My favorite genres

As a book nerd, I read a lot of different genres. However, one of my favorites is paranormal, specifically romance. These books generally involve vampires and shifters like werewolves, sometimes adding other magical, witchy beings or ghosts. However, when I’m trying to find new books in this genre, I sometimes run into an issue. Depending on where I’m looking or shopping, I’ve found that there are many differing opinions on what this type of book includes.

I’ve seen some people simply put paranormal and fantasy together, while others include all of these together in science fiction. Maybe I just read too much, but these fit in completely different categories to me.

I was arguing with Cheyenne about this the other day. She said that paranormal does fit into fantasy. However, I think I have a pretty sound argument.

If I think of the paranormal books that I like, they all take place in the modern world. There’s not a different continent, different government system, etc. The supernatural entities live in the human world, generally in secret. Sometimes they may have their own hidden city of supernatural beings where they can be open, but the rest of society doesn’t know about them.

Some books in this realm that I’ve read include “Vampire Academy,” “Twilight,” the “Broken Heart” series, the Shadowhunter books. Technically “Harry Potter” follows these rules, but I think there’s so much of a focus on the hidden world that it almost becomes a solid world of its own, qualifying it as fantasy. (Yes, I’m stretching, but I think my argument works in most cases.)

Fantasy is the opposite of this. Sometimes it might have some of the same types of beings, especially with magic, but generally fantasy takes place in a new world. The social system is different, non-magical humans are generally not the norm. This is where you often find fae or elves.

However, the reason I think people like to put paranormal with fantasy is because they don’t put fantasy into different categories. In reality, There are so many types of fantasy that it can be difficult to put it all in one box. Fantasy can be split into high fantasy, urban fantasy, romantasy, etc.

In my mind, high fantasy is more world-driven. They’re generally following an epic journey of some sort, with a lot of storyline and little to no romance. Books that fit into this include “Lord of the Rings,” “The Way of Kings” and “Priory of the Orange Tree.”

Urban fantasy takes place in what almost seems like a modern world, but isn’t quite. For example, “Crescent City” has fae and vampires and angels, but they also have cell phones and television and skyscrapers. Sure, the main character might need to go on an epic journey to take down the evil government, but they can take a taxi to the fight. Examples of this would include “Crescent City,” “A Witch’s Guide to Fake Dating a Demon,” “The Green Bone Saga” and T. J. Klune’s standalones.

Then there’s romantasy, one of the most popular genres at this point in time. Walmart even had a romantasy coloring book. Romantasy is of course a mix between romance and fantasy. While many fantasy books have touches of romance, that isn’t the main focus of the story. In romantasy, romance and fantasy are equally important aspects of the story. Some popular examples would include “Fourth Wing,” “A Court of Thorns and Roses” and “From Blood and Ash.”

From my reading, I’ve learned that I like almost all paranormal fiction I read. I can’t say the same for all fantasy, but the fantasy I do like, I love, specifically romantasy. While of course not every book is for every person, there’s so many types of fantasy, there’s something for everyone. You just have to find the right book.