life while struggling to choose between the love he needs and the one he desires. In eighteenth century rural China, He Shican, an innkeeper, receives two unusual guests who draw him into a dangerous magical journey. And in first-century BCE, Dong Xian, a palace clerk, seeks to win the emperor’s favor in a deadly game of court politics.

Huang deftly reveals the characters to be reincarnations of the same three men over centuries, intertwining their stories with mythological tales such as that of the nine-tailed fox. These magical elements, rooted in Chinese folklore, elevate and support the main focus of the narrative: the tumultuous relationship between these men.

Memory and tradition are strong themes throughout, and most of the characters clash with cultural and heteronormative constraints as they struggle to be true to themselves, pursue their desires, and fulfill familial and societal expectations. Meanwhile, other relationships bring balance to these stormy circumstances, such as River’s relationship with his supportive sister, Garden. But because each man remembers their past lifetimes differently, some learn and grow, some do not, and ultimately their story is part satisfaction, part sadness and loss.

Huang’s well-paced novel is a celebration of the queer Asian man and a romantasy accessible to audiences of any identity. It is centered on desire and deceit, ambition and loyalty, and loss and love—all common to the human experience, and sure to engage any modern fantasy reader.

 

Blood Like Magic
By Liselle Sambury
Reviewed by Karen A. Parker

Reminiscent of more mature speculative fiction titles such as Nalo Hopkinson’s Brown Girl in the Ring and Octavia E. Butler’s Kindred, Liselle Sambury’s Blood Like Magic brings a fresh, genre-blending, morally complex take on the Black girl coming-of-age narratives typical to YA.

When an ancestor of sixteen-year-old Voya Thomas appears to her during her Calling, Voya is tasked with destroying her first love. Except Voya has never fallen in love with anyone, and though a genetics-based matchmaking program pairs her with Luc Rodriguez, his two-star average rating across social media and general bristly attitude toward her leave a lot to be desired. As if Voya didn’t have enough on her plate, every witch of the Thomas family name will lose their magic for good if she doesn’t kill him. As Voya herself puts it, Thomases “suffer and survive” their circumstances, enduring trauma after trauma no matter the cost of their failures.

Sambury’s work is rich, inventive, daring, and powerful. Through dynamic, first-person present tense, Sambury incorporates her Trinidadian-Canadian heritage, panoptic society science fiction elements, and a QTBIPOC-inclusive romance storyline into a vision of not-so-distant 2049 Toronto, Canada.

Sambury also fully renders Voya as a realistic Black female protagonist who is just as indecisive and concerned about her appearance as any teenager would be. And in Voya’s journey to break cycles of intergenerational trauma, she surprises herself while surpassing even her own expectations.

Voya’s beautiful story is one of love and loss—one most adults would fear. It is set apart by her unflinching desire to speak truth to power when her family and community urge her to stay silent. And while Voya handles life with grace and honesty, Sambury’s brilliant debut welcomes the rise of a new, trauma-informed generation and suggests that it is not our inherent talents that define us. Rather, it is what we do with our gifts in the face of adversity that charts the path forward.

 

Song of Silver, Flame Like Light
By Amelie Wen Zhao
Reviewed by Nancy Chung

Amelie Wen Zhao draws upon Chinese mythology and history to create a world rich with fantasy, gods, mythical creatures, and even an enemies-to-lovers forbidden romance. Written in dual perspectives from Lan and Zen’s points of view, Zhao weaves a vivid, atmospheric setting amidst a history of fallen kingdoms and a magic system that relies on an individual’s qi.

Lan is a fiery young girl who comes face to face with the full might of the Elantian army and their most powerful magician as she seeks to uncover the truth behind the last memories of her mother’s death. She meets Zen, a mysterious practitioner of magic, and the two align on a journey to uncover Lan’s mysterious marking—a Hin symbol no one but Lan can see. However, Zen also carries a hidden past, and their combined secrets hold the power to destroy the world.

Zhao counters the fast-paced suspense and action with Lan and Zen’s slow burn romance, never short on tension as they face obstacle after obstacle while their relationship transforms from enemies to allies, to mentor and student, to finally settling on star-crossed lovers. Despite their strong chemistry and attraction, by romantasy standards this is a mild-tempered romance, fitting for the novel’s tone.

Zhao’s inspirations from Chinese history and mythology are delightful to read, particularly the qipaos, demon gods, and secret temples, which not only inform this fantasy’s magic structure, but create a gripping, immersive atmosphere. This treatment balances the novel’s darker elements, such as the effects of colonization and the resulting widespread loss of identity—consequential topics today.

Amelie Wen Zhao is a master storyteller who has built a beautiful world in which fantasy lovers can escape. Song of Silver, Flame Like Night is part one of a duology its suspenseful ending will leave readers impatient for the next installment.

 

Five Broken Blades
By Mai Corland
Reviewed by Samantha Martin

Five Broken Blades is enriched by Mai Corland’s experiences as a Korean-American adoptee, set with references from her culture and a central theme of found family. The six main characters come together to assassinate the immortal god King Joon. Despite rising distrust, they work together and grow into a sort of family. Corland crafts a journey that demonstrates how such bonds aren’t always blood-related, but can be built from people of different backgrounds with at least one common goal.

With six first-person points of view, a massive world, and characters whose stories begin in different locations, Five Broken Blades initially seems intimidating. But Corland’s fast-paced chapters clearly reveal the characters’ secret motivations, evoking empathy for their urgent mission One example is Mikhail, the royal spymaster. Does Mikhail’s loyalty lie with his love, the exiled prince Euyn? The crown, who wants Eyun dead? Or Mikhail’s own primal need to avenge his family, under a plan that requires risking Eyun’s life? Despite the tight spots Corland squeezes Mikhail into, his and Euyn’s romance is fun and lighthearted, a play on the second-chance trope that is filled with angst and tugs at the heartstrings, all while ardor and peril alternate and boil between them.

In contrast, two other main characters, Sora and Tiyung, begin a romance that feels perpetually on the wrong foot. It’s a sinister spin on the enemies-to-lovers trope, with Sora as the enslaved assassin owned by Tiyung’s father. Corland underscores their romance with the question: Should one be condemned for the actions of one’s family? Tiyung struggles with guilt over his family’s wrongs and his love for Sora. Unlike Euyn’s and Mikhail’s relationship, Sora and Tiyung’s tension stems from a lifetime of Sora’s emotional discomfort and distrust.

In these romantic tales, love bubbles beneath the surface across wildly differing and dangerous circumstances. There is no one-size-fits all. Love, if the circumstances allow, is always a surprise, at times an unpleasant one. With Five Broken Blades, Corland attempts and accomplishes much; it layers a complex fantasy Korean-coded world with characters who are easy to root for—even if their goal is to kill the immortal king.

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Voice to Books is a periodical short list of reviews focusing on writers from marginalized or underrepresented groups. It is edited by Dave Oei and Taj Harvey.

Dave Oei is a writer, husband, father, student at UC Riverside’s Low-Residency MFA for Creative Writing, and advisor at his family’s veterinary hospital, not necessarily in that order. When he’s not crafting romances, fantasies, or science-fiction thrillers, he can be found on the soccer pitch or on sunset beach walks with his wife of many years.