#cosy fantasy

[bookcub]

Cozy Fantasy and Why It Doesn't Work

I think I am among many who feel like they should love cozy fantasy and have found it an incredibly lacking genre.

This newly branded "cozy fantasy" genre that has taken readers by storm since 2020 and while it is new that books are now marketed as cozy, the genre itself isn't new. Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones is a great example of the genre before it was labeled and also how to make it work.

Cozy fantasy is defined by many as fantasy with low stakes. Fantasy aesthetic but less sword fights. On paper, it sounds great. But the execution has been less than stellar for readers like me. The lack of physical stakes has also impacted the emotional stakes of these books, creating forgettable characters with boring problems. As a romance reader, I find this frustrating. Romance is known for being a predictable and formulaic genre, the now defunct Romance Writers of America defined romances as needing happy endings, a term romances have continued to follow. Yet these romance texts manage to have low physical stakes (how to date your neighbor, how to confront your toxic friends, etc) while still maintaining high personal stakes that keep readers invested and begging for more. So I was initially confused why cozy fantasy authors struggle to write texts that connect to readers like me.

I think I have found the answer which is the genre is just here for vibes. It is all about aesthetic, not even worldbuilding that fantasy is known for as most cozy fantasy I read have so many problems as soon as you ask one question. It is hard to acknowledge that a genre that is pitched to work for readers like me doesn't work for many of us. Especially because occasionally there is one that works beautifully to my taste.

I often say my favorite cozy fantasies that are more contemporary are short and visual, which I plays into the idea of the genre being an aesthetic. The Bakery Dragon by Devin Elle Kurtz is a good example because it is a simple story that is given the perfect amount of pages and gorgeous visuals without dragging on when the message is very clear and easy to understand. Books like The Phoenix Keeper and Legends and Lattes have absolutely nothing for me, their very clear message hitting the reader over and over so the readers don't miss it and focusing on the aesthetic of worldbuilding rather than the reality of the fantastic elements within the world.

I guess my point is. . . I realize this genre isn't for me since I have realized it is more of an aesthetic than anything. .. .but I want it to be. Should I let it go and put my efforts elsewhere? Or should I keep exploring this new trend and find the hidden gems?

[samarajethwa]

[monniponi]

Cerise's little bedroom 🐱✨

[rexanesolo]

Adventures in Clairune is out!

If you want to:

Bully a dragon lord

Flirt with an elf

Trust an assassin

And most importantly romance them!! With perks such as:

he/she/they option for players

6 endings (good and bad for each love interest)

A 1 hour playtime (roughly)

Pretty art style & good music

FREEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!

So go play my first vn! (I was inspired by the arcana and y'all might like this too :3)

[theafictionado]

Comfort and Catharsis: Or, What Even Is “Cosy Fantasy” and Why Does It Work?

I recently finished Sarah Beth Durst’s The Spellshop, a fantasy novel about a runaway librarian setting up a new life on an island: selling jam, refurbishing a rundown cottage, befriending the neighbours despite her bookish awkwardness, and using a cheeky bit of magic to heal the island’s failing natural resources. It’s all very quaint and comfy—definitely earning it the label of “cosy fantasy” that I’ve seen applied to it. Well, except for the bits where the librarian flees a burning city destroyed by revolution, has to reckon with the ways that she’s been complicit in the elitist rule of the Empire, discovers how many of her new friends have deeply tragic backstories, and lives in near-constant worry that she could be hunted down and arrested for the use of technically illegal magic at any time.

That all doesn’t sound super cosy, does it? But then again, what defines a book’s cosiness? Is cosiness antithetical to darker and more serious themes and dire plot moments… or does the comforting feeling a cosy fantasy novel leaves you with actually come from them, in some cases?

Keep reading...

[ginnyw-potter]

Marriage by Capture

Strangers to Lovers, cosy fantasy

Hinny

Explicit

The new law states anyone who manages to capture you can marry you. Ginny leaves her home and family behind to avoid a forced marriage and tries her hardest to stay out of the grip of men. Harry was orphaned in his teens and has been traveling since, doing jobs here and there but leaving before they realise he has magic. One faithful day, the two have a rather unpleasant meeting in the woods and then another…

Chapter 1: The cave

Harry woke up in a cave, his hands bound together behind his back. His feet were free but the stalagmites and stalactites in front of him would slow down his escape, if he were to make one. He wasn’t even sure how someone had managed to drag him behind it at all.

He noticed a woman by the fire, poking it with a stick to get it going. She had long red hair going down to her middle, the top part put into a braid to keep it out of her face. He grunted as he adjusted his position and noticed his head was throbbing. Then he remembered getting whacked in the head.

As soon as she noticed that he was awake, she took up her sword and walked into the cave towards him. An unneeded measure, he was currently no threat to her.

“How did you find me?” she asked, her face hidden by the shadow.

He blinked for a moment. “How can I find you if I don’t know who you are?”

She knelt down so he could look at her face. She had thin curvy lips and a cute round nose to go with it. Her brown eyes were focused, but the colour was muted by the lack of direct sunlight. Most of all, she looked angry, and quite strong.

“Ah,” he said. “Pleased to make your acquaintance,” he told her. “But I didn’t find you, because I wasn’t looking for you.”

She huffed, twirling her sword around. “That’s what they all say.”

“All?” he abruptly looked around in search of the last poor lad that got captured, but to his relief there was no skeleton to be found. “Is capturing men a hobby for you?”

Full chapter on AO3

[vintica]

saturdays

[bookshelvesandtealeaves]

✨ AUDIOBOOK REVIEW ✨

Tea You at the Altar by Rebecca Thorne

⭐️⭐️⭐️.5

QOTD: What’s a series you love?

