Romance in the Order

Romance in the Order is a loosely connected series of romance novels about Slayer Dragons during the Golden Age, written during the New Day era(nearly ten thousand years later). The series is popular though controversial for its portrayal of historical domain characters and over all pour accuracy.

Contents and Style

The books take Slayer Dragons from the Golden Age who were known or described as particularly attractive, and sets them up with romantic partners, most frequently other Slayer Dragons. The author frequently pairs Slayer Dragons who lived generations or centuries apart; since its very infrequent that two Slayer Dragons of a roughly compatible age served at the same time.

Lawsuit

In N.D. 493 after the third book was published to great acclaim, the New Stormwind Antiquarian Society filled a lawsuit against the author and publishers. The series had ben controversial from the start and rumors circulated that the Order of Slayer Dragons would sue for defamation. However, as the characters were all considered public domain, no such suit could be made.

The Antiquarians, however, filled suit over the book billing themselves as "historical fiction" and brought out a litany of grievous historical inaccuracies. According to one analyses of the first two books, the only agreed upon facts that could be verified were the names of some of the characters, and Lieber's hair color.

The Antiquarians sought no money in the suit or even a request to end publication. Rather they took offence at the marketing campaign billing the books as "historical fiction" and "historically accurate" and demanded these be removed along with the addition of a disclaimer stating the books as fiction. The lawsuit brought considerable publicity to the series and the author, a member of the Society herself, graciously agreed.

Though the actual suit was still settled out of court, the judge issued a ruling requiring sarcastic air quotes be placed around all dates mentioned in the series and produced a legal definition for historical fiction.

Critical Reception

Romance in the Order is not well-liked in literary circles. The novels are described as brash, raunchy, and riddled with historical inaccuracies. The settings blend elements from a thousand years of history, often pairing characters who lived centuries apart while using social conventions that never co-existed. Even treating them as pure fiction most critics lambast them for being "standard trashy romance fair" with a plot that exists primarily to string together a series of increasingly gratuitous sex scenes.

Despite(or possibly because) all of this, the books have found a wide audience. The author blends the best-known aspects of Golden Age Culture with familiar and popular historic figures; coupled with an approachable, easy-reading style. Though not ultimately of any higher quality than most romance novels, the ongoing cult of personality around the Slayer Dragons ensures them high visibiliy.

Other Controversies

In N.D. 509, a shady printer in [[Sun]s Beacon]] took several of the most popular Romance in the Order novels and created a series of illegal re-prints. These versions had new titles, new(inaccurate) descriptions, and were once again billed as "fully accurate historical fiction", with some cover versions even marketing them specifically at teens. A few of these books made it into middle and public school libraries before their contents were discovered.