King of Battle and Blood

Due in large part to the emergence of the BookTok community (an online community in which TikTok users share book recommendations and discuss literary topics), the term “romantasy” has gained considerable traction and is now widely used to describe a subgenre that blends the elements of both romance and fantasy, with the romance aspects often dominating the plot. Although the term “romantasy” rose to mainstream popularity in the early 2020s, it was employed in common vernacular as early as 2008, and its tropes and plot patterns can be found in earlier works such as the 2005 debut of Stephanie Meyers’s series Twilight, which features a romance between a human girl and a vampire. Just as the Twilight series engages with elements of fantasy in the construction of the vampiric world and political hierarchy that serve as a backdrop to the protagonists’ romance, St. Clair also employs similar conventions in The King of Battle and Blood, crafting a world in which the Blood King Adrian reigns supreme as the original vampire from which an entire vampiric empire was spawned.

Novels within the romantasy subgenre often prioritize the central romantic relationship over other elements of fantasy world building, and this pattern can also be seen in King of Battle and Blood. In the very first chapter of the narrative, for example, Isolde meets Adrian and immediately has lustful feelings about him despite her aversion to his vampirism. Their growing romance also plays an invaluable role in the broader politics of the plot. Much of the conflict throughout the book revolves around Adrian and Isolde’s relationship. Adrian is the key to unlocking Isolde’s past-life memories, which will clarify the broader turmoil present in Cordova. The status of the novel as a romantasy can be found in the fact that the overall plot would not function without the emphasis on Adrian and Isolde’s romance.

King of Battle and Blood also engages with several popular romantasy tropes. Some of the most prevalent tropes in romantasy include enemies-to-lovers romances, interspecies relationships, love triangles, and secret identities. Each of these tropes plays an important role in St. Clair’s novel. Isolde initially dislikes and distrusts Adrian due to his vampirism and brutal conquest of Cordova, even though she has lustful feelings for him. She even tries to kill him, illustrating the depth of their initially adversarial relationship. Isolde is also a human, while Adrian is a vampire, so they enter into an interspecies relationship. Adrian also has a rival for Isolde’s affections, as her former lover Alec Killian vies for her hand in marriage, creating a love triangle. Isolde’s past life is also a secret identity of sorts, which adheres to that trope. These tropes help build King of Battle and Blood into a romantasy novel that readers familiar with the genre would enjoy