[instagram]

Review below cut

Thanks Libro fm and Pan Macmillan UK for allowing me to listen to this one in exchange for an honest review.

I did end up going and buying myself a physical copy of this one towards the end of reading, hence the photo, but I did listen to the whole thing.

I liked this one a little less than the previous books, but I honestly do think that listening to it had something to do with that. The narrator was fine but the accents were not the best and it did take me out of the story at times.

THAT BEING SAID, this was a delightful continuation of the series. I loved being back with Kianthe and Reyna and their growing found family. All the characters in this book are so wonderful.

I really loved the whole “overthrowing the queen” plot going on and I loved how much care and consideration was put into the planning and execution. I’m not entirely sold on the resolution, but I am intrigued to see how it plays out in the final book.

[rhi-reads-and-writes]

August is basically September, and September is basically October - so can I say it's spooky season yet?

[novawinter]

The teller of small fortunes was for the most part a book I enjoyed reading but really shows up one problem the cosy fantasy genre often runs into. The inability to explore darker themes or go dark places.

Was her fathers death a self fulfilling prophecy? Book doesn't question that too hard.

Protagonist was once chased out of a town because she was asian in a majority white country? That happened before the story started off page.

Magic users might be being worked to death in service of the kingdom.

You look into the future to see if the kingdom you were born in but can never return to will start a war with the kingdom you have lived in most of your life but are an ethnic minority. You look into the future in and see that war will not come to pass because the country of your birth is about to have a bloody revolution and regime change. Lets not dwell on that.

[samarajethwa]

Please put your books back where you found them

[hiddenbookcasepodcast]

Happy International Asexuality Day from us at The Hidden Bookcase. Here are some book recommendations we love featuring ace representation to celebrate!

[pollyssecretlibrary]

"The Enchanted Greenhouse", by Sarah Beth Durst

𝐈 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐛𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐍𝐞𝐭𝐆𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐲 𝐢𝐧 𝐞𝐱𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐚 𝐟𝐚𝐢𝐫 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐡𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰 𝗕𝗼𝗼𝗸 𝟮 𝗶𝗻 ❞𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗦𝗽𝗲𝗹𝗹𝘀𝗵𝗼𝗽❞ 𝘀𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗲𝘀 𝗣𝘂𝗯 𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗲 - 𝗝𝘂𝗹𝘆 𝟭𝟳𝘁𝗵 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Although this is the second book in a series, the story of this book takes place at the same time as “The Spellshop” which is, technically, the first book. In that book we met a librarian who escaped a revolution with a box full of books and a sentient plant named Caz. This plant is, actually, the link that connects both books, because our main character is another librarian who was punished and turned into a wooden statue, precisely, for giving life to Caz, using a magic spell that was forbidden to all except socerers.

Terlu Perna as a statue is sent to an island covered with greenhouses. It is a gigantic garden preserving plants, trees and flowers from all over the world and that was made possible thanks to the magic spells casted by an old sorcerer whose daughter adored flowers. But now the sorcerer has died and the magic is slowly fading away so the last gardener’s only hope is for someone who can restore magic. That’s why Terlu and a spell to bring her back to life, was sent to him. Yarrow lives in isolation with the sole company of a winged cat, but Terlu is now here and their first mission is, to wake up the sentient plants, starting by a rose called Lotti.

In her acknowledgments pages Sarah Beth Durst says that the main goal for her when writing a book is to give hope. This is the second book of her vast bibliography that I read and all I can say is that the goal has been achieved, twice (in my case). But that’s not all.

Durst gives comfort, peace, a much needed faith in the inner good, a strong sense of community and found family, magic, especially the kind that’s hidden in the little everyday things, love and compassion. For me, her books are the definition of “cosy fantasy” because she makes you feel at home in all of her worlds. She did that with “The Spellshop” and she’s doing it again with “The Enchanted Greenhouse”.

It is impossible not to fall in love with these characters and the wonderful whimsical world Durst has created for them. All of them, human, animals and plants, are adorable in their own unique ways. They are insecure but strong, they triumph and they fail, they never give up. They support one another and they accept things and people as they come. And they have so many quirks! They will stay with me forever. In this book, however, instead of having Terlu join a community that was already settled, she begins her adventure in an island where only one man lives, Yarrow, the garderner. For most of the book they are alone together with a flying cat and some sentient plants, but the community develops and grows as the book progresses. For the first half of the story the pace is slow, almost lethargic, but fear not, it changes. The pace is a reflection of the state of the island and the mood of its inhabitants, in a way it’s like Terlu’s arrival wakes them from a long slumber, little by little. But the slow pace at the beginning represents loneliness and abandonment so as Terlu, Yarrow and the plants get closer and their bonding grows stronger, that obscure and gloomy feeling fades away, hope enters their hearts and the pace changes. Sarah Beth Durst not only convinced me to read all of the books I didn’t know she had written before, but she has become an instant buy for me. She’s a balm for the soul

[thebroccolination]

Real quick, if you lived in a li’l witches’ village and you didn’t need money, what buildings would you want to be there? I’m going for pure whimsy here. Paper-making workshops and tea nooks and stuff.

[ettawritesnstudies]

Review: Saltwater Souls

Synopsis You can take the woman out of the ocean, but can you take the ocean out of the woman?A lightkeeper fights to live up to her father’s legacy.Two heartbroken sisters desperately cling to their mother’s memory.A mer-child is determined to free captive mermaids from their prison.A mermaid must battle a curse to save her new friend.Sirens avenge the souls of murdered children.A young woman’s…

[vintica]

this, and going offline ⛈️🕯️🍂