Vance has a simple system: magic spells must be memorized, but they are fantastically long, so people can only memorize a few at a time—and spells are forgotten the moment you cast them. Magic System Rating: 9 (We Got Rules for Our Rules) A Song of Ice and Fire, by George R.R. The magic system is extremely consistent and pattern-based—once you know how to bend and twist a strand of the One Power to produce a certain effect, you can repeat the recipe over and over again with the same result—and the characters consistently work within those rules, and are often forced to be clever in using their knowledge in order to overcome obstacles (one of Sanderson’s own rules about hard magic). has 722 members. In other words, you can summon demons through fire (fires built from different fuels will summon different or more powerful demons) and once a demon is summoned, the wizard must either dominate the demon’s will, or be dominated instead. $29.97. Once they’ve mastered that (a process that literally transforms their brains), they develop more advanced abilities to manipulate the world through the definitional power of language. $44.95 All sub-genres: Epic, Dark, Urban, High, Low, Magic, Romantic, Paranormal. You must have a goodreads account to vote. | $49.95. Rothfuss creates a grittier, more adult version a magic school which leaves room for a whole new, world-encompassing series for fantasy lovers to enter. Dungeons & Dragons It’s a neat way to cover for the fact that your magic system isn’t so much a system as a loose set of guidelines. Hardcover Paperback The Belgariad, by David Eddings and The Books of Earthsea, by Ursula K. Le Guin Magic System Rating: 2 (Simple, but Effective) These two mainstays of post-Tolkien fantasy offer a slight refinement on the “obscured by the mists of time” approach J.R.R. creates its own sort of magic: the illusion of a detailed system. The combination of oddly specific spells (for example, one involving a mirror, some flowers, and a specific set of patterns) and unanswered questions (which flower?) Jemisin $44.99 Magic System Rating: 11 (Ph.D.-Level Magic) Rothfuss has explained that he simply wanted the best of both worlds: to give readers the satisfaction of understanding a magic system and appreciating its cleverness, combined with the sense of awe and wonder that unexplained magic can offer. The Craft Sequence, by Max Gladstone These books tend to get confused with, and put in the same category as, other types of fantasy romance: alternative history, vampire, werewolf or shifter paranormals. The Dying Earth is one of the classics of fantasy and science fiction. Hardcover This group is for readers of Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Dystopian to share their favorite books and connect with authors. It makes sense, since in-narrative, it’s presented as a lost art, only suddenly returned to the world in the early 19th century. Magic System Rating: 7 (Rigorous) But what about anti-heroines? As a deconstruction of Harry Potter, Grossman’s series would tend towards the rigorous side of the spectrum, wouldn’t it? | $50.00. It’s difficult to have a conversation about classifying fantasy books without at least mentioning Tolkien. list created January 28th, 2013 Paperback Paperback Some readers equate fantasy with hobbits and magic wardrobes. And that is the beauty of the genre. First element of fantasy: Magic. Tasha Suri’s debut novel is a dream, weaving together rich characterization and lush magic to create a beautifully imagined fantasy world inspired by Mughal India. Schwab’s magic system in the excellent Shades of Magic series is organized, but not terribly rule-laden. took, offering extremely simple magic systems that apply a very, very small instructional set. Simple and elegant—and that’s most impressive is that Hardy developed these laws and rules for all five of his disciplines; he then goes on to illustrate additional meta-rules, applicable after his protagonist achieves the titular honor. But Tolkien also presents all power as inherently corrupting, and magic the most corrupting of all. Add in the realization that the gods of this world draw their power directly from belief—belief that can be engineered and manufactured like a commodity—and boom, you’ve got a transactional magic system that is unique, compelling, and quite rigorous. But time has a habit of making everything more complex, and so it’s unsurprising that magic systems have followed suit. The Hobbit or There and Back Again book. The 100 Best Fantasy Books of All Time. Think about up for it added with magic a gunslinger in a fantasy world explanation also. And each discipline has its own set of rules the proper equations, he could instantly transport back. 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