I'd like to read fiction that centers on mermaids, not necessarily romances, but rather something more on the horror side or even high fantasy. Any ideas?

I've seen a few posts about this, and it's made me curious bc reading is fairly subjective, in our interpretations or interests. What defines "romantasy" for you? For me, "romantasy" is where the romance elements drive the plot with fantasy intertwined, vs. "fantasy with romance" is where the fantasy elements drive the plot with romance intertwined. Would love to know others thoughts/self-definitions! I think as new and continuous readers discover genres, it can be important to self-define these things, especially when publishers/booktok/social media™ advertise this stuff to us constantly. If you have other genres you think fit the above question, what are they? I'm also asking as a librarian bc we have wildly different ways to catalog "themes" (thank you Dewey, may you never rest in peace)

This is not aimed to hate on Romantasy! I enjoy a good romantasy book! But I really want to read a cool fantasy book that focuses more on everything else and the romance be more of a subplot (for example hunger games, deadly education, ninth house, blood over bright haven, etc.) My struggle is, it’s very hard for me to get into Fantasy books that are super complex and dense (like game of thrones or lord of the rings for example). I generally read magical realism or dark academia, but would love to get more into straight up Fantasy. But most of the Fantasy books I have read lately that are not as dense have been Romantasy. Please help lol ❤️ Also, if any recs are for male authors, I’d love it if the women are written really well. I’ve heard good things about how Brandon Sanderson writes women, I just haven’t tried any of his books and don’t even know where to start.

Looking to connect and commiserate. 🥺👉👈