Penguin Random House Announces New D&D Romantasy Book

Penguin Random House has announced The Feywild Job, a new D&D novel written by World Fantasy Award and Nebula-winning writer CL Polk. The new book is a romantasy novel, a popular and wildly growing book genre. The book features a rogue tasked with stealing a gem called "The Kiss of Enduring Love" and is teamed up with their ex-lover, a bard. The twist to the novel is that the rogue has a magical pact granting them powers in exchange for never falling in love.

The new novel is written by CL Polk, a writer with serious bonafides in the fantasy community. Polk's debut novel Witchmark won the World Fantasy Award in 2019 and their 2022 novella Even Though I Knew The End won the Nebula Award for Best Novella that year. Based on their website, this appears to be Polk's first foray into licensed media.

Below is the full description for The Feywild Job. The book will be released on June 30, 2026.

Sparks fly when bitter exes are forced to team up for an elaborate Feywild heist, in this cozy fantasy romance by the bestselling author of the Kingston Cycle and Even Though I Knew the End.

Saeldian has sworn never to fall in love. That oath isn’t just a personal promise, but rather a magical pact, granting them powerful abilities. The only catch? They must never give their heart away—a deal that Saeldian is perfectly content with. They’ve seen firsthand how messy love can get.

Saeldian prefers their no-strings-attached life as a con artist, pulling off heists and leaving a trail of broken hearts behind them. But when a grift goes horribly wrong, they catch the eye of a mysterious patron with a job offer they can’t refuse.

The mission? Steal a gem called “The Kiss of Enduring Love” and return it to the Feywild. Simple enough, until Saeldian discovers their ex-partner, Kell—a charming bard—is part of the team.
The last time Saeldian saw Kell, things hardly ended on good terms. A kiss became a betrayal, leaving Kell hurt and confused for almost a decade. But Kell can’t just walk away—not when this job might finally be his ticket back to the Feywild.

Forced to work together again, their adventure takes them from high-society parties to Feywild couple’s therapy. But as Saeldian and Kell rekindle their chemistry, they realize the gem is much more than a fey bauble, and their simple heist has summoned powerful enemies. . . .

 

[EzekielRaiden]

So why did you call out gendered pronouns specifically for being artificial, when all language is?

Because those are artificial things designed to put humans in boxes. I generally prefer to keep people out of boxes as much as possible.

Racist terms for ethnocultural or ethnoreligious groups are also usually constructed. I won't use any examples because, y'know, offensive. So: Why do you find this particular callout of a forcing-people-into-boxes construction a problem?

 

[Mournblade94]

Of course Hasbro would jump on this bandwagon. Probably smart, to get all the book youtubers talking about it.

My daughter and wife will probably like it. I dont really get into romance novels so this will be a pass for me. Im sure my daughter will ask me to buy it for her.

 

[Mournblade94]

Because those are artificial things designed to put humans in boxes. I generally prefer to keep people out of boxes as much as possible.

Racist terms for ethnocultural or ethnoreligious groups are also usually constructed. I won't use any examples because, y'know, offensive. So: Why do you find this particular callout of a forcing-people-into-boxes construction a problem?

Because its politically popular? Gender is no more made up than any other concept of the English language. Humans categorize things. We scaffold things. Its not putting them on "boxes" its making sense of the world.

How did this even become a topic in a gaming thread?

 

[Mournblade94]

Probably not. They used the word "cosy" in the marketing, which is a genre flag for being fairly PG/PG-13. Contrast with "spicy", which is the more graphic books.

Cozy seems exactly opposite of what a D&D game is. Fits some of the itch indie games better where they sit around an inn and talk about significant others and make soup.

 

[Mournblade94]

Thats not the target demo.

Is there really a difference now?

 

[Mournblade94]

I mean... I LIKE romanticy... but, that's some seriously crossed genre wires? Maybe they're trying to bridge some player bases?

I can say without Wizards backing, most agents and publishers would likely skip it due to that mixture. They like sure things that stay in their literary lane.

Romantasy is fueling the fiction publishing world right now. Its really hard to find new fantasy books now that aren't romantasy in the book stores.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Cozy seems exactly opposite of what a D&D game is.

Wild Beyond the Witchlight isn't cozy?

 

[slobster]

Cozy seems exactly opposite of what a D&D game is. Fits some of the itch indie games better where they sit around an inn and talk about significant others and make soup.

No worries, if this cozy feelings thing isn't your taste, I'm sure you'll be able to find another D&D story with higher stakes. Like I read a preview about a book coming out soon about a thief in over their head with a sinister patron, tasked with leading a party of adventurers into the feywild to steal a dangerous magical artifact. No soup mentioned at all!

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Cozy seems exactly opposite of what a D&D game is

So, you are saying that you think a typical D&D game is full of explicit sex? Because that’s not my experience playing with adults. I’ve seen it once with teen boys.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Well, it isn't that Hungarian and Gagalog speakers don't have a concept of "gender" in social or biological terms, they just don't decline nouns the way Indo-European languages do. Some other languages decline nouns with completely different genus categories than social or biological gender: the Baganda language has ten grammatical genders: people, long objects, animals, miscellaneous objects, large objects and liquids, small objects, languages, pejoratives, infinitives, and mass nouns.

Mandarin also has no verb declensions indicating past, present, or future like Indo-European languages tend to, but they have those concepts in general.

The issue with pronouns, particularly in languages like French or Spanish, is the grammar requires you to convey information about gender whenever you speak about a thing. Most of the time this information is not relevant, and thus facilitates discrimination. English at least makes gendering optional, and it’s likely we will see the non-gendered form become standard over time (I’ve seen significant change within my lifetime), with gendered language going the way of thee and thou. How this will affect other languages is harder to predict.

The “artificial construct” is that gender is something that it is always necessary to know.

There will probably be an increase in gender-neutral personal names to go with it, once parents start to realise they are giving their children more freedom by using them.