I'd like to find books that contain just a bit of magic or wherein magic is only a small aspect. I love fantasy books, but sometimes find that the fantasy aspect is too present and that the characters are a bit flat. Whenever I read realistic fiction I find the characters so much more well written. I always care more about the characters in realistic stories than in fantasy stories. Which makes me wonder: what book(s) do you recommend that contain fantasy, but not too much or too present, but also have very interesting, profound characters?
by Adventurous-Sealion
4 Comments
The Prestige
Babel by RF Kuang
The Water Dancer by Ta-Nehisi Coates.
The two main wizards in the Black Company, Goblin and One-Eye, are small fries compared to the big powerful wizards in the story and often have to rely on creating illusions to trick people rather than outright slinging fireballs, but my favorite little thing they do is in one of the books it’s mentioned that one of the bonuses of joining the company is they cast a spell to protect your teeth.
So it’s a mercenary company with a dental plan
I also like A Wizard’s Guide to Defensive Baking by T Kingfisher, As well as Minor Mage, about a young wizard with an armadillo for a familiar.I really love The Raven Cycle by Maggie Stiefvater for small scale magic. Some people are psychics (real psychics), and the tarot card readings are magnificent. The main character, Blue, is not magical.Haven’t read them myself, but believe the Wildcard universe books, which are at least partly curated by George R. R. Martin, are all about this – folks with minor, highly specialised powers which make them great for particular roles, in this case often criminal.
sorry for the rant i just get excited here is the list
1.A Wizard’s Guide to Defensive Baking by T Kingfisher
2. Black Company
3. Wizard of the Pigeons by Megan Lindholm
4.Minor Mage
5. Inheritence of magic series
6. The Familiar by Leigh Bardugo
7.The Raven Cycle by Maggie Stiefvater
8.Wild Cards (edited by George R. R. Martin)
9. Darcie Little Badger
10.The Hierarchy Series by James Islington