Our Top Magic Systems (and how they work)

[@martinkellermayr8766]

I really like the system in Peter V. Bretts Demon Cycle. It starts kind of "soft" with everyone just reproducing the same "magic" everyone else uses, but together with the characters you discover more and more depth of the system which is just so satisfying! Also Arlen is one of my most favourite characters ever, he is so badass! :D

[@hardysbooks]

The warding magic has a real naturalistic quality to it, makes the concept believable and lets the reader extrapolate consequences. I enjoyed the first two books! (Ross)

[@andiwrath2293]

My favorite magic systems are by the same author: Tamora Pierce. Her Circle of Magic series and The Song of the Lioness quartet and their expansions are ones I keep coming back to. I love her characters and worldbuilding and the ways people use their abilities to navigate their worlds.

[@hardysbooks]

I must admit I’ve not read any of her work! This sounds great though, we’ll definitely check it out, thanks so much for commenting and for the recommendation

[@SenneW]

I wish I had you two as literature teachers in school.😁

[@hardysbooks]

We would both definitely be terrible teachers haha!

[@hardysbooks]

PS🫶

[@hardysbooks]

What are some of your favourite magic systems? Do you prefer your magic systems soft or hard? Low or high? Loose or viscous? Let us know in the comments!

[@SamHarrison2099]

One of my fave magic things is the Knacked in Powder Mage, who are people who can just do one thing supernaturally well. The two main knacked we spend time with don't need to sleep and have a photographic memory. Btw loved the video you guys are the best. Laura don't let Ross wear a bigger hat in these videos, he's become too powerful in this one.

[@hardysbooks]

We’re reading Powder Mage next month! Excited to dive in!

[@hardysbooks]

PS 🫶

[@drawyrral]

Malazan magic is my favorite magic.

[@ladymairreads]

If you wanna know how Sauron gets his magic it’s explain in the sillmarillion if you can stomach to read it 😂

[@hardysbooks]

I had a feeling this might be the answer 😂😂

[@jonathan.palfrey]

@@hardysbooks 🤣

[@jonathan.palfrey]

I definitely prefer fairly hard magic systems. I read “Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell” some years ago, but it was too soft for me, and I don’t plan to read it again. I can tolerate the softness of “The Lord of the Rings” somehow, I think partly because it’s all based on old mythology and feels kind of familiar; and also because magic is used quite sparingly in the story. The magic system in the Rivers of London series seems hard in some ways, but it’s rather soft around the edges, particularly when it comes to magic used by non-humans. I wonder whether you two are too young to have read Randall Garrett’s Lord Darcy stories (and Michael Kurland’s two novels set in the same world); I wouldn’t claim them as examples of fine literature, but I’m fond of the fairly hard magic system, in which magic has definite rules and limitations. Characteristic quote: “I am a magician, not a miracle worker.” I like Bujold’s World of the Five Gods, primarily for the writing and the characters; the magic system is a bit vague, neither hard nor soft. Although I like and reread the first in that series, “The Curse of Chalion”, I don’t like the curse itself, which is bizarre. It seems to be a side-effect of invoking a god, and gods can do anything: the essence of soft magic. Bah. I read all the Harry Potter books years ago but I’m not a real fan; I still quite like the first and third books but rarely reread them. I don’t really care about Rowling’s personal opinions on whatever.

[@hardysbooks]

"Soft around the edges", I like that a lot. Yes we are late bloomers in fantasy and must admit all those names are new to both of us. Big fan of that quote though and that's enough to get me intrigued.

[@jonathan.palfrey]

@@hardysbooks Randall Garrett was born in 1927 and was one of the old-time sf writers (he wrote both sf and fantasy). He wrote his Lord Darcy stories in the 1960s and 1970s, and they’re all collected together in one convenient fat volume called “Lord Darcy”, including the novel “Too Many Magicians”. They’re all detective stories set in an alternative world in which history was different, and the Anglo-French Empire is the leading world power of the 20th century, opposed mainly by the Polish Empire. Michael Kurland later wrote two further novels set in the same world, which are quite good but you have to buy them separately.

[@jonathan.palfrey]

@@hardysbooks Garrett’s novel “Too Many Magicians” contains a locked-room murder mystery, among other things, and there’s a discussion of how it could have been done. They wonder whether the murderer could have escaped through the window. “Our sorcerer-murderer … goes to the window. He opens it. Then he steps up to the sill and steps out into empty air, levitating himself as he does so. Then he closes the window and proceeds to cast a spell which slides the bolts into their sockets. When that is done, he floats off somewhere-up or down, it matters not which.” He looked at Master Sean. “How long would that take?” “Five or six minutes at the least. If he could do it at all. Levitation causes a tremendous psychic drain; the spell can only be held for a matter of minutes. In addition, you’re asking him to cast a second spell while he’s holding the first. A spell of the type that was cast on this room is what we call a static spell, my lord. It imposes a condition, you see. But levitating and the moving of bolts are kinetic spells; you have to keep them moving. To use two kinetic spells at the same time requires tremendous concentration, power, and precision. I would hesitate, myself, to try casting a window-locking spell with a thirty-foot drop beneath me. Certainly not if I were in a hurry or distracted.” They then decide that escaping by the window would be impossible because there were people outside who would have noticed.

[@hardysbooks]

This is super interesting as the story I (Laura) am working calls on a lot of murder mystery tropes including a locked room mystery. I will seek this out! Thank you for the recommendation!

[@jonathan.palfrey]

@@hardysbooks You’re welcome. I’ve reread all the Lord Darcy stories many times over the years, but my mother refused to read them because she couldn’t stand the writing style; as always, it’s a matter of personal taste. “Too Many Magicians” was nominated for the Hugo Award in 1967, but lost to Heinlein’s “The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress”; Samuel R. Delany’s “Babel-17” (another of my favourites) was also nominated that year.