I just finished reading Babel, and while it's by no means my favorite book on the planet I really loved the baseline idea of the 'magic' coming from the context and meaning lost through translation.
I also love the Sanderson magic systems, both stormlight (the way their shards work, the 'colors' and their extremely distinct attributes down to the smells they give off, etc.) and the parrot-based magic (cant wait for that to get more fleshed out). I like the allomabcy system as well but not quite as much.
Again not my favorite, but the bell / demon system in abhorsen is pretty neat.
Now… might get some eye rolls on this one, but my all time favorite series is Malazan. At a glance, a lot of the magic system seems pretty basic – mages, shapeshifters, dragons, portals to other planes of power, etc. I really do adore the ascendancy aspect for some reason though. The whole 'worship = power', how different ascendants can fluctuate in power over time or even fall completely out of relevancy, the purposeful ending of life to create ascendants, the fighting and ruling over warrens…. I just really love it. I did like GotM, but I think the entire Felisin / Sha'ik storyline as well as the Fener / beast hold was what really hooked me into the series and kept me going.
Does anyone else have any suggestions? I'm open to anything
by Tattersail927
5 Comments
Have you read The Bone Season by Samantha Shannon?
The Licanius Trilogy, by James Islington
One Dark Window by Rachel Gillig has a pretty unique system, based on cards that can temporarily grant powers, with consequences. The plot isn’t anything particularly riveting and the romance is a little underwhelming, but the magic system is very unique and the writing style is distinctive as well, helping create a very unique atmosphere, which makes it a worthwhile read imo.
I liked the handling of magic in *Deep Secret* by Diana Wynne Jones. It feels very real and prosaic and yet breathtaking.
I liked the magic systems in the Founders trilogy by Robert Jackson Bennett (magic as a kind of coding language based technology that drives the socio-economic structure of the world building)
The Blacktongue Thief by Christopher Buehlman (magical abilities that can be activated by certain tattoos